Patronise F1

Feature Race

Bruno Senna (winner of the Feature in Monaco a month earlier) led from pole, with Giorgio Pantano nipping past Frenchman (who’s really Swiss) Romain Grosjean to move into second. The first decent action saw Pastor Maldonado pass Andi Zuber at the Adelaide hairpin on lap 9.

Grosjean was the first of the leaders to stop at the end of lap 15, while Senna (who was having clutch problems) and Pantano pitted 3 laps later. The Brazilian came out of the pits narrowly ahead of the Franco-Swiss driver, but on the following lap Grosjean slipped through at Adelaide. Mike Conway took up the lead, but his stop promoted Grosjean into the lead. On lap 22 Senna’s clutch failed completely, forcing him to retire, leaving Pantano third, although he was second a lap later after both he and Grosjean took Conway, who then pitted leaving Lucas Di Grassi in third.

The status quo was maintained until just 8 laps from the finish, when a gutted Grosjean suddenly slowed, his hydraulics having failed, meaning he had to retire from the lead of his home race. Pantano was thus left with an easy run to his 2nd win of the season, in his hundredth race at this level (including his time in Formula 3000), and also took the bonus point for fastest lap. Di Grassi took second on his return to the series, with Maldonado completing the podium. Vitaly Petrov narrowly held off Zuber for 4th, with Jerome D’Ambrosio and Karun Chandhok sixth and seventh, while Mike Conway would again line up on pole for the sprint race after coming home in 8th.

Sprint Race

After rain in the morning, the track was very wet at the start, but Conway was able to convert pole into the lead, with D’Ambrosio jumping Chandhok for second, with the Indian heading so far wide at 180 corner that he was almost in Luxembourg. Grosjean flew up the field from 22nd on the grid to 14th, but Sebastien Buemi and Senna started on slick tyres and dropped right to the back. D’Ambrosio slid wide at Estoril on the second lap and tumbled down the order, before colliding with Chandhok and ending his race, while Kobayashi and Valerio had a little bump at Adelaide which sent bits of polystyrene all over the track.

Grosjean then led the charge into the pits to change onto slicks, but completed a pointless weekend when he spun into the gravel at Estoril. When Petrov pitted for dries, Yelmer Buurman in the Arden took the lead, having started on slicks, while Buemi and Alvaro Parente’s battle for second allowed the Dutchman to pull well clear in front, and Senna in fourth to close up on them. Pantano however slid into the side of Petrov at Adelaide and damaged his suspension sufficiently to be forced out.

Far too much happened in the race to fit into this short review, but Senna took Parente for third place when the Portuguese driver spun on the exit of the final chicane. Buurman and Buemi then had a fabulous wheel-to-wheel drag race from Estoril to Adelaide 7 laps from the flag, with the Swiss driver coming out ahead of his Arden team-mate. Meanwhile Senna and Parente both struck problems with Luca Filippi taking over third ahead of Di Grassi, with Senna able to limp home 5th, while Parente was forced to retire. Mike Conway completed the points scorers in 6th, but it was Team Arden who were able to celebrate a terrific one-two.

Drivers Championship Standings -
1 Pantano 35pts, 2 Senna 28pts, 3 Buemi 20pts, 4 Grosjean, Parente 19pts, 6 Maldonado 18pts, 7 Petrov, Zuber 17pts, 9 Chandok 13pts, 10 Conway 12pts, 11 Di Grassi 11pts, 12 Kobayashi 9pts, 13 Tung 7pts, 14 Rodriguez 6pts, 15 Buurman, Valles 5pts, 17 Filippi 4pts, 18 D'Ambrosio, Villa 3pts, 20 Valsecchi 2pts, 21 Hanley, Soucek, Carroll 1pt.