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Telly Talk Supreme
Russian Grand Prix: Sebastian Vettel leads a Ferrari 1-2 in second practice
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
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Follow the Russian Grand Prix across BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra, BBC Sport website and mobile app
Russian Grand Prix on the BBC
Dates: 28-30 Apr Venue: Sochi Autodrom
Coverage: Practice, qualifying on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra (second practice online only). Race live on BBC Radio 5 live. Live text commentary, leaderboard and imagery on BBC Sport website and app.
Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in second practice at the Russian Grand Prix as title rivals Mercedes appeared to struggle for pace.
The four-time champion was 0.263 seconds clear of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen while Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas was 0.670secs off the pace.
Lewis Hamilton, seven points behind Vettel in the championship, was fourth quickest, 0.039secs off his team-mate.
Hamilton had a difficult day and also struggled on his race-simulation run.
But Bottas' form was more encouraging on the long runs, matching Vettel's pace as they practised for the first stint of the race in the final part of the session.
The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and sixth but 1.4 seconds off Vettel's pace, and the Dutchman ground to a halt with an engine problem midway through the session.
It was another difficult day for McLaren-Honda. Stoffel Vandoorne suffered an engine problem at the end of the first session which required a change of power-unit.
That has resulted in the Belgian receiving a 15-place grid penalty because he has already used too many of the six constituent parts of the engine. Vandoorne is now on his fifth turbocharger and fifth MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo, when only four changes are permitted in the entire 20-round season.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso was 12th quickest, 2.6 seconds slower than Vettel.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton struggled through both practice sessions
Sebastian Vettel leads Lewis Hamilton by seven points in the drivers' standings after three races
A giant Russian nesting doll
"I don't have any brakes." Haas' Romain Grosjean was not pleased with his car in second practice
Jazzy head gear for local boy Daniil Kvyat
Swami
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
- 16 minutes ago
- From the section Formula 1
- 7
Copy this link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39747878
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Follow the Russian Grand Prix across BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra, BBC Sport website and mobile app
Russian Grand Prix on the BBC
Dates: 28-30 Apr Venue: Sochi Autodrom
Coverage: Practice, qualifying on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra (second practice online only). Race live on BBC Radio 5 live. Live text commentary, leaderboard and imagery on BBC Sport website and app.
Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in second practice at the Russian Grand Prix as title rivals Mercedes appeared to struggle for pace.
The four-time champion was 0.263 seconds clear of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen while Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas was 0.670secs off the pace.
Lewis Hamilton, seven points behind Vettel in the championship, was fourth quickest, 0.039secs off his team-mate.
Hamilton had a difficult day and also struggled on his race-simulation run.
But Bottas' form was more encouraging on the long runs, matching Vettel's pace as they practised for the first stint of the race in the final part of the session.
- Predict your Russian GP qualifying top 3
- Raikkonen out-performs Vettel & Hamilton in P1
- Russian GP: Boring? Predictable? Maybe not this year
The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and sixth but 1.4 seconds off Vettel's pace, and the Dutchman ground to a halt with an engine problem midway through the session.
It was another difficult day for McLaren-Honda. Stoffel Vandoorne suffered an engine problem at the end of the first session which required a change of power-unit.
That has resulted in the Belgian receiving a 15-place grid penalty because he has already used too many of the six constituent parts of the engine. Vandoorne is now on his fifth turbocharger and fifth MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo, when only four changes are permitted in the entire 20-round season.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso was 12th quickest, 2.6 seconds slower than Vettel.
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton struggled through both practice sessions
Sebastian Vettel leads Lewis Hamilton by seven points in the drivers' standings after three races
A giant Russian nesting doll
"I don't have any brakes." Haas' Romain Grosjean was not pleased with his car in second practice
Jazzy head gear for local boy Daniil Kvyat
Swami
Swami
Telly Talk Supreme
Sebastian Vettel on Russian GP pole position as Ferrari lock out front row
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39756778
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Russian Grand Prix on the BBC
Dates: 28-30 Apr Venue: Sochi Autodrom
Coverage: Race live on BBC Radio 5 live. Live text commentary, leaderboard and imagery on BBC Sport website and app.
Sebastian Vettel headed Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari locked out the front row at the Russian Grand Prix.
Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth.
