Hamilton wins Russian Formula One GP; Mercedes wins 2015 WCC

British driver Lewis Hamilton has won the 2015 Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Sochi ahead of Germany's Sebastian Vettel and Mexico's Sergio Perez. The win has taken Hamilton's points tally in the World Drivers' Championship to 302. He now leads his nearest rival, Sebastian Vettel (236) by 66 points over. Nico Rosberg is in third place with 229 points.

Rosberg, Hamilton's Mercedes team mate, had qualified in pole position for the race. While he took the lead at the start of the race, he had to retire on lap seven with a throttle problem. Hamilton inherited the lead and kept it till the end of the race. Williams driver, Valtteri Bottas was in second and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) was third. Sebastian Vettel overtook his team mate on the track and leapfrogged Bottas during the pit stop. 

In the final stint, Force India's Sergio Perez was in third place with Bottas and Raikkonen right behind. On the penultimate lap, Perez was overtaken by the two Finnish drivers. However, a collision between the Williams and Ferrari on the last lap saw Bottas score a DNF and Raikkonen limp to the finish line in fifth with a damaged car. Meanwhile, Perez managed to score a podium finish.

The stewards decided that Raikkonen was to be blamed for the crash and penalised him 30 seconds. This dropped him from fifth to eighth. The penalty means that Mercedes has won the 2015 World Constructors' Championship. Ferrari is on 359 points while Mercedes is on 531 (172 point ahead). With only 172 points on offer from the remaining races, it is not going to be possible for Ferrari to outscore Mercedes. Even if Mercedes is not able to score a single point and Ferrari scores the necessary points, the German team will win the championship as it has already won 13 races out of a total of 19.