15:00 And off they go on the formation lap, all 20 cars make it off their grid slots for a single tour of the Sochi Autodrom before lining back up on the grid for the start proper.

Alonso is already reporting problems on his Honda power unit. He starts 15th.

15:00 Vandoorne and the Saubers are the only cars to opt for super-softs.

14:58 Penalties for Sainz and Vandoorne mean they start down on their qualifying positions.

14:55 So the grid has been cleared of all the hangers-on and the cars are being fired up.

14:52 It looks like those dramas down on Verstappen's car were all resolved. He should start the race as planned from seventh on the grid, behind Massa and ahead of Hulkenberg's Renault.

14:49 Now it's down to the business end of the pre-race prep. Helmets go on, drivers get belted in and engines are fired up.

14:46 President Putin usually makes an appearance towards the end of the race to give out the winner's trophy.

14:46 It's national anthem time. Jean Todt and Chase Carey are in place to hear a full choir belt out the anthem.

14:43 Strategy should be a simple one-stop here. Pirelli says the best bet is to pit from ultra-softs to super-softs on lap 26, but an early Safety Car could throw the cat among the pigeons. In terms of wear the tyres can pretty much do the whole race, but in terms of degradation the ultra-softs may start to go off after the midway point.

14:39 The drivers have to be at the front of the grid at 14:45 sharp to listen to the national anthem. If they are late they get a reprimand from the stewards.

14:37 Usually the drivers sit in their cars as they are pushed to the grid, but Mercedes puts its cars on trolley wheels and the drivers jump out so they can go to the loo. That gives them a bit of a longer "comfort break" before they have to come back to the grid for the national anthem.

14:35 This is one of the most exciting times of the GP weekend. A packed grid and the cars arriving one by one to be pushed into their positions.

14:33 It looks like the Red Bull has made it out the garage now that the pit lane is open, so fingers crossed Verstappen starts from seventh. No penalty for the change, of course, as he is still within his four PU quota for the year.

14:31 A few problems at Red Bull already as the team swapped back to an old power unit on Verstappen's car overnight. However, a couple of water leaks from two faulty pumps forced them to get the Loctitie out to do a bodge repair job. Hopefully he'll make the grid.

14:30 Good afternoon and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the Russian Grand Prix.

Lap 1

Alonso has stopped at the pit lane entrance on the formation lap. Aborted start I suspect.

Yep, the start has been aborted as Alonso makes his way back to the garage on foot. That will go down as DNS.

So the rest of the field completes another formation lap and returns back to the grid. Hopefully we will get away this time.

Lap 2

Raikkonen makes an awful start as Bottas passes Vettel around the outside and takes the lead into Turn 2.

Grosjean and Palmer have had a big collision at Turn 2 so the Safety Car has come out.

Bottas, Vettel, Raikkonen, Hamilton is the order at the front after the first lap.

Grosjean and Palmer collided on the apex of Turn 2. Palmer turned in and Grosjean was there - I'd put that down as a racing incident on the first lap.

Lap 3

Only Vandoorne and Ericsson opt to pit to get rid of their super-softs and take on ultra-softs. It will be fascinating if they can go the end on those tyres. Either way, they have got rid of the slow compound.

Safety car is coming in at the end of this lap. Stroll also had a spin on that first lap and is now down in 14th, but at least he is still running.

Lap 4

Bottas makes a good start under the Safety Car, Vettel is a long way off in second. Hamilton has a look at Raikkonen into Turn 2 but is not close enough to make a move.

Bottas has a 1.7s lead over Vettel. He looked good on long runs on Friday - much better than Hamilton - so I think he's in good shape here.

Lap 5

Problems for Ricciardo - right rear brakes are on fire! He's still going but there is a lot of smoke coming off the rear.

And now Ricciardo pulls up and accepts defeat. I'll guess he will try to get it back to the pits - but you don't want to tempt fate with a brake problem.

Lap 6

Bottas leads by 1.8s as he starts the next lap. Raikkonen is 1.9s off Vettel and Hamilton is 1.3s off Raikkonen.

Honda reports a suspected ERS issue on Alonso's car. They had an MGU-K problem on Vandoorne's car on Friday so could be related. Honda will now investigate further.

