Maldonado Sweeps Abu Dhabi Races

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	62	Jules Bianchi		1:29.804
2	29	Pastor Maldonado		1:30.007
3	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		1:30.024
4	30	Dean Stoneman		1:30.169
5	2	Lewis Hamilton		1:30.211
6	1	Sebastian Vettel		1:30.376
7	34	Valtteri Bottas		1:30.500
8	33	Einar Ármannsson		1:30.640
9	27	Dave Cassidy		1:30.892
10	28	Daniel Melrose		1:31.048
11	23	Pierre Gasly		1:31.437
12	24	Kevin Magnussen		1:31.686
13	66	Pascal Wehrlein		1:31.796
14	22	Jordan Davies		1:31.961
15	21	J. R. Hildebrand		1:32.097
16	90	Daniel Ricciardo		1:32.288
17	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		1:32.573
18	119	Felix Rosenqvist		1:32.570
19	55	Artem Markelov		1:32.608
20	91	Max Verstappen		1:32.617
21	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		1:32.748
22	6	Santiago Urrutia		1:32.891
23	56	Sergey Sirotkin		1:33.076
24	67	Mike Rockenfeller		1:33.110

Report:

After the Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, only four rounds of the World Championship remain. If you want to be the hero of 2019, you need to strike now or never. Pastor Maldonado heeded this wisdom by securing a confident victory in the desert.

He beat polesitter Jules Bianchi at the start and never relinquished the first place for a long time. Behind them, the two Precisions got cosy, fully aware that they needed an error or a technical failure from Maldonado to win this race.

Unfortunately, the error came from Precision: DAT smacked into the barriers due to excessive wheelspin and needed a front wing replacement. Jordan Davies, who had a great race, held up Torrente long enough so he could not recover any more places.

Haas were generally in good position all weekend, J.R. Hildebrand was running well in what will be his final race as Stoffel Vandoorne’s replacement. In contrast, new Judd customer Calinetic had a miserable race which ended after less than five laps.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	29	Pastor Maldonado		45:58.535	15
2	62	Jules Bianchi		+8.450	12
3	30	Dean Stoneman		+18.504	10
4	1	Sebastian Vettel		+22.105	8
5	2	Lewis Hamilton		+29.122	6
6	33	Einar Ármannsson		+32.234	5
7	34	Valtteri Bottas		+38.463	4
8	27	Dave Cassidy		+42.687	3
9	63	Diego Álvarez Torrente		+51.347	2
10	22	Jordan Davies		+58.965	1
11	66	Pascal Wehrlein		+78.086	0
12	21	J. R. Hildebrand		+81.275	0
13	24	Kevin Magnussen		+86.744	0
14	5	Marvin Kirchhöfer		1 Lap	0
15	118	Carlos Sainz Jr		1 Lap	0
16	55	Artem Markelov		1 Lap	0
17	6	Santiago Urrutia		1 Lap	0
18	67	Mike Rockenfeller		1 Lap	0
19	56	Sergey Sirotkin		1 Lap	0
DNF	119	Felix Rosenqvist		Loose Wheel	0
DNF	28	Daniel Melrose		Accident	0
DNF	90	Daniel Ricciardo		Collision	0
DNF	23	Pierre Gasly		Collision	0
DNF	91	Max Verstappen		Collision	0

Fastest Lap:

Diego Álvarez Torrente – 1:31.024

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Jordan Davies – this man deserves to drive in 2020.

Reject Of The Race:

Calinetic-Judd – both of their drivers retired from the race quickly in strange accidents.