Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
First across Finnish line
VALTTERI BOTTAS claimed the first Grand Prix victory of his Formula One career by storming to victory in Russia. But there was no place on the podium for the Finland star’s Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was left frustrated with a fourthplace finish. Hamilton started well, but was caught up in a Kimi Raikkonen-daniel Ricciardo sandwich on a desperately disappointing day for Britain’s triple world champ. Twice a winner at Sochi, Hamilton experienced trouble with the soaring temperatures on his Mercedes car. “There’s something wrong, I keep getting vibrations,” he told his team over the radio during the race. Later, he added: “Why is my car overheating, guys? I am out of the race now.” He was certainly out of contention for victory and, despite getting to within two seconds of Raikkonen, never threatened for the final place on the podium. The Brit finished 25.3 seconds behind Ferrari’s Finn. Bottas led virtually every lap at the Sochi Autodrom. He passed pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel at the start, before holding off a late charge from the Ferrari driver in the closing stages. Vettel crossed the line less than one second behind Bottas to extend his lead over Hamilton to 13 points at the top of the Drivers’ Table. Raikkonen completed the podium places while Hamilton, who had been mysteriously out of sorts all weekend, ended up a mammoth 36 seconds behind his team-mate. Bottas said: “It took quite a while – more than 80 races – but it is definitely worth the wait and definitely worth the learning curve.”