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Russian Grand Prix: Mercedes Takes the Constructors' Championship

Sunday at the Sochi Autodrom was a walk in the park for the boys over at Mercedes AMG Petronas, but not for a Nico Rosberg that drove the wheels off his Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid single seater to make up valuable positions lost on the starting lap.
Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas single seater 1 photo
Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas
Due to a way too ambitious braking maneuver into the first corner of the first lap where he tried to overtake teammate Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg was penalized with a drive through penalty and came back on position 20. Nevertheless, the German driver nursed his tires and still managed to take second place at the end, behind Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.

With this one-two win at the Russian Grand Prix, Mercedes AMG Petronas snatches the coveted first place in the Constructors' Championship with three races still to go. Mere seconds behind Nico, Valtteri Bottas grabbed third place for Williams Mercedes, while fourth was secured by the most experienced driver on the grid – McLaren Mercedes' Jenson Button.

Kevin Magnussen (McLaren Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Scuderia Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault), Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (Force India Mercedes) grabbed points from 5th to 10th place, but the biggest loser of this GP is Toro Rosso Renault's Daniil Kvyat, a young Russian driver that started 5th and finished 14th due to a couple of big mistakes done while under pressure.

To boot, he missed a place in the points at his home Grand Prix and with a bloke called Vladimir Putin sitting right next to Bernie Ecclestone in the stands. With three GPs still to go (United States, Brazil and Abu Dhabi), we expect Nico Rosberg to be more gung-ho in order to close in on Hamilton's 17-point lead.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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