Russian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton wins in Sochi to close in on championship

Valtteri Bottas started in pole, but it was Max Verstappen who led for most of the middle section of the race, moving up by 18 places to the front (and he was in seventh by the end of Lap 6) as both Ferrari and Mercedes pitted early.

The championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel vied for position, with the stewards having to take a look at one incident, but they decided to let them battle it out.

Hamilton snuck into second thanks to his team-mate moving over, with the instructions from the radio explaining that tyre problems would make it difficult for the Brit to hold off the Ferrari for too long, but birthday boy Verstappen didn't fancy giving up his advantage too easily. In the end, he had to head into the pit, handing the lead over to Hamilton.

The young Dutchman still seemed to enjoy his day anyway, despite a fifth-place finish, what with a cake and a party on the grid even before the green light.

Three stars out of five. Hamilton benefited from an unselfish team-mate and sharp team orders, yes, but he still had to hold on to his position, and he was tenacious in keeping his lead once he assumed it. Having said that, after the pit stops were done, only Bottas really presented a threat to Hamilton's dominance, so to shift him out of the way was essentially to guarantee victory - and to be fair to the championship leader, he did recognise that.

Sergio Perez was taking a little bit too long over things for the liking of the Force India team.

Nico Hulkenberg's disbelief at Verstappen's driving was also worth listening to.

"The Red Bull is leader? How the hell did that happen?"

Harsh but fair.

Verstappen's attacking manoeuvres from the back of the grid were exquisite to watch.

Nice double overtaking from the Force Indias - Perez and Esteban Ocon made their moves in tandem, passing Carlos Sainz beautifully halfway through.

Sometimes team orders pay off. Hamilton owes a debt of gratitude to Bottas for doing so much of the hard work today, allowing him past then spending the rest of the afternoon fending off Vettel.

Toto Wolff was expecting Bottas's displeasure after the race, and took to the radio quickly after the chequered flag.

Nobody will say very much about Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, outshone by his colleague once again, but he did almost as well to get all that overtaking done, and one imagines he'll have been pleased just to finish the race after his recent tribulations.

It's probably not even worth facepalming at Williams these days. At least they both finished with no damage - 15th place for Lance Stroll, 18th for Sergey Sirotkin.

Dancer Sergei Polunin was in the garage for qualifying.

And Vladimir Putin showed up for the closing stages.