F1: Hamilton reaches 100 wins with success at Russian Grand Prix – live reaction! | Sport

Poor old Norris ends up seventh, but with an extra point for setting the fastest lap. His time will come, of that we can all be certain.

Wow! Yet another brilliant race, and how brilliantly Hamilton and Mercedes negotiated it! He thanks his team for the late pit and the call on the tyres, also noting that it’s taken them five races to get to three figures. Well, they’re here now, but Verstappen’s second-place means the overall gap between them is just five points.

Verstappen is second, Sainz third, Ricciardo fourth and Bottas fifth.

Lap 53/53 Lewis Hamilton is going to take the lead in the driver standings, but Veratappen would’ve taken a five-point deficit before the race and this is so set-up it’s ridiculous.

Lap 52/53 Visibility is really poor now, Hamilton extending his lead, and Norris pits – can he come out and stay on the podium? Hamilton, though, doesn’t care. If he stays on the track, he wins, and Norris emerges in seventh. Maybe the team made a mistake in misjudging the weather radar, but you can see why he stayed out to tough it out. Ach, and there’s Norris sliding out of bounds, that’s going to be another penalty. How gutting for him, but what a talent!

Lap 51/53 Ach! What a shame for Norris, who floated straight as Hamilton negotiated the corner, and Verstappen is now third, gunning for P2! That looks his from where I’m sitting, and what a season this is!

Lap 51/53 Hamilton’s taking chunks out of Norris, the lead down from 25.721s to 14.995s! I think he’s got enough in reserve, but as I type that the lead is down to 8.424! It’s caning down, shpritz all over the show, and HAMILTON PASSES NORRIS, WHO SLIDES OFF THE TRACK!

Lap 50/53 Hamilton comes in though he doesn’t want to! We learn that more rain is expected as he comes out in second, onto inters and 25.721s behind; “We just need to commit to stay,” Norris declares, and he’s only got to hang in there fir three more laps to record his maiden race-win!

Lap 49/53 It’s stopped raining again and Norris’ team tell him it’s slippy … “Shut up,I know!” he responds! Norris now leads by 2.294 as Ricciardo pits and he tells his team he won’t!

Lap 48/53 Perez passes Sainz and moves into third as we learn that the rain might get worse before it gets better. There’s a yellow flag, then Norris goes really wide, and this is now very difficult for all the drivers! “It’s really slippy but it’s not raining much,” Hamilton tells his team, and Russell and Bottas pit… Hamilton makes like he’s going to, doesn’t, and Norris now leads by two seconds!

Lap 47/53 Hamilton can’t afford to risk spinning out trying to overtake because he needs the second-place points, and Norris’ lead, briefly under a second, is now back over. And now Hamilton is closer, 0.55 away, and he attacks! Norris slides off the track but comes back still ahead – that’s done just about well enough – but Hamilton has DRS and attacks again! The wetness is helping the champ, but Norris hangs in there!

Lap 46/53 I wonder whether the rain will help Hamilton or Norris; in commentary, they reckon the former, and we see the brollies go up. If Norris can hang on, he’ll become, at 21, the youngest-ever GP winner, and he tells his team the rain is here.

Lap 45/53 Norris is doing really well to keep ahead of Hamilton, picking clever lines. The lead is only a second and change now, but isn’t reducing by anything significant, and we can see the rain coming, heavier than initially anticipated.

Lap 44/53 Ultimately, Norris’ McLaren is quicker on the straight than Hamilton’s Mercedes, so manufacturing the overtake is tricky. The lead, though, is down to 1.185s, while Russell – sat in tenth – tells his team he can see some spots of rain.

Lap 43/53 “Still a threat of rain towards the end,” Hamilton learns, and he’s reduced the cap to 1.272s; can he take the win that’d be his hundredth? I fancy Norris to see this out I must say – he’s got just enough speed and more than enough moxie.

Lap 42/53 It’s been a good little race has this, and what a day it might be for Lando Norris. He’ll take many, many chequered flags, but will only experience his first once, and is 1.620 in front of Hamilton.

Lap 41/53 Sainz looks good for a third-place finish, now more than two seconds in front of Ricciardo, while Verstappen is seventh. I’m certain Hamilton would’ve taken that, paired with a second-place for him.

1 Norris

2 Hamilton

3 Sainz

4 Ricciardo

5 Perez

6 Alonso

7 Verstappen

8 Stroll

Lap 40/53 Norris is having a blinder here and he puts in a fastest lap to extend his lead to 1.814s. Hamilton has complimented his, er, “fellow countryman” many times this season, but he’ll be starting to experience annoyance.

Lap 39/53 What a win this’d be for Norris – Norrises everywhere really. “Expecting light drops in about 10 laps,” we hear…

Lap 38/53 Norris leads Hamilton by 1.917s and as I type that, Alonso takes out Verstappen! That top-five hope suddenly looks exceedingly forlorn!

1 Norris

2 Hamilton

3 Sainz

4 Ricciardo

5 Perez

6 Alonso

7 Veratappen

8 Stroll

Lap 37/53 A poor pit from Perez – Red Bull struggle to get a tyre off – who was third, sees him come out ahead of Verstappen, on fresher tyres. Perhaps there’ll be some orders coming his way, especially as Hamilton is closing on Norris now, the gap down to around three seconds.

