As it happened: Russia 2014 - The race

• 11:30

  Hello there, F1 and fact fans. Are you looking for lap by lap coverage of the upcoming inaugural Russian Grand Prix? Then you've come to the right place!

• 11:31

  We're half an hour away from the start of the race, so the pit lane is just opening, cars are being released from the garage to head towards the grid. Mercedes sent their guys out first, keen to get this afternoon underway!

• 11:32

  It's a brand new track, the Sochi Autodrom, a mixture of the twisting turns of the Valencia Street Circuit and the anonymity of the Korean track. The long arc of turn three is fascinating though.

• 11:32

  Circuit Data

  Sochi Autodrom
  Local timezone	+04:00 GMT
  First race	2014
  Number of laps	53
  Circuit length	5.848km
  Race distance	309.732km
  Start offset	0.212km

• 11:33

  Mercedes have, quite predictably, locked out the front row of the grid here, but they almost found themselves pipped by Valtteri Bottas. The Williams driver was looking superbly fast on his final flying lap in qualifying but ran wide at the final corner after the tyres lost grip.

• 11:34

  

  Pirelli have brought the all-round compounds of medium and softs here. Drivers are expected to take a one-stop approach to the race, but there could be the odd two-stopper if the tyres degrade more than expected. There's also a high chance of a safety car, too.

• 11:35

  Three drivers took gearbox penalties this weekend, with Max Chilton, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg all dropping back five places. The full starting grid is available here. It was disappointing for Magnussen, as McLaren have shown good pace so far this weekend.

• 11:36

  Grid Position

  1	L Hamilton	Mercedes
  2	N Rosberg	Mercedes
  3	V Bottas	Williams
  4	J Button	McLaren
  5	D Kvyat	Toro Rosso
  6	D Ricciardo	Red Bull
  7	F Alonso	Ferrari
  8	K Räikkönen	Ferrari
  9	JE Vergne	Toro Rosso
  10	S Vettel	Red Bull

• 11:38

  

  Romain Grosjean starts 15th on the grid, after another tough Saturday. After the session he said: "The track surface is very smooth so we do have to work to get the tyres up to temperature and this only happens after quite a few laps."

• 11:39

  Sebastian Vettel dropped out of qualifying in Q2, initially securing 11th on the grid but promoted to 10th after Magnussen's penalty. The Red Bull team don't appear to have the edge in Russia, and have been down on pace through each of the sessions so far.

• 11:40

  Much of the attention is on Daniil Kvyat, however. The Russian driver has the added bonus of a home race, and that powered him on to fifth on the grid. An impressive result for the future Red Bull star, and his best qualifying performance to date.

• 11:47

  

  A minute's silence for Jules Bianchi.

• 11:49

  The momentum seems to have swung in Lewis Hamilton's direction recently, with the Brit taking the lead in the championship, and upping his winning tally. Rosberg needs to watch out, Ricciardo is catching him up on this table!

  2014 Race Wins

  Pos	Driver	Total
  1	L Hamilton	8
  2	N Rosberg	4
  3	D Ricciardo	3

• 11:50

  All the drivers waited at the front of the grid for the national anthems as well. There's talk of that being something that they're asked to do each weekend. It's not going to be comfortable for the drivers who are trying to focus on the race at that point.

• 11:54

  

  F1 drivers closed circle of support for Jules.

• 11:55

  

  22°C
  Track	28°C
  Humidity	57%
  Wind speed	1.1mps

• 11:56

  Felipe Massa was another driver struggling in qualifying, he had a fuel pressure problem that hindered his running, and has left him down in 18th on the grid.

• 11:56

  The sun is shining, skies are blue. Drivers are in the cars, with umbrellas being held over their heads to ward off the rays.

• 12:00

  The front runners all have to start the race on the tyres they qualified with. So it's softs all the way down to Magnussen in 11th. Mediums on board for Pérez, Sutil, Hülkenberg, Massa, Kobayashi, Chilton and Maldonado.

• 12:00

  Lewis Hamilton leads them away for the formation lap. Final chance to get a feel for track conditions before the racing begins.

• 12:03

  It's a relatively fast formation lap from Hamilton, but a lengthy lap with lots of corners. They round the final turn to make their way back to the grid, slowing right up to form up in position.

• 12:04

  Race started.

