Back in Russia: what were the highlights of the previous races?

Since 2014, the Russian Grand Prix has been held at the Sochi Autodrom. So far Mercedes has been the dominant team at this circuit, with seven wins in a row. GPblog looks back at the highlights.

In 2015, an incident took place between the two Finns Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen attempted an overtaking move, but in the process drove into Bottas' car. The former Williams driver crashed out and Raikkonen suffered serious damage. It was a missed opportunity for Bottas, who was on his way to a podium finish on P3.

During the 2016 race, Sebastian Vettel sounded furious over the board radio after being hit twice in a row and eventually ending up in the wall. It was Daniil Kvyat, then a Red Bull driver, who drove into the back of the German. After the crash, Vettel could be seen walking over to Christian Horner for a chat.

Valtteri Bottas seems to be in the right place in Russia. The Finn took victory twice and pole position in 2018. Unfortunately for Bottas, he had to let his teammate Lewis Hamilton pass him that year after team orders from Mercedes. He was not fast enough and the Brit needed all the points in his battle for the title against Vettel.

Mercedes are so dominant in Sochi that it's hard to win at the track, but for Red Bull Racing it was hard enough to get a podium. In 2020, the team finally got their first podium in Russia with Max Verstappen's second-place finish.