F1 Raceweek: Mercedes out to maintain Sochi supremacy – Russian GP in numbers

Sebastian Vettel made it two wins from the first three races of the Formula One season in Bahrain last time out but Mercedes will fancy their chances of responding at the Russian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton had to settle for the second step on the podium under the lights in the Gulf and trails championship leader Vettel by seven points.

Hamilton was also runner-up to Nico Rosberg in Russia last year, but won the previous two races in the Black Sea resort.

Here we look at how the Opta numbers stack up ahead of the fourth race of the 2017.

3 – Mercedes have been responsible for all the wins and all the pole positions in the past three editions of the Russian GP. Hamilton claimed two wins and a pole, while Rosberg had one win and two poles.

44 – Vettel took his tally to 44 wins in F1 in Bahrain, the fourth most of any driver and the second most of any active driver after Hamilton (54).

80 – Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas took pole in Bahrain in what was his 80th career F1 race.

2 – With two wins and a second-place finish, Vettel is enjoying his best start in an F1 season for Ferrari, also equalling his best start ever for any team (2011 for Red Bull, when he won the title).

6 – In Bahrain, Hamilton ended a run of six poles in a row, one short of his best sequence in F1 [seven between the Monaco GP and Italian GP in 2015].

18 – Bottas’ pole in Bahrain was Mercedes’ 18th in a row. They are now five away from equalling their own team record [23 between the British GP in 2014 and Italian GP in 2015] and six away from equalling the overall record in F1 currently held by Williams (24 between the French GP 1992 and Japanese GP in 1993).

1 – Only one of Vettel’s five wins for Ferrari has come from the front of the grid, the Singapore GP in 2015.

13 – Sergio Perez has earned points in 13 consecutive races, the best run of any active F1 driver.