Russia again (2016)

[Scott]

Pirelli report including tire choices...RBR are one team who are focusing on the SS apparently.  No room for inter-team strategy with anyone though.  Driver A will follow Driver B

http://www.pirelli.com/corporate/en/press/2016/04/26/pirelli-russia-grand-prix-preview/

[J.Clark]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

There was some good racing going on from P-5 on back for most of the race.

Kudos to Haas for hold off the Force India in the closing laps, too bad they lost a position in the pit stops.

Sad for Ricciardo for the limp attempt on the mediums - that just was too slow.

Kvyat    Does he think bump-drafting like the do in NASCAR is a good idea in F1?

Hamilton had a good drive, as did Kimi.

There are a couple of "too bad - so sad" situations, such as Max's case.

Great for McLaren to have both cars finish in the points, and also to have the points scored by their two WDCs instead of a rookie reserve.  I say this represents a "turning of the corner" for them, and imagine things will only get better from here on into the season.

[Irisado]

It was just like China, in that the first part of the race was very exciting and there were a lot of battles, but then it all just went very dull in the second half of the race.

The start was very dramatic once again, with all sorts of drama on lap one.  Vettel's unbelievable teenage whine on the radio after he hit the wall would have been amusing had he not used so much bad language.  Yes, most of it was Kvyat's fault, but Vettel must take some of the responsibility for not being hard on the power in a fast corner and still on the racing line.  Yet again, I think that Vettel's attitude when things are not going well is open to question.

Rosberg was imperious again, but he's under no pressure at the moment.  We need to see a head-to-head with Hamilton, who drove very well, to have a better idea of how much stronger Nico is this year.

Williams were disappointing in the race, Red Bull had a nightmare, and Ferrari are not on the pace of Merecedes, so the closing part of the race was devoid of much action.  It was great to see McLaren finally showing some improved form though, and Alonso used all his experience and racecraft to avoid trouble on the first lap to move up the order. It was also good for Renault that they got off the mark, after a very impressive performance from Magnussen, including some great overtaking moves.