Patronise F1

Feature Race

Romain Grosjean took a superb win in the rain-affected feature race, only to be stripped of the victory by the stewards for overtaking under yellow flags, leaving Championship leader Giorgio Pantano to pick up the 10 points for victory and extend his lead in the standings.

Pantano qualified on pole for the race and led away from Grosjean at the start, and the pair of them soon left the rest of the field (led by Sebastien Buemi, Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna) for dead.  The Italian looked set to extend his championship lead until, with 7 laps to go, some heavy rain started to fall, which left the drivers with a dilemma over whether to brave the remainder on slicks or go for wets.  The leading pair stayed out, as did Javier Villa and Andi Zuber, while Senna, di Grassi and Karun Chandhok changed to wets.

With 5 laps to go, Grosjean was able to pass Pantano for a lead he held to the end, but Villa lost third place when he spun just a matter of metres from the chequered flag.  Incredibly Zuber followed him into the wall, allowing Alvaro Parente through into third place ahead of Senna, with di Grassi, Pastor Maldonado, Andy Soucek and Chandhok rounding out the points.

Grosjean however had passed and lapped Marko Asmer in the stadium under yellow flags in the hectic closing stages, and had 25 seconds added to his race time, demoting him to second behind Pantano, who also took the point for fastest lap to complete a perfect feature race for him.

* - Grosjean penalised 25 seconds for overtaking under yellow flag. Other car times based on Grosjean's original finishing time, as we can't be bothered with the maths. 

Sprint Race

Chandhok was on pole by virtue of finishing 8th in the feature race, but it was di Grassi who led out of the first corner from 4th on the grid, with Luca Filippi being spun out by Michael Herck down the order.  Zuber meanwhile picked up 5 places on the first lap to run 6th and passed team-mate Maldonado a lap later.  On the third lap Chandhok passed di Grassi to take the lead, and Pantano collided with Soucek, which led to his retirement with a broken steering column.

With the championship leader out, Senna sensed an opportunity, and moved past Parente on the 4th lap, before making up a further two places when Maldonado punted di Grassi out at the hairpin on lap 7.  Zuber was now second, ahead of Senna but behind Chandhok, and despite his best efforts could find no way past the Indian driver, with the three of them coming home nose to tail ahead of Grosjean, Villa and Parente. 

Kamui Kobayashi had taken fastest lap, but a penalty for a collision with Diego Nunes dropped him out of the top 10, making him ineligible for the bonus point which was handed to Buemi, while Maldonado’s indiscretion will cost him 10 grid positions in Hungary, where Pantano will defend a 15 point championship lead from Senna.

Drivers Championship Standings -
1 Pantano 63pts, 2 Senna 48pts,  3 Grosjean 34pts, 4 Di Grassi 28pts, 5 Buemi, Chandhok, Parente 26pts, 8 Zuber 24pts, 9 Maldonado 21pts, 10 Petrov 20pts, 11 Conway 15pts, 12 Kobayashi 9pts, 13 Tung 7pts, 14 Rodriguez 6pts, 15 Buurman, Filippi, Valles, Villa 5pts, 19 Valsecchi, D'Ambrosio, Soucek 3pts, 22 Hanley, Carroll 1pt.