Nico Rosberg Wins Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix In Sochi, Putin Attends Race

German Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg took his 18th career victory on Sunday – his first in the Russia Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom and fourth of the 2016 season, while Hamilton Lewis completed a second Silver Arrows 1-2 finish of the 2016 season in P2 with a battling performance from P10 on the grid.

Rosberg also set the fastest lap of the race – beating the previous best of 1:40.071 (VET, 2015) by just under a second (0.977s).

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attended the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix, where he presented the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix cup to the winner Nico Rosberg, and congratulated UK’s Lewis Hamilton on winning the second place, and Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen, who finished third.

“This weekend really went really perfectly for me. Already in Qualifying I had found a perfect balance and that continued throughout the race, which was fantastic. I had a great start and from there was able to control the pace at the front,” said Rosberg. “Thank you so much to everybody at the factories for building such an amazing car. If you have a car like this, you are really able to push to the limits and that’s an awesome feeling.

Following the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix, Vladimir Putin had a brief meeting with members of the Russian junior SMP Racing team and wished the young athletes a success. The Russian SMP Racing team takes part in different classes of car races, including the “junior” series – Formula 4.