Hamilton is having a tricky weekend - he was more than 0.4secs down on his team-mate while less than 0.1secs separated Vettel, Raikkonen and Bottas.
Vettel's pole was the first for Ferrari since Singapore in September 2015. The last time the team took the front row was at the 2008 French Grand Prix.
Hamilton out of sorts
Hamilton was more than a second off the pace on his first run in final qualifying. He managed to find some time on his final lap but was still 0.478secs slower than his new team-mate.
Bottas has now out-qualified Hamilton for the second race in succession.
In Bahrain two weeks ago, the Finn owed his pole position partly to a number of mistakes by Hamilton on his final qualifying lap but in Russia his advantage over the three-time champion was earned on pure performance.
It was bad news for Hamilton, who heads into the race seven points behind Vettel in the championship and faces the very real prospect of losing a serious amount of ground before the start of the European season in Spain in two weeks' time.
Hamilton seemed lost - a long way behind his team-mate
Ferrari on fire
Ferrari have looked to have the edge on Mercedes all weekend around the Sochi Autodrome on the Black Sea Coast, but it was much closer in the end that it had looked as if it might be at one stage.
Vettel, who has won two of the first three races this season, pipped Raikkonen by 0.059secs with his final lap of the session, after the Finn surprisingly set the pace on his first lap in the top 10 shoot-out.
Bottas was just 0.036secs adrift of his fellow Finn but Hamilton has struggled through the two days so far, losing brakes, running wide and losing the rear end with regularity.
Mercedes had the edge on Ferrari on one-lap pace in the first three races of the season, but the Italian team have turned that around this weekend.
That's Ferrari's first front-row lock out since the French GP nine years ago - a race Felipe Massa won. Source: Forix
What they said
Vettel said: "We had a good start to the season. In qualifying Mercedes have been very strong. We are in front here. We managed to improve the car for this race. I am sure it will be close tomorrow. They had good pace on the long run but for now we are very pleased we are back."
The German added: "I had a good start to the session, was feeling reasonably comfortable and then in Q2 I lost a little bit the rhythm. In Q3 the first run was not really tidy but I got a good lap in the end.
"I knew it would be tight and that I would be the first one across the line. I was like: 'Let me know, let me know.' When I got the message I got it, I was over the moon. The car has been fantastic this weekend."
The race track is nestled between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea
Bottas, who was the fastest driver on the race-simulation runs in Friday practice, said: "We can clearly see Ferrari was quicker today. We were close in the end but not quite enough. All weekend they have had the upper hand. They have been able to extract much more from the ultra-soft tyre.
"As always it is tomorrow that really counts. Second row start here is not so bad. It is a pretty long run into Turn One."
Hamilton said: "I just wasn't quick enough today. Have to go back to the drawing board and try and figure out why. It was all the last sector, I was losing half a second [there].
"Tomorrow is still all to play for. I'm still up there in the mix.
"Ferrari did a great job. They look quick on race pace and my race runs weren't great yesterday, so it's going to be tough. But we'll give everything we've got.
"Sochi isn't the easiest track to follow on, but there are long straights which should offer the opportunity to move forward. That's our goal. I'm on the dirty side of the grid so I haven't done myself any favours off the start. But that was the best job I could do today. We've got a real race to look forward to."
Red Bull losing ground
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was best of the rest - but a massive 1.616secs off the pace. He headed Williams' Felipe Massa - whose team-mate Lance Stroll was a second slower in 12th place - the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.
The second Renault driver Jolyon Palmer had a difficult day, crashing out at the end of the first session while trying to make up the time to progress into the second session.
The Englishman will start 16th, one place behind McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who complained he was losing as much as 1.3 seconds on the main straight alone thanks to the lack of power of the Honda engine.
What, seriously?
Where do I sign? Three-time champion Niki Lauda defaces a Russian doll
Felipe Massa's doll gets into the spirit of the race
The Haas team pays tribute to Formula 4 driver Billy Monger, who had his legs amputated in an accident nearly two weeks ago
Coverage of Sunday's race is live on BBC Radio 5 live from 13:00 BST
Swami
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
- 29 Apr
- From the section Formula 1
- 182
Copy this link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39756778
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Russian Grand Prix on the BBC
Dates: 28-30 Apr Venue: Sochi Autodrom
Coverage: Race live on BBC Radio 5 live. Live text commentary, leaderboard and imagery on BBC Sport website and app.
