Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton clinched an easy win at the Russian Grand Prix to move closer to a third world championship.
The 30-year-old driver took advantage of an incident-packed race to be crowned champion for the ninth time this year, after Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg retired early on with a throttle failure. 
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished second in the race and with that result jumped to second place in the standings, 66 points behind Hamilton.
Williams’ Valtteri Botas collided with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the final lap to see Force India’s Sergio Perez claim the third place finish.
Hamilton commented on Rosberg’s crash after collecting the winners’ trophy from Russian President Vladimir Putin who was in the stands.
“It looked like we were going to have a race and I was thinking this is great and we were going to put on a good show.
“Nico made a mistake at turn one and went wide. I overtook him and after that, or maybe even before, he started to have some problems. It is very unfortunate for the team,” the champion added.
“Those last five laps I was just taking it in. I don’t know how many times I’ll be in this position again.” 
RESULTS:
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:37:11.024
2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari +00:05.953
3. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India – Mercedes 00:28.918
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 00:38.831
5. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) RedBull – Renault 00:47.566
6. Felipe Nasr (Brazil) Sauber – Ferrari 00:56.508
7. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus – Mercedes 01:01.088
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 01:12.358
9. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 01:19.467
10. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 01:26.210
11. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso – Renault 01:28.424
12r. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 1 lap
13. Roberto Merhi (Spain) Marussia – Ferrari 1 lap
14. Will Stevens (Britain) Marussia – Ferrari 2 laps
15r. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull – Renault 6 laps
r. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso – Renault 7 laps
r. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus – Mercedes 42 laps
r. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 46 laps
r. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber – Ferrari 53 laps
r. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India – Mercedes 53 laps
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