RENAULT F1 RUSSIAN GP FACT FILE

PRESS RELEASE/Renault Sport F1 Team – Photo: Renault Media

Renault Sport Formula One Team heads to the Sochi Autodrom for the sixteenth Grand Prix of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the VTB Russian Grand Prix.

Up close: 
• Renault Sport Formula One Team’s Test & Development Driver Artem Markelov will drive the Renault R.S.18 in Free Practice 1 on Friday. Artem, in for Carlos Sainz for the session, first tested the 2018 car in the post-Hungary test in August where he drove 108 laps of the Hungaroring.
• Artem, 24, from Moscow, currently races in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and sits fourthin the 2018 Drivers’ Championship. He has three wins to his name so far (Bahrain, Monaco and Austria) and a further three podium visits (Bahrain and a double in Monza).
• Last season’s Russian Grand Prix, which was the fourth race of the 2017 season, saw Nico Hülkenberg finish in eighth place. It was his second points-finish in Renault colours.
• The Sochi Autodrom is a fast and flowing circuit. Drivers will be at full throttle for 59 minutes of the race, the most of the season, with 70% of the lap spent on the power.
• Most corners around the Sochi Autodrom are fast. The highest corner speed of the year is expected to be T12, which is taken at 318km/h. Sochi also has the fastest low speed corner on the calendar, T13, which is taken at 93km/h.
• Elsewhere across Renault Sport, Affiliated Driver Anthoine Hubert is aiming to close in on the GP3 Series title, which he leads by 29 points with two rounds remaining. Academy Driver Sacha Fenestraz will also make his GP3 Series debut in Russia as he enters the final two rounds of the championship with Arden Motorsport.

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