Feature

F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2021 Russian GP

Mick Schumacher (Retired, Lap 33): 5/10
Finishing both of Friday's free practice sessions behind his Haas team mate Nikita Mazepin wasn't a great start to Mick Schumacher's weekend. While he still out-qualified the Russian at his home Grand Prix, Mick then lost out badly at the start of Sunday's race and fell to 18th place at the end of the first lap and was at the back of the field by lap 4. In hindsight it suggests there was something awry with the VF-21 from the start, long before he was finally forced to retire from the race after 33 laps. "It's my first retirement this year," he noted. "We obviously had an issue and we were trying to fix it out on track but didn't manage [to]. It is what it is, we live and we learn."

Nicholas Latifi (Retired, Lap 48): 6/10
Despite the disappointment of Sunday's retirement, Nicholas Latifi extended his decent run of form in Russia this weekend. He was P16 at the end of Friday's practice sessions and translated that into another Q2 appearance on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately a grid penalty for overnight engine component changes meant he lined up in 18th place on Sunday, and he was soon dispatched by the likes of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. After that it was hard work for the Williams to do anything about the traffic ahead, and he was still only 16th by the time the rain started to fall in the closing laps which caught him out and resulted in a premature finish. "I got caught out on the slicks when it started raining and made a mistake. I couldn't slow down, so spun at turn seven and clipped the barrier which damaged the rear wing. There was nothing to play for and it made more sense to retire the car."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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