Max Verstappen Inherits Victory as Albon Suffers Penalty

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Diff.
1	94	Pascal Wehrlein		1:30.718	1:30.538
2	57	Dean Stoneman		1:30.564	1:30.832	+0.026
3	23	Alexander Albon		1:31.245	1:31.079	+0.541
4	1	Artem Markelov		1:31.508	1:31.112	+0.584
5	29	Roger Ibe		1:32.788	1:31.175	+0.637
6	37	Victoria Desai		1:31.550	1:31.288	+0.750
7	33	Max Verstappen		1:31.793	1:31.337	+0.799
8	77	Valtteri Bottas		1:32.208	1:31.806	+1.268
9	20	Kevin Magnussen		1:31.973	1:31.842	+1.304
10	39	Sho Tsuboi		1:31.898	1:32.129	+1.360
11	18	Sebastian Vettel		1:32.345	1:32.020	+1.482
12	26	Robert Shwartzman		1:32.055	1:32.054	+1.516
13	47	Lando Norris		1:36.727	1:36.270	+1.610
14	70	Sérgio Sette Câmara		1:32.610	1:32.757	+2.072
15	31	Esteban Ocon		1:33.549	1:33.428	+2.890
16	11	Terry Hawkin		1:33.794	1:33.506	+2.968
17	23	Jules Bianchi		1:34.613	1:34.392	+3.854
18	56	Einar Ármannsson		1:35.185	1:34.866	+4.328
19	4	Robin Frijns		1:35.168	1:35.420	+4.630
20	95	Beitske Visser		1:35.931	1:35.724	+5.186
21	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.		1:36.621	1:35.968	+5.430
22	46	Alessandro Cicognani		1:37.028	1:36.783	+6.245
23	7	Charles Leclerc		1:36.992	1:37.103	+6.454
24	84	Jack Aitken		1:37.616	1:37.344	+6.806

Report:

A new Formula One season is always the best time of the year: twelve teams have ambitions towards winning the richest prize in all of sports, some’s more realistic than others but generally speaking there is enough optimism to go around.

Friday and Saturday seemed to imply good things for Precision, but their motor just cannot handle the heat for much longer than one lap. On Sunday, they were sitting ducks, overtaken even before the very first corner and finishing 12th and 15th.

Instead the victory looked likely to fall into Ferrari’s lap, as Alexander Albon had proceedings under control. Unfortunately, the youngster proved too young as he lost his patience with the backmarkers. The stewards could not permit such behavior and left Max Verstappen to earn his first race victory at the metaphorical green table.

Behind the Ferrari-Red Bull war, Caterham is making their case for long-term success. A total of 14 points leave them second in the constructors and with a good start to build on. Toyota scored double points as well and BMW earned three points on their return to the sport at the hands of the Fernando Alonso Speed Team.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	33	Max Verstappen		55:10.056	15
2	23	Alexander Albon		+3.996*	12
3	26	Robert Shwartzman		+22.276	10
4	18	Sebastian Vettel		+26.009	8
5	47	Lando Norris		+28.534	6
6	70	Sérgio Sette Câmara		+46.319	5
7	20	Kevin Magnussen		+53.517	4
8	77	Valtteri Bottas		+77.439	3
9	11	Terry Hawkin		+83.010	2
10	14	Esteban Ocon		+86.093	1
11	1	Artem Markelov		1 Lap
12	57	Dean Stoneman		1 Lap
13	56	Einar Ármannsson		1 Lap
14	23	Jules Bianchi		1 Lap
15	94	Pascal Wehrlein		1 Lap
16	95	Beitske Visser		1 Lap
17	7	Charles Leclerc		2 Laps
18	85	Jack Aitken		2 Laps
19	39	Sho Tsuboi		Water Leak
DNF	29	Roger Ibe		Motor
DNF	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.		Collision
DNF	37	Victoria Desai		Accident
DNF	4	Robin Frijns		Transmission
DNF	46	Alessandro Cicognani		Accident

Fastest Lap:

Alexander Albon – 1:33.098

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Ferrari – their new motors are the most powerful they have produced in a while.

Reject Of The Race:

Artem Markelov – defined “not driving like a champion”, that’s for sure.