After competing in 111 races, Nico Rosberg has finally claimed his maiden Formula One race victory with a commanding drive in a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix.
This result means Rosberg becomes the first new winner in the sport since Heikki Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, 64 races ago.
Rosberg also joins the elusive list of father and son succeeding in Formula One. Both Keke and Nico are the third combination of winners after Graham and Damon Hill, and Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve.
As for Mercedes, their last triumph was back in the 1955 Italian Grand Prix with Juan Manuel Fangio.
McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.
At a track where he had led only to fade in each of the last two years, Rosberg ensured he stayed at the head of an absorbing race in which variants of tyre strategies played out throughout the 56-lap race.
Not only did drivers vary between two and three pit-stops, but also there were huge differences in stint length.
Despite the Mercedes team’s tyre difficulties in the opening two races, this time the team handled the Pirelli issue perfectly – allowing Rosberg to deploy a textbook two-stop strategy and keep himself ahead of most of the action.
The German pulled away from his team-mate Michael Schumacher in the opening laps, soon establishing a four-second lead. Schumacher’s opportunity to feature in the lead battle then ended when he retired with an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel immediately after his first pit-stop.
Button was Rosberg’s main challenger thereafter. A great start immediately took Jenson to third, and he was catching Rosberg on a three-stop plan for a while, but victory was dashed following a slow final pit-stop with a left-rear wheel issue.
Kimi Raikkonen’s two-stopping Lotus held second position going into the closing stages, but trying to do half the Chinese Grand Prix on his third set of tyres proved too optimistic, and the Iceman tumbled from second to P14 in just a handful of laps.
Vettel, following a similar strategy, was first to pass Raikkonen, and looked like he might salvage second from his qualifying disaster.
The reigning world champion could not hold off the McLarens or team-mate Webber with their fresher tyres from a three-stop strategy, with Button getting through five laps from the end.
Hamilton and Webber doing likewise amid a thrilling tussle over the last two laps.
Webber took fourth despite his first pit-stop coming as early as lap six, and two trips off the track – one of which featured a wild flight over the Turn 13 kerbs.
While Raikkonen fell back, his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean did a two-stop plan with a very long middle stint and was able to battle to sixth, ahead of the Williams duo of Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado.
As for Fernando Alonso, the Sepang winner was only ninth for Ferrari having lost a little ground running off-track trying to pass Maldonado.
Sauber was a factor in this pack but could not repeat its Malaysian Grand Prix heroics. Kamui Kobayashi fell back with a poor start and finished in tenth, just ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, who led for a while on a two-stop strategy.
Thus, after the race of the season, Hamilton leads the world championship with 45 points to Button’s 43, with Fernando Alonso third on 37. In the constructors’ stakes, McLaren still lead with 88 points to Red Bull’s 64, Ferrari’s 37, Sauber’s 31, Mercedes’ 26 and Lotus’s 24.
The next race is in Bahrain and despite the political unrest; the sport’s governing body has safely ensured the event will take place.
Chinese Grand Prix race results, after 56 laps:
1. Rosberg Mercedes 1h36:26.929
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes +20.626
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +26.012
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault +27.924
5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +30.483
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault +31.491
7. Senna Williams-Renault +34.597
8. Maldonado Williams-Renault +35.643
9. Alonso Ferrari +37.256
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +38.720
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari +41.066
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +42.273
13. Massa Ferrari +42.779
14. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +50.573
15. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +51.213
16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +51.756
17. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1:03.156
18. Petrov Caterham-Renault +1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +1 lap
22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth +2 laps
23. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +3 laps
Fastest lap: Kobayashi, 1:39.960
Not classified/retirement:
Schumacher Mercedes 16 laps
World Championship standings, round 3:
Drivers:
1. Hamilton 45
2. Button 43
3. Alonso 37
4. Webber 36
5. Vettel 28
6. Rosberg 25
7. Perez 22
8. Raikkonen 16
9. Senna 14
10. Kobayashi 9
11. Grosjean 8
12. Di Resta 7
13. Vergne 4
14. Maldonado 4
15. Ricciardo 2
16. Hulkenberg 2
17. Schumacher 1
Constructors:
1. McLaren-Mercedes 88
2. Red Bull-Renault 64
3. Ferrari 37
4. Sauber-Ferrari 31
5. Mercedes 26
6. Lotus-Renault 24
7. Williams-Renault 18
8. Force India-Mercedes 9
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir. April 20-22.
Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg was surprised by the Mercedes race pace. Autosport.com has the story.
An elated Nico Rosberg said he was surprised to be so quick in the Chinese Grand Prix after taking his maiden Formula 1 win on Sunday.
The German driver secured his F1 first pole position on Saturday, but was widely expected to struggle to keep the pace in the race following problems suffered by Mercedes in the first two grands prix with its tyres.
