Rosberg extends winning streak in Russia

Nico Rosberg further increased his championship lead with a comfortable lights-to-flag drive to victory in an incident packed Russian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver made no mistakes from pole position while chaos ensued on the opening lap as Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat made contact with Sebastian Vettel twice, which resulted in the Ferrari hitting the barriers at Turn 3.

Rosberg surged into a comfortable lead once racing resumed after a brief Safety Car period, which he maintained until the chequered flag.

A fighting drive from Lewis Hamilton saw the Mercedes driver finish second, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen third.

Rosberg’s fourth consecutive win of 2016 has seen the German open up a 43 point lead in the championship standings.

Reigning world champion Hamilton capitalised on the opening lap carnage to jump from 10th to fifth which put him on the back of the front runners.

A strong run saw the Brit dispatch Felipe Massa (Williams), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Williams) to secure second.

Hamilton pushed hard in a bid to chase down Rosberg but a water pressure issue saw him settle for second ahead of Raikkonen, who claimed third after leapfrogging Bottas with a slick pit strategy.

After losing out to Raikkonen in the pit stops, Bottas, who started from second on the grid, brought his Williams home in fourth with team-mate Felipe Massa fifth.

Fernando Alonso produced a strong drive throughout to score his first points of the season in sixth, while team-mate Jenson Button delivered a double points finish for McLaren in 10th spot.

Renault opened its account for the season as Kevin Magnussen avoided trouble to come home in seventh.

Romain Grosjean (Haas F1) secured his third top 10 of the season while Force India’s Sergio Perez finished ninth.

After being caught up in the opening lap melee caused by Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo was forced to complete a two stop strategy to finish in 11th position.

His team-mate however finished a lowly 15th at his home race after being hit with a 10 second stop/go penalty for causing Vettel’s race ending crash. It was the second race in succession the pair had collided.

Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz finished in 12th position ahead of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

Felipe Nasr crossed the line in 16th in front of Haas F1’s Esteban Gutierrez, who was given a drive-through penalty for an opening lap clash with Nico Hulkenberg.

Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen retired from the race with an engine failure.

Result: Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix

Championship Standings