SOCHI, May 1. /TASS/. Team Mercedes German pilot Nico Rosberg secured on Sunday his record 7th straight Formula One win after leaving the rest of the drivers behind on a sunny afternoon in Russia’s resort city of Sochi.
Rosberg clocked the best lap time of 1 minute 35.417 seconds in the qualification session on Saturday to take the pole position and starting from the top of the grid line on Sunday he maintained the strong lead throughout the race to take the top step of the Sochi GP podium.
"It’s been an awesome weekend," Rosberg said after the race. "The car has been fantastic all weekend, really even in qualifying and in the race today. It felt very special out there. So very, very happy."
"Thanks to all of you in Russia who have come here," Rosberg said. "The sport is growing; 60,000 of you - amazing, great atmosphere, it’s been a great weekend."
The German driver’s 7th straight win placed him in one line with F1 legends Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari. Germany’s four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who crashed out of today’s race in the opening lap, holds the record of 9 straight wins.
Rosberg’s Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who won the two previous Sochi GP races, finished in the second place behind the German racer with over 12 seconds gap.
"I am really happy for the team and you know, I got the posints," Hamilton said commenting on his result.
Ferraris’ Kimi Raikkonen finished in the third place after team Mercedes pilots.
Raikkonen was skeptic about his race on Sunday and eventual third place saying "of course it’s not exactly what we want."
"We want to win races and put the two cars as far up as we can," the Finnish racer said. "We tried to today."
Russian racer Daniil Kvyat from team Red Bull completed his home track race in the 15th place.
This year Russia held its FIA Formula One racing Grand Prix for the first time in spring, namely on April 29-May 1, as compared with the two previous races held in autumn of 2014 and 2015 in Sochi.
A total of 21 races had been scheduled for the 2016 FIA F1 Championship, with Sochi GP listed fourth on the calendar.