Flooded Track Gives Kvyat Opportunities

Qualifying:

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* 10-place grid penalty for engine/gearbox change

Report:

If qualifying had people hoping for better conditions, those hopes were dashed at 2:37 p.m. local time, when a giant bunch of clouds emptied their contents on the Red Bull Ring and did not stop until 5:59 p.m. local time the same day. Despite some objections by leading drivers, the FIA went ahead and allowed the race to be started at the scheduled time.

Pastor Maldonado was gifted a pole when Esteban Ocon was demoted on the grid, after an engine failure forced him to get a change. He had a great run into turn 1 and was able to hang on for the lead for some time. Nathan McKane, however, knew his way around the Red Bull Ring and managed to take a very healthy lead. Ferrari were hoping for a huge result, especially as Sébastien Bourdais got a grip on the wet track.

Regrettably, McKane was not mentally fit enough to secure P1, he made a race-ending error at the Würth-Kurve. Bourdais was denied by his car, once more: he suffered a nasty transmission failure. This left the door open for Daniil Kvyat, who had already passed Pastor Maldonado. After defending from another great run by Daniel Ricciardo, the door was open for the fifth win of the season for the Russian driver, who tries to keep his title dreams alive.

Another dream that is alive is Sauber’s dream of hunting down Williams for 4th place in the world’s constructors championship. Pastor Maldonado’s podium helped with that, even if Williams-Peugeot scored a healthy amount of points thanks to an amazing drive by the Australian Will Power, who got used to the wet conditions of the Red Bull Ring and used it to offset the disadvantage of the underdeveloped Williams FW39

Race:

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Fastest Lap:

Stoffel Vandoorne – 1:21.292

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Will Power – Quite a healthy run for Williams, they needed those points.

Reject Of The Race:

Sebastian Vettel – Slipping back into bad habits is not a good thing