First Blood for Caterham in Brazil Despite Chaos

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	1	Sebastian Vettel		59.985
2	2	Lewis Hamilton		1:00.027
3	63	Jules Bianchi		1:00.139
4	62	Dave Cassidy		1:00.266
5	29	Pastor Maldonado		1:00.655
6	28	Romain Grosjean		1:00.818
7	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		1:00.821
8	27	Nathan McKane		1:00.710
9	90	Daniel Ricciardo		1:00.910
10	98	Salvatore Miccoli		1:00.975
11	99	Kevin Magnussen		1:01.201
12	5	Valtteri Bottas		1:01.208
13	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		1:01.252
14	91	Max Verstappen		1:01.312
15	32	Daniel Melrose		1:01.422
16	30	Mike Rockenfeller		1:01.468
17	43	Sébastien Bourdais		1:01.503
18	31	Rhys Davies		1:01.510
19	6	Ma Qinghua		1:01.783
20	55	Artem Markelov		1:01.830
21	67	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		1:01.853
22	11	Carlos Sainz Jr		1:01.856
23	12	Scott Dixon		1:01.973
24	66	Esteban Ocon		1:02.078
25	42	Davide Valsecchi		1:02.228
26	56	João Paulo de Oliveira		1:02.277

* demoted five places for changing engine/gearbox

Report:

A world championship decider is always high stakes, and with the current era of Formula One racing, it is causing even more anxiety. You have two chances at blowing the biggest shot at the dream you have always worked for. You also have more chances for others to screw things up for you with no blame to be laid on your shoulders, tragic as that would be.

Sebastian Vettel had to learn that the hard way, as his Saturday race started out awfully. Daniel Ricciardo, in his desperate bid to beat Haas in the team’s championship, risked too much at the start, colliding with Stoffel Vandoorne, who was sent into Vettel, pushing the German off the track. Thankfully, the asphalt runoff enabled the German to rejoin the race quickly.

Despite losing a handful of places, Vettel kept his focus and used all of his skill to work his way up the order. In the end, he proved superior to Jules Bianchi, who had terrible performance after the first stop, and has given himself a good shot at the world title, Lewis Hamilton aiding his teammate by holding back despite having a very impressive pace himself.

Calinetic have made up ground in their fight against Haas, despite Daniel Ricciardo’s error, with Verstappen scoring two points. Those were two more points than Haas were able to achieve, Vandoorne losing a lot of places in that starting incident and Cecotto being uncompetitive. Ferrari and Sauber set themselves up for a crucial battle in the final F1 race as well.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	1	Sebastian Vettel		46:57.234	15
2	2	Lewis Hamilton		+1.439	14
3	62	Dave Cassidy		+3.178	10
4	63	Jules Bianchi		+15.048	8
5	29	Pastor Maldonado		+23.928	6
6	27	Nathan McKane		+30.941	5
7	98	Salvatore Miccoli		+39.767	4
8	28	Romain Grosjean		+44.313	3
9	91	Max Verstappen		+45.510	2
10	99	Kevin Magnussen		+48.789	1
11	31	Rhys Davies		+51.828	0
12	5	Valtteri Bottas		+52.890	0
13	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		+1 Lap	0
14	32	Daniel Melrose		+1 Lap	0
15	43	Sébastien Bourdais		+1 Lap	0
16	30	Mike Rockenfeller		+1 Lap	0
17	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		+1 Lap	0
18	66	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		+1 Lap	0
19	11	Carlos Sainz Jr.		+1 Lap	0
20	12	Scott Dixon		+1 Lap	0
21	42	Davide Valsecchi		+1 Lap	0
22	67	Esteban Ocon		+1 Lap	0
23	56	João Paulo de Oliveira		+1 Lap	0
DNF	6	Ma Qinghua		Suspension	0
DNF	55	Artem Markelov		Suspension	0
DNF	90	Daniel Ricciardo		Collision	0

Fastest Lap:

Lewis Hamilton – 1:01.003

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Sebastian Vettel – won despite being pushed off the track at turn one.

Reject Of The Race:

Daniel Ricciardo – if you drive so sloppily you interfere in the title battle, you drive badly.