Hamilton beats Rosberg for Mercedes 1-2 in Shanghai

Mercedes came back to familiar race results with Lewis Hamilton winning the Chinese Grand Prix at Shangai and Nico Rosberg finishing in 2nd position. Sebastian Vettel of Redbull came in third behind the two Mercedes drivers.

Sebastian Vettel’s Malaysia win had shocked the F1 world, and Mercedes would be breathing easy now after this win in China. However, the victory by Mercedes was not one-sided as it was in Australia. Sebastian Vettel was not far behind and there was danger of Nico Rosberg losing the second place to him. The Mercedes team even urged Lewis Hamilton to quicken his pace, as he was cruising at a steady pace instead of the full pace that his machine was capable off. Mercedes even told Lewis Hamilton that if he did not increase his pace then may be forced to allow Nico Rosberg to the pits before Lewis Hamilton. It is an accepted fact that the leading driver of the team gets the first chance to pit before his team-mate. Infact Rosberg’s tyres were bad so he finally got a chance to pit before Hamilton, but Lewis Hamilton took the chance to quicken his pace and score a fastest lap.

Ferrari’s pace was not good in the medium tyres which they took in the last stint. They were a match to the Mercedes in the soft tyres. The race finished with the safety car as the youngest driver on the grid, Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso had to stop his smoking car on the pit straight and surprisingly it couldn’t be removed in time. This definitely impacted the race results as the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was charging fast and could have snatched the third spot from team-mate Sebastian Vettel, as Kimi had fresh tyres on his car and the gap between the cars had dropped to only 1.3 seconds. When a car is within one second of the preceding car, it can deploy the DRS in the designated DRS zone and overtake. Kimi, a good friend of Vettel might be cursing his luck.

The Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas came in fifth and sixth confirming that they have fallen behind Ferrari as well. Last year Williams were just behind Mercedes and were dreaming of a race victory, especially in Brazil where Felipe Massa was leading.

Romain Grosjean, the original bad boy of 2013, finished in seventh and got the first points for Lotus. 2014 was a forgettable year for Lotus with their team principal moving to McLaren and Kimi moving to Ferrari. They had financial trouble as well. This year after moving to Mercedes engines from Renault engines, they are having a better time.

Felipe Nasr of Sauber finished in eighth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull. Ricciardo had a dreadful start to the Chinese F1 Grand Prix as he accidentally hit the auto stall during the start. He somehow held his nerves and showed a gritty performance to finish in points in 9th place. He must be happy that Verstappen of sister car Toro Rosso, who was scheduled to finish in eighth had to retire with a smoking Renault engine. Despite the much higher budget of Red bull, the sister cars of Toro Rosso are doing better.

Marcus Ericsson must be very happy moving to Sauber as he finished in points by claiming the 10th and last points paying position. He was one lap down. Sergio Perez of Force India came in 11th.

Jenson Button made a mistake and hit Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus car from behind. Button accepted his fault and was penalised with 5 seconds. So he finished in 14th and his team-mate Fernando Alonso finished in 12th. Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso was 13th.

It must be a very sad day for Fernando Alonso, who left Ferrari to join McLaren, as Ferrari is doing well this year and the Ferrari cars lapped the McLaren of Alonso.

Both the Marussia cars managed to finish the race and would be very happy with the reliability. They couldn’t race in the season opener at Melbourne. In Malaysia they only ran one car. At Shanghai in the Chinese F1 Grand Prix, Will Stevens lead his team-mate Roberto Merhi for a 15th and 16th position finish.

Retirements in Chinese F1 Grand Prix

Max Verstappen                Toro Rosso
Pastor Maldonado             Lotus
Daniil Kvyat                     Red Bull
Nico Hulkenberg              Force India

Alonso wins Chinese Grand Prix 2013

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari overtook pole sitter Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in the 5th lap and registered the first win for himself in the 2013 season.

Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus nursed a damaged front wing to come second. Hamilton took the third position by barely managing to thwart a charging Sebastian Vettel of Redbull. The difference between Hamilton and Vettel was only 0.2 seconds. Kimi Rakkonen was a further 2.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Jenson Button of McLaren would have considered himself to be fortunate as he scored a fifth position ahead of Felipe Massa of Ferarri. The retirements of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes in 21st lap and Mark Webber of RedBull in 15th lap obviously helping the struggling Mclaren. Jenson Button would obviously having more prayers in his lips for some of his competitors not to finish the next race, as it is not known as to how much time McLaren will take to improve their car.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso finished a creditable seventh. Paul di Resta of Force India was done in by his own team mate Sutil. However, he managed to recover and finish 8th. His team mate Sutil perhaps had to face his own karma as Esteban Gutierrez of Sabuer ran into the back of Sutil and both of them retired. Gutierrez earned a five places grid penalty for the next race at Baharin.

It is to be seen if Force India can manage their warring drivers and ensure that there is no repeat collision between the two.


Romain Grosjean of Lotus finished at 9th. Last year he was at his erratic best, served a one race ban, however he was fast as well. This year, he has not collided with anyone in the first three races, but there has been a huge gap between Kimi and Romain. If this continues, it will be seen whether Eric Boulier will still retain him next year.

I wish Michael Schumacher were driving in place of Romain Grosjean and Lotus would have been steadily beating the other top teams.

Nico Hulkenberg who moved from Force India to Sauber finished at 10th place. Wonder if he is happy as the Sauber this year has been a far cry from the previous years car.

