SOCHI, Russia: Lewis Hamilton took a record 100th Formula 1 victory in a Russia Grand Prix that ended in dramatic fashion as rain in the final laps saw McLaren’s Lando Norris slide out of the race lead and out of contention for his maiden F1 win and which allowed Max Verstappen to rise to second place after starting the race in last place on the grid. The final podium position was taken by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who took third having started second.
An elated Hamilton said: “I just want to say a big thank you to all these fans; we’ve got such a great crowd here. I know it’s not been the best weather but what a race it provided. So a big thank you to everyone in Russia for having us. It’s taken a long time to obviously get to [win number] 100 and I wasn’t even sure whether or not it would come.
“Lando did such an amazing job. He had incredible pace, he’s doing such a great job for McLaren, and it was very bittersweet obviously to see my old team ahead – they’re doing so well, obviously they won the last race – they’re doing fantastic, obviously powered by Mercedes.
“So it’s good to see us united again and obviously the team made a great call right at the end. I didn’t want to let Lando go and of course I didn’t know what the weather was doing but I’m incredibly grateful to all these men and women that are here and back at the factory because, wow, 100.” – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff says the scale of Hamilton’s achievement – the seven-time champion having become a 100-time Grand Prix winner with his Russian GP victory – won’t be truly appreciated for decades, as he looked back at a “special” journey with his driver.
Hamilton won the Russian GP amid heartbreak for McLaren’s Lando Norris, the 21-year-old missing out on a maiden win when rain struck and he stayed out on slick tyres, spinning off before Hamilton cruised by on intermediate compounds. With that, he became the first-ever Formula 1 driver to hit a century of Grand Prix wins.
“Yes, I think we are witnesses of a career that is just amazing,” Wolff said. “That 100th race victory is just mind-blowing. Today we talk about it – it’s going to be in the news for 24 hours – but only 20 years down the line we are going to realise that we’ve been part of that.
“But we realise that you are being part of a journey that no other sportsman in Formula 1 has done so far and that is beyond the races that we’ve won, the championships – that is from the humanist aspect – to be part of this is special,” he added.
The Mercedes boss said it was a difficult choice to pit Hamilton from P2 for intermediates, given he was chasing Norris for victory at that point – though pointed out his driver’s real race was with championship rival Max Verstappen.
“Rich, who runs the weather… was adamant the weather was coming in, and it started to drizzle but only half the circuit was humid. This is when we made the call, ‘you have to pit’, and that’s what we did,” explained Wolff.
“But… of course we are racing Verstappen – and he went for the inters as well – and you want to protect the position against him. It maybe made our call a little bit easier. When you are leading the race, it’s always tough to make the right decision,” he concluded.
With victory #100, Hamilton’s history making win also ensured Mercedes are unbeaten in Russia, while he became the first driver to win having started outside the top three on the grid at Sochi.
And the result means Mercedes are again in the lead of both drivers’ and constructors’ championships. Hamilton’s title lead stands at just two points over Verstappen – while Mercedes are 33 points ahead of Red Bull.