• 12:04 Lap 1

  Wheel spin off the line for Hamilton but he gets away in the lead. Rosberg sticks with him and pulls alongside down the following straight.

• 12:04 Lap 1

  He locks up massively in the corner and gets the lead, but then runs wide at turn two. He keeps the position but may have to give it back.

• 12:04 Lap 1

  Lots of the cars actually ran wide at that corner, just as in the GP2 race yesterday.

• 12:05 Lap 1

  Rosberg is instructed to give the position back but he tells his crew he'll have to box due to the vibrations from that epic lockup.

• 12:06 Lap 2

  And there he goes, Rosberg pits from the lead. Hamilton back in front now, with Bottas and Button behind.

• 12:06 Lap 2

  Felipe Massa has also pitted from way down in 17th place.

• 12:07 Lap 2

  Kvyat is dropping back in the Toro Rosso, he's got both the Red Bull drivers in front of him now. Vettel has managed to get ahead of teammate Ricciardo.

• 12:07 Lap 3

  Team radio to/from Rosberg: "What's the strategy now?"

  "We think we need to go to the end on these tyres."

  Hahahaha.

• 12:08 Lap 3

  DRS enabled.

• 12:09 Lap 3

  Vergne is up in sixth place, impressive from the Toro Rosso driver, particularly with Kvyat down in 9th.

• 12:11 Lap 4

  Replays show Kvyat had a bad start, whilst so many drivers ran wide at that turn two, it's no surprise to see the order mixed up as it is.

• 12:11 Lap 5

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	0	L Hamilton	0
  2	+1	V Bottas	0
  3	+1	J Button	0
  4	+3	F Alonso	0
  5	+6	K Magnussen	0

• 12:12 Lap 5

  Max Chilton has come in for a quick pit stop as well, he was running last anyway and remains in that position.

• 12:14 Lap 6

  Vettel makes a small mistake, running wide, which allows Ricciardo to pull alongside him. He can't quite make it stick, but that's a heck of a battle between teammates for 6th place.

• 12:15 Lap 6

  One to Watch

  S Vettel	vs.	D Ricciardo
  6th	+0.576s	7th

• 12:16 Lap 6

  Team radio from Daniel Ricciardo: "Losing a lot of time."

  Hint, hint.

• 12:17 Lap 8

  Felipe Massa sits in 18th, with one pit stop under his belt. He sweeps past Adrian Sutil to take 17th and now sits behind Nico Rosberg.

• 12:18 Lap 9

  Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race so far, a 1:43.8. Rosberg, telling his team this is the kind of lap time he can do if he's to save his tyres, is a 1:45.5.

• 12:19 Lap 9

  It's not just Ricciardo hoping to get past Vettel. There's a train of cars behind the Red Bull with Ricciardo, Vergne, Räikkönen and Kvyat within four seconds of him.

• 12:22 Lap 11

  Max Chilton returns to the pit lane again, they're not doing a tyre change here so it could be a problem with the Marussia car.

• 12:22 Lap 11

  Tweet from @Marussia_F1Team: Lap 10/53 | Max is heading in with concerns of a suspension problem.

• 12:23 Lap 11

  Battle for 6th

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  6	S Vettel	-
  7	D Ricciardo	+2.063
  8	JE Vergne	+0.602
  9	K Räikkönen	+0.811
  10	D Kvyat	+0.648

• 12:23 Lap 12

  Bottas is keeping up with race leader Lewis Hamilton at the moment, just three seconds between them. Button is a further 10 seconds down the road.

• 12:24 Lap 12

  Daniel Ricciardo gives up the chase of his teammate and heads in for a pit stop, taking on the harder compound so he could one-stop from here if he wanted to.

• 12:24 Lap 12

  Daniel Ricciardo has rejoined in 18th place, that's way down the order!

• 12:25 Lap 13

  Chilton has officially retired from the race, he climbs out of the car in the garage and has a good look at the rear of the car.

• 12:25 Lap 13

  Rosberg dispatches Romain Grosjean for 13th place, he's trying to make his way back up the order.

• 12:25 Lap 13

  Adrian Sutil pits from the rear of the field.

• 12:27 Lap 14

  Massa is sticking with Rosberg as he rises through the field. They've both used one of each compound but in opposite order. Rosberg started on softs and now runs on the medium compound, with Massa on the softs.

