Round 16: Sochi, RussiaThe start of the race saw pole man Leclerc lead away from fellow front row starter Hamilton but with the longest straight on the calendar leading to the first corner, Leclerc positioned his car to the left so as his teammate Vettel and not Hamilton would get the benefit from his tow as prearranged by Ferrari.
This enabled Vettel to pull easily clear of Hamilton, Leclerc also left the inside line of the corner unguarded for Vettel to pass and take the lead of the race, again this to ensure that the Ferrari's would lead at the front after the first lap.
The deal in place was then for Vettel to allow Leclerc back into the lead a few laps into the race but when the order came Vettel declined claiming the gap to Hamilton in third place was insufficient for the Ferrari cars to be losing time in changing the race order.
The order came again some laps later after the gap to Hamilton had been increased but again Vettel declined the order to change positions saying that Leclerc needed to get closer to him before that may happen, at this stage of the race Vettel looked to be quicker than Leclerc and was slowly pulling further away, Leclerc wasn't happy because he had played his part in allowing Vettel past, Ferrari reassured Leclerc that things would be sorted out which seemed to calm Leclerc.
Leclerc was the first Ferrari to be pitted on lap 22 going from the soft tyres onto medium tyres, perhaps concerned that he might be undercut by his teammate a lap later Vettel asked to be pitted for fresh tyres because his rear tyres were losing grip. However Ferrari left him out saying that they were concerned about losing the lead to Mercedes if a safety car came out, Mercedes who were going to be running their first stint much longer on the harder medium tyres.
Vettel was eventually pitted onto the medium tyres on lap 26, rather conveniently it seems losing position to Leclerc, however the very next lap Vettel pulled off the track with a MGU-K failure which brought out the VSC. The two Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Bottas immediately pitted onto the soft tyres, the much shorter loss of time when pitting under the VSC allowed Hamilton to take the lead of the race whilst Leclerc was now second in front of Bottas.
During the VSC period Russell speared off into a barrier after suffering with a front brake failure, this then brought out a full safety car and a decision was then to pit Leclerc back onto soft tyres which now put him in third place behind Bottas, it had been decided that Leclerc would not be able to pass Hamilton for the in whilst on the slower medium tyres.
The strategy however didn't work for Leclerc as he was unable to pass Bottas so at the finish Hamilton won the race from Bottas and Leclerc, Verstappen finished in a lonely 4th place after starting 9th with a grid penalty, his teammate Albon was a creditable 5th after starting from the pitlane, a result of missing qualifying after crashing in FP3. Best of the rest in 6th place was again Sainz whilst Hamilton got the bonus point for fastest lap.
In third place with 159 points and receiving the "Pole Sitter Leclerc Trophy"
UnlikeUday, McPrancingBullIn second place with 172 points and receiving the "Reliable Bottas Trophy"
MayhemIn first place with 179 points and receiving the "Happy Hamilton Trophy"
robins13PF1 PICK 10 CHAMPIONSHIP 2019 - ROUND 16 - SOCHI1. robins13 179 
2. Mayhem 172
3. UnlikeUday 159
3. McPrancingBull 159
5. Mod_Titanium 152
5. paul85 152
5. jzusy 152
8. Lotus49 149
8. F1_Ernie 149
10. K.F. 148
10. SteveW 163 (FP1 Penalty -15) 148
10. Laz_T800 148
13.
donr 146
13. toda11blue 146
15. Flash2k11 145
16. Exediron 142
17. pokerman 166 (self inflicted penalty -25) 141
18. cm97 140
19. Herb 136
20. coulthards chin 134
20. Pisco Sour 152 (FP2 Penalty -18) 134
22. Bentrovato 133
23. P-F1 Mod 131
24. JN23 130
25. Dom1511 124
25. Saio7 124
27. Remmirath 123
27. RustyRockets44 123
29. OnAGivenDay 121
30. purchville 137 (FP2 Penalty -18) 119
31. Jenson's Understeer 118
32. Icemanjee1 117
33. Covalent 109
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