The problems vanished in China, however, and Rosberg led commandingly from start to finish to take his maiden win at the 111th attempt.
Rosberg, who took the first F1 world championship race win for Mercedes as a constructor since 1955, admitted he was surprised by his own pace in the race.
“[It is an] unbelievable feeling. [I am] very cool, very happy and very excited,” said Rosberg. “It’s been a long time coming for me and the team.
“We didn’t expect to be that fast today. We knew we had good chance to be in the front but we didn’t expect to be that fast.
“Thanks to whole team for working very hard also, and for improving the set-up. I was struggling in first two races with race pace but here it came good.”
Rosberg, who took the chequered flag over 20 seconds ahead of Jenson Button, labelled his weekend as “perfect” after failing to score in the first two races of the season.
“It is fantastic,” added Rosberg, Formula 1’s first new winner since the 2009 season. “It’s been the perfect weekend.
“Everything couldn’t be better. I’m very happy. It was a great race and it’s impressive to see how we have progressed so quickly. We had struggled in the first two races, but we made some changes and it has all come good. I am happy for all of us and I was looking forward to seeing how we get on.”
Rosberg’s team-mate Michael Schumacher retired from the race on lap 15.
McLaren’s Jenson Button believes that slow final pitstop cost him a chance at beating Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes to the Chinese Grand Prix victory. Autosport.com has the details.
Jenson Button’s slow final pitstop in the Chinese Grand Prix cost him the chance to chase down eventual winner Nico Rosberg, reckoned the McLaren driver afterwards.
Button emerged from a hugely competitive pack in pursuit of Rosberg as the man most likely to fight the German for the win, and had opted for a three-stop strategy to maximise his time on fresh Pirellis.
The last stop however took more than nine seconds, which dropped Button back to sixth, and stuck behind a number of cars all fighting for second position.
“I came to the marks [in the pits], but we had a problem at the rear of the car so I sat there for nine or 10 seconds, I think it was. It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me,” said Button. “[They were] cars that I wouldn’t have been racing and I would have had a nice clear track to hopefully hunt down Nico.
“It was a big gap but you have to give it a go. All in all it was a fun day, a good race, good overtaking out there and nice with that issue to come away with some good points for second place.
“We made it harder for ourselves in the last stint with a long pitstop, but these things happen,” he added.
Button fought his way back to second position in the end, having battled past Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and both Red Bulls.
“It was a great race,” he said. “We went for a three-stop strategy which was different. It was really good fun even with the problem we had, but I am happy to come home second, it was a good fight and most of it very clean, which is good to see.
“When you are in front on the first few laps and the you drop into traffic… I knew we had traffic and I was picking them off nicely, but after the last pitstop it became more difficult.
“Kimi was leading the train and everyone was DRSing, so until Seb [Vettel] had a go at Kimi I couldn’t have a go at Seb. Overtaking Seb was the most fun of the race, or perhaps Romain Grosjean going through right hander onto the back straight.”
As for Sebastian Vettel, the reigning world champion was satisfied after salvaging fifth position in the Chinese Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the story.
Sebastian Vettel said he had to be satisfied with salvaging fifth place from the Chinese Grand Prix after his poor qualifying result and even worse start – despite briefly looking set for a podium.
The reigning world champion only managed 11th on the Shanghai grid on Saturday, then dropped to 15th with a slow start.
A two-stop strategy finishing short first two stints saw him emerge in second going into the closing stages, but as his tyres faded, Vettel was passed by both McLarens and his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.
“It was getting more and more difficult,” Vettel admitted. “I had nothing left in the tyres. I knew that the only chance was trying to escape from Kimi [Raikkonen]. I think he ran into the same kind of problem.”
Last year in China, Vettel lost victory to Lewis Hamilton when the three-stopping McLaren overcame the worn tyres of the two-stopping Red Bull at the end. While content with fifth in the circumstances, Vettel admitted that it was hard to be happy having come close to a podium.
“I think it was the same here last year,” said Vettel.
“It was a bit different, but the last five laps were the same – people from behind eating me up as I had no tyres left.
“You try to get them back to life, get a little bit more out of them, but they were pretty dead. I tried to react with brake balance, diff, everything I had, but there was nothing I could have done.
“A shame because the podium was so close and yet so far. Nevertheless, good points and a good recovery from 15th.”
Vettel also reckons that a lack of straightline performance had hurt Red Bull during the race.
“We were generally too slow on the straights,” he said. “We were losing a lot of time there. That made it extremely difficult to pass, to be honest.”
He accepted responsibility for losing ground on the first lap.
“I think I missed out a little bit on the start,” Vettel admitted. “I was a bit too late. I wasn’t entirely happy finding the revs and I was a bit confused. Usually I’m pretty quick when the lights go off, but today I think I was one of the last ones. I didn’t wake up enough.
