Vettel Wins in Wet Return to Austria

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Diff.
1	88	Robert Kubica		1:17.056	1:16.661
2	20	Kevin Magnussen		1:17.417	1:17.609	+0.756
3	39	Sho Tsuboi		1:17.850	1:17.542	+0.881
4	94	Pascal Wehrlein		1:17.831	1:17.709	+1.048
5	47	Lando Norris		1:19.847	1:17.748	+1.087
6	18	Sebastian Vettel		1:17.956	1:18.010	+1.295
7	7	Charles Leclerc		1:18.425	1:18.203	+1.542
8	63	George Russell		1:18.259	1:18.533	+1.598
9	23	Jules Bianchi		1:18.919	1:18.795	+2.134
10	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.		1:18.960	1:18.839	+2.178
11	57	Dean Stoneman		1:19.249	1:18.964	+2.303
12	1	Victoria Desai		1:19.530	1:19.005	+2.344
13	56	Einar Ármannsson		1:19.008	1:20.052	+2.347
14	60	Ritomo Miyata		1:19.463	1:19.257	+2.596
15	26	Robert Shwartzman		1:19.711	1:19.464	+2.803
16	4	Robin Frijns		1:19.931	1:19.794	+3.133
17	81	Malik Zidan		1:20.619	1:20.047	+3.386
18	10	Alessio Lorandi		1:20.293	1:20.453	+3.632
19	70	Pastor Maldonado		1:20.546	1:20.461	+3.800
20	33	Max Verstappen		1:20.590	1:21.197	+3.929
21	98	Colton Herta		1:21.940	1:20.836	+4.175
22	29	Roger Ibe		1:21.109	1:20.879	+4.218
23	95	Beitske Visser		1:21.279	1:21.483	+4.618
24	80	Raven Roth		1:21.969	1:21.764	+5.103
25	11	Terry Hawkin		1:21.795	1:22.208	+5.134
26	21	Théo Pourchaire		1:23.004	1:22.641	+5.980

Report:

After a long six years, Formula One has returned to the beautiful country of Austria and the gods themselves cried tears of joy; that is the only explanation for the strong rain that haunted the weekend and caused interruptions in multiple practice sessions.

Regrettably, the weather could not change the fortunes at the front of the grid, despite (or because?) of 10 safety car laps. Sebastian Vettel is an elite wet weather competitor and so him in the most powerful car on the grid made him a very predictable winner.

Victoria Desai continues her impressive, but unsuccessful, title defence by matching her season-best result with a fourth place. Yet, her heroics faded to the efforts of Charles Leclerc and Robert Shwartzman, who earned points that will very much help their squads.

The latter profited from Ármannsson’s blunder, the MRT driver ruining the race of Toyota driver Kevin Magnussen and earning himself a time penalty. This compounded a horrible race for MRT, as Jules Bianchi retired with a major motor failure.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	18	Sebastian Vettel		63:07.123	6	10
2	47	Lando Norris		+8.318	5	8
3	88	Robert Kubica		+27.061	1	7
4	1	Victoria Desai		+51.687	12	5
5	39	Sho Tsuboi		+67.404	3	4
6	94	Pascal Wehrlein		+72.642	4	3
7	7	Charles Leclerc		+78.485	7	2
8	26	Robert Shwartzman		+79.100	15	1
9	56	Einar Ármannsson		+65.980*	13
10	81	Malik Zidan		1 Lap	17
11	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.		1 Lap	10
12	70	Pastor Maldonado		1 Lap	19
13	33	Max Verstappen		1 Lap	20
14	20	Kevin Magnussen		1 Lap	2
15	29	Roger Ibe		1 Lap	22
16	57	Dean Stoneman		1 Lap	11
17	10	Alessio Lorandi		1 Lap	18
18	4	Robin Frijns		1 Lap	16
19	80	Raven Roth		1 Lap	23
20	95	Beitske Visser		1 Lap	21
21	60	Ritomo Miyata		1 Lap	14
22	11	Terry Hawkin		2 Laps	25
23	98	Colton Herta		2 Laps	21
24	21	Théo Pourchaire		2 Laps	26
DNF	23	Jules Bianchi		Motor	9
DNF	63	George Russell		Motor	8

Fastest Lap:

Sebastian Vettel – 1:21.515

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Charles Leclerc – excellent performance in the wet ensures Sauber is ahead of Dawson in the standings.

Reject Of The Race:

Einar Ármannsson – cost himself valuable points and may have destroyed his slim title hopes with a silly accident.