Sebastian Vettel headed Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari locked out the front row at the Russian Grand Prix.
Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth.
Hamilton is having a tricky weekend - he was more than 0.4secs down on his team-mate while less than 0.1secs separated Vettel, Raikkonen and Bottas.
Vettel's pole was the first for Ferrari since Singapore in September 2015. The last time the team took the front row was at the 2008 French Grand Prix.
Hamilton out of sorts
Hamilton was more than a second off the pace on his first run in final qualifying. He managed to find some time on his final lap but was still 0.478secs slower than his new team-mate.
Bottas has now out-qualified Hamilton for the second race in succession.
In Bahrain two weeks ago, the Finn owed his pole position partly to a number of mistakes by Hamilton on his final qualifying lap but in Russia his advantage over the three-time champion was earned on pure performance.
It was bad news for Hamilton, who heads into the race seven points behind Vettel in the championship and faces the very real prospect of losing a serious amount of ground before the start of the European season in Spain in two weeks' time.
Hamilton seemed lost - a long way behind his team-mate
Ferrari on fire
Ferrari have looked to have the edge on Mercedes all weekend around the Sochi Autodrome on the Black Sea Coast, but it was much closer in the end that it had looked as if it might be at one stage.
Vettel, who has won two of the first three races this season, pipped Raikkonen by 0.059secs with his final lap of the session, after the Finn surprisingly set the pace on his first lap in the top 10 shoot-out.
Bottas was just 0.036secs adrift of his fellow Finn but Hamilton has struggled through the two days so far, losing brakes, running wide and losing the rear end with regularity.
Mercedes had the edge on Ferrari on one-lap pace in the first three races of the season, but the Italian team have turned that around this weekend.
That's Ferrari's first front-row lock out since the French GP nine years ago - a race Felipe Massa won. Source: Forix
What they said
Vettel said: "We had a good start to the season. In qualifying Mercedes have been very strong. We are in front here. We managed to improve the car for this race. I am sure it will be close tomorrow. They had good pace on the long run but for now we are very pleased we are back."
The German added: "I had a good start to the session, was feeling reasonably comfortable and then in Q2 I lost a little bit the rhythm. In Q3 the first run was not really tidy but I got a good lap in the end.
"I knew it would be tight and that I would be the first one across the line. I was like: 'Let me know, let me know.' When I got the message I got it, I was over the moon. The car has been fantastic this weekend."
The race track is nestled between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea
Bottas, who was the fastest driver on the race-simulation runs in Friday practice, said: "We can clearly see Ferrari was quicker today. We were close in the end but not quite enough. All weekend they have had the upper hand. They have been able to extract much more from the ultra-soft tyre.
"As always it is tomorrow that really counts. Second row start here is not so bad. It is a pretty long run into Turn One."
Hamilton said: "I just wasn't quick enough today. Have to go back to the drawing board and try and figure out why. It was all the last sector, I was losing half a second [there].
"Tomorrow is still all to play for. I'm still up there in the mix.
"Ferrari did a great job. They look quick on race pace and my race runs weren't great yesterday, so it's going to be tough. But we'll give everything we've got.
"Sochi isn't the easiest track to follow on, but there are long straights which should offer the opportunity to move forward. That's our goal. I'm on the dirty side of the grid so I haven't done myself any favours off the start. But that was the best job I could do today. We've got a real race to look forward to."
Red Bull losing ground
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was best of the rest - but a massive 1.616secs off the pace. He headed Williams' Felipe Massa - whose team-mate Lance Stroll was a second slower in 12th place - the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.
The second Renault driver Jolyon Palmer had a difficult day, crashing out at the end of the first session while trying to make up the time to progress into the second session.
The Englishman will start 16th, one place behind McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who complained he was losing as much as 1.3 seconds on the main straight alone thanks to the lack of power of the Honda engine.
What, seriously?
Where do I sign? Three-time champion Niki Lauda defaces a Russian doll
Felipe Massa's doll gets into the spirit of the race
The Haas team pays tribute to Formula 4 driver Billy Monger, who had his legs amputated in an accident nearly two weeks ago
Coverage of Sunday's race is live on BBC Radio 5 live from 13:00 BST
Swami
Swami
Telly Talk Supreme
Valtteri Bottas wins as Lewis Hamilton struggles in Russia
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39763100
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Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas secured his maiden Formula 1 victory after holding off a late charge from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the Russian Grand Prix.
