To the wake of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, soaked by a rain that put everything on the other way around, Carlos Sainz rose in Sochi to his third podium of the World Cup 2021. A pill at the height of his great Sunday, where he led in the initial stretch and
Where he kept the blood cold in those six final laps, which ruined the fabulous Norris Lande.
In that delicate trance, with slopes of heaven and others of the inevitable step by boxes, ran full of the Leader of Mercedes, which is already 100 victories in F1 and recovers the initiative in the World Cup.
Those two points, of course, are not going to discourage VersaPpen, author of an Excelsa come back from the last stall on the grill.
The bathroom in Champagne with the two Titans of F1 is the best tribute to Sainz, which this season had already climbed the podium in Monaco and Hungary.
A reward at the height of the irreproachable race of it.
Maybe another one would have come down before the appearance of the graining on the tires or would have come into the final Russian roulette, but Sainz remained impassive.
After hand in hand before Sergio Pérez, when the first drops donnered the asphalt, Ferrari called him a chapter.
Subjected seven turns for the checkered flag, but that change to rain tires was crucial.
They were instants of zozobra for all.
Even for Hamilton, whom they had called a chapter, six turns for the goal.
He in principle he refused in resounding, but shortly after he had to accept the evidence.
Norris, then leader, warmed his head with them.
The young of McLaren, an avid of glory, resisted going through Boxes.
And that was the perdition of him.
There was no human form of driving on that skating rink.
Red Bull, who had Verstappen stagnant the seventh place, also saw him coming before the rest.
He was heroic the rode of Mad Max.
No one would have imagined such a long outcome two hours before, when to follow the trace of rain, he had to raise his eyes towards the waters of the Black Sea.
The meteorologists did not augurized anything serious and the veterans warned the difficulties of the second square of the grill.
These pessimistic forecasts were burst to Sainz with a formidable departure, in which he was held, a centimeters from the Wall, before the rush of George Russell and attacked the lead with a great stained braking against Norris.
Almost a year after that wonderful boot in Portimao, Madrileño returned to occupy the tip of a race.
Unlike then, Sainz did not come to settle for something circumstantial, not even when Ferrari was dominated to book forces.
The threat of graining in tires was common currency also among the rivals of it.
Included Norris, author of a couple of very aggressive approaches from the tenth round.
In one of them he damaged the left front wheel, although a couple of turns later, the McLaren pilot regained the first place.
Of course, the stopper organized by Russell slowed down Ricciardo, Hamilton and Pérez, aboard faster monoplaces than Ferrari.
It was not good exit from Sir Lewis, losing the site against Ricciardo and Alonso.
Forced by the prison, Hamilton advanced the Asturian, although always following a rather conservative career plan.
Through the radio, Mercedes engineers informed him from the fierce recovery of Verstappen.
A Max, condemned at the bottom of the grill, 10 laps had been sufficient to recover eight positions.
It is not that he was limited to exceeding minor adversaries, but he was relentless against Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc.
If the Finn made it almost a tray, what faced Ferrari, with mild touch on the included spoiler, was a master play.
After the entrance of favorites to Boxes, the Dutch was already rolling fifth, the Estela de Alonso, who had found a rhythm more than interesting with his Alpine.
Just when half the grand prize was going, Red Bull called his leader to change the middle tire.
Right upside down that Hamilton, who went through boxes on that round and confront the decisive stretch with the hard compound, the favorite of him.
Thus, almost without apparent effort, took off from Sainz.
The struggle for the podium squares was exciting.
The Ricciardo options were seriously compromised by an error of their mechanics, but McLaren still kept the bay of Norris.
Red Bull did not know how to loosen the right rear wheel of Pérez and those 8.9 seconds of delay multiplied Sainz’s optimism, which had only been employed 4.2.
At 15 turns of the checkered flag, the third square of the drawer looked at the hand for Carlos.
Of course, we had to contain Ricciardo and Pérez with gums threatened by degradation.
If they were missing incentives, there was still one who rubbed his eyes with the overtaking of Alonso to Verstappen.
Without trap or cardboard.
The alpine brio, to the compass of the Hammer of Fernando, leaving the Red Bull evidence.
The difficulties with the Dutch tires seemed reuniting.
And the eight seconds of Norris in front of Hamilton wanted only a sigh.
In just a blinking, heptacampeon arrived at the height of the young disciple of him.
Too bad that water, synonymous with unrivaled shock on F1, this time so cruel with Norris.
The pilot award of the day will not be comfort for him.
