McLaren's Lando Norris took pole position in drying conditions. He would lead a majority of the race, but would lose the lead as he opted not to switch to intermediates amidst worsening conditions. The race would be won by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who became the first driver to win 100 Grands Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. Hamilton's victory allowed him to regain the championship lead over Verstappen.[5]
This would be the last Formula One race held at Sochi Autodrom and the last Russian Grand Prix, as of the 2024 season, due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine that happened five months after the race was held.[6]
The rules surrounding practice starts for the event have been clarified following controversy in the 2020 event when Lewis Hamilton was penalised with two five-second penalties for conducting two practice starts outside of the designated area. The race director's notes state that when doing practice starts, cars must line up and leave in the order they arrive unless another car is unduly delayed.[10]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[12]Kimi Räikkönen returned for this event,[13] after missing the previous two races due to testing positive for coronavirus.[14]
At the previous race in Italy, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton made contact, and both retired from the race.[16] The stewards investigated the incident and ruled that Verstappen was predominantly to blame, and awarded him a three-place grid penalty for this event.[17]
Free practice 2 started at 15:00 MST, on the same day. It ended with only 1 interruption. Antonio Giovinazzi spun and hit the wall, ending his session and causing a red flag.[20] At the end of the session, AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly ran over a curb and dislodged his front wing. No red flag was required because it was the end of the session. Bottas and Hamilton finished first and second again, with Gasly in third.
Free practice 3 was scheduled to start at 12:00 MST, on 25 September 2021,[21] but it was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.[22]
Qualifying
Qualifying started at 15:00 MST, on 25 September 2021.[7]Lando Norris started on pole for the first time in his Formula One career, having set the fastest time on slick tyres on a drying track. The result was McLaren's first pole position since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, and Norris became the 102nd driver in the history of the World Championship to achieve a pole position. Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari qualified second to claim his first front-row start in Formula One. George Russell qualified 3rd for Williams, his second top-three starting position of the season, having previously qualified second for the Belgian Grand Prix.[23] Hamilton, who topped the first two segments of qualifying, finished the session in fourth, having crashed into the wall on the pit lane entry when coming in to change from intermediate tyres to slick tyres. His car needed a new front wing, and he was unable to build enough temperature in his tyres for his final flying lap due to the lack of time left in the session, as well as having to move out of the way of cars on their fast laps.[24] Hamilton's delayed stop also held up his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who had also come into the pits for slick tyres. Bottas qualified seventh. The other McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo qualified 5th. Charles Leclerc and Nicholas Latifi did not set lap times in the second segment of qualifying due to engine penalties that would demote them to the back of the grid, regardless of their qualifying results. Championship leader Max Verstappen did not set a lap time in the first segment for the same reason.[25]
^1 – Valtteri Bottas received a 15-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.[29]
^2 – Nicholas Latifi was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.[30]
^3 – Charles Leclerc was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.[31]
^4 – Antonio Giovinazzi received a five-place grid penalty for unscheduled gearbox change. The penalty was nullified by penalties incurred by other drivers. As a result, he made a net gain of one place from his qualifying position.[32]
^5 – Max Verstappen received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision at the previous round.[17] He was later required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.[33] Verstappen neglected to set a qualifying time because of his penalties.[34] However, the penalties did not affect his last position.
^6 – As qualifying was held on a wet track, the 107% rule was not in force.[35]
Race
Cars on the starting grid
The race started at 15:00 MST, on 26 September 2021.[7]Carlos Sainz Jr. took the lead from Lando Norris into turn two, while Lewis Hamilton fell down the order to sixth. Fernando Alonso overtook Hamilton at the start, but the latter re-overtook on the following lap by going around the outside of turn three. Charles Leclerc climbed up to twelfth after starting from nineteenth. On lap 13, Norris overtook Sainz through the left-hand sweep at turn 12, into the entry of turn 13. to retake first place, retaining the lead until the closing laps. After gaining three positions on the first lap, Max Verstappen climbed up the order into seventh. Hamilton recovered to second, coming within DRS range of Norris as rain began to fall on parts of the track. Kimi Räikkönen, George Russell, and Valtteri Bottas were the first to pit for intermediate tyres on lap 48, allowing all three drivers to move up into the points by race end. Further up the order, Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo followed suit on lap 49, as did Sainz who had dropped from third to seventh in the deteriorating conditions. Hamilton initially stayed out to battle Norris for the lead before switching to intermediate tyres the following lap, after which it became clear the rain would continue. Sergio Pérez, Alonso, and Leclerc also chose to continue on slicks while in a close fight for third. Despite running off the track multiple times, Norris refused to stop for intermediates against the advice of his engineers, having accumulated a fifty-second gap over third place.
Hamilton emerged from the pits twenty-five seconds behind the race leader, closing to under two seconds on lap 51 before Norris aquaplaned off the track at turn 5, leaving Hamilton to take the lead and the win. Early stoppers Verstappen, Sainz, and Ricciardo overtook the three drivers running slicks and battling for third: Alonso and Pérez eventually pitted on lap 51, managing to stay in the points, but Leclerc continued on and fell from fourth to fifteenth in his final two laps. Norris finally entered the pits for intermediate tyres on lap 52; however, Norris aquaplaned on the pit entry and crossed the white line separating the pit lane entry from the track, for which he was reprimanded.[36] Norris finished the race in seventh. Verstappen finished the race in second from 20th on the starting grid, and Sainz finished in third, taking his fifth Formula One podium.[5] Hamilton's race victory made him the first driver in Formula One history to take 100 wins.[37]
Post-race
Hamilton hailed his Mercedes team after securing his 100th win.[38] Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff hailed Hamilton's achievement of 100 wins as "mindblowing".[39] The 1998 and 1999 Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen felt patience was the key factor in Hamilton securing the race victory.[40]Valtteri Bottas felt a podium would have been possible for him if he had pitted one lap earlier for intermediate tyres.[41] Alonso also believed a podium had been possible on merit for him before the weather intervention.[42]McLaren said it would launch a review of the procedures which contributed to Norris not pitting earlier for intermediate tyres when the rain started to fall.[43] McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl said the team would also would not dwell on what might or should have been.[44] Norris said he was "not happy" with his result and stated he may have pitted for wet weather tyres had he been given clearer information on the weather by the team.[45][46] Formula One Managing Director Ross Brawn praised Norris for his weekend performance, though felt his inexperience showed in the tricky conditions during the race. Brawn defended Norris, pointing out that there were occasions when drivers were correct to ignore team orders and follow their instincts. Brawn also praised Formula One veterans like Kimi Räikkönen, Alonso, and Hamilton for how they responded to the same situation.[47]
Former Renault Formula One driver-turned-analyst and radio commentator Jolyon Palmer said he felt the responsibility for not pitting Norris soon enough for wet weather tyres lay with the McLaren team.[48] Seven-times Grand Prix race winner Juan Pablo Montoya said that Norris's performance meant he now would know he could get the job done.[49]Red Bull Racing hailed Verstappen's second-place finish from starting last on the grid as "like a victory".[50]Alfa Romeo Racing team boss Frédéric Vasseur felt Norris should have been given a time penalty for his pit entry infringement.[51] Journalist David Tremayne praised Norris for his performance and said Norris should learn and take heart from the experiences of past British Formula One champions, such as James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, and Damon Hill, all of whom had to deal with disappointment of near misses trying to get their first Grand Prix wins before achieving them.[52]
^2 – Lance Stroll received a post-race ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly. His final position was not affected by the penalty.[54]
^3 – Nicholas Latifi was classified, as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.[54]
