The Chinese GP has been on the F1 calendar for nine years and features a bit of everything. From some of the most technical corners to one of the longest straights, China has it all. The circuit features two DRS zones which should encourage a lot of overtaking throughout the race. Tyres are a big thing here as the circuit wears more on the front than the rear, meaning that teams have to plan their strategies to utilise the tyres as efficiently as possible.
Qualifying Q1 saw both Caterhams and the Marussias drop out as usual. Jules Bianchi out-shined his teammate Max Chilton again by being almost a second faster. He is most certainly one to watch for the future. He is in the Ferrari program after all. Marussia have done some excellent work to get their car significantly quicker than the Caterhams. The other new boys to F1, Gutierrez and Bottas were 18th and 17th respectively and also dropped out of Q1. Q2 saw more misfortune for Mark Webber as he had to pull over on track due to a Fuel Pressure issue. In reality he had ran out of fuel. As his car didnt have enough fuel for the mandatory test, he would be forced to start from the back of the grid. Red Bull also changed his gearbox and opted to start from the pitlane. Mark would have qualified in 14th. Jean-Eric Vergne qualified 16th and Maldonado just ahead in 15th. Perez split the two Force Indias achieving 12th, with Paul Di Resta in 11th and Sutil in 13th. This then left the top 10 to do battle, or so we thought. Tyres had been a major issue as the soft tyre was significantly faster than the medium, yet it degraded in around five to seven laps. Many of the drivers left it very late to complete a timed run. Vettel and Hulkenberg did not complete a timed lap so they started in 9th and 10th, but crucially gained the advantage of choosing which tyres to start on. Jenson Button did a cruising lap of the circuit gaining 8th. Daniel Ricciardo was the star of Q3 and earned a very respectable 7th place which is Toro Rossos best qualifying result to date. Lotus achieved 6th and 2nd with Grosjean and Raikkonen respectively and Ferrari gained 5th and 3rd. Massa who had been the fastest in the practice sessions was 5th and Alonso was able to get onto the second row. Mercedes also looked fast in practice and qualifying, and Lewis Hamilton was able to deliver the fastest times in all three qualification sessions, and earned himself pole position. Rosberg who won his first race in China last year could only manage 4th after a small mistake in the last sector.
The Race How come the Ferraris start so well every race? Im not sure, but Raikkonen was slow off the line and Alonso jumped into 2nd and Massa into 3rd before the first corner had finished. The first lap was incident free, and the Ferraris were catching up Hamilton. As they crossed the line to enter lap five Alsono took the lead, and then Massa dived up the inside to complete a double overtake. Lap five also saw Gutierrez slam into the back of Sutil before the hairpin after failing to brake in time. Luckily no one was injured but both drivers retired. Lap 15 saw the continuation of Webbers bad luck as he mistimed his overtake on Vergne. Jean-Erics car wasnt damaged significantly by the impact and managed to finish the race. Webbers bad luck continued as after he pitted, the rear right tyre started falling off the car. In almost the same place he stopped during qualifying, he lost his tyre completely and he had to pull off the track. Thankfully the tyre wasnt ejected at high speed and it simply rolled around until it hit a barrier and came to a stop. It very nearly hit Vettels car, which would have been a little ironic. Last years winner Nico Rosberg had to retire on lap 22 due to an electrical failure on the car. The race was mainly controlled by Alonso from start to finish. It was a very dominant performance from the Spaniard. Hulkenberg managed to avoid most of the incidents on track and even lead for a short time. As he started on the medium tyre, he was able to make up ground quickly and finished where he started in 10th place. Daniel Ricciardo was exceptional. To take a Toro Rosso into the last round of qualifying, then race hard and finish inside the top 10, brilliant. With a different strategy Vettel and Button both moved up places achieving 4th and 5th at the finish line. Vettel put up a late charge to nearly get on the podium, but he was denied by Lewis Hamilton at the final corner. I personally thought Hamiltons lock up was slightly intentional as it created a smokescreen to stop Vettel from seeing the apex. I think that is crafty behaviour, and I fully approve of it. The top three from Qualifying finished in the top three, but in a slightly different order to where they began. Alonso in the Ferrari grabbed the win, Raikkonen in the Lotus was second and Hamilton in the Mercedes held off Vettel for third. Overall China was a great race; lots of action, overtaking, and general good racing. Alonso showed everyone what the Ferrari can truly do this year, and I think they might just be able to go all the way. After the scandals of Malaysia, Red Bull did look disjointed. The problems with Marks car, the lack of teamwork and the fact that they did not their somewhat usual reliable performance. Another solid performance from Raikkonen, sees him maintain second in the drivers championship, but crucially he is within three points of Vettel. The tyres though ruled the race, and Pirelli have confirmed that Bahrain will feature only the Medium and Hard compound tyres. They were originally going to take the soft tyres, but with an average distance of five laps, they decided against it. Also adding to Webbers woes, he has a three place grid penalty next race because he hit Vergne, and Gutierrez received a five place penalty for his incident with Sutil.
The Awards Who has done what well this week? Driver of the Day
Fernando Alonso One word. Sublime. Team of the Day
Ferrari Strong all weekend, and they got the win they deserved. Massa should have pitted sooner at the first stint, he had the pace to finish higher. The Other Driver of the Day
Daniel Ricciardo He only has one season under his belt, but the Australian drove brilliantly to secure a great finish. The Toro Rosso was fast all weekend in the speed traps and this gave them a huge advantage with DRS. The Bad Luck Award
Mark Webber He must think the team hate him. No fuel, unfitted tyres, a teammate that doesnt listen to orders... The list almost keeps going. Its surprising to think that all this bad luck only happens to Mark and not Sebastian. I think that is rather strange. The Bahrain GP will be live on Sky with highlights on the BBC on Sunday 21st April. Last year Vettel led from start to finish and both Lotuss were on the podium. With the Lotus being faster than last years car, I wonder if they could get a 1-2 finish. Will Ferraris momentum carry them forward to victory next weekend as well? Well youll just have to watch it next week. The Chinese GP Top 10 1 Fernando Alonso 2 Kimi Raikkonen 3 Lewis Hamilton 4 Sebastian Vettel 5 Jenson Button 6 Felipe Massa 7 Daniel Ricciardo 8 Paul Di Resta 9 Romain Grosjean 10 Nico Hulkenberg
Full Race ResultsCurrent Championship Standings