Prancing Horse Dances in Shanghai... Fernando Alonso and Ferrari show their class in China. In a race that balanced speed and strategy, Fernando Alonso recovered from his failure to finish in Malaysia three weeks ago with a fantastic, dominant win in Shanghai that catapulted him back into the title race.
Into the Weekend
Going into this race, much had been made of team orders following the end of the grand prix in Kuala Lumpur, mostly between the Red Bull drivers but also about the Mercedes team as well. This shadow of tension between Webber and Vettel had certainly clung to Red Bull into this weekend, and whilst other teams had bigger things to focus on. Following Alonsos DNF in Malaysia, Ferrari were looking to score good points after a disappointing weekend in Kuala Lumpur where Massa struggled for outright pace, especially in the early changing damp conditions. Lotus looked for a return to the winning form they displayed in Australia after a Malaysian Grand Prix running in the midfield, McLaren aimed to score as many points as possible with what is clearly not an optimised car and Force India hoped for a race free of the pit stop problems that robbed them of a good chance of significant constructors points three weeks ago. At a tough track on tyres, and with the soft Pirelli compound as the option tyre, concerns about their durability and sustainable pace meant that strategy was liable to play as big a part as pace in this Grand Prix.