Russian F1 Grand Prix 2017 Results: Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas Wins His 1st Race

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas won his first race in Formula One at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix on Sunday, ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

The Finn enjoyed an electric start as he took the lead at Turn 2 on the first lap from third position on the grid, which he held throughout the race despite a tense finish as Vettel closed in.

Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen wrapped up the podium places, while Lewis Hamilton could only manage a disappointing fourth amid a difficult afternoon in which he suffered problems with his car and failed to trouble those ahead of him.

A delighted Bottas revelled in his maiden win:

Here are the results, via F1's official Twitter feed:

Here are the standings:

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	CAR	PTS
1	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Ferrari	86
2	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes	73
3	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes	63
4	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Ferrari	49
5	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer	35
6	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer	22
7	Sergio Perez	MEX	Force India Mercedes	22
8	Felipe Massa	BRA	Williams Mercedes	18
9	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Toro Rosso	11
10	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Force India Mercedes	9

Recap

There were some early casualties in the race as McLaren's Fernando Alonso failed to start—his first DNS in 12 years—while Romain Grosjean of Haas and Renault's Jolyon Palmer were forced to retire quickly amid a good start for Bottas:

Daniel Ricciardo soon followed the trio out of the race with his right-rear brake on fire.

At the head of the contest, Bottas was pulling away from Vettel early on, per Mercedes' official Twitter account:

That lead would grow to more than five seconds, with the German producing his fastest lap of the race at the 17th only for Bottas to do the same immediately after.

However, his team-mate Hamilton was having less success as he struggled for power with an overheating car—an issue that would affect him for much of the race.

Poor pit stops for the Englishman and Raikkonen would lose them further ground on the leaders. Hamilton in particular slipped even further back:

Vettel was able to reel in Bottas over the final 15 laps or so, with a lock up at Turn 13 on Lap 39 allowing him to close the gap back to three seconds, and that was down to just 1.4 three laps later when the pair had to get past Williams' Lance Stroll.

The German continued to pile on the pressure as the race wore on:

After helping Vettel close in, traffic come to Bottas' aid would in the end—the Finn passed Felipe Massa on the final lap while Vettel was held up, allowing Bottas some breathing room as he took the chequered flag.

Even Force India and Williams were among those congratulating him on social media:

In the standings, Vettel has managed to increase his lead over Hamilton to 13 points, while Bottas is just 10 behind his team-mate thanks to his win.

Bottas has overcome a significant hurdle in winning his first race—perhaps he can make it a three-way contest for the world title this year with even more impressive performances.