SOCHI: Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg chalked up his seventh win in a row at the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday with team mate Lewis Hamilton fighting back from 10th on the grid, dodging crashes and battling through the pack, to seal a Mercedes one-two finish.

In an incident-filled race that started with chaos, and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel being shunted into the wall by Red Bull’s Russian Daniil Kvyat, Rosberg had an untroubled afternoon from pole to chequered flag for his 18th career win.

The German equalled the achievement of compatriot Michael Schumacher in winning seven successive races, with only Vettel (nine in 2013 with Red Bull) and the late Italian Alberto Ascari ahead of them.

Only champions Schumacher, Britain’s Nigel Mansell and Brazilian Ayrton Senna had won the first four races in a season before Rosberg joined them and he now has a hefty 43-point lead over Hamilton in the title race.

Rosberg won the final three races of 2015 and is now unbeaten since defending three time world champion Hamilton triumphed in last year’s United States Grand Prix to secure the championship.

“It felt very special out there,” said the happy winner, who led all the way and also set the fastest lap, after being congratulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It’s been an awesome weekend, the car has been fantastic. Very, very happy, thanks to everybody.”

Pole position and the unbeatable pace of the Mercedes meant Rosberg faced little competition as he won by 25 seconds from Hamilton, who had to fight through the field after starting 10th due to a technical failure in qualifying.

Already up to fifth after an incident-packed first lap, Hamilton passed both Williams cars and the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen to take and hold second.

Hamilton had been closing in on Rosberg in the second half of the race, but backed off after the team warned him of a water-pressure problem.

Whether he could have caught Rosberg was doubtful — the German demonstrated he could produce blistering pace when needed with a fast lap just before the end.

“The car felt good. At that time, I was lapping a little quicker than Nico, I was chewing away at (his lead),” said Hamilton, adding he had no idea how serious the problem with his car was. “At that point was when I had to back off and I was a second slower.”

Raikkonen finished third ahead of fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas, who started on the front row in the Williams, and his Williams team-mate Felipe Massa.

The podium was Ferrari’s 700th since the championship started in 1950.

Fernando Alonso came home a much-improved sixth for McLaren ahead of Kevin Magnussen of Renault, Romain Grosjean for Haas, Sergio Perez of Force India and 2009 champion Jenson Button who was 10th in the second McLaren.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2016