THE BIG PICTURE: The driver championship is beginning to wind down ... unless that asinine double points rule intervenes.

EVENT: The crowd looked decent and it appears they enjoyed themselves. Now, we'll have to see what the staying power is.

QUALIFYING: A "traditional" front row, Bottas' mistake prevents him from crashing the party, and Kvyat wows the home crowd.

RACE: There are some good passing opportunities at this track, but this was not one of the better races this year.

TRACK: The Russians sure know how to build sporting venues. Of course, it helps that Putin is willing to spend his people's money.

START: A glorious move followed by glorious tire smoke.

MERCEDES: Inevitable? Sure. But still a great accomplishment.

HAMILTON: Rosberg made it easy for Lewis, but one suspects the result would not have been different.

ROSBERG: A fantastic recovery for Nico to get his tires to last all but one lap.

BOTTAS: Once again, knocking on the door.

MASSA: Complaining, again.

WILLIAMS: Stretching that lead over Ferrari ever so slightly.

BUTTON: A great run by Jenson.

MAGNUSSEN: Ditto.

MCLAREN: Their finest performance of the year.

FERRARI: They're just phoning it in now.

VETTEL: Already checked out.

KVYAT: Quickly brought back down to reality.

ALONSO: Vagueness, amplified.

CATERHAM: A useless race from a useless entity.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Mercedes.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 5 -- The top number of places a Mercedes powered car finished, a first for the Silver Star.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Three for three is Mercedes Benz record in Russian Grands Prix, with a 100 year gap in between victories. The only other Russian GPs took place in 1913 and 1914 in St. Petersburg, both won by Benz cars. The first was driven by Russian Georgy Suvorin. The second winning driver was German Willy Scholl.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Marussia CEO Graeme Lowdon, "Jules [Bianchi] is an exceptional Formula One driver but he is also an exceptional human being."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Toto Wolff responding to Ferrari's Marco Mattiacci's claim that ending the engine freeze will not cost money, "I don't know how they make their calculations, but we probably need to send them a calculator."

SCHEDULE: Ironic how we go from the Russian GP to the American GP.

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