“Then I was behind the Williams and at Turn 1 they crashed into each other a little bit and I had to hit the brakes and I didn’t know what was going to happen. Then I lost another couple of positions – I nearly lost a position to Heikki Kovalainen in the Caterham so I think it was a really bad stage on the first lap. With the strategy we managed to kind of come back.”
Michael Schumacher said he was not angry with his Mercedes pit crew after having to retire from the Chinese Grand Prix, having been in the fight for his first victory since returning to Formula 1.
The Mercedes driver was forced to stop his car on lap 15 after one of his mechanics failed to secure the right front tyre properly during his pitstop.
Schumacher had run in second position behind team-mate Nico Rosberg in the early stages.
The seven-time champion was upbeat after stopping, however, claiming that the positive was that his team has found the soft spot to make the tyres work properly, after having struggled with them in the first two races.
“I noticed in Turn 3 that something was wrong with the front right tyre,” Schumacher told the BBC. “Already by Turn 6 there was quite a bit of smoke and damage and I thought it was better to stop before I did some serious damage to the car.
“I don’t have any hard feelings. I feel a bit sorry for one of my boys that I guess he feels responsible, but it’s part of the game.
“We were looking strong. We told you guys that we were having too much wear in Australia and we were not having enough wear in Malaysia, so there must have been a middle way. It looks like we found the way.”
Source: Autosport.com
Both Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez were left feeling disappointed after the race despite a promising qualifying. Autosport.com has the details.
Sauber’s drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez both expressed disappointment after delivering just one point between the two of them in the Chinese Grand Prix, despite having starred at various points of the weekend.
Kobayashi started the race from third of the grid after a stellar qualifying performance, while Perez led briefly for the second grand prix in succession.
Both drivers ran into tyre problems during the 56-lap event however, with only Kobayashi – who made a poor start – making the points positions in tenth.
“Of course after what we did in qualifying the race result is disappointing,” said the Japanese. “I’m not really sure what happened at the start, my car just didn’t move, it was a bit strange and I lost positions immediately.
“Then I was stuck in traffic for most of the time, also we made the second pit stop a bit late and the tyres had gone. Quite often we have recovered in the race from a bad qualifying, but today it was the other way round.”
Perez looked set to produce another podium-threatening performance during his first stint, and even led the race as he went long on his first set of tyres. But once the Mexican switched to medium tyres, he couldn’t maintain his pace and faded out of the points.
“I must say I am very disappointed,” said Perez. “I had a very good start, and for the entire first stint it really looked to be going very well for me. But then when I picked up the medium compound tyres I lost a lot of performance from lap 17 onwards.
“Actually I feel I would have been better off with a three stop strategy, but you never know. The pit stops as such were good, but at both I lost time at the launch because we had a problem with the clutch. However, this is racing and we will do better next time.”
Chinese Grand Prix winner Mercedes has been fined by the race stewards for the incident involving Michael Schumacher during his pitstop.
The German was forced to retire from the race after his mechanics failed to secure the front right tyre properly during his first and only stop.
Schumacher’s incident was under investigation and the FIA imposed a fine of 5,000 euro to the team after the race for the unsafe release of the German’s car.
“The prompt action of the driver, in stopping the car as soon as the problem was noticed, is taken into account in the penalty determination,” said the stewards.
Source: Autosport.com
Force India’s Robert Fernley was left feeling encouraged by the team’s Chinese Grand Prix pace. Autosport.com has the details.
Force India should be encouraged by its Chinese Grand Prix performance, despite failing to score a point at Shanghai, according to deputy team boss Robert Fernley.
Paul di Resta was among the massive pack of cars fighting for positions from the podium back to the midfield as the myriad tyre strategies unfolded in China, but ended up towards the back of the queue in 12th place.
But Fernley said that the lack of retirements and extremely close competition masked how strong Force India’s pace had been relative to the top teams.
“We always felt that scoring points in today’s race would need an element of luck or attrition, but as it was we saw almost 100 per cent reliability,” said Fernley.
“Paul was in the mix for most of the race, fighting to get in the top 10 and ending up just under eight seconds from seventh place, and just 22 seconds off second place, which shows how competitive the field was today.”
Fernley added: “We know that our race pace relative to our midfield rivals is not too far away and hopefully we can continue to close the performance gap quickly.”
Di Resta agreed that Force India did not need to find a lot more pace to get itself firmly into the top 10 group.
“It was an extremely close race today and although we were able to keep ourselves in the hunt, we were just missing the pace to catch people and make up any more ground,” said the Briton.
“So we go away from here knowing that we are not too far away from the other teams and determined to get the car dialled in nicely for Bahrain next week.”
Nico Hulkenberg finished 15th in the second Force India after his car picked up nose damage on the first lap.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was convinced that sixth was possible in China. Autosport.com has the details.
