Lewis Hamilton’s quest for the all-time record of Formula 1 will have to wait for another race. He was beaten in the Russian Grand Prix staged last Sunday by his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton had to settle for third place. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was second.
Bottas dominated after the world champion Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty for doing two illegal practice starts.
Grenadian parentage Hamilton was initially given two penalty points to put him two away from an automatic one-race ban. But these were later rescinded on the basis the team were at fault.
According to BBC’s sports, Bottas’ victory meant he cut Hamilton’s championship lead to 44 points.
Hamilton and the Mercedes team made the victory easy for Bottas with their collective failure to know the rules on practice starts before the race.
Hamilton is expected to break Michael Schumacher’s record during this current season.