Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas scored his second win of 2020 at the Russian Grand Prix, benefitting from a penalty for his pole-sitting teammate Lewis Hamilton that left the sixtime champion third at the flag, as Max Verstappen claimed Red Bull’s first-ever podium at Sochi in P2. Hamilton began the race on the back foot, after a pair of practice start infringements on his laps to the grid led to him being handed a 10s penalty mid-race, ruling him out of contention for the win, as he came home in P3.
Bottas, meanwhile, had passed Verstappen for second at the race start, before benefitting from Hamilton’s penalty to enjoy an untroubled run to the chequered flag for the ninth win of his career, at the venue where he scored his first back in 2017. It would have been an important confidence booster for Bottas, too, with Finn’s previous victory having come at the season-opening an Austrian Grand Prix back in July. Meanwhile, 23-time tennis Grand Slam champion Serena Williams has heaped praise on Hamilton, saying the reigning Formula 1 world champion is the “greatest drive of our generation” and that he would break German legend Michael Schumacher’s record.
“He is for me, the greatest driver our generation has seen and I am confident that he will break the record of Michael Schumacher,” she added.