[Epoch Times September 27, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Wang Yezhi comprehensive report) On September 26, local time, the F1 Grand Prix was held at the Sochi circuit in Russia. Mercedes British driver Lewis Hamilton, who had a poor start, responded to the weather changes in the final moments of the race, and took the lead in surpassing the opponent to cross the line and won his 100th sub-station victory. Red Bull Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Max Verstappen), who started from 20th, ranked second, and Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr. ranked third.
The teenager takes pole position to end McLaren’s embarrassment
The Sochi circuit built around the Olympic Park for the Winter Olympics will host the F1 Grand Prix in 2014 and will end next year. Starting in 2023, the Russian station will move to St. Petersburg’s Igora circuit. This means that this race is the penultimate F1 Grand Prix hosted by Sochi Circuit. In the previous seven races here, the highest podiums were all Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton winning four times.
In the qualifying session on Saturday, the track conditions changed drastically due to weather factors. The 21-year-old British racer Norris became the 102nd pole position winner in history with a lap after a dry tyre change, and also ended the McLaren team’s nearly nine-year embarrassment of no pole position.
Also relying on the advantage of dry tires, Ferrari driver Sainz and Williams driver La Sel ranked second and third respectively. Hamilton’s car skidded and was only fourth. Red Bull driver Verstappen was fined back to the end of the race due to the replacement of the engine power unit-20th on the grid. Mercedes driver Bottas was also fined to retreat 10 places for replacing the power unit, and the race started from 16th place.
Verstappen continued to pass at the end of the start
Before the start of the race on Sunday, the weather forecast showed that the probability of rain reached 70%. The five red lights went out and the race officially started. Hamilton started poorly and was surpassed by Ricardo, who started fifth. After a few corners, the situation on the court was still chaotic. After one lap, Sainz rose to the first place, Hamilton fell to seventh at one point, but on the second lap, he overtook Alonso and returned to sixth place.
On lap 6, Verstappen, who started from 20th, overtook consecutively and rose to 11th. In the leading group, Sainz was within two seconds of Norris, and Russell followed a long series of cars. On lap 14, Russell chose to pit. Verstappen surpassed Vettel to rise to 9th place. On lap 18, Verstappen ran the fastest lap for two consecutive laps and rose to sixth place, only about 5 seconds away from Hamilton, who also did not pit.
On lap 23, Ricardo pitted and the McLaren team made a mistake. The Australian dropped to 14th after leaving the pit. On lap 27, Hamilton, Verstappen and Vettel pitted in the same lap. After exiting, they were in 9th, 12th and 16th places. Hamilton switched from neutral to hard tyres, and Verstappen replaced hard tyres with neutral tyres. After leaving the station, Hamilton continued to overtake with the advantage of tires. On lap 28, the leader Norris pitted for the first time and came fourth after leaving the station.
Drivers should decide victory or defeat in response to abrupt weather
In the final stage of the game, the weather changed suddenly, adding variables to the game, and the spectators in the stands began to wear raincoats. At this time, the gap between Hamilton and Norris has narrowed to less than one second, and the two are far ahead of the other drivers. Norris once rushed into the buffer zone due to the car slipping, but he returned to the track in time to hold the lead.
When there were 5 laps left, the rain was getting heavier and had an impact on the race. Many drivers pitted to replace the semi-rain tires, while the leading Norris and Hamilton did not pit. On lap 49, the McLaren team called Norris to pit, but he refused. Obviously he was betting that the rain would no longer intensify; while Hamilton honestly pitted and put on semi-rain tires. After leaving the station, he had already Behind Norris by 25 seconds, there were only 4 laps left.
When there are two laps left, the rain is getting heavier. Norris’s car was completely out of control and rushed out of the track. Fortunately, it did not hit the protective wall. Hamilton took the opportunity to easily rush to the leading position. At this time, the drivers pitted to change tires, and Verstappen rose to third place. Norris obviously couldn’t hold on anymore, pitting in the penultimate lap to change the tires, and dropped to 8th place after leaving the station.
In the end, Hamilton took the lead to cross the line and won the 100th championship of his career. Verstappen and Sainz were runners-up and third, Ricardo, Bottas, Alonso, Norris, Raikkonen , Perez and Russell were ranked 4th to 10th.
After this station, Hamilton surpassed Verstappen with 246.56 points and returned to the top of the drivers’ standings. In the past few stations, the two of you have come and go, and the race for the drivers championship has become fierce. In the team standings, the Mercedes team further expanded its lead, ranking first with 397.5 points; Red Bull Racing ranked second with 364.5 points; McLaren ranked third with 234 points; Ferrari with 216.5 points. Ranked fourth.
Editor in charge: Zheng Huang
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