• 12:29 Lap 15

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:43.951
  2nd	BOT	+4.0
  3rd	BUT	+15.7
  4th	ALO	+18.6
  5th	MAG	+23.7

• 12:30 Lap 15

  Rreplays show Rosberg passing Gutiérrez easily for 11th place. He's almost back into the points after that early pit stop.

• 12:30 Lap 16

  Massa passes Gutiérrez, continuing his path following Rosberg. However, he locks up slightly as he gets in front and allows the Sauber to keep in touch for a little longer than is comfortable.

• 12:31 Lap 16

  Tweet from @CaterhamF1: After 15 laps @Ericsson_Marcus is comfortably in P17 - "you're doing mega, keep pushing" his engineer says over the radio

• 12:32 Lap 17

  Not much happening on track now, it's a calm moment before the next burst of pit stops no doubt.

• 12:34 Lap 17

  Button gives an update on his tyres. "Still the same," he says, sounding quite chirpy from third on the grid.

• 12:35 Lap 18

  Max Chilton: "We just had a slight issue coming into turn one on that last lap. Something wasn’t quite right, so I had to bring the car back. Luckily, I got it back so we’re just looking at it now to see what happened.

  "It’s been a very, very difficult week for the team and everyone in the F1 family. It hasn’t been easy but I think it’s been a good job to get here and get running. On the grid, all the drivers looked like they were struggling a bit. Hopefully they’ll put on a good show this afternoon for Jules. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t finish the race."

• 12:36 Lap 19

  Rosberg now told: "Just pick up the pace a little, to keep Button outside your pit stop window." Not sure what that means, but it might suggest the Mercedes will stop again before race end.

• 12:38 Lap 20

  Nico Rosberg is hunting down Sergio Pérez for tenth place. Half a second between the pair, as Rosberg brakes late into turn two, keeps it clean this time, and takes the position.

• 12:39 Lap 20

  Tweet from @pirellisport: Most drivers on soft tyres. Key to strategy all be staying on softs for as long as possible. Around 1.2s faster than medium

• 12:39 Lap 21

  Hamilton gives the pit wall an update on how things are going, and essentially says "it's all good."

• 12:40 Lap 21

  Kvyat dives into the pit lane from ninth place. A reasonable stop from the Toro Rosso crew, slightly slower than the average - 4.2 seconds - and he rejoins in 15th.

• 12:41 Lap 22

  It's Massa's turn to try and get past Pérez. The Williams isn't as close to the Force India yet, and can't copy the move into turn two.

• 12:42 Lap 22

  Team radio from Nico Rosberg: "Feeling quite a lot of degradation."

• 12:43 Lap 23

  Jenson Button pits from third, heading into the pit box for a change of tyres, medium compounds go on and off he goes. 2.8 second stop for the McLaren crew. He rejoins in 9th.

• 12:45 Lap 24

  Kimi Räikkönen was looking for a way past Jean-Éric Vergne, but the Toro Rosso driver heads into the pit lane. Sixth place on the way in, a quick stop, and 14th place on the way out, ahead of teammate Daniil Kvyat.

• 12:47 Lap 26

  Kamui Kobayashi has been in the pits for a couple of laps now, it looks like he might be out of the race.

• 12:49 Lap 27

  Fernando Alonso comes in for his first, perhaps only stop. It's a slow stop, a bit of a problem as he doesn't pull away once the mechanics clear.

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	F Alonso
  Team	Ferrari
  Pit lane	35.112s
  Stopped	7.4s

• 12:49 Lap 27

  Valtteri Bottas pits from second place, with Kevin Magnussen following him in from third.

• 12:50 Lap 27

  Bottas was slightly off his pit stop lines, so it was a medium pace stop from the Williams crew. The Finn rejoins in third place, with Vettel moving up to second, and Rosberg settling in fourth.

• 12:50 Lap 27

  It's all go in the pit lane as Kimi Räikkönen stops, and then Lewis Hamilton gets the call to "box, box."

• 12:51 Lap 28

  It's a very tight pit entry, as Hamilton winds his way round carefully. Super stop by the Mercedes crew and he's on his way again without issue.

• 12:51 Lap 28

  Tweet from @clubforce: A clean stop for Checo, who also receives a set of soft tyres for his second stint of the race!

• 12:52 Lap 28

  Hamilton rejoins in the lead, with Sebastian Vettel in second - he hasn't stopped yet. Gutiérrez and Ericsson are the only other drivers not to have stopped.