Bottas jumped Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the start from his third position on the grid and dominated the race until the closing stages, when Vettel used a late pit stop to close up and pressure the Finn.
The four-time champion closed up to within a second and a half of Bottas with 10 laps to go but the Finn responded and kept Vettel at arm's length for the rest of the race.
Bottas' team-mate Lewis Hamilton capped a difficult weekend with a race to forget and finished only fourth behind Raikkonen.
New ice age: "I want less talking," Finn Bottas coolly said over team radio with eight laps to go
Hamilton slipped to 13 points behind Vettel in the championship, with Bottas now only 10 adrift of the British three-time champion.
But Hamilton had reason to be grateful for Bottas' accomplished performance - without it, Vettel's lead would be 20 points and edging towards a clear win.
The race confirmed Ferrari's position as a match for Mercedes and the see-saw nature of the close competition between the two teams in what is promising to be a very tightly contested title fight.
Game over: Jolyon Palmer capped a miserable weekend, crashing with Romain Grosjean on the first lap
Bottas' peach of a start
Ferrari took their first front-row lock-out for nine years on Saturday as Mercedes struggled to get the best out the ultra-soft tyres on a single qualifying lap.
Much depended on the start in a race that was going to feature just a single pit stop for the front-runners, and Bottas made a flier.
The Finn made a peach of a getaway, quickly drawing alongside Vettel on the outside on the long run down to the first chicane and out-braking the Ferrari around the outside.
From there, Bottas edged away into the distance, building a five-second lead by lap 19.
Twenty years ago Finland's most successful F1 driver Mika Hakkinen won his first race for McLaren in Spain. He went on to win 20 races, as has countryman Kimi Raikkonen. Source: Forix
Holding off Ferrari
Vettel brought the gap down to three seconds as Bottas negotiated traffic in the next eight laps before the Mercedes driver made his pit stop on lap 27, and Ferrari decided to use a different strategy to put Vettel back in the fight.
The German waited another seven laps before his stop on lap 34, the idea being to have fresher tyres on which he could push harder and hopefully pressure Bottas over the remaining 18 laps.
Vettel rejoined just under five seconds behind the Mercedes and immediately began to eat into the gap.
A mistake by Bottas on lap 38, running wide at Turn 13 and flat-spotting his right-front tyre, reduced the gap to 2.8secs.
With two laps to go, Vettel was less than a second behind and had the use of the DRS overtaking aid, but Bottas, negotiating traffic, also had use of the DRS on the main straight at the start of the last lap and had just enough pace to hold him off.
Gallery: Guys and dolls - what happened in Russia
Hamilton all at sea
While his team-mate took a well-deserved win in only his fourth race for Mercedes since replacing world champion Nico Rosberg, Hamilton was largely anonymous.
He, too, made a good start, but he had to back out of an attempt to sneak past Raikkonen at the first corner and stayed fourth on the first lap.
He was immediately in trouble with high temperatures in his car - a problem that was also afflicting Bottas, who was able to manage it better because he was not following another car.
Hamilton tracked Raikkonen within two or three seconds for most of the first stint but lost ground due to a later pit stop and trailed in more than 20 seconds behind the Ferrari.
Hamilton seemed lost this weekend - a long way behind his usual performance level
A new low for McLaren
McLaren's troubled season hit a new nadir when Fernando Alonso retired on the formation lap with a lack of hybrid charge.
The two-time champion ground to a halt at the entry to the pits as he tried to get the car back to the garage.
Alonso has retired from all the races this season and said he was "sad", adding that the team needed to make progress fast with the Honda engine's recurring reliability problems.
The Spaniard is flying to the USA overnight to prepare for his first test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before his debut at the Indy 500 next month.
Alonso said: "Obviously frustrating - fourth race of the championship, four DNFs, this time we did not even make the start. That's sad but nothing we can do now.
"We come here, I drive as fast as I can, and hopefully the next one will be a little bit better."
Asked whether Honda's troubles were unacceptable, he said: "That is a question for the boss of the team and the McLaren Group. I am just a driver. I drive as fast as I can. I help the team but they have to look at the bigger picture."
