Russia: post-race analysis
A quite entertaining
race, and a green bet. Better without hedging, of course. As it
happens, the hedged and non-hedged season to-date profit levels are
now exactly matched. Hard to assess whether it was a wise or lucky
bet due to the high number of racing incidents.
The race was
interesting from the start, with Raikkonen getting past Bottas and
Rosberg just managing to fend off Hamilton. Hulkenberg spun early on,
giving Verstappen a puncture and ending Ericsson’s race. After the
safety car, Rosberg did well to keep Hamilton behind him, but the
German developed a terminal throttle problem and was forced to
retire.
That ended excitement
at the sharp end, but fortunately there was entertainment to be had
further down the field. Grosjean was following Button (the Lotus
having pitted) when he got out onto the marbles, lost control, and
introduced his car to the barriers. A second safety car emerged,
during which many cars visited the pits.
Perez was an early
pitter, as was Ricciardo. The top few cars (Hamilton, Bottas and the
Ferraris) stayed out, as did Nasr. At this stage I grew concerned
about the Nasr bet, given the competitive times put in by the likes
of Perez et al.
When Vettel, Bottas and
Raikkonen pitted, the Williams driver was stuck in traffic which
enabled Vettel to get the jump on him. However, Raikkonen ended up
right behind Bottas, who was himself closely following Ricciardo
(then in 4th place). Perez was in an impressive 3rd,
but struggling to keep his tyres alive.
Bottas got past
Ricciardo and set about chasing Perez. Raikkonen also soon passed the
Aussie and closed back up on his compatriot. Perez’s tyres ran out
and Bottas overtook him, but moments later so did Raikkonen. On the
final lap the Ferrari made a reckless move, hit the Williams (putting
Bottas out of the race), damaging his own car, letting Perez back
through to take the final podium spot. Raikkonen eventually finished
5th, behind Massa. Daft move on Raikkonen’s part.
Bottas’ icy calm “What the **** was that?” summed it up
accurately.
Late on, Sainz lost out
on certain points after his brakes failed, and Ricciardo had some
sort of issue (possibly suspension) and had to pull up with only a
few laps left to go.
The late retirements
allowed both McLarens to finish in the points, Button ahead, which is
a nice 1 point present for Alonso’s 250th race.
Kvyat ended up 6th,
a good result given the Red Bull’s characteristics, with Nasr a
strong 7th for Sauber. Unlikely to alter Sauber’s title
position, but it helps them consolidate 8th.
Maldonado was 8th,
and had an uneventful race, which is a little unusual. For all the
(often deserved) mockery, he drove well, scored some points, and his
team mate was the chap to crash. Verstappen was only 11th,
but after suffering a lap 1 puncture and doing almost the whole first
lap at a snail’s pace, trundling to the pits, that’s quite
impressive.
Hamilton got 1st,
of course, and Vettel was a slightly lonely 2nd, with
Perez a day behind and Hamilton a day ahead.
So, an oddly high
number of retirements due to some reliability problems and many
crashes.
On the betting front,
it was green. It’s quite difficult to assess if it was lucky or
not, because the safety car closed things up twice (harming Nasr’s
prospects) but many cars ahead of him failed to finish (helping his
prospects). Without hedging, it’s the greenest result in the second
half. Which is nice.
The next race is the
US, in a fortnight.
Morris Dancer
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