Felix Rosenqvist wins Macau Grand Prix at fifth attempt
Swede finally gets his hands on coveted title; F1-bound Max Verstappen shows his class with impressive seventh place
Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist won the Macau Grand Prix at the fifth attempt on Sunday, emerging unscathed from a carnage-strewn first lap to finally claim the trophy in convincing fashion.
Two of the main contenders, Esteban Ocon and Tom Blomqvist, saw their races end on the first lap, the result of a massive pile-up that forced the race to be suspended for half an hour.
Rosenqvist had started on pole but had lost the lead to Blomqvist; after the crash, the surviving cars returned to their original grid positions for a lap behind the safety car.
Lucas Auer managed to get past Rosenqvist as the safety car withdrew, but only for an instant as the Swede took him on the inside going into Lisboa corner; that was the last challenge the 23-year-old faced as he calmly stretched his lead over the remaining 12 laps.
Rookie Nick Cassidy held second for much of the race, but Auer finally got past him late in the race.
Max Verstappen, the teenager who will become the youngest ever driver in Formula One next season, showed his talent as he charged through the field from 24th to finish 7th. Had the race been 20 laps rather than 15 he might have been challenging for the podium, but his hopes ended in Saturday’s Qualification Race when he clipped a wall and had to retire.
I’ve been haunted by bad luck, it’s been really tough, but it could not be any better now
It was a well-deserved win for Rosenqvist, runner-up here in 2012 and victim of an unlucky crash last year that ended his race on the first lap.