2016 Russian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps

2016 Russian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps

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Just how fast were the Mercedes in Russia?

Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate tour on a set of very well-used soft tyres. Meanwhile Felipe Massa, lapping on a set of much fresher super-softs, was almost two-thirds of a second slower than him.

Valtteri Bottas ran the same strategy as Rosberg but his best lap was two seconds slower than the race winner’s.

McLaren will have drawn some encouragement from seeing Fernando Alonso post the fifth-fastest lap of the race. He lapped 1.2s off Rosberg’s pace on the same lap while also running a set of the soft tyres.

Alonso’s lap times picked up considerably over the final ten laps of the race – suggesting he had might have accessed a higher engine mode. They also periodically dropped off considerably, most likely because he was being lapped in the closing stages.

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2016 Russian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

2016 Russian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Nico RosbergMercedes1’39.09452
2Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’39.7430.64952
3Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’40.1011.00747
4Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’40.2661.17236
5Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’40.3471.25352
6Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’41.1592.06537
7Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’41.1792.08546
8Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’41.7202.62650
9Kevin MagnussenRenault1’41.8322.73850
10Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’41.8972.80347
11Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’41.9072.81343
12Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’42.0262.93251
13Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Ferrari1’42.0292.93532
14Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’42.0502.95645
15Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’42.2053.11141
16Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’42.2533.15950
17Daniil KvyatRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’42.3443.25044
18Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’42.3783.28452
19Jolyon PalmerRenault1’42.6603.56637

2016 Russian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “2016 Russian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps”

  1. ColdFly F1 (@)
    1st May 2016, 20:03

    must say that I feel sorry for Verstappen; some impressive constant times when he was still in the race.

    1. @coldfly don’t be. He is in the RB next season looking at the way things are moving.

      1. Sviatoslav (@)
        2nd May 2016, 7:13

        Well, Sainz easily overtook Max on the start and was in front by the first corner, and then he was unlucky. I assume he could’ve finished in front of Max.

        1. With that tire management lol

  2. Nice to see that on the same lap and with the same type of tyre Alonso was just 1,2 seconds slower than rosberg fastest lap!

    1. It’s sad that Mclaren and Alonso fans look at a less than 2 second gap to Mercedes with such optimism.

      Don’t get me wrong, I’m a little glad that he put in the 5th fastest lap and the gap was only 1.2 seconds. But the chances of Alonso fighting for a WDC before he retires are close to none.

      1. Alonso has made a string of bad career choices since he became WDC at Renault.
        Its like he moves at the most unfortunate times away from a team that shortly after blossom, while the team he joins is on the rocks.

  3. Sviatoslav (@)
    2nd May 2016, 7:24

    When Hamilton overtook Alonso using DRS, that was unbelievable! The speed difference reached around 30-40kmph in my estimation. The main issue is that Honda only now comprehends that this engine concept will not work, so they will copy what Mercedes did. But will this work?

    1. @sviat

      Considering Honda’s stubborn approach to not hiring talent from outside of the Honda talent pool, I think they will continue struggling. I will eat my socks, shoes and bathroom slippers if Honda ever match Mercedes’ power unit performance. The best chance they have is the artificial performance capping that Bernie might implement. I feel despite the artificial capping, Honda has the capability to fail yet again.

      1. @Todfod
        I disagree with u completely,Lewis passed Alonso on much fresher rubber after his pitstop meanchile Alonso on conservative fuel saving mode with his one stop strategy.Well i can see clearly Honda on the upward curve maturing with their power units and of course Mercedes still mighty overall in terms of chassis and power management.
        Hiring talents from outside of Honda not necessarily should be an absolute solution,it is all about how they tap out the performance and harvesting the energy with continual model of modification to boost their power as time very much need to be factored in.
        Alonso fastest lap is just 1.2 seconds off with same soft tires on the same lap as Rosberg,averagely 0.4 seconds is the deficit per sector given Sochi power-sensitive track,a great deal of encouragement for the team to look ahead.

  4. What will Renault think about Palmer when looking at his dead-last position on this list?

  5. One thing I’m liking about this year is that the cars actually look properly quick again (well Mercedes anyway). When the rule changes to make cars 5 seconds quicker in 2017 were announced, that seemed to be a reasonable amount of speed to add. But now that the cars are already 1-2 seconds quicker than only six months ago and in qualifying spec are regularly fighting for record lap times, 5 seconds quicker seems pretty unbelievable. For the first time in a while I’m actually watching these cars just because they are fast, next year I can’t even imagine what laps will look like.

    Just a shame that bad luck for Hamilton is ruining the racing at the moment. Pretty much four races in a row Rosberg has had it easy, while it appears that Hamilton is actually performing at his best but not having a chance to show it. It’s the same problem that has been apparent since 2014: Rosberg is yet to prove that he is a consistent threat to Hamilton, and will even occasionally lose when he has an advantage. I’m expecting Hamilton to fight back but actually I think this years championship will be decided by whoever wins in Monaco. If Rosberg wins Monaco four years in a row, then it’s game over.

  6. Max Verstappen do i have to say more. This guy is unbelievable. We are seeing the rise of a new superstar and when i had money i would take every bet for Max to be DWC in a Mercedez right now.

  7. Well i can see Monaco very much the venue for number of teams beside Mercedes like Ferrari,Redbull to fight for the pole.It will be very close from midpack all the way to front runners given the layout and less-power-sensitive track.
    Mclaren can surprise few i believe,they look quite mighty at corners given the aero-efficiency of the car.

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