Chinese GP Report
April 19th 2010 02:53
Damp and dreary may have been how some would have described Sunday’s weather in Shanghai, however the grand prix was anything but. Once again rain clouds played a starring role in the race, sprinkling their contents intermittently and demanding all the drivers to keep their wits. It was another race decided by tyre strategy and management, and once again it was defending champion Jenson Button who did it best.
McLaren
Jenson Button (1st)
The defending champion again met the chequered flag first thanks to making the right tyre call at the right time. When the rain intensified on the opening lap, most of the field reacted immediately, scrambling over one another to the pits for groovy rubber. Jenson was among the brave few to stay out on track, rightly believing inters would not last long enough for an advantage. He kept track position therein, never letting Nico close enough, and keeping a large enough advantage over a charging Hamilton at the end. A late scare on depleted tyres nearly cost Button his second win of 2010, but he recovered to take the win – calling it his best yet.
Lewis Hamilton (2nd)
For the second time, Hamilton was outsmarted by his new teammate, following suit with most of the field and changing to intermediates too early. It meant Burnout Boy had to yet again fight from the rear, but it’s something he excels at. Despite the extra stops, he used the McLaren’s superior straight-line pace to brilliant effect – breezing past both Red Bulls on the straights and outpacing all but his teammate to the flag. He was fortunate to escape a penalty after the pitlane biffo with Sebastian Vettel, an unnecessarily aggressive move considering he was so much quicker on the circuit. Fastest lap was an indication of his speed – but it was the wrong call that cost him.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg (3rd)
The dreamboat continues his dream run – looking absolutely pristine and faultless alongside his teammate. Little pressure has fallen on Mercedes itself for not matching the pace of their immediate rivals – instead falling on the seven-time world champion who happens to be driving for them. This means Nico has been able to go about his business, scoring tidy podiums and points, and not once going to bed on Saturday or Sunday crying into his pillow over being beaten by his teammate. Rosberg outwitted Schuey at his own game – calling the right strategy and netting himself a strong result. He even set a fastest lap a full second quicker than Schumacher’s best. Ouch.
Michael Schumacher (10th)
Four races down, and it seems to be getting worse for Schumacher and his pet monkey. He struggled all weekend to find a good set-up, could not get his tyres to work, and had a terrible strategy. These problems often befall inexperienced rookies, not drivers who have won more grands prix than they’ve had warm dinners. The German did at least give us a glimpse of his racecraft however, defending stoically against Hamilton and Vettel, but it was short-lived and the comeback king shuffled over the line taking one, lonely little point with him.
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso (4th)
Nando’s fingers were a little too twitchy off the line – jumping the gun and earning himself a drive through. To make life even more difficult for himself, the Spaniard also opted for intermediates early, and required another couple of trips to the pits. In fact with five stops all up, Fernando was well acquainted with the Shanghai pit lane, even throwing a very sneaky move past his teammate on the pit entry. Despite making his mechanics earn their supper, Alonso still managed to climb to 4th by the end – and was within firing range of a podium.
Felipe Massa (9th)
Poor Felipe struggled with the frantic pace of the race and the conditions, losing out with each round of stops. The Brazilian was caught napping by his canny teammate in the pit entry, meaning he had to forfeit time by queuing, then spent many laps battling Ferrari alumni Schumacher and Barrichello. In fact, Massa passed his compatriot so many times, he must have thought Williams had developed cloning and sent 20 Rubens’s on track… a truly frightening prospect. Nevertheless, Massa’s true fighting spirit prevailed and he picked up a couple of points, not enough to be satisfied, but better than nothing.
Renault
Robert Kubica (5th)
Bright yellow seems to be a good colour for the Pole – backing up with another solid points finish for Renault. If Kubica were to go out and buy an eye-wateringly garish yellow suit for his nights out, he’d need a riot shield to protect himself from the relentless wave of women throwing themselves at him. He is simply thriving with Renault, keeping pace with the big boys up front and scoring points at will. Best of all, he has helped to erase the severe negativity surrounding the team by putting in some fast, honest drives.
Vitaly Petrov (7th)
Like his teammate, Petrov gave himself the best opportunity possible by staying out on slicks early in the race. The rookie started a disappointing 14th on the grid, but crossed the line nestled snugly between the Red Bulls who started 1st and 2nd. Petrov kept pace early on, but made life difficult for himself with a careless spin later in the race. But, as the race neared completion, the Russian had kept his tyres in good nick and was able to race past both Schumacher and Webber to take his first ever points finish.
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel (6th)
Sebastian’s intentions were clear from the get go, angling his car aggressively towards Webbers on the start line. But, the Aussie managed a cleaner getaway and put the German behind him into the first corner, behind the jumpstarting Alonso. With Nando’s impeding penalty, Red Bull looking to have early control… until the rain came down. The pit scrambling was ill-handled by Red Bull, both drivers suffered slow stops and were flung to the outer reaches of the grid. Vettel fought back into the points, helped by a faster set-up than his teammate, but was still at the mercy of McLaren and Ferrari. A sixth place from pole is nothing to be happy about – but at least it wasn’t another DNF.
