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LIVE: FP1 in Russia: Ferrari to continue their hot streak in cold Sochi?

LIVE: FP1 in Russia: Ferrari to continue their hot streak in cold Sochi?

27-09-2019 08:00
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

We've only just recovered from the street race in Singapore from last weekend and we're already driving on another street circuit now - it's FP1 of the Russian Grand Prix, LIVE!

*Live blog below*

Mercedes' memories in Sochi

The Russian Grand Prix has legitimately been one of the best circuits to go for Mercedes in the turbo-hybrid era. They've won all five races since 2014 and even sealed the championship in Sochi in both 2014 and 2015.

Valtteri Bottas in particular seems to like it in Russia. He got his first Formula 1 win there in 2017 and stood on pole position in 2018, before a team order stole what would have been his first win of the season. It remains a controversial race to this day because of that call to let Lewis Hamilton past as he needed as many points as he could get for the drivers' championship.

With these memories and this track-record, you'd fancy Mercedes to win again in 2019, right? However, Ferrari have shown just how good their car has developed over the year in Singapore last weekend. Where they normally struggle on bendy tracks like the Marina Bay Street Circuit, they now took a famous one-two while Mercedes didn't get to a podium place.

Ferrari's title challenge too late?

For the first time since 2008, Ferrari have won three races in a row again. They're the team to beat at the moment, especially as the Sochi Autodrom has a very power-heavy section with a lot of straight lines and high-speed corners.

The Italian works team should be challenging for the win again this weekend, and we'll see now in FP1 how they're shaping up against their German rivals. However, even if Ferrari win again on Sunday, will it be too little too late for the title race? Mercedes currently lead by 133 points in the constructors' championship with just five rounds to go after Russia... 

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