Close Battle Sees Vettel Overcome Bianchi

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	63	Jules Bianchi		1:31.779
2	2	Lewis Hamilton		1:31.782
3	62	Dave Cassidy		1:32.060
4	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		1:32.550
5	90	Daniel Ricciardo		1:32.799
6	28	Romain Grosjean		1:33.266
7	99	Kevin Magnussen		1:33.276
8	98	Salvatore Miccoli		1:33.316
9	29	Pastor Maldonado		1:33.345
10	1	Sebastian Vettel		No Time
11	91	Max Verstappen		1:33.501
12	43	Sébastien Bourdais		1:33.573
13	5	Valtteri Bottas		1:33.633
14	30	Mike Rockenfeller		1:33.753
15	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		1:33.777
16	31	Rhys Davies		1:34.037
17	32	Daniel Melrose		1:34.193
18	67	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		1:34.391
19	27	Nico Rosberg		1:34.842
20	12	Scott Dixon		1:34.994
21	6	Ma Qinghua		1:35.152
22	55	Artem Markelov		1:35.152
23	66	Esteban Ocon		1:35.385
24	42	Davide Valsecchi		1:35.420
25	11	Carlos Sainz Jr		1:35.588
26	56	Bradley Dagnall		1:35.733

* demoted five places for changing engine/gearbox

Report:

When Sebastian Vettel made a terrible mistake in Q3, ending his session rather prematurely, the second French Grand Prix became a lot more exciting on paper: with the German having to claw his way back up the order, fans were expecting a very entertaining showdown between the championship leader and the others.

The reigning World Champion proved his skill, however, by very quickly dispatching the majority of his opponents. After Lewis Hamilton suffered a disappointing engine failure and let his frustrations about it be known, Vettel was left with only one task to complete: fight off the French racing star Jules Bianchi.

The gifted Precision driver put pressure on Vettel, aided by the vicious screaming of thousands of French motorsport fans who all wanted to see the German fail and the Frenchman to succeed: unfortunately, you can’t change the world by just wanting it hard enough; Sebastian Vettel scored another win in the end.

Sauber, with Pastor Maldonado scoring his second podium of 2018, and Holden, who scored major points, had good races. Both teams were aided by the failure of the Haas drivers, an accident between Grosjean and Ricciardo and Magnussen’s struggle, which, in one of the weirder scenes of the year, ended in a post-race collision with Bourdais.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	1	Sebastian Vettel		42:46.577	15
2	63	Jules Bianchi		+0.346	14
3	29	Pastor Maldonado		+17.853	10
4	62	Dave Cassidy		+23.673	8
5	32	Daniel Melrose		+50.139	6
6	98	Salvatore Miccoli		+52.227	5
7	91	Max Verstappen		+58.592	4
8	31	Rhys Davies		+59.865	3
9	30	Mike Rockenfeller		+65.738	2
10	27	Nico Rosberg		+66.639	1
11	66	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		+70.202	0
12	12	Scott Dixon		+74.346	0
13	11	Carlos Sainz Jr.		+76.193	0
14	6	Ma Qinghua		+81.000	0
15	43	Sébastien Bourdais		+84.427,0
16	99	Kevin Magnussen		+84.427,0
17	42	Davide Valsecchi		+87.684	0
18	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		+89.514	0
19	56	Bradley Dagnall		+13.994	0
20	90	Daniel Ricciardo		+1 Lap	0
21	28	Romain Grosjean		+1 Lap	0
22	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		+1 Lap	0
DNF	55	Artem Markelov		Engine	0
DNF	2	Lewis Hamilton		Engine
DNF	5	Valtteri Bottas		Accident,0
DNF	67	Esteban Ocon		Collision,0

Fastest Lap:

Sebastian Vettel – 1:32.997

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Holden – powerful race performance sees them score twice today.

Reject Of The Race:

Haas-Judd – from 1-2 to double driver failure within 24 hours.