Sergio Perez who moved from Sauber to McLaren finished at 11th. Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso finished in 12th ahead of the two Williams cars of Valeri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado.

Jules Bianchi of Marussia was ahead of the Caterham of Charles Pic for 15th and 16th positions and Max Chilton of Marussia finished at 17th ahead of Giedo Van der Garde of Caterham.

Worried by the poor showing of his drivers Tony Fernandes of Caterham brought back Heikki Kovalainen as a reserve driver and he will drive in the FP1 in the next two races to give his feedback. Qing Hua Ma who is the reserve driver with Caterham drove in the First Practice. It is not known how many millions he has brought to the Caterham team to allow him some track time in the car. Last year he was with the HRT team as reserve driver and had driven in the First Practice in several races including the Chinese Grand Prix. Caterham seems to be in deep trouble financially and unless they beat Marussia, they will also lose millions that comes as a bonus for the 10th position.

Final Standings in the drivers championship after Chinese Grand Prix 2013

1. Sebastian Vettel Redbull 52 points
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus  49 points
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 43 points
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 40 points
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 30 points
6. Mark Webber Redbull 26 points
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 12 points
8. Jenson Button McLaren 12 points
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus 11 points
10. Paul di Resta Force India 8 points
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 6 points
12. Adrian Sutil Force India 6 points
13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 5 points
14. Sergio Perez McLaren 2 points
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1 point
16. Valeri Bottas Williams 0 points (Best place finish 11th)
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 0 points (Best place finish 12th)
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia 0 points
19. Charles Pic Caterham 0 points
20. Pastor Maldonado Williams 0 points
21. Giedo Van der Garde Caterham 0 points
22. Max Chilton Marussia 0 points

Nico wins. Mercedes messes it up for Schumacher

First win for Nico Rosberg in the Chinese Grand Prix. Luck seems to have deserted Michael Schumacher. His mechanic did not fit a nut in his wheel and he had to retire in lap 12. The race Stewards imposed a fine of 5000 Euros on Mercedes for unsafe release. Michael Schumacher has qualified well in the previous two races as well, but due to bad luck he has only 1 points to his credit.

Sebastian Vettel was running at 2nd position before he was overtaken by others. Vettel was on a two stop strategy and hence his tyres were in very bad condition before he was overtaken. However, Vettel has not been reported to have shown a finger to his team. Information is awaited about given his temperamental nature.

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36:26.929
2. Jenson Button McLaren +20.6 secs
3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren +26.0 secs
4. Mark Webber Red Bull +27.9 secs
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +30.4 secs
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus +31.4 secs
7. Bruno Senna Williams +34.5 secs
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams +35.6 secs
9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +37.2 secs
10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber +38.7 secs
11. Sergio Perez Sauber +41.0 secs
12. Paul di Resta Force India +42.2 secs
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari +42.7 secs
14. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus +50.5 secs
15. Nico Hulkenberg Force India +51.2 secs
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Torro Rosso +51.7 secs
17. Daniel Ricciardo Torro Rosso +63.1 secs
18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham +1 Lap
19. Timo Glock Marussia +1 Lap
20 Charles Pic Marussia +1 Lap
21 Pedro de la Rosa HRT +1 Lap
22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT +2 Laps
23 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham +3 Laps

Retired Michael Schumacher Mercedes on 12th Lap due to Wheel

Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying: First Pole for Mercedes

Mercedes has been threatening to score a pole position this year, but their friday pace had not translated into a Pole position in qualifying in the season opening Australian Grand Prix and also in Malaysia. In the third race in the 2012 calendar, Nico Rosberg scored his and Mercedes first pole. Hamilton came second. However he will be demoted by 5 places due to his gear box change. Michael Schumacher, who was faster than his team mate this year, and was the fastest in practice in Friday, could only score P3 and was half a second adrift of his team mate. Many people had expected Michael Schumacher to score the pole here in China. However, it was not to be. Due to Hamilton's demotion, Nico and Michael will start from the first row.

Last years dominant driver Vettel could only be 11th. His team mate Webber could make it to the Q3 in the qualifying and scored 7th. India's Narain Karthikeyan who had done really well in the Malaysia Grand Prix came last and 24th.

1. N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:35.121
2. L. Hamilton McLaren1:35.626
3. M. Schumacher Mercedes 1: 35.691
4. K. Kobayashi Sauber 1:35.784
5. K. Raikkonen Lotus 1:35.898
6. J. Button McLaren 1:36.191
7. M. Webber Redbull 1:36.290
8. S. Perez Sauber 1:36.524
9. F. Alonso Ferrari 1:36.622
10. R. Grosjean Lotus No time in Q3
Times in Q2
11. S. Vettel Redbull 1:36.031
12. F. Massa Ferrari 1:36.255
13. P. Maldonado Williams 1:36.283
14. B. Senna Williams 1:36.289
15. P. Di Resta Force India 1:36.317
16. N. Hulkenberg Force India 1:36.745
17. D. Ricciardo Torro Rosso 1:36.958
Times in Q1
18. J. Vergne Torro Rosso 1:37.714
19. H. Kovalainen Caterham 1:38.463
20. V. Petrov Caterham 1:38.677
21. T. Glock Marussia 1:39.282
22. C. Pic Marussia 1:39. 717
23. P. de La Rosa HRT 1:40.411
24. N. Karthikeyan HRT 1:41.000