Lap 36/53 Leclerc stops and it’s a slow one! He comes out 13th, behind Vettel, while Hamilton’s team tell him his pace is very good.

Lap 35/53 Sainz is still holding off Ricciardo and Verstappen, but Hamilton has taken out Leclerc; it looks like it’ll be him or Norris who wins this, the game between them around four seconds.

Lap 34/53 Schumacher is called in to retire his car, then Gasly pits and Norris passes Leclerc! Verstappen, meanwhile, is eighth behind Ricciardo, and no longer looking a lock for a top-five finish.

Lap 33/53 It’s no longer going well for Sainz, whose early-stop strategy doesn’t look a wise one. Ricciardo, who sits behind him in eighth, is looking good to pass, while in front Gasly is only 0.7s ahead but Hamilton is 11s further away.

Lap 32/53 Perez leads, from Alonso from Leclerc, but none of the three have pitted. It’s looking like a straight row between Hamilton and Nozza for the win … all the more so when Sainz attacks Gasly, who shuts the door!

Lap 31/53 Yup, Hamilton – whose team are telling him he can win this – gets by Gasly and sets a fastest lap too. He’s fifth, seven or so seconds behind Norris.

Lap 30/53 Verstappen is on mediums, I guess because he needs to do something different – nearly everyone else is on hards – and here comes Hamilton attacking Sainz, taking him out! Gasly is next, and the champ is looking strong now!

Lap 29/53 In comes Norris and has a far better stop bestowed upon him than did Ricciardo. He returns in fourth, eight seconds behind Leclerc, with Alonso and Perez ahead of them, in ascending order.

Lap 28/53 Norris still leads and if he can manage four more laps on these tyres he’ll fancy himself to last this one out. Meantime, Verstappen nobbles Russell, and this looks like a fine damage-limiting drive.

1 Norris

2 Perez

3 Alonso

4 Leclerc

5 Gasly

6 Sainz

7 Bottas

8 Stroll

9 Hamilton

10 Ricciardo

11 Verstappen

12 Russell

Lap 27/53 “Hamilton strategy,” says Nick Thornton. So clearly they wait to see if they pit for inters or stay on slicks … McLaren also I guess.” And as I paste that, Hamilton, who’s earned himself a bit of a buffer over Ricciardo, comes in and so does Verstappen! Hamilton returns in ninth, ahead of Ricciardo, while Verstappen is 12th!

Lap 26/53 Red Bull keep Verstappen out because if he comes in, he’ll come back below Ocon who’s 14th; if he hangs in there for five or six seconds laps longer, he should have decent tyres to the end, and has already driven superbly to limit the damage of his back-of-the-grid start.

Lap 25/53 Hamilton is half a second quicker than he was – he’s husbanded his tyres pretty carefully and just set a fastest lap – but he’s 12.330s behind.

Lap 24/53 Norris now leads from Hamilton, who trails by 13.043. Perez is third, Alonso, fourth, and Verstappen fifth, but the Belgian is struggling to advance any further – his tyres have gone, and he tells his team he can’t turn the car.

Lap 23/53 Mercedes and McLaren are both ready to pit and Ricciardo comes in to be handled by the latter … but they’re slow! It was drizzling at the time; did Mercedes draw them into the change by making like they were about to go, knowing that conditions would slow their opponents down?

Lap 22/53 Hamilton goes around again, still not pitting – the impression is that he’ll eventually switch his mediums to softs.

1 Norris

2 Ricciardo

3 Hamilton

4 Perez

5 Alonso

6 Verstappen

Lap 21/53 Hamilton sounds ready to come in while behind him, Perez is joining the battle for second – there’s about a second covering the two of them and Ricciardo.

Lap 20/53 Ricciardo is doing a great job holding off Hamilton, 10.887 behind Norris. Sainz is 28.443 behind, in 11th, but he’s stopped and the leader hasn’t yet.

Lap 19/53 Verstappen is absolutely nailing this, lapping 1.300s faster than Hamilton. We can see the snow-capped mountains – it’s unseasonably parky in Sochi – but the rain still has’t come.

Lap 18/53 Verstappen sets another fastest lap, while maybe Hamilton is coming into his own – the gap to Ricciardo is 0.777s now, but in commentary they note the rain that looks imminent.

Lap 17/53 Verstappen is a second a lap quicker than the cars in front of him, and a battle with Hamilton looks possible; oooh yeah! Meantime, Ricciardo’s McLaren is still too quick on the straights and it’s still Norris who leads.

Lap 16/53 The thought is that those who’ve come in early might be struggling in the final stages. But the focus is on Verstappen at the moment, who’s closing the gap on Hamilton, who’s third for the now around eight second ahead. Norris still leads but hasn’t yet come in.

Lap 15/53 Verstappen diddled Vettel around that same corner, but meantime Gasly sets the fastest lap then Stroll beats it, Sainz pits and comes out at 13th, and Hamilton is still out there; no one in commentary understands his strategy, but Norris has also yet to come in.

Lap 14/53 Hello! Norris has been attacking Sainz, complaining about his tyres, and there he goes! He getting behind him down the back straight, then nips left and around before they’ve even reached the breaking zone! Meantime, Verstappen passes Vettel – he’s now ninth – and Hamilton needs to make a pit-stop decision very soon.