Hamilton WINS the Russian Grand Prix in Mercedes one-two!

Lewis Hamilton has won the Russian Grand Prix, extending his championship lead to Sebastian Vettel to 50 points with just five races to go in the 2018 Formula One season.

Hamilton started the race in second but overtook his teammate Valtteri Bottas through some team orders, as Mercedes ordered Bottas to slow down and let the championship leader past.

Sebastian Vettel was briefly in front of Hamilton after the German came out in front of the Brit after they both pitted, but a brave move from Hamilton saw him get past Vettel quickly.

Birthday boy Max Verstappen, who started in P19, led the race for a long time but eventually had to pit, but still impressively finished in P5.

The race started with some wheelspin for Hamilton, and Vettel recognized this and immediately attacked. Good defending from the Mercedes saw him maintain his position before he attacked Bottas in P1, who defended well from his teammate and sustained the pressure.

Meanwhile, at the back, Verstappen was flying. The now 21-year-old Dutchman overtook four cars at the start, and was within the points in just three laps. After eight laps, he was past Charles Leclerc in P5, and found himself behind the two Ferrari's and Mercedes cars. 

Max in the lead

As he was on softs rather than hypersofts, Verstappen then spent the majority of the race in the lead after the four cars in front of him pitted. He had some great pace, not letting anyone get near him and showing exceptional tyre management as he had no blisters in a 40 lap-stint, but he eventually had to pit in the latter part of the race, opting for the ultrasoft tyres for the last nine laps.

Hamilton thankfully took the lead off of him with ten laps to go and drove it home, after having an attempt to overtake him fail earlier only moments earlier. Maybe it was a little birthday present from Hamilton to Verstappen, letting him enjoy that P1 status just a little bit longer before taking it from him as the Dutchman pitted.

The Brit drove it home in the nine laps that he drove in the lead in total, putting his pedal down, recording fastest lap after fastest lap. Bottas, who will be very unhappy with the Mercedes strategy, finished P2 behind Hamilton, overtaking Kimi Raikkonen in the championship and grabbing third place in the title race.

Vettel completed the podium but won't be happy, as he loses another ten points to Hamilton. The gap is now 50 points between the two, and with just five races to go, the championship race looks over.

Midfield

In midfield, Charles Leclerc had an excellent race for Sauber. The Monegasque rookie did very well to overtake Esteban Ocon at the start, and made quick work of Kevin Magnussen too in P5, overtaking the Dane quickly. He did get overtaken by the two Red Bulls, but that was to be expected.

The fact that he kept all the other cars at bay speaks for his exceptional talent and the progress that Sauber have made as a team. His teammate Marcus Ericsson didn't do as well in P13, but it's still another good outing for the Swiss-Italian team.

Toro Rosso had a day to forget. Both cars had mechanical DNF's after just 6 laps, with the brakes being a big problem on both cars, who already started at the back because of grid penalties. The new Honda engine was hyped up to be a game changer, but the two drivers couldn't do anything because of the faulty brakes.

Next race will be in Japan next week, maybe they can turn it around then in front of their home crowd. 

RACE CLASSIFICATION: @LewisHamilton extends his championship lead to 50 points with five races to go #RussianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/sPNfPstO9m

— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 September 2018