Fernando Alonso is convinced he could have finished in sixth position in the Chinese Grand Prix at the very least, had it not been for the traffic.
The Ferrari driver, the winner of the previous race in Malaysia, had to settle for ninth in Shanghai, behind the two Williams drivers and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean.
Alonso said he could have beaten the trio easily had he not been stuck in traffic all race long.
He admitted, however, that today’s performance was a truer reflection of where Ferrari stands in the competitive order.
“This is probably a most realistic position than what we saw in Australia or Malaysia especially,” Alonso told reporters.
“But I’m convinced that in a race without traffic or with some clean air in front the car would have been quicker than it was, because we couldn’t do a single free lap.
“So I think we are a little bit further up, or I want to believe that we would have finished ahead of Williams and Grosjean without too many difficulties.”
The Spaniard, who dropped from first to third in the drivers’ standings after the Chinese event, said he is expecting next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix to be Ferrari’s worst race so far.
“We have Bahrain next week, which in theory it could be the worst for us. The car is lacking top speed and traction, and Bahrain is nothing else but traction and top speed, so I guess it’s going to be an even more complicated weekend than the previous ones.
“And then we will improve for Barcelona, but we will improve three of four tenths. That’s the improvement most teams have for Europe. So if we improve five or six tenths and the rest four, then we’ll gain two tenths.”
Team-mate Felipe Massa finished in 13th position – the Brazilian is yet to score a point this year.
Kimi Raikkonen was left lamenting his strategy in the Chinese Grand Prix after dropping down to 14th position in the end, having run as high as second place in the last third of the race.
The Finn opted to stop just twice in the race, and the decision seemed to be working until his tyre performance dropped away completely in the final laps.
Raikkonen was fighting for a podium position, but lost several places and eventually finished 50 seconds behind race winner Nico Rosberg. Aftewards, the Lotus driver admitted the strategy had simply not worked.
“We tried to run two stops as it looked to be the fastest strategy and up until the last ten laps it was looking good, but we ran out of tyre performance at the end,” said Raikkonen.
“I was stuck behind Felipe (Massa) for quite a while and couldn’t get past as I wasn’t fast enough in the right parts of the track to make a move.
“Even if I’d got past I don’t think it would have made the greatest amount of difference to the final result. We had good pace in the race, we tried a different strategy and it didn’t pay off today; it’s is simple as that.”
Team-mate Romain Grosjean scored his first points of the season after finishing in sixth position, the Frenchman delighted with his performance.
“It was a very good race, I really enjoyed it,” he said. “Unfortunately I made a little mistake fighting with Mark (Webber) but overall it was a good performance.
“The car felt great and the team did an amazing job to give us such a big improvement from Friday, so I’m especially happy for the guys to be able to finish the race and get some good points on the board.
“To be up there fighting with McLaren and Red Bull is a great feeling and I’m happy to have got my season started properly. We’ve had high hopes since P3 on the grid in Melbourne, and now after a few setbacks it’s time to aim higher.”
Source: Autosport.com
Following a five-place grid penalty after changing the gearbox, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton believed he had the chance to win the Chinese Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the story.
Lewis Hamilton is certain he would have given Nico Rosberg a hard fight for Chinese Grand Prix victory had he been able to take up his front row starting position at Shanghai.
The McLaren driver was second fastest in qualifying, but started seventh due to a 10-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
That meant Hamilton spent most of his race in traffic on the way to third place.
“I am sure we’d have given Nico a run for his money but the traffic we had and the amount of pitstops was incredible,” said Hamilton.
“But I’m still happy and we need to keep pushing to get some better results in the future.”
He acknowledged that Mercedes was now a very strong contender after Rosberg’s ultimately dominant win in China, but believes the victor’s margin of superiority was accentuated by his potential rivals being caught in the pack.
“I think the Mercedes has good pace but it is much, much easier when you have clean air and are at the front when everyone else is being held up,” said Hamilton.
“[Rosberg] was just saying to me it was quite an easy race so I know that.”
The Shanghai result has put Hamilton into the world championship lead by two points over his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, even though the younger Briton has yet to win a race this year.
“It’s definitely a positive to add the consistency which I want and I think if we keep on working like we have then the wins will come,” said Hamilton.
“We have to keep on moving forward and obviously Mercedes has taken a step forward and the other guys are just as quick as us, the Red Bulls are just about there and the Ferrari was quick at one stage and also the Saubers.
“So it is providing some great racing for the fans and I hope they are enjoying it as much as we are.”
Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery says Nico Rosberg’s emphatic win in the Chinese Grand Prix is evidence that Mercedes is making progress in learning how to unlock the potential of the tyres with its W03 chassis.
The team has proved quick in qualifying all season – Rosberg and Schumacher occupied the front row in China – but until Shanghai the Mercedes has suffered