In qualifying, without Leclerc's stunning pace (in spite of his scruffy end of the lap), we would have been hailing a tight fight for pole between Vettel and Hamilton, praising Hamilton for his heroics for beating the Ferrari. But when Leclerc has found at least four tenths and probably had more, you can see the shift in balance of power with September being a particularly strong month for the Scuderia. Leclerc's subtle changes he's made over the year have propelled him into the clearly quicker Ferrari driver - though it could be argued that Vettel's race pace in Russia was good and his fresher tyres might have seen him challenge Leclerc at the end of the race.
As in Singapore, Mercedes opted for a different strategy, staying out long in the hope there was a safety car. If there wasn't, they would finish third and fourth anyway and last week it worked out that way in Singapore, but in Russia, it worked out for them, ironically because of a Ferrari car failure. Hamilton did an amazing job to pip Vettel's Ferrari in qualifying and Bottas, who has been touted as a 'Sochi specialist' was quite a bit behind in qualifying (six tenths) and in the first stint in particular.
It wasn't that long ago that we didn't have access to as much Ferrari radio and this race would have been a right bore without it, but it's not the first time we have questioned Ferrari's tactics and how they manage their drivers. Perhaps the media are writing more into the situation than there actually is, but the lack of clarity from Ferrari and both drivers afterwards suggests there isn't much harmony at the moment. Vettel was asked to move over five times over the radio, but came up with reasonable and logical excuses as to why he wouldn't move over. Instead, Ferrari had to do it via strategy, taking the matter out of Vettel's hands.
Red Bull seem to be anonymous the last couple of races and their weekend was kind of written off when all Honda engines were replaced. Verstappen couldn't really keep up after the safety car, on a different strategy, but Albon put in a good performance to get back through the field with some brave overtakes, something that was lacking in Gasly's performances earlier in the year. We'll see in Japan what his pace will be like compared to Verstappen's in what I think will be a key testing point to whether he keeps that seat next year. Still, based on the Russian GP alone, despite his spin in qualifying, he produced a brilliant recovery drive.
McLaren bounced back with Carlos Sainz leading the best of the rest battle, mixing it with the leaders at the beginning of the race. Without the safety car, Sainz probably would have finished ahead of Albon. Norris did well to hold off faster cars behind.
McLaren's joys were Renault's sorrows. Ricciardo never looked on top of his car all weekend and was one of the cars damaged in the three car squeeze into turn 4. Hulkenberg looked strong, but a botched pitstop and having to manage engine issues meant he was not able to challenge the McLaren's in their battle for fourth in the Constructors' chase.
The Racing Point of Perez had a good weekend, and it could have been a better result had the safety car not effected their strategy. Dropping to the back of the field, Perez had to fight his way back through the field at the end of the race, even passing Norris in the McLaren.
Kimi Raikkonen had another off weekend, not really getting the most out of the car and completely misjudged the start and ended up behind the pack and a drive-through penalty.
Grosjean looked strong in qualifying but wasn't able to convert that into a race result, being taken out in a racing incident. Magnussen was a big gainer from the Safety car period, but running wide in turn 2 and not making an effort to go the correct side of both bollards gave him a penalty, something the stewards were consistent with over the weekend if you take F2 races into account. Still, some points is a good return for the struggling team.
And poor old Williams, Russell clearly had some kind of a car failure and Kubica was retired early to save parts. After such a strong finishing record, it's all unraveling quite quickly, and there's still no real sign of development and improvement in pace relative to the other teams.
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