Lap 7

Ricciardo returns to the pits and I reckon he is out of this race. Red Bull wheel him back into the garage, so that's the end of that.

Hamilton set a fastest first sector on that last lap, but Bottas was the fastest man overall. He's looking very good out in front - much more comfortable than he was in Bahrain.

Hamilton on the radio, it sounded like he was complaining about something related to power.

Lap 8

Bottas extends his lead again to 2.4s. Vettel is 2.5s ahead of Raikkonen. The strategists will be looking to the pit stops to make a difference here as overtaking on the track looks very unlikely.

Verstappen is told to shift his brake balance forward. Could that be to protect the rear brakes after Ricciardo's issues?

Hamilton says there is something wrong and Mercedes tells him to cool the car on the straights, so it sounds like an engine issue.

Lap 9

Bottas continues to stretch the gap. 2.9s now. There's no real battles anywhere down the grid. The closest two cars are Kvyat and Stroll in 12th and 13th.

Lap 10

Bottas keeps setting fastest sectors - there is no real degradation on these tyres, so as the fuel load goes down the car should keep getting faster.

Lap 11

Vettel sets a personal best, but he's still slower than Bottas on that lap. Mercedes will want him to have a big enough gap to adapt for strategies and avoid an undercut.

Magnussen has been given a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits at Turn 2. He has asked Haas to double check with Charlie Whiting, but his engineer says there is no chance of getting the stewards to change their mind.

Lap 12

Hamilton is told he is borderline on temperatures as he gets within 1.5s of Raikkonen. Hamilton responds: "I'm trying to race".

It just looks like there is no way these cars can race together on this track. The gaps throughout the field are all over a second.

Lap 13

So this could be a bit of a dull one, but that won't bother Bottas as he extends his gap to 3.9s. Vettel has a 3.7s lead over Raikkonen, but I don't think anyone is expecting the Ferraris to shuffle position.

Lap 14

It looks like Hamilton has had to back off again as his gap to Raikkonen increases to 2.3s. Stroll is just about a second off Kvyat now, but that's as close as anyone is at the moment. So not even a chance to use DRS to try to manufacture a move at the moment.

Lap 15

So all the excitement is going to come down to the pit stops. But Ferrari's options are limited here. There is little advantage to trying an undercut here, because the super-soft is about 0.9s off the pace of the ultra-soft and the ultra-softs aren't really degrading.

Mercedes can sit there and wait for Ferrari to make the first move and then react the next lap.

Hamilton is warned of overheating again. He's now 4.0s off Raikkonen and falling out of contention.

Lap 16

A real shame for Hamilton, but he has been off the pace all weekend. Great for Bottas after what happened in Bahrain.

Hamilton is told that other cars are struggling with temps, but we haven't heard that many complaints on the world feed.

Lap 17

Vettel now sets the fastest time of the race, which is 0.2s faster than Bottas last lap. But Bottas responds with a fastest first sector of all.

Hamilton also sets a blisteringly quick first sector and closes to 3.8s of Raikkonen.

Lap 18

Bottas sets the fastest lap of the race and extends his lead to 4.5s again. No concerns about his pace.

Hamilton is upping his pace again, going on the attack behind Raikkonen, but I fear he won't get close enough. Hamilton asks if the temperatures are going back up.

Lap 19

Vettel complains of blisters on the front left. That's bad news for Ferrari, as the front tyres shouldn't really be struggling that much here. They may have biased the setup too much to protect the rears.

Hamilton is told the car is "on the limit" as he closes to 2.8s of Raikkonen.

Lap 20

Bottas sets a new fastest lap and extends his lead by 0.5s to 5.3s over Vettel. Hamilton locks up to Turn 11 but no major damage to the tyres.

Lap 21

Hamilton says he is struggling for temps again as the gap increases to 3.0s again.

You can see the blisters on Verstappen's tyres on the left front. That could be the trigger to start the pit stops. If Verstappen pits that gives Mercedes and Ferrari a bigger gap to slot into without the worry of getting held up by the Red Bull.

