Wickens secures thrilling victory

Carlin’s Robert Wickens handled difficult conditions at the Nürburgring perfectly to notch his second race victory of the season. The Canadian started the race on pole, but he was soon overtaken by ISR driver Daniel Ricciardo. It took a heavy downpour to change the outlook of the race. On slick tyres and on a damp track, Wickens managed to sneak past Ricciardo and win the first race of the weekend. With the victory, Wickens now moves up to first place in the championship.

Another heavy shower came just a few minutes before the start of race one, but the 26 cars still lined up on the grid with slick tyres and light aerodynamic configurations. Wickens got away well at the start of the race, but it was Ricciardo who turned out to be the biggest winner in the early stages. Having set off from fourth on the grid, the Australian quickly flew past Alexander Rossi, Kevin Korjus and Wickens to grab first place before lap one had even finished.

At this point, the rain returned once again to complicate matters. Ricciardo took a spin in the slippery conditions, but it could have been a lot worse as he only dropped down into second place. Jean-Eric Vergne and Rossi then collided on the pit straight, forcing the safety car out onto the track. The pair, who are first and third in the championship respectively, were forced to retire following the incident. Wickens led the race at this stage, followed by Ricciardo, Korjus, César Ramos and KMP Racing’s Nelson Panciatici.

At the restart, Ricciardo placed himself perfectly behind Wickens’s diffuser and launched an unstoppable charge along the pit straight. The Red Bull Racing F1 Team reserve driver passed his Canadian rival and regained control of the race. From then on, Ricciardo and Wickens began to pull away from a following pack led by Korjus. The Estonian began to gradually pick up the pace and managed to build a cushion ahead of Ramos, Panciatici and Fairuz Fauzy (Mofaz Racing). 

The race seemed to have settled down by this stage, but then yet another downpour arrived to shake things up once again. Wickens took advantage of the precarious conditions to wrestle back the lead and widen the gap on Ricciardo. It was a daring manoeuvre, with his car on slick tyres and the track at this point sodden with rain. Korjus, in third place, decided to play it safe and hold his position ahead of Ramos. Meanwhile, Albert Costa had managed to work his way up to fifth, having started the race way back in 16th.

With the track gradually starting to dry out, Ricciardo was able to keep contact with race leader Wickens. Ricciardo made several attempts to snatch first place, but Wickens held firm to win the race. It was a fitting end to a fantastic race, with Wickens taking the chequered flag just six tenths of a second ahead of Ricciardo, who in turn was quickly followed by Korjus in third.