The 2014 Russian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix; ) was a Formula One motor race held on 12 October 2014. The fifty-three lap race was held at the Sochi Autodrom, a brand new circuit built on the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
The race was the sixteenth round of the 2014 season, following on from the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka one week previously, and preceding the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. The race marked the first time that the Russian Grand Prix had been held in a century, and was also the first time the Russian Grand Prix was run as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the championship was formed in .
Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes won the race after starting from pole position and leading every lap. His teammate Nico Rosberg finished second, after working his way up from the back of field after having to make an unscheduled pit stop on the first lap. Williams's Valtteri Bottas completed the podium, having set the fastest lap—and a new lap record—on the final lap of the race. Following Jules Bianchi's serious accident in the Japanese Grand Prix, Marussia entered a single car for Max Chilton, leaving the grid with twenty-one cars. The race ultimately proved to be Marussia's last of the season, as the team went into administration ahead of the next race in the United States.
The result secured the World Constructors' Championship for Mercedes with three races remaining in the season, while Hamilton extended his World Drivers' Championship lead over Rosberg to seventeen points. Bottas's podium allowed him to overtake Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' standings.
Background
Preparations
With the circuit being built on the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee voiced concerns that construction would interrupt preparations for the Olympics, and so were given the power to postpone the inaugural Russian Grand Prix until the 2015 season if preparations for the race interfered with the Winter Olympics. However, the Olympic Games started without interruption, and the IOC did not exercise their power. FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting inspected the circuit in the week before the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix and gave it the FIA's final seal of approval, allowing the race to go ahead.
In September 2014, the circuit hosted a round of the Russian Touring Car Championship as preparation for the Grand Prix.
Controversy
Following the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014 and amid allegations of Russian involvement in the incident and the Russian military intervention in the country, there were calls from the British Conservative Party for Formula One to abandon the race as part of sanctions placed on the Russian government, as the race was established with financial support from the government. Similar suggestions were made from British and German parliamentarians over Russia's hosting of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
When responding to questions about the race—and humanitarian concerns over the revival of the European Grand Prix in Azerbaijan given Azerbaijan's human rights record—Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner refused to offer any kind of judgement, pointing out that it was the responsibility of the FIA to monitor the situation and act accordingly; a position supported by Mercedes director Toto Wolff. Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of the sport's commercial rights holder, publicly stated that he had "no doubts" about the race taking place in the wake of the crash, and distanced the sport from ongoing political debates. With Russia facing increased economic sanctions from the European Union and United States, deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak noted that the Grand Prix would not be affected in the event such sanctions were implemented, and the race went ahead as scheduled. Both Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Kozak were in attendance, with Putin presenting the race winner's trophy.
Support events
The GP2 and GP3 Series—a pair of feeder championships for drivers preparing for Formula One—also made their début at the circuit, racing in support of the Grand Prix as the penultimate round of the 2014 GP2 and GP3 championships.
Report
Pre-event
Marussia entry Marussia driver Jules Bianchi suffered serious head injuries at the Japanese Grand Prix when he crashed into a tractor trying to recover Adrian Sutil's Sauber under yellow-flag conditions, ruling him out of the Russian Grand Prix. Per FIA regulations, the team entered two cars, with Alexander Rossi, their testing and reserve driver, being named as Bianchi's replacement for the event. However, before Friday's practice sessions and with FIA approval, the team opted not to run the second Marussia MR03 car and Max Chilton was their sole representative, leaving the grid with twenty-one cars. As a sign of respect to Bianchi and his family, the team built up and placed his car in his side of the garage and had his livery placed on the walls for the duration of the weekend.
Tributes to Jules Bianchi There were several tributes at this Grand Prix to show support for Bianchi: Marussia adopted a "#JB17" livery on the cockpit sides of its sole participating car; Drivers wore a sticker on their helmets saying " #17", and held a one-minute silence just before the race.
Penalties Pastor Maldonado incurred a ten-place penalty at the Japanese Grand Prix for exceeding his quota of five engine components for the season. However, as he qualified seventeenth, he was unable to take the full penalty as doing so would move him past twenty-second and last place on the grid. Under new rules introduced for the 2014 season, the remainder of the penalty was carried over to the Russian Grand Prix, automatically giving him a five-place penalty.