Lap 22

Wehrlein pits for the second time to take on another set of ultra-softs.

Massa is the next to pit, he takes on super-softs.

Pirelli had lap 26 as the optimum lap to pit, so on lap 22 the window is open. The super-softs will have no problem making it to the end.

Lap 23

Bottas maintains that 5.4s lead over Vettel. That's a good margin as we enter the pit stop window.

Kvyat and Magnussen have also pitted. Magnussen had to serve his penalty in the process.

Lap 24

Hamilton told that temps are starting to drop. That will be welcome news in the Mercedes cockpit and he will try to push again to make the most of the upcoming pit stops.

Vettel sets a very quick lap in the Ferrari and the gap is now 4.2s. This could be Ferrari giving it everything ahead of its planned pit stop.

Lap 25

And now the gap is down to 4.0s as Vettel takes 0.7s out of the Mercedes on that last lap. Bottas is responding, but doesn't want to ruin his tyres here. He's coming up on Magnussen and Kvyat now so could lose more time among the backmarkers.

Lap 26

Bottas has got blisters on his front left as he loses more time in the traffic. Vettel uses that to his advantage to get the gap down to 3.4s. Bottas is now stuck behind Sainz. Just as it's difficult to overtake here, it is also difficult to lap and without blue flags the leaders would be in trouble.

Lap 27

Vettel has the gap down to 2.5s. Ferrari must be looking at a pit stop soon. Ideally just as Bottas gets stuck in the next swathe of traffic.

Mercedes will be wary of an Australia situation when Hamilton got stuck behind Verstappen and won't want to be the first to pit.

Lap 28

Bottas pits. Vettel stays out and takes the lead.

A good stop for Bottas as the super-softs go on. He comes out in fourth place well behind Hamilton and with some nice clear air.

Vettel told to give it everything. If those tyres have any performance left, he will need to extract it to the full now to attempt an overcut.

Lap 29

Perez pits and comes back out in eighth ahead of teammate Ocon, who has also made his single stop.

Vettel stays out for another lap and is already slower than Bottas, who sets a personal best in the final sector. Vettel is also coming up behind Stroll, so may pit this lap if he can't get past.

Bottas is flying now. He should keep the lead comfortably.

Lap 30

Vettel stays out for another lap and Raikkonen pits. Raikkonen makes a clean stop and comes out behind Bottas.

Bottas is only 19.7s off Vettel and a pit stop here takes about 29 seconds.

Hamilton told to pit this lap...

Lap 31

Hamilton comes in and the super-softs go on. He comes out 7.5s behind Raikkonen, so that looks as though any chance of a podium has gone.

Vettel is told to stay out. They are in danger of Raikkonen ending up ahead of Vettel, so I think now that Raikkonen is safe ahead of Hamilton they need to create a gap to ensure Vettel comes back in second.

Ferrari may be hoping for safety car now, but even then it will depend on where the cars are when it happens.

Lap 32

Raikkonen is the fastest man on the track at the moment though.

Lap 33

Vettel could end up coming out third here, perhaps the Ferrari pit wall will orchestrate a swap.

Vettel will pit at the end of this lap... But is then told to stay out. Very odd scenes at Ferrari here.

Lap 34

Vettel is now just 27.8s ahead of Raikkonen, so could come out behind him if he pits on the next lap.

Bottas told its critical to lap Kvyat as quickly as possible. Maybe Mercedes are worried about fresh tyres on Vettel ...

Lap 35

Vettel makes the stop for super-softs. Bottas resumes the lead. Vettel comes out 2.4s ahead of Raikkonen, so panic over from a Ferrari team order point of view.

Vettel is 4.7s off Bottas and has seven lap younger tyres.

Lap 36

Bottas now has a 4.6s lead over Vettel. Raikkonen is 3.1s behind his teammate. Hamilton is 14.8s off and well out of this race.

Hamilton is told Verstappen is 21s behind, which the team informs him so that he can keep a gap in case of a safety car. But Hamilton was not expecting to be receiving those kinds of messages at this stage of the race.

Lap 37

Vettel is a bit quicker, but catching is one thing here - even getting within a second is another around here, let alone overtaking.