Alonso begins a long, long walk to the paddock. And America - to prepare for the in Indy 500
Palmer's nightmare weekend
Jolyon Palmer's race lasted only a few hundred metres as his Renault was involved in a crash with Haas' Romain Grosjean at the first corner.
Grosjean was trying to pass on the inside and was a significant way alongside but Palmer turned in anyway, saying he had no room to move outside because of another car.
Grosjean bounced over the kerb and the two collided, a second impact sending them both spinning into retirement.
Each blamed the other but the stewards decided to take no action, ruling neither was predominantly to blame.
Driver of the day
Bottas. Crushed Hamilton all weekend, dominant in the first stint, unflappable under intense pressure from Vettel in the closing laps. An excellent first win
What's next?
Vettel has been saying for some time that starting the season well is one thing, but the key is to continue that way. That's a reference to the development race that will be even more intense than usual in the first season of a new set of regulations.
The Spanish Grand Prix on 12-14 May always marks the race where the teams bring their first big updates and this year will be no different. It's a track that provides a comprehensive test of a car's all-round capabilities and so closely matched are Mercedes and Ferrari that it is impossible to predict who will come out on top.
What they said
Valtteri Bottas, P1: "It's been quite a while, more than 80 races, but worth the wait, well worth the learning curve.
"This strange opportunity came to me over the winter and I have to thank the team for making this possible."
Sebastian Vettel, P2: "I tried everything to catch Valtteri. I thought there would be an opportunity on the back straight.
"I thought there was an opportunity but I was not sure what Felipe Massa would do and ended up losing out."
Kimi Raikkonen, third: "Unfortunately today we could only get third place but we'll try for better next time.
"I have had a little bit of a rough start to the season - far from ideal - but this week has been a step forward, but we still only finished third."
The race track is nestled between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea
Felipe Massa's doll gets into the spirit of the race
'Erm, I don't actually run F1 any more, Vlad.' Bernie Ecclestone has handed over control of F1 to the Liberty Media Group, headed by Chase Carey, left
The Haas team pays tribute to Formula 4 driver Billy Monger, who had his legs amputated in an accident nearly two weeks ago
Swami
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
- 2 hours ago
- From the section Formula 1
- 125
Copy this link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39763100
Read more about sharing.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas secured his maiden Formula 1 victory after holding off a late charge from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the Russian Grand Prix.
Bottas jumped Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the start from his third position on the grid and dominated the race until the closing stages, when Vettel used a late pit stop to close up and pressure the Finn.
The four-time champion closed up to within a second and a half of Bottas with 10 laps to go but the Finn responded and kept Vettel at arm's length for the rest of the race.
Bottas' team-mate Lewis Hamilton capped a difficult weekend with a race to forget and finished only fourth behind Raikkonen.
New ice age: "I want less talking," Finn Bottas coolly said over team radio with eight laps to go
Hamilton slipped to 13 points behind Vettel in the championship, with Bottas now only 10 adrift of the British three-time champion.
But Hamilton had reason to be grateful for Bottas' accomplished performance - without it, Vettel's lead would be 20 points and edging towards a clear win.
The race confirmed Ferrari's position as a match for Mercedes and the see-saw nature of the close competition between the two teams in what is promising to be a very tightly contested title fight.
Game over: Jolyon Palmer capped a miserable weekend, crashing with Romain Grosjean on the first lap
Bottas' peach of a start
Ferrari took their first front-row lock-out for nine years on Saturday as Mercedes struggled to get the best out the ultra-soft tyres on a single qualifying lap.
Much depended on the start in a race that was going to feature just a single pit stop for the front-runners, and Bottas made a flier.
The Finn made a peach of a getaway, quickly drawing alongside Vettel on the outside on the long run down to the first chicane and out-braking the Ferrari around the outside.
From there, Bottas edged away into the distance, building a five-second lead by lap 19.
Twenty years ago Finland's most successful F1 driver Mika Hakkinen won his first race for McLaren in Spain. He went on to win 20 races, as has countryman Kimi Raikkonen. Source: Forix
Holding off Ferrari
Vettel brought the gap down to three seconds as Bottas negotiated traffic in the next eight laps before the Mercedes driver made his pit stop on lap 27, and Ferrari decided to use a different strategy to put Vettel back in the fight.