• 12:52 Lap 28

  Felipe Massa comes into the pit lane for his second stop of the day, after an early stop. That puts pay to him following Nico Rosberg around.

• 12:53 Lap 29

  Brief yellow flags as Adrian Sutil spins after trying to pass Romain Grosjean. He gets it going without hitting anything.

• 12:55 Lap 30

  Tweet from @CaterhamF1: Kamui's race has ended. We've had to bring him in as telemetry suggested it wasn't safe for him to stay out. Need to investigate further

• 12:55 Lap 30

  Vettel is warned to respect the beeps as they're concerned about his fuel consumption at this point in the race.

• 12:56 Lap 31

  Incident involving Romain Grosjean and Adrian Sutil under investigation - causing a collision.

• 12:57 Lap 31

  Sebastian Vettel finally comes in for his one stop. It's just Gutiérrez left out on track still on the tyres he started on.

• 12:57 Lap 31

  Rosberg attempts to pass Bottas, and the Williams is forced to run wide off track. Nico takes the position, now sitting in second place.

• 12:57 Lap 31

  Vettel rejoined the action in 8th place, he's back behind Daniel Ricciardo now.

• 12:59 Lap 32

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	0	L Hamilton	1
  2	0	N Rosberg	1
  3	0	V Bottas	1
  4	0	J Button	1
  5	+6	K Magnussen	1

• 13:00 Lap 33

  5 second stop/go penalty for Romain Grosjean - causing a collision.

• 13:01 Lap 33

  Tweet from @WilliamsRacing: ROS fights his way ahead of Valtteri for P2 but with 30 lap old tyres we expect to see more degradation for him in the later stages

• 13:01 Lap 33

  Rosberg sets the fastest lap of the race so far, and reports over the radio that the tyres are coming back to him a little bit.

• 13:04 Lap 35

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:42.976
  2nd	ROS	+19.4
  3rd	BOT	+23.1
  4th	BUT	+26.3
  5th	MAG	+34.7

• 13:05 Lap 36

  Sergio Pérez muscles his way past Daniil Kvyat, and Felipe Massa also took the opportunity to get past. Poor Kvyat loses two places in two corners.

• 13:07 Lap 37

  On 34 lap old tyres, Rosberg sets the fastest lap of the race. Then goes and betters it next time round. Weird race!

• 13:10 Lap 39

  Kvyat reports a vibration problem, runs wide off track, and then comes into the pits.

• 13:12 Lap 40

  Gutiérrez STILL hasn't stopped yet. He's losing places now, but it's still an impressive run.

• 13:12 Lap 40

  Rosberg, when asked if he can get to the end of the race on these tyres. "Yes, easy. Well not easy, but they're feeling good now."

• 13:14 Lap 41

  And Esteban Gutiérrez finally comes into the pitlane for a fresh set of tyres. I thought perhaps he was running some kind of magical compound there!

• 13:15 Lap 42

  Tweet from @CaterhamF1: The reason for @kamui_kobayashi's retirement was that his brakes were overheating and it was too dangerous for him to carry on racing

• 13:16 Lap 42

  Gutiérrez is now towards the back of the field, and gets waved blue flags as the leaders make their way through. He's 14th, with Kvyat, Sutil, Grojean, Maldonado and Ericsson behind him.

• 13:16 Lap 42

  One to Watch

  F Alonso	vs.	D Ricciardo
  6th	+0.536s	7th

• 13:21 Lap 45

  Replays show a bit of a lockup for Lewis Hamilton. That's how exciting this race is!

• 13:22 Lap 46

  Pérez is given some instructions because they are concerned about fuel. "This is desperate," his engineer tells him.

• 13:22 Lap 46

  Marcus Ericsson has pitted for the second time. He's currently last.

• 13:24 Lap 47

  Tweet from @clubforce: 7 laps to go in this Russian GP. Checo in P10 defending the last point, Nico in P12.

• 13:27 Lap 49

  Five laps to go.

• 13:29 Lap 50

  Tweet from @PhilDuncanF1: Mercedes to win the Constructors' Championship with three races to spare. Hamilton will lead Rosberg by 17 points in title battle

• 13:30 Lap 50

  Fastest lap for third place Valtteri Bottas, a 1:41.544.

• 13:34 Lap 53

  Final lap.

• 13:34 Lap 53

  It's a 15 second gap before Nico Rosberg comes round to start his final lap. Domination, as ever!

