Pascal Wehrlein finishes 8th despite penalty

When you have a package that’s less competitive than the opposition, you must know how to make strategic moves to stand out. That’s what Pascal Wehrlein achieved with his Sauber. The German was the only driver to attempt a one-stop strategy on a track known to be tough on tires.

But he did not expect to be able to finish in 8th place, which is his best ranking in F1, after securing 10th place last year in Austria: « « It was really a good race for me today. I am really happy with my car’s performance and also that this one-stop strategy worked well until the end of the race. We could not have expected such a result following our free practice sessions. It’s a great feeling to finish this race in the points, what a surprise! »

However, he could have done even better as he crossed the line in 7th place. But he lost a place in favor of Carlos Sainz following a five-second penalty for crossing the pit entry cone during his only tire change.

The four points scored are nonetheless valuable as they help consolidate the team’s ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of McLaren, still stuck at zero points. The team was even close to placing both of their cars in the points, as Marcus Ericsson finished eleventh.

The Swede can thus regret the time lost during the deployment of the virtual safety car following the collision between Stoffel Vandoorne and Felipe Massa: « As far as I’m personally concerned, I felt good during the race, but I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. My pit stop was completed just as the virtual safety car appeared, which made me lose time. Things are not going as I would like at the moment. »