All too easy for Rosberg again in Russia. Hamilton's luck certainly seems to have deserted him and I've already suggested it's looking like Rosberg's year. Nonetheless it is hugely early in a very long season. Two non finishes by Rosberg and two wins by Hamilton and the latter would be leading the championship by seven points, so Hamilton is doing a great job of damage limitation.
Hamilton's bigger problems are two reprimands and his engine failures. Three reprimands means a ten place grid penalty and the two he has are pretty petty. Reversing a few feet in the pitlane, but NOT backwards up the pitlane and AFTER a race, I mean come on, where's the common sense? Then there's running off the circuit at speed and failing to go around an artificial polystyrene marker. Had he jinked left at that point and at that speed and killed himself maybe the idiots who run sport would have been happy.
Engines really are down to bad luck, everyone is limited on the number of engines they can run in a year and Mercedes are not accustomed to failures. The failures seem to be affecting Hamilton only at this point, not Rosberg and not customers. A conspiracy theorist might make something of that, but I'm certain Mercedes want one two finishes not failures, so I'd dismiss the idea of hanky panky. Later in the year however this could seriously handicap Hamilton's chances of defending the championship. And, just maybe, Mercedes would prefer to see Rosberg crowned this time.
How nice it would be to see Ferrari, McLaren and Williams being really competitive again. Raikkonen didn't look too happy on the podium, some would say he never does, but I think he was a bit unhappy. Vettel is winning the qualifying battle although just one mistake probably put paid to a really good lap for Kimi. Maybe Bottas getting the jump after the safety car affected him. I'm a big fan of Raikkonen, but the future's not looking so very good if things don't pick up for him this year.
You could argue that third was the best that could be expected for Ferrari, but with Hamilton starting in tenth and having more technical issues, just maybe Ferrari could have hoped for second. Button out-qualified Alonso but lost out in the race, largely due to luck in the first lap melee when one went one way and one the other. I think those two are very closely matched and arguably the strongest driver pairing on the grid. McLaren Honda have made improvements, I only hope they can keep the pace of development up and challenge for the front row and soon. Not holding high hopes as I've seen it written that fuel saving cost Mclaren some fifty seconds, and that despite a safety car, so Honda have some serious ground to make up.
Some good racing down the field; Manor must be working hard with big limitations on budget and Haas maybe seemed to be slightly off the boil, although Grosjean was very impressive in eighth, his team mate nowhere, still, more points, first season, its still hugely well done. Renault's Jolyon Palmer struggled, but his team mate was seventh, in the lower orders there is much more uncertainty as to which drivers and which cars will shine at the various types of circuit and all but two teams now have points which is healthy indeed. Lets just hope things concertina at the front too, otherwise it'll be over before its really got going.
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