Maldonado Retirement Hands Torrente Victory

Qualifying:

Pos#DriverConstructorTime
129Pastor MaldonadoSauber-Judd1:21.475
263Diego Álvarez TorrentePrecision-Mercedes1:21.562
32Lewis HamiltonCaterham-Judd1:21.757
41Sebastian VettelCaterham-Judd1:21.763
534Valtteri BottasTheodore-Judd1:21.825
630Dean StonemanSauber-Judd1:21.983
733Einar ÁrmannssonTheodore-Judd1:22.163
862Jules BianchiPrecision-Mercedes1:22.179
922Jordan DaviesHaas-Judd1:22.191
1031Romain GrosjeanHolden1:22.300
1127Dave CassidyFerrari1:22.843
1224Kevin MagnussenFAST-Mercedes1:22.970
1328Daniel MelroseFerrari1:23.100
1423Pierre GaslyFAST-Mercedes1:23.207
1521J. R. HildebrandHaas-Judd1:23.279
1632Alexander AlbonHolden1:23.358
1766Pascal WehrleinRed Bull-Ferrari1:23.557
1855Artem MarkelovMansell-Mercedes1:23.562
1991Max VerstappenCalinetic-Holden1:24.024
2090Daniel RicciardoCalinetic-Holden1:24.162
215Marvin KirchhöferWilliams-Mercedes1:24.165
2267Mike RockenfellerRed Bull-Ferrari1:24.238
236Santiago UrrutiaWilliams-Mercedes1:24.405
24119Felix RosenqvistDawson-Holden1:24.723
25118Carlos Sainz JrDawson-Holden1:24.803
2656Sergey SirotkinMansell-Mercedes1:24.581*

* demoted five places for changing engine/gearbox

Report:

Things looked great for Pastor Maldonado after overtaking Sebastian Vettel for the lead, but it was not to be for Sauber.

 

Sauber have not won a F1 race for one-and-a-half months. They looked like they would take a dominating world title win in 2019, before Caterham and Precision have caught up. At the Nürburgring, a retirement for Maldonado may spell the end of their road.

This retirement allowed Diego Torrente, who was already threatening the Venezuelan, to earn his third career victory in F1, matching the achievements of his team boss Jeroen Krautmeir after his 18th race in the world’s premier open-wheel racing series.

Behind the Spaniard, controversy reigned. Jules Bianchi used brute force to get past Sebastian Vettel, leaving Seb in a position where he caused a logjam in the Caterham pitlane and forced Vettel to fight back to finish fourth. The stewards gave him a grid penalty.

Scuderia Ferrari had a decent run, scoring their fifth double-points finish. That this qualifies as a “decent run” for the Maranello-based squad speaks volumes as to how badly it has fallen. Giovanni Roda is feeling the heat even if Marchionne claimed Roda’s job is secure.

Race:

Pos#DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints
163Diego Álvarez TorrentePrecision-Mercedes46:01.90815
262Jules BianchiPrecision-Mercedes+7.79212
32Lewis HamiltonCaterham-Judd+12.51410
41Sebastian VettelCaterham-Judd+17.5568
530Dean StonemanSauber-Judd+18.1766
634Valtteri BottasTheodore-Judd+21.7435
722Jordan DaviesHaas-Judd+50.9594
831Romain GrosjeanHolden+53.6643
927Dave CassidyFerrari+55.3452
1028Daniel MelroseFerrari+56.9461
1124Kevin MagnussenFAST-Mercedes+62.2380
1221J. R. HildebrandHaas-Judd+74.3380
1390Daniel RicciardoCalinetic-Holden+77.7060
1423Pierre GaslyFAST-Mercedes+83.8590
1555Artem MarkelovMansell-Mercedes1 Lap0
1691Max VerstappenCalinetic-Holden1 Lap0
1732Alexander AlbonHolden1 Lap0
185Marvin KirchhöferWilliams-Mercedes1 Lap0
1967Mike RockenfellerRed Bull-Ferrari1 Lap0
2066Pascal WehrleinRed Bull-Ferrari1 Lap0
216Santiago UrrutiaWilliams-Mercedes1 Lap0
2256Sergey SirotkinMansell-Mercedes1 Lap0
23119Felix RosenqvistDawson-Holden1 Lap0
DNF33Einar ÁrmannssonTheodore-JuddPuncture0
DNF29Pastor MaldonadoSauber-JuddTransmission0
DNF118Carlos Sainz JrDawson-HoldenTransmission0

Fastest Lap:

Diego Álvarez Torrente – 1:23.014

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Valtteri Bottas – the Finn was actually in the mix and able to threaten the top teams late in the race.

Reject Of The Race:

Sauber-Judd – technical issues for Maldonado and poor driving from Stoneman sees them in trouble.