Mark Webber (8th)
When tricky circumstances befall a grand prix, it is Red Bull who have tripped over their own laces more than any other – and Webber in particular suffers worst. The Aussie finally got the jump on his teammate at the start, but when the pitstop scramble happened, Webber was chewed up and spat out. He pitted early for new intermediates in a last gasp attempt to leapfrog those ahead, and it almost worked with initial pace – but it dropped off and Webber had no tyres left to fend of a late charge from Vitaly Petrov.
Force India
Adrian Sutil (11th)
Sutil flew the flag for Force India by reaching Q3 again, but his work was undone with the conditions and dicey calls on tyres. The German had the pace to mix it with Schumacher’s Mercedes and Massa’s Ferrari, but he was out of kilter with strategy and as a result lost track position with each stop. Despite closing on Schumacher late in the race, he simply ran out of laps to do salvage any points.
Tonio Liuzzi (DNF)
The Italian sterotype was not happy with his qualifying performance, understandable when you’re 18th and your teammate is 10th. What was needed was a determined drive through trying conditions. What he gave was a careless first lap spin and a few thousand dollars worth of damage to several cars. A weekend to forget.
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Williams
Rubens Barrichello (12th)
Woobens showed that his eyesight was as sharp as it was when he started racing back when the Huns were sacking Rome. He somehow managed to steer through the carnage caused by Liuzzi’s spinning Force India, and spent the rest of the race tormenting Massa and going wheel to with old pal Michael Schumacher. Despite his tenacious and entertaining driving, the Williams was just not fast enough to haul Barrichello into the points.
Nico Hulkenberg (15th)
A difficult day for any rookie – and Nico demonstrated that with an underwhelming drive to 15th, behind even a Lotus. Hulky, like so many, was caught out by the early tyre call, and later tried to make up for it with a bizarre decision to pit for slicks right when the track was beginning to hold more of contents of the Pacific than the ocean itself. He somehow floated back to the pits for intermediates again, and spent the entire evening after the race with his helmet still on to hid his embarrassed red face.
Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari (13th)
Algy is finally beginning to show a bit of talent, with a strong qualifying performance putting him 12th on the grid and a solid, if unrewarded drive in the tricky conditions. On slicks, the Spaniard was brutal – muscling past Sutil and asserting himself in the points. But his good work was undone when a weaving Hispania repositioned his Toro Rosso’s front wing somewhere under his front axle, dropping him out of the points.
Sebastien Buemi (DNF)
Buemi didn’t have to worry about a repeat of the bizarre double-failure of his front suspension on Friday, as Liuzzi kindly did the service of immobilising the Toro Rosso before it fired it’s wheels at someone. Seb was stuck deep in the pack when Liuzzi met him halfway around the first corner and wiped him out of the race.
Lotus
Heikki Kovalainen (14th)
Heikki gave the newbies at Lotus some brief euphoria – running in the points for several laps by making the correct call on tyres early on. The Finn stayed out while those around him pitted, and he immediately found himself battling the established teams for points. Of course, he just didn’t have the pace to hold station, but it was a gallant drive for Heikki – and coming home ahead of a Williams was something for Lotus to savour.
Jarno Trulli (DNF)
What word, beginning with ‘h” does every new team despise more than anything else in the world? If you said ‘hydraulics’, you’d be correct. If you said ‘hippos’ you’d be wrong, and perhaps in need of a checkup. Again it was a hydraulics failure to befall Trulli’s Lotus not once, but twice in the race.
HRT
Bruno Senna (16th)
Hispania repeated their Malaysia effort by getting both cars home again – this time with Senna leading the way. Senna and teammate Chandhok were kept busy with the frantic pit stops scattering cars all over the grid, and the first real test of wet weather conditions for the team. But, despite sporting a visor that was too dark (even though he looked way cooler than all the other drivers), Bruno kept out of trouble and met the chequered flag only two laps down.
Karun Chandhok (17th)
The Indian rookie kept the FIA stewards busy, first earning a five-spot grid penalty before qualifying even started when his crew opened the gearbox seal without FIA approval. Then more issues (hydraulic, of course) required some overnight repairs, earning a pit lane starting spot. But the car held together for the distance – albeit four laps adrift of the winner and two down on his teammate.
Sauber
Pedro de la Rosa (DNF)
The less said about Sauber’s reliability the better. Only seven laps into the race, and smoke began to eke from the rear of De la Rosa’s car. The cause of retirement is officially listed as ‘technical’, but the smoke seemed to suggest ‘Engine or some other part that clearly had been glued on by someone who was either half-asleep or drunk.’
Kamui Kobayashi (DNF)
Kobayashi failed to match his Malaysian Q3 qualifying performance, but he outpaced teammate De la Rosa all weekend. Unfortunately, his race ended on the first lap again – this time because someone crashed into him. Liuzzi’s Toro Rosso ended the Japanese driver’s race before some ‘technical’ issue did.
Virgin
Lucas di Grassi (DNF)
It was a sad day for Virgin, neither car lasted long enough for the TV cameras to show Richard Branson on the pitwall, pretending to know what he’s doing. Lucas High School Sitcom rolled to a halt on lap seven, after his clutch departed for the great auto-shop in the sky.
Timo Glock (DNF)
Glock would have been licking his lips in anticipation of the rain and the delicious surprises that go with it. Unfortunately, the German suffered an engine issue on the formation lap, and was unable to join in the fun. Especially frustrating for Glock Dog after seeing rivals Lotus frolicking about in the points early in the race.
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