Not only did the events of Sunday's Russian Grand Prix at the 5.848 km Sochi Autodrom make Lewis Hamilton appear to be the champion-elect, but it also that Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg won't even be able to take the runner-up spot behind the defending champion, which had seemed like a given in light of Mercedes' form last year. With his 42nd career F1 victory, Hamilton has opened up a 73-point to Rosberg, who now lies seven points behind second placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. Rosberg was forced to retire early in the race with a throttle dampener issue. Force India-Mercedes' Sergio Perez finished third after producing a superb tyre-saving performance reminiscent of his 2012 season performances with Sauber. However, the Mexican was fortunate as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Williams-Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas collided with each other on the final lap.
Felipe Massa took fourth place for Williams-Mercedes ahead of Raikkonen, Red Bull-Renault's Daniil Kvyat, Sauber-Ferrari's Felipe Nasr and Lotus-Mercedes' Pastor Maldonado.
In a rare achievement for the team and a possible sign of progress, McLaren-Honda managed to get both its cars to the finish of a race as Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso took ninth and tenth place to round out the points-scoring places.
The race had an eventful start as Force India's Nico Hulkenberg crashed almost immediately after the start, which prompted the deployment of a safety car. The race saw a second safety car on lap 12 as Lotus' Romain Grosjean suffered a terrifying high-speed accident on turn three, that caused heavy damage to the car. The Frenchman, who is off to join Haas-Ferrari next year, was uninjured and conscious following the sickening crash.
With Rosberg retiring, it was left to Vettel to keep Hamilton honest and while the Briton didn't look troubled by the Ferrari, the former four-time F1 world champion did well to close to just under six seconds at the finishing line.
Hamilton and Vettel, both of whom are now tied on 42 career wins, were over 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field after the 53-lap race.
The F1 world championship heads to the United States of America in two weeks time for the start of the American leg of the championship, which includes races in Mexico and Brazil.
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