Jules Bianchi Returns to Winning, Cuts Championship Lead

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	2	Lewis Hamilton		47.220
2	1	Sebastian Vettel		47.293
3	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		47.307
4	63	Jules Bianchi		47.608
5	43	Sébastien Bourdais		47.681
6	27	Nathan McKane		47.796
7	29	Pastor Maldonado		47.865
8	98	Salvatore Miccoli		47.899
9	62	Dave Cassidy		47.953
10	5	Valtteri Bottas		47.953
11	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		48.202
12	28	Romain Grosjean		48.344
13	42	Davide Valsecchi		48.407
14	99	Kevin Magnussen		48.486
15	91	Dean Stoneman		48.523
16	67	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		48.571
17	90	Daniel Ricciardo		48.699
18	66	Esteban Ocon		48.755
19	6	Ma Qinghua		49.020
20	12	Scott Dixon		49.145
21	30	Mike Rockenfeller		49.189
22	56	Bradley Dagnall		49.225
23	31	Rhys Davies		49.421
24	32	Daniel Melrose		49.426
25	55	Artem Markelov		49.573
26	11	Daniël de Jong		49.611

* demoted five places for changing engine/gearbox

Report:

Sometimes, the crowd and the world audiences disagree on whether an event is good or not. Today, we saw such an incident: Caterham’s Lewis Hamilton, whilst in control of the race, looking likely to score his ninth win of the year, pulled over, his suspension having terminal damage, just like the car of his teammate.

This highly displeased the British fans, who were hoping to see their superstar take the glory, however, for anyone wanting someone to challenge the dominance of the Caterhams, this was rather pleasing. It was Jules Bianchi, who was the clear third, who inherented the advantage and won for the first time since March 17.

The Mercedes works driver was not the only French racer on the podium, Ferrari had a thrilling intrateam fight for the final podium spot: Romain Grosjean went ahead and managed to secure third at the final round of stops. Romain and Jules sandwiched an impressive Salvatore Miccoli, who managed to use his good car.

Outside of the top three, the story of the race was written by Rhys Davies. The Australian champion struggled heavily in qualifying, making up the second-to-last row alongside his own teammate. Both went on to fight further up the order in the race, but Davies’ speed was positively ridiculous, seeing him end the race in P5.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	63	Jules Bianchi		43:00.921	15
2	98	Salvatore Miccoli		+15.760	12
3	28	Romain Grosjean		+21.587	10
4	27	Nathan McKane		+23.262	8
5	31	Rhys Davies		+36.592	6
6	5	Valtteri Bottas		+38.586	5
7	62	Dave Cassidy		+42.094	4
8	90	Daniel Ricciardo		+1 Lap	3
9	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		+1 Lap	2
10	43	Sébastien Bourdais		+1 Lap	1
11	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		+1 Lap	0
12	99	Kevin Magnussen		+1 Lap	0
13	42	Davide Valsecchi		+1 Lap	0
14	32	Daniel Melrose		+1 Lap	0
15	67	Esteban Ocon		+1 Lap	0
16	91	Dean Stoneman		+1 Lap	0
17	6	Ma Qinghua		+1 Lap	0
18	55	Artem Markelov		+1 Lap	0
19	66	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		+1 Lap	0
20	29	Pastor Maldonado		+1 Lap	0
21	11	Daniël de Jong		+1 Lap	0
22	12	Scott Dixon		+1 Lap	0
23	30	Mike Rockenfeller		+1 Lap	0
24	56	Bradley Dagnall		+2 Laps	0
DNF	2	Lewis Hamilton		Suspension	2
DNF	1	Sebastian Vettel		Suspension	0

Fastest Lap:

Lewis Hamilton – 48.017

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Rhys Davies – legendary performance, missing Q3 and then finishing fifth.

Reject Of The Race:

Kevin Magnussen – his car was clearly good enough, he just could not get it done.