Race - Russian GP report: Renault F1

Danill Kvyat secured a popular sixth position in the Russian Grand Prix today. The Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver finished his home event in the points following an action-packed race that involved multiple incidents and two safety car periods.*

Kvyat was the highest-classified Renault-powered driver, with both Daniel Ricciardo (Infiniti Red Bull Racing) and Carlos Sainz (Scuderia Toro Rosso) retiring from the race. Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen suffered a first-lap puncture and finished in 11th.**

*Classified in fifth following Raikkonen’s penalty
**Classified in tenth following Alonso’s penalty

Key race points:

— Home hero Daniil Kvyat finished in sixth, moving up five positions from his grid starting slot. Unlike his team-mate, he remained on track during both safety cars and moved into the top four. He fell back to the end of the top ten when he stopped, but gained positions when Ricciardo, Sainz and finally Bottas stopped on track. The Russian was moved to fifth position following the application of Raikkonen’s post-race penalty.
— Daniel Ricciardo made an early pit stop under the second safety car period. He fell back to tenth but gained track position in the later part of the race as the top ten pitted. He looked to have fourth but retired on lap 49.
— Max Verstappen finished in 11th. He suffered a puncture after being caught up in the first lap Hulkenberg-Ericsson incident and fell back to the rear of the field, but fought back to finish just out of the top ten on track, but scored one point after Alonso’s post-race penalty was added to his time.
— Carlos Sainz started the race from the rear of the field after his accident yesterday. He was running in seventh until lap 47 when he had to pull up on the side of the track with an issue unrelated to the engine.

Rémi Taffin, Director of Operations:

Sochi is a very demanding track with a high percentage of wide open throttle and tight, slow corners. Nevertheless reliability has been good, even with the lack of running due to the various stoppages in every session. The potential was there to get more points today but circumstances didn’t allow it to play out, but it’s promising for the final four races of the year.

Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director:

A fairly average final result, but it belies the spirit shown by both teams this weekend. We were pleased that Carlos was OK, plus able to race, after his huge accident yesterday. Everyone had very little running, which appeared to cause some problems on the chassis side, but we kept focused and had a trouble-free weekend on our own reliability front. Our speed was OK and we look forward to challenging for some more points at the next race in Austin. I would also like to extend our congratulations to Mercedes for winning a second constructors’ title. They have done a fantastic job and have set the standard for us to achieve.