Lewis Hamilton is hoping to extend his 40-point lead over Sebastian Vettel at the Russian Grand Prix this weekend. Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix last time out to take one giant step towards the fifth Championship win of his career. With just six races of the season remaining, the Brit fully understands the importance of this weekend’s race in Sochi.
But Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has concerns with two elements of the race – turn two and the weather. “The Sochi Autodrom features some interesting characteristics, particularly the long straight into turn two which will make the race start very challenging,” Wolff said. “With the race being held in late September, we’re going back to weather conditions that will be similar to those of 2014 and 2015, when the Russian Grand Prix took place in early October. “We don’t have any data from the current regulation cars in those conditions in Sochi, so this adds another challenge to the race. “We have a good track record in Sochi but we know that Ferrari and Red Bull will give it everything to break our winning streak. “We must fight as hard as ever to make sure we bring home as many points as possible.”
Wolff also noted how keen Ferrari will be not to lose any more ground in the hunt for the Constructors’ Championship – which Mercedes lead by 37 points. “We showed an excellent performance in Singapore and the victory was a fantastic reward for all the hard work that had gone into it,” he added. “But it also reinforced another point: there are no easy wins this season. “We have to fight hard for every bit of performance in order to have a chance to fight for victories. “This fight will continue in Russia.” Meanwhile, Vettel has been more aggressive with his tyre choice ahead of this weekend’s battle. The German has selected one less soft and ultra-soft tyre set than Hamilton, meaning he will bring an extra two sets of hyper-softs.