Tyres Tyre supplier Pirelli announced that they would be providing teams with their medium-compound tyre as a "prime" tyre and the soft-compound as the "option" tyre for the Grand Prix to cope with the brand-new surface and to tolerate the high lateral loads placed on the tyre, particularly through turn 4, an elongated constant-radius corner with estimated speeds of that stands out as the longest corner on the 2014 Formula One calendar.
Drag reduction system Two drag reduction system (DRS) zones were introduced for the race. The detection point for the first was located on the entry to turn 1, with the activation zone placed on the apex of the corner. The second detection point was positioned along the circuit's back straight, with the activation zone encompassing turns 12 and 13.
Free practice In accordance with the regulations, three free practice sessions were held. Two one and a half-hour sessions on Friday and another one-hour session on Saturday morning. Per the regulations the teams were allowed to replace one of their regular drivers with a test and reserve driver during the first two sessions. Mercedes's Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in the first free practice session, seven hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, and two tenths of a second faster than McLaren's Jenson Button. Elsewhere, Williams's Valtteri Bottas carried out limited running after the tyre blankets designed to keep his tyres at the optimal operating temperature were found to have failed, damaging his tyres. Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin made his Formula One début, driving for Sauber in the place of Esteban Gutiérrez. He finished the session seventeenth overall, two and a half seconds slower than Rosberg and four tenths of a second behind Sauber teammate Adrian Sutil. Roberto Merhi also took part, driving in the place of Caterham's Kamui Kobayashi in his third appearance of the season for the team.
Hamilton led the way in the second free practice session, finishing eight tenths of a second ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Rosberg finished fourth, though he made a mistake on his final flying lap. Hamilton was again fastest in the third practice session, three tenths of a second quicker than Rosberg, with Bottas in third. Several drivers encountered trouble whilst simulating a qualifying lap, most notably Magnussen, who damaged his suspension after running wide over a kerb; and Hamilton, who spun at the penultimate corner, narrowly avoiding the wall. Pastor Maldonado was unable to set a lap time after his energy recovery system failed. Aided by practice and qualifying sessions from the GP2 and GP3 Series support categories, the track evolved to the point where drivers were setting lap times three and a half seconds quicker ahead of qualifying than they had been at the start of the weekend.
Following the first day's running, officials made several changes to the circuit, including the installation of speed bumps in the turn 2–3 run-off area to discourage drivers from deliberately running wide to carry more speed into turn 4, a practice that had been observed during the free practice and qualifying sessions for the GP2 and GP3 races. The pit lane speed was also revised from to to address concerns over the narrow pit entry and its tight corners.
Qualifying
Normally qualifying consists of three parts, 18, 15 and 12 minutes in length respectively, with six drivers eliminated from competing after each of the first two sessions. However, with Marussia's permission to run a single car for the race, the qualifying procedure was revised, with five drivers—instead of the usual six—eliminated at the end of the first part of qualifying (Q1).
Lewis Hamilton topped the first period, going under 1:39.000 for the first time all weekend. Nico Rosberg was a close second, with Valtteri Bottas the only other driver within a second of Hamilton's lap time. Marcus Ericsson was eliminated in seventeenth place, once again out-qualifying teammate Kamui Kobayashi, who finished nineteenth. After struggling with another engine fault, Pastor Maldonado could only set a time good enough for twentieth, out-qualifying the sole Marussia of Max Chilton. Williams driver Felipe Massa proved to be a shock elimination, struggling with a fuel flow issue that left him down on power; he was recorded going through the speed trap on the approach to turn 2 some slower than Bottas, the fastest driver through the speed trap, and qualified eighteenth for his first Q1 elimination since the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton, Rosberg and Bottas once again led the way in Q2, which saw several drivers in a close fight to avoid elimination. Having struggled with a lack of pace over the course of the weekend, Sebastian Vettel missed out on a Q3 berth by a tenth of a second. He was followed by the Force Indias of Nico Hülkenberg in twelfth and Sergio Pérez in thirteenth, while Esteban Gutiérrez out-qualified Adrian Sutil to give the Saubers fourteenth and fifteenth. Romain Grosjean was the final driver eliminated in Q2 despite having improved upon his Q1 time.