The German waited another seven laps before his stop on lap 34, the idea being to have fresher tyres on which he could push harder and hopefully pressure Bottas over the remaining 18 laps.
Vettel rejoined just under five seconds behind the Mercedes and immediately began to eat into the gap.
A mistake by Bottas on lap 38, running wide at Turn 13 and flat-spotting his right-front tyre, reduced the gap to 2.8secs.
With two laps to go, Vettel was less than a second behind and had the use of the DRS overtaking aid, but Bottas, negotiating traffic, also had use of the DRS on the main straight at the start of the last lap and had just enough pace to hold him off.
Gallery: Guys and dolls - what happened in Russia
Hamilton all at sea
While his team-mate took a well-deserved win in only his fourth race for Mercedes since replacing world champion Nico Rosberg, Hamilton was largely anonymous.
He, too, made a good start, but he had to back out of an attempt to sneak past Raikkonen at the first corner and stayed fourth on the first lap.
He was immediately in trouble with high temperatures in his car - a problem that was also afflicting Bottas, who was able to manage it better because he was not following another car.
Hamilton tracked Raikkonen within two or three seconds for most of the first stint but lost ground due to a later pit stop and trailed in more than 20 seconds behind the Ferrari.
Hamilton seemed lost this weekend - a long way behind his usual performance level
A new low for McLaren
McLaren's troubled season hit a new nadir when Fernando Alonso retired on the formation lap with a lack of hybrid charge.
The two-time champion ground to a halt at the entry to the pits as he tried to get the car back to the garage.
Alonso has retired from all the races this season and said he was "sad", adding that the team needed to make progress fast with the Honda engine's recurring reliability problems.
The Spaniard is flying to the USA overnight to prepare for his first test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before his debut at the Indy 500 next month.
Alonso said: "Obviously frustrating - fourth race of the championship, four DNFs, this time we did not even make the start. That's sad but nothing we can do now.
"We come here, I drive as fast as I can, and hopefully the next one will be a little bit better."
Asked whether Honda's troubles were unacceptable, he said: "That is a question for the boss of the team and the McLaren Group. I am just a driver. I drive as fast as I can. I help the team but they have to look at the bigger picture."
Alonso begins a long, long walk to the paddock. And America - to prepare for the in Indy 500
Palmer's nightmare weekend
Jolyon Palmer's race lasted only a few hundred metres as his Renault was involved in a crash with Haas' Romain Grosjean at the first corner.
Grosjean was trying to pass on the inside and was a significant way alongside but Palmer turned in anyway, saying he had no room to move outside because of another car.
Grosjean bounced over the kerb and the two collided, a second impact sending them both spinning into retirement.
Each blamed the other but the stewards decided to take no action, ruling neither was predominantly to blame.
Driver of the day
Bottas. Crushed Hamilton all weekend, dominant in the first stint, unflappable under intense pressure from Vettel in the closing laps. An excellent first win
What's next?
Vettel has been saying for some time that starting the season well is one thing, but the key is to continue that way. That's a reference to the development race that will be even more intense than usual in the first season of a new set of regulations.
The Spanish Grand Prix on 12-14 May always marks the race where the teams bring their first big updates and this year will be no different. It's a track that provides a comprehensive test of a car's all-round capabilities and so closely matched are Mercedes and Ferrari that it is impossible to predict who will come out on top.
What they said
Valtteri Bottas, P1: "It's been quite a while, more than 80 races, but worth the wait, well worth the learning curve.
"This strange opportunity came to me over the winter and I have to thank the team for making this possible."
Sebastian Vettel, P2: "I tried everything to catch Valtteri. I thought there would be an opportunity on the back straight.
"I thought there was an opportunity but I was not sure what Felipe Massa would do and ended up losing out."
Kimi Raikkonen, third: "Unfortunately today we could only get third place but we'll try for better next time.
"I have had a little bit of a rough start to the season - far from ideal - but this week has been a step forward, but we still only finished third."
The race track is nestled between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea
Felipe Massa's doll gets into the spirit of the race
'Erm, I don't actually run F1 any more, Vlad.' Bernie Ecclestone has handed over control of F1 to the Liberty Media Group, headed by Chase Carey, left
The Haas team pays tribute to Formula 4 driver Billy Monger, who had his legs amputated in an accident nearly two weeks ago
Swami