Russian Grand Prix – Charles in the points

Sochi, 27 September 2020 –Scuderia Ferrari leaves Sochi with a sixth place courtesy of Charles Leclerc and a 13th with Sebastian Vettel, after a relatively straightforward race, apart from two incidents on the opening lap that brought out the Safety Car. 

Tyre management.  Starting from tenth, Charles soon found himself eighth, after Carlos Sainz hit the barriers at turn 2 and Lance Stroll spun after a collision with Leclerc. From then on, he did a perfect job of managing the tyres, which was the key to his race. Leclerc was the third from last driver to make his stop on lap 29, going from Medium to Hard. Charles ran at a consistent pace and made no mistakes, thus making up two more place, getting ahead of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, to finish sixth behind Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault. 

Vettel.  At the start, Vettel maintained 14th place and spent the entire race outside the points. He pitted on lap 31 to change tyres and in the closing stages, made a few passing moves, but still could not break in to the top ten. The World Championship resumes in a fortnight’s time with the Eifel Grand Prix on 11 October, the Nurburgring thus returning to the calendar for the first time since 2013 when the winner was Sebastian Vettel.