Maldonado Retirement Hands Torrente Victory

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	29	Pastor Maldonado		1:21.475
2	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		1:21.562
3	2	Lewis Hamilton		1:21.757
4	1	Sebastian Vettel		1:21.763
5	34	Valtteri Bottas		1:21.825
6	30	Dean Stoneman		1:21.983
7	33	Einar Ármannsson		1:22.163
8	62	Jules Bianchi		1:22.179
9	22	Jordan Davies		1:22.191
10	31	Romain Grosjean		1:22.300
11	27	Dave Cassidy		1:22.843
12	24	Kevin Magnussen		1:22.970
13	28	Daniel Melrose		1:23.100
14	23	Pierre Gasly		1:23.207
15	21	J. R. Hildebrand		1:23.279
16	32	Alexander Albon		1:23.358
17	66	Pascal Wehrlein		1:23.557
18	55	Artem Markelov		1:23.562
19	91	Max Verstappen		1:24.024
20	90	Daniel Ricciardo		1:24.162
21	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		1:24.165
22	67	Mike Rockenfeller		1:24.238
23	6	Santiago Urrutia		1:24.405
24	119	Felix Rosenqvist		1:24.723
25	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		1:24.803
26	56	Sergey Sirotkin		1:24.581*

* demoted five places for changing engine/gearbox

Report:

 

Sauber have not won a F1 race for one-and-a-half months. They looked like they would take a dominating world title win in 2019, before Caterham and Precision have caught up. At the Nürburgring, a retirement for Maldonado may spell the end of their road.

This retirement allowed Diego Torrente, who was already threatening the Venezuelan, to earn his third career victory in F1, matching the achievements of his team boss Jeroen Krautmeir after his 18th race in the world’s premier open-wheel racing series.

Behind the Spaniard, controversy reigned. Jules Bianchi used brute force to get past Sebastian Vettel, leaving Seb in a position where he caused a logjam in the Caterham pitlane and forced Vettel to fight back to finish fourth. The stewards gave him a grid penalty.

Scuderia Ferrari had a decent run, scoring their fifth double-points finish. That this qualifies as a “decent run” for the Maranello-based squad speaks volumes as to how badly it has fallen. Giovanni Roda is feeling the heat even if Marchionne claimed Roda’s job is secure.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		46:01.908	15
2	62	Jules Bianchi		+7.792	12
3	2	Lewis Hamilton		+12.514	10
4	1	Sebastian Vettel		+17.556	8
5	30	Dean Stoneman		+18.176	6
6	34	Valtteri Bottas		+21.743	5
7	22	Jordan Davies		+50.959	4
8	31	Romain Grosjean		+53.664	3
9	27	Dave Cassidy		+55.345	2
10	28	Daniel Melrose		+56.946	1
11	24	Kevin Magnussen		+62.238	0
12	21	J. R. Hildebrand		+74.338	0
13	90	Daniel Ricciardo		+77.706	0
14	23	Pierre Gasly		+83.859	0
15	55	Artem Markelov		1 Lap	0
16	91	Max Verstappen		1 Lap	0
17	32	Alexander Albon		1 Lap	0
18	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		1 Lap	0
19	67	Mike Rockenfeller		1 Lap	0
20	66	Pascal Wehrlein		1 Lap	0
21	6	Santiago Urrutia		1 Lap	0
22	56	Sergey Sirotkin		1 Lap	0
23	119	Felix Rosenqvist		1 Lap	0
DNF	33	Einar Ármannsson		Puncture	0
DNF	29	Pastor Maldonado		Transmission	0
DNF	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		Transmission	0

Fastest Lap:

Diego Álvarez Torrente – 1:23.014

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Valtteri Bottas – the Finn was actually in the mix and able to threaten the top teams late in the race.

Reject Of The Race:

Sauber-Judd – technical issues for Maldonado and poor driving from Stoneman sees them in trouble.