McKane With First Triumph Since Return

Qualifying:

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Report:

Contrast is the word of the day in F1, this race was held on one of the slowest tracks on the calendar, a mere two weeks after racing on one of the fastest circuits. This obviously meant that taking care of your aerodynamics was the priority for teams today. Ferrari mastered that art perfectly, a full upgrade package gave them the edge over Caterham, who had major issues with the success ballast in qualifying.

A crazy start saw a few major position changes, such as Jules Bianchi shooting to the lead and Sergio Pérez making up 10 positions in the run to and through turn 1. As usual, damage was not hard to find on lap 1: Dean Stoneman lost a front wing and then was taken out of the race by his own teammate, whereas Dave Cassidy had a race-ending incident with Davide Valsecchi at turn 6.

Bianchi’s lead did not last for long, Bourdais quickly took care of him. Regrettably, the French Ferrari driver tried too hard to immediately build a lead, he ruined his race by braking way too late for the final corner. Nathan McKane proved more patient and that paid off: he was able to beat Bianchi and then controlled the race. Even a mid-race push by Vettel did not deter the British race winner.

Good news further down the order, both the Haas F1 Team and Nordea Mahindra Racing scored their first double-points finish of the season. In contrast are the struggles of established teams such as Red Bull and Williams: Cassidy’s race has already been described above, Power just didn’t have the power to keep fourth after his great start and the two young Red Bull drivers made avoidable errors; Alonso will be happy to return to the car tomorrow.

Race:

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Fastest Lap:

Sebastién Bourdais – 1:14.952

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Haas-Ferrari – When you start believing their season is down the drain, they secure 12 points.

Reject Of The Race:

Red Bull-Ferrari – Two young drivers make mistakes that young drivers make, that sure doesn’t help their chances.