The globalisation of Formula 1 that has been in process since the 1990s has been mostly concentrated in Asia - the far East in the beginning and latterly in the Middle East, but with Grand Prix racing returning to Mexico last year, the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in 2014 and a new street circuit this year in the capital city of neighbouring country Azerbaijan, it’s branching out.
Truth be told, Sochi was the first Formula 1 race in Russia, but not the first Grand Prix. That was held in 1913 in St. Petersberg and was won by Russian driver Georgy Suvorin in a Benz. It was held the next year, but was never reinstated after World War 1.
There were plans for a race in Moscow in the early 80s; the race was even included on a provisional calendar for 1983 as Grand Prix of the Soviet Union.
In 2010, the Sochi race was announced. All too often, Olympic facilities are not exploited to their maximum after the fortnight’s festival of sport has vanished. In constructing the circuit around the Olympic park, the organisers have at least created a sporting connection with the area.
Winding its way around the facilities, Sochi is not exactly a street track in the traditional sense, much more akin to Valencia in feel than Singapore. It’s almost a kilometre longer than the latter country’s Marina Bay circuit, but the Sochi Autodrom throws up a quicker lap time.
At the end of the start-finish straight, drivers go into the gentle right-hand kink of Turn 1 before reaching between 320 and 330kph before Turn 2, at which point they go 90 right, before the track almost immediately arcs left through the very long Turn 3. They spend around six seconds in this corner, at about 280kph before quickly switching right through the 90 degree Turn 4.
A short straight follows which is punctuated by another 90 right at 5, before a gentle kink at Turn 6. They exit the next right-hander at around 160kph before then going through the double corner of 8 and 9. After another right-hander, they enter Sector 2 and a long straight, Turn 11 being the slight right-hand bend (DRS Activation Zone 2 is here) before braking at around 330kph while taking a tiny left-hand kink at Turn 12, which switches right and approaches the slower Sector 3.
A left-hand curve at Turn 14 is followed by a slow left-hander at 15 and three slow right-handers at 16, 17 and 18, which brings the drivers into DRS Activation Zone 1 and the start-finish straight.
In 2014, Russia's Daniil Kvyat had an excellent qualifying, fifth on the grid with Toro Rosso. Nico Rosberg flat-spotted his front tyres in an attempt to take the lead from Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap at Turn 2 and that season's eventual world champion went on to lead home a Mercedes 1-2 and help the team to seal their first constructors' championship.
Last year, Carlos Sainz had a monster accident in FP3 but competed in the race and put in a fighting performance after missing qualifying. Mercedes again took the constructors' title in Sochi, with Hamilton again winning. The hapless Nico Rosberg, though, retired early in the race with throttle trouble. Sergio Perez did a great job to finish third and take Force India's only podium of the season. He had been demoted to fifth by Bottas and Raikkonen on the final lap but the two Finns collided.
It is but six months since the last event here, with the race now moving to the early part of the season. In terms of tyres, medium, soft and supersoft are available and the two Mercedes drivers have an identical allocation with 8 sets of supersofts, 4 of softs and 1 of mediums at the high-grip Sochi circuit. It looks like Haas and Chinese Grand Prix stars Red Bull will play aggressive strategies this time, with all their drivers opting for 10 sets of supersofts.
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Constructors’ championship standings:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...standings.html
Drivers’ championship standings:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...standings.html
Russian Grand Prix tyre selections:
https://www.formula1.com/content/fom...e-choices.html
Circuit length: 5.848km
Number of laps: 53
Race distance: 309.745km
First World Championship Grand Prix: 2014
Dry weather tyre compounds: Medium, Soft and Supersoft
DRS Detection Zone 1: On start-finish straight before Turn 1
DRS Activation Zone 1: On straight between Turns 1 and 2
DRS Detection Zone 2: Before Turn 10
DRS Activation Zone 2: On straight between Turns 11 and 12
Speed trap: Before Turn 2
Lap Record: 1:40.071 – Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari (2015)