• 13:36

  Lewis Hamilton wins the Russian Grand Prix!

• 13:36

  Rosberg finishes second, to secure the 2014 constructor's championship for Mercedes.

• 13:36

  Bottas crosses the line for third, and sets the fastest lap of the race as well.

• 13:37

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver	Stops
  1	0	L Hamilton	1
  2	0	N Rosberg	1
  3	0	V Bottas	1
  4	0	J Button	1
  5	+6	K Magnussen	1
  6	+1	F Alonso	1
  7	-1	D Ricciardo	1
  8	+2	S Vettel	1
  9	-1	K Räikkönen	1
  10	+2	S Pérez	1

• 13:38

  Team radio from Nico Rosberg: "Sorry guys that was very unnecessary. But what an unbelievable car, to come back from that."

• 13:38

  Race Winner

  Driver	L Hamilton
  Team	Mercedes
  Race time	1:31:50.744
  Race distance	309.745km
  Average speed	202.346km/h

• 13:39

  Hamilton, of course, extends his championship lead again. His team congratulate him for a cool, calm and composed victory today, and he in turn congratulates them for the team title.

• 13:39

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:43.396
  2nd	ROS	+13.6
  3rd	BOT	+17.4
  4th	BUT	+30.2
  5th	MAG	+53.6

• 13:40

  Lots of clapping and cheers for Hamilton as he dashes to the weigh-in pre-podium.

• 13:40

  Tweet from @WilliamsRacing: We've also extended our points lead over Ferrari for 3rd in Constructors to 28 points

• 13:41

  Tweet from @McLarenF1: Rock solid drives from our boys to secure P4 for Jenson and P5 for Kevin. Super consistent. Nice work, guys.

• 13:42

  Awkward scenes in the green room, as Vladimir Putin arrives and asks some questions via a translator, but Rosberg and Hamilton continue to ignore each other at the same time.

• 13:43

  Retirements

  Driver	Reason	Lap
  M Chilton	Suspension	10
  K Kobayashi	Brakes	22

• 13:44

  Championship Standings

  Pos	Driver	Pts
  1	L Hamilton	291
  2	N Rosberg	274
  3	D Ricciardo	199
  4	V Bottas	145
  5	S Vettel	143

• 13:44

  Championship Standings

  Pos	Team	Pts
  1	Mercedes	565
  2	Red Bull	342
  3	Williams	216
  4	Ferrari	188
  5	McLaren	143

• 13:45

  The three make their way to the podium and the national anthems play out, as beneath them the crowds pour in for a busy track invasion.

• 13:47

  Putin hands out the trophies to Lewis Hamilton, and Mercedes representative Paddy Lowe.

• 13:52

  Podium quotes - Lewis Hamilton: "I’m so happy to be here, we’ve had an amazing week. The fans and the organisers, Russia’s been so good to me and the team. I’m looking forward to coming here many, many times. Nico did a great job to recover from his mistake earlier on today, the car was performing really well. We did a great job for the team, it’s history for us. I feel very proud to be part of it."

• 13:52

  Podium quotes - Nico Rosberg: "It was a great strategy from the team. Our car is just unbelievable, it’s so good. Everyone has done such a good job building this car. Half of me is disappointed I messed up today, but the other half is really happy because everyone in the team deserves this so much. For them, this is the most important title in the year. I can smile a bit because I’m happy for everyone to achieve that."

• 13:53

  Podium quotes -Valtteri Bottas: "I need to be happy for us as a team, what we’ve been doing since last year is amazing. Again on the podium, good amount of points. We were today, best of the rest. Unfortunately Mercedes is still quite a bit ahead but we did the best we could from where we started, so we need to be happy as a team."

• 13:57

  That about wraps things up for the FBFB this weekend. It wasn't the best race ever. Okay, no, it was terrible, but hey, we have a three week break now before the US Grand Prix.

• 13:58

  Great weekend for Williams, solidifying their third position. Also McLaren did a great job with the Mercedes engine powering them to a strong result.

• 13:58

  Less good for home favourite Daniil Kvyat who rapidly dropped out of the running. And for Max Chilton, who saw off a difficult week with a DNF.

• 13:58

  Now time for a brief rest and recuperation period before the final three race run to the end of the season. I'll be back for the US GP, I hope you'll join me then! Thanks for reading, fact fans!