Lap 38

Vettel is 0.3s quicker than Bottas on that lap. Raikkonen has now dropped to 5.8s off Vettel.

Not many battles going on further down the field. Hulkenberg is doing well in sixth, which is positive for Renault after so many struggles with their race pace this year.

Lap 39

Bottas locks up at T11 on that last lap and runs well wide. He will now have a flatspot on his left front and Vettel is now 2.4s off Bottas.

Vettel is informed of Bottas' flatspot and will now start to put the pressure on.

Lap 40

Vettel is 0.8s quicker on this lap now. That brings the gap down to 2.3s. But I don't think we should get too excited about a battle until he gets within a second. It's so difficult to follow another car here.

Can I take back what I said about Hulkenberg? i just realised he hasn't pitted yet!

Lap 41

Vettel gets the gap down to 1.8s. It'll be getting a bit tense in the Mercedes garage now.

Hulkenberg finally pits after 41 race laps (plus qualifying laps) on that set of ultra-softs. Hulkenberg rejoins in ninth behind the Force Indias but will now be able to attack on fresher tyres.

Lap 42

Bottas laps Stroll but lost a lot of time doing so. The gap is now 1.2s between the leaders.

Massa pits after a slow puncture, a shame as he was running high and is now ninth.

Lap 43

Bottas steps up his game and extends the lead to 1.5s. Vettel is going to have to work very hard to make something happen. But we've already seen Bottas make one mistake in this race, another could be game over.

Raikkonen is a gentleman's six seconds off the pace of the lead two.

Lap 44

Bottas is told to "press the overtake" earlier on the two main straights. Bottas says he doesn't want any more messages. A bit of "leave me alone, I know what I'm doing" from F1's new fastest Finn.

Bottas ups his gap to 2.0s now. It really does look like he knows what he is doing.

Lap 45

Calm in the Mercedes garage ad Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda watch on. Vettel sets a new fastest middle sector but Bottas has the gap at 1.8s as they cross the line.

Lap 46

All weekend the Mercedes has been faster on the long straights here. That should be enough to keep Vettel at bay and Bottas is using it well to ensure he extends the gap in the first sector every new lap.

Vettel has the edge in sectors two and three, but it's not easy to pass around there.

Lap 47

Vettel is 1.3s off Bottas on this lap. But, as I said earlier, Bottas is safe as long as that lead is over one second.

Vettel is told to keep pushing and that Bottas will make a mistake. I'm not convinced.

Lap 48

Bottas has a lead of 1.5s over Vettel. But now Vettel sets the fastest first sector of all - that's unusual... Vettel sets the new fastest middle sector two, which is 0.2s quicker than Bottas in that sector.

Lap 49

And Vettel makes it all three fastest sectors and a new fastest lap. This is it. This is Vettel throwing everything at this race now.

The gap is now under a second for the first time. But only briefly. Vettel has DRS though.

This is now getting very exciting after 49 laps of tedium.

Lap 50

Vettel doesn't get DRS on the pit straight and the gap goes back up to 1.2s. He needs that DRS on the pit straight to make something happen. Two laps left after this one.

Raikkonen sets a surprise fastest lap.

Lap 51

Vettel gets DRS this time on the pit straight. The Mercedes engine will be on full power and he is coming behind Massa to lap the Williams.

Vettel gets DRS on the back straight too, but it's not enough to have a look.

Lap 52

Last lap starts with Vettel losing the rear out of the exit of the last corner on the previous lap, Bottas has DRS off Massa and now has the Williams in between. Bottas' former teammate holds up Vettel and that should be game over.

Vettel: "Hey! What was that?!"

Bottas now just needs to keep his car wide enough in the final corners...

And BOTTAS WINS IN RUSSIA! A great race by the Finn to hold off Vettel, who was very impressive in the closing laps of that race.

Bottas: "It took quite a while, huh? 80 races!"

A well deserved first win. And very interesting for the championship.

Bottas arrives in parc ferme as a race winner for the first time. No Hamilton in the top three for the first time this season.

Big celebrations at Mercedes between Bottas and the mechanics. Great to see.

Thanks for joining us today. Full report and reaction from the drivers to come.