Hamilton after Russia win: "Bottas a gentleman to let me by"

Lewis Hamilton has won the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, but he was quick to thank his teammate Valtteri Bottas for letting him by, as the Finn was in pole and in the lead until Mercedes told him to let Hamilton past.

Bottas was visibly and audibly annoyed with the order, as he was set to win his first race of the season. He did very well to get pole position on Saturday and to get away from the pack on Sunday on the track where he won his first ever F1 race.

However, he was told to let Hamilton past by James Allison, the chief engineer at Mercedes, which pissed off the Finn, who really wanted to win this one.

Hamilton knew that the race was gifted to him, which is why he thanked his teammate after securing his eighth win of the 2018 season.

"It's actually quite a difficult day because Valtteri did a fantastic job all weekend and he was a real gentleman to let me by," he told Paul Di Resta, Formula One's trackside reporter on the day.

"He's now not fighting for the championship, where we are.

"It's been such a great weekend for the team. they've done such an exceptional job to have this advantage over Ferrari.

"To have a one-two, usually we'd just be elated but I can understand how difficult it was for Valtteri and really he deserved to win.

"Championship wise, as a team we are trying to win both so today it was a real team effort.

"Whilst it doesn't feel spectacular, I know he's going to do well in races to come."

Hamilton's championship lead is now 50 points with just five races to go, and it does feel like it's wrapped up again for the Silver Arrows, unless they crash on multiple occasions.