Pastor Maldonado Wins, James James Davies Last on Return

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	62	Jules Bianchi		1:33.016
2	29	Pastor Maldonado		1:33.093
3	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		1:33.220
4	30	Dean Stoneman		1:33.324
5	1	Sebastian Vettel		1:33.578
6	34	Valtteri Bottas		1:33.700
7	2	Lewis Hamilton		1:33.888
8	33	Einar Ármannsson		1:34.126
9	28	Daniel Melrose		1:34.353
10	27	Dave Cassidy		1:34.468
11	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		1:35.062
12	22	Jordan Davies		1:35.434
13	24	Kevin Magnussen		1:35.508
14	66	Pascal Wehrlein		1:35.699
15	23	Pierre Gasly		1:35.264*
16	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		1:35.789
17	119	Felix Rosenqvist		1:35.791
18	67	Mike Rockenfeller		1:36.189
19	91	Max Verstappen		1:36.397
20	55	Artem Markelov		1:36.511
21	56	Sergey Sirotkin		1:36.545
22	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		1:36.653
23	6	Santiago Urrutia		1:36.690
24	90	James James Davies		1:36.767

* demoted three places for causing an avoidable accident

Report:

Despite the still-ongoing fight for the 2019 championship, the major story in the lead-up to the first Chinese Grand Prix of 2019 was the comeback of former world champion James James Davies, who returned to the site of his then-final Grand Prix, joining Calinetic as the second former world champion to drive for the Jamaican team.

His 24th position in qualifying meant that he was not a contender in the upcoming race, however. That role went as usual to the two Precisions and the two Saubers. The Swiss team was able to add another win to the column, after Pastor Maldonado jumped the black enemies at the start and controlled the race after a few laps.

In fact, it seemed like the two Precision drivers were much more concerned about fighting with each other than containing the world championship leader. They fought tooth and nail over second place, with the fight going down to the very last lap. The Spanish young gun overcame his French veteran teammate in the end.

Dean Stoneman finished 22.222 seconds behind Maldonado, which means that he will need outside help to regain the championship lead. Other impressive performances came from Valtteri Bottas, who defeated Lewis Hamilton, and Pierre Gasly, who came from 15th to add another point to FAST’s tally.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	29	Pastor Maldonado		49:52.587	15
2	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		+8.077	12
3	62	Jules Bianchi		+8.673	10
4	1	Sebastian Vettel		+20.750	8
5	30	Dean Stoneman		+22.222	6
6	34	Valtteri Bottas		+29.831	5
7	2	Lewis Hamilton		+34.165	4
8	33	Einar Ármannsson		+35.932	3
9	27	Dave Cassidy		+42.994	2
10	23	Pierre Gasly		+82.182	1
11	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		+83.950	0
12	22	Jordan Davies		+84.422	0
13	24	Kevin Magnussen		+90.831	0
14	66	Pascal Wehrlein		+92.551	0
15	119	Felix Rosenqvist		1 Lap	0
16	67	Mike Rockenfeller		1 Lap	0
17	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		1 Lap	0
18	55	Artem Markelov		1 Lap	0
19	6	Santiago Urrutia		1 Lap	0
20	90	James James Davies		1 Lap	0
21	56	Sergey Sirotkin		Transmission	0
DNF	91	Max Verstappen		Suspension	0
DNF	28	Daniel Melrose		Engine	0
DNF	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		Accident	0

Fastest Lap:

Dean Stoneman – 1:34.235

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Pierre Gasly – he overcame a grid penalty and won a close battle for 10th place.

Reject Of The Race:

Marvin Kirchhöfer – crashed out unprovoked, he must want 2019 to be over.