Russian Grand Prix 2016, Sochi - Race 4/21

Man of Honour
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Sochi

The Sochi circuit, located in the Black Sea resort of the same name, is the first purpose-built Formula One facility in Russia and hosted the country's inaugural Grand Prix in October 2014, in the same year that the city also stages the Winter Olympics.

Sochi's Formula One relationship formally began in October 2010, when an agreement to host a Grand Prix was signed between race promoters OJSC Center Omega and the Formula One group of companies, with the support of the Russian government and in the presence of Vladimir Putin.

Construction of the 5.848-kilometre, 55,000-capacity circuit came under the design supervision of renowned architect Hermann Tilke. The track is integrated into the Olympic Park infrastructure, with facilities located in close vicinity to the Olympic Park railway station and to the roads which connect the Olympic venues with Sochi International Airport.

The track width varies from 13 metres at its narrowest point to 15 metres at the start-finish line. The circuit, which runs in a clockwise direction, consists of 12 right- and six left-hand corners, and combines both high-speed and technical sections. On their first visit to the track, Formula One cars reached 332 km/h on the 650-metre straight between the first and second turns, with Lewis Hamilton averaging 213 km/h as he claimed pole for Mercedes.

"It's an amazing feeling to come to this beautiful place and to race on this track," Hamilton said. "It's got really good grip and great corners, with a lot at medium speed; it's good fun."

Tilke added: "It is a fantastic facility with a great atmosphere. I am very optimistic about the future of the unique racing track in Sochi."


TV Times

Sky:
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C4:
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Track Diagram & Information

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Weather Forecast

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2015 Onboard Lap

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/video/2015/10/Onboard_pole_position_lap_-_Russia.html


2015 Race Edit

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/video/2015/10/Race_edit__Russia_'15.html


Tyre Set Selections Per Driver - Russia

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Russia Preview Quotes

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2016/4/russia-preview-quotes.html


WDC Standings

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Constructors' Championship Standings

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Pole Positions & Winners Per Grand Prix
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Practice 1

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Practice 2

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Practice 3

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Qualifying

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Race

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Soldato
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Some aggressive tyre choices from Red Bull and Haas there. Thought this was one of the best races of 2015 which came as some surprise, but that turn 3 is actually really spectacular, and 12 into 13. Generates some ballsy overtakes, so I'm hoping the Toro Rossos do slightly worse in qualifying but are quick overall - will make for some good watching.
 
Caporegime
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Going to be a Monday evening catch up on sky or c4 for me
It's in bank holiday after all. So I'll probably end up hearing the result... Which obviously won't ruin the race :D
 
Caporegime
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Good thing I've found about watching highlights is that if it's a boring race highlights are just shorter.
Last thing want isone Mercedes out of the race.
Anything to shake up the grid is also wanted.. Be it fair or not.. Long as it provides wheel to wheel racing!
 
Caporegime
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18 Oct 2002
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33,188
Ferrari taking new engines it seems for this race. Taking a supposedly combustion upgrade which wasn't really clear if this was a fix for the ignition of the fuel issue they've had or a separate way to increase power. Either way they seem to believe it's worth taking a new engine for both drivers or that is the story going around. It's not too big a deal, Vettel/kimi can just use the existing engines for friday running throughout the year though not ideal timing for Vettel having had an extra engine.


Also story around today that Honda have finally given up on the compressor in the V and are now developing towards a different concept engine for 2017.... who the hell could have seen that one coming.

Ferrari had a tiny compressor in 2014 and the worst engine by a distance. They realised the problem after testing and were well into firing key members of staff(management and engine) and bringing in the guys they needed to make a better engine and had a hugely improved engine for 2015.

Honda a full year later after seeing how bad the tiny compressor having Ferrari was... made the same mistake. They also rushed the engine for 2015 regardless of concept but they saw small compressor and weak harvesting was the worst thing for the new engines and still came up with that type of engine. Worse still was after the woeful testing, after the woeful first half of the season they still from no where insisted they could make that concept work so the 2016 engine is the same concept and still the worst engine, a little better but not much.

How can you see the problem with that type of design from another team making the mistake and two seasons later you still have that same type of engine and only just realise a small compressor is a terrible concept for these engines.
 
Soldato
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They've got a lot of issues with the Honda but long term its still better than running a Merc or Ferrari. (Unless Honda decide to pull out of course.. :p)
 
Associate
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13 Apr 2016
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I think Rosberg will do it this weekend, he should have won here last year but suffered reliability issues whilst leading. Let's hope Ferrari have no issues or dramas this weekend and hopefully put some type of pressure on the Mercs. Red Bull seem to always find there way and slot in nicely and walk away with a bucket of points. With this being Kvyats home race, he will want to be quicker than his team mate Ricciardo who is on fantastic form. Always look forward to the fireworks that Max creates and let's hope McLaren have a strong weekend. Thankfully there seems to be some sort of positive light coming out of the McLaren camp. I really hope that all this heart break McLaren Honda have suffered under these bloody terrible testing regulations will one day return them the front of the grid. In order to get racing at the front we will require the assistance of a safty car, if not, then coverage will be focused on the usual mid pack scrap. Let's hope for a safe one.
 
Caporegime
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I can't help channel all my frustration at that. F1 is screwed, heading off a cliff, and is making zero steps towards solving the problems, yet they have time to mess about with god awful stupid canopy crap.

It's like asking a class of kids to do their exams and instead they make paper aeroplanes out of them.

The deadline for the confirmation of the 2017 rules is Saturday, and nothing has been agreed or even started yet!
 
Soldato
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Apparently RBR will test their canopy concept during an installation lap tomorrow.

I am interested in how they will do this test. With the halo, all they had to do was stick it on top of the current chassis, as it didnt restrict the airflow to the engine.
With a full canopy, how does air get to the intake above the drivers head? How do you make it wide enough for the drivers head/shoulders without being wider than the chassis?
A full canopy to be done properly should require a complete redesign of the nose, the side pods and the engine cover/intake/roll hoop.

Are they building a full prototype car for this, or is it going to end up looking like a mix of F1 car and Peel Trident :D

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