In a pre-podium room Putin personally greeted the first three winners of the race, shook hands with Rosberg and asked him about the track in Sochi.
"You have done a great job here," Rosberg said.
Minutes later the Russian president was awarding the German racer this year’s Sochi F1 GP trophy.
Rosberg secured on Sunday his record 7th straight Formula One win after leaving the rest of the drivers behind on a sunny afternoon in Russia’s resort city of Sochi.
Rosberg clocked the best lap time of 1 minute 35.417 seconds in the qualification session on Saturday to take the pole position and starting from the top of the grid line on Sunday he maintained the strong lead throughout the race to take the top step of the Sochi GP podium.
His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who won the two previous Sochi GP races, finished in the second place behind Rosberg with over 12 seconds gap.
Ferraris’ Kimi Raikkonen finished in the third place after team Mercedes pilots.
Russian racer Daniil Kvyat from team Red Bull completed his home track race in the 15th place.
Vladimir Putin thanked Formula One Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone for his efforts towards the development of the F1 project in Sochi as promoting both motor racing and popularizing the Russian resort city.
"I would like to thank you for your support to the development of motor racing and F1 as its major component," he said, adding that the F1 race in Sochi "attracts motor racing fans across Russia and from all over the world."
The Russian leader pledged that Russia will continue efforts to popularize this project. "It makes Sochi ever more attractive," Putin said, adding that it is promoting Sochi’s post-Olympic development as a round-the-year resort.
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