Bottas Victorious, Lappeenranta Delighted

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	1	Sebastian Vettel		2:06.499
2	63	Jules Bianchi		2:06.527
3	62	Dave Cassidy		2:06.700
4	27	Nathan McKane		2:06.720
5	99	Kevin Magnussen		2:07.104
6	2	Raffaele Marciello		2:07.276
7	29	Pastor Maldonado		2:07.509
8	5	Valtteri Bottas		2:07.823
9	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		2:07.971
10	32	Daniel Melrose		2:08.041
11	55	Artem Markelov		2:08.945
12	91	Einar Ármannsson		2:08.992
13	30	André Lotterer		2:09.208
14	31	Rhys Davies		2:09.637
15	12	Scott Dixon		2:09.820
16	43	Sébastien Bourdais		2:09.920
17	28	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		2:09.999
18	67	Pierre Gasly		2:10.096
19	42	Davide Valsecchi		2:10.380
20	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		2:10.398
21	6	Ma Qinghua		2:10.593
22	56	Bradley Dagnall		2:10.835
23	66	Josef Newgarden		2:11.002
24	90	Daniel Ricciardo		2:11.087
25	11	Daniël de Jong		2:11.171
26	98	Salvatore Miccoli		2:11.177

* demoted five places for changing engine/gearbox

Report:

The lovely city of Lappeeenranta and its 72,495 inhabitants were more than welcoming to the F1 circus as it arrived for the very first Finnish Grand Prix. The site of the battle of Villmanstrand, not too far away from the Russian border, would come to provide a major battle of Formula One drivers. Little did the fans know that their enthusiasm would be rewarded.

Qualifying was an affair both predictable, yet unexpected. A number of drivers struggled on the long track. As this track only allows one or two shots at a proper lap time, drivers like Salvatore Miccoli and Daniel Ricciardo were surprised and eliminated early into the elimination qualifying. At the top, however, an expected result arrived: Vettel scored his fifth pole position of the year.

As the race unfolded, it looked like we have a shot of a major battle between SV and the two Precisions. Unfortunately, that promise came undone when Dave Cassidy messed up the entry into the pitlane, costing Maldonado the race and ruining the chances of his own teammate. He had to suffer through critical comments from both his team and the stewards.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel had a problem: his gearbox failed him, ending his shots at scoring a win that could have given him a nearly unstoppable lead in the world’s championship. This left Williams-Ferrari with a shot to take the win, as a late stop flushed the Finn right in front of Kevin Magnussen. With the crowd behind him, Valtteri Bottas was able to successfully beat the Dane and win.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	5	Valtteri Bottas		50:26.464	15
2	99	Kevin Magnussen		+0.771	12
3	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		+2.610	10
4	32	Daniel Melrose		+16.475	8
5	43	Sébastien Bourdais		+16.622	6
6	67	Pierre Gasly		+17.253	5
7	2	Raffaele Marciello		+20.827	4
8	91	Einar Ármannsson		+22.168	3
9	98	Salvatore Miccoli		+24.470	2
10	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		+34.707	1
11	12	Scott Dixon		+36.088	0
12	90	Daniel Ricciardo		+37.025	0
13	30	André Lotterer		+37.443	0
14	66	Josef Newgarden		+41.603	0
15	55	Artem Markelov		+41.932	0
16	28	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		+43.520	0
17	63	Jules Bianchi		+43.983	0
18	42	Davide Valsecchi		+48.464	0
19	62	Dave Cassidy		+54.776	0
20	11	Daniël de Jong		+61.248	0
DNF	27	Nathan McKane		Accident	0
DNF	1	Sebastian Vettel		Transmission	2
DNF	31	Rhys Davies		Transmission	0
DNF	29	Pastor Maldonado		Collision	0
DNF	6	Matt Salomon		Accident	0
DNF	56	Bradley Dagnall		Oil Leak	0

Fastest Lap:

Sebastian Vettel – 2:07.521

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Daniel Melrose – Gave Holden a very valueable bunch of points.

Reject Of The Race:

Dave Cassidy – Caused a major mess at the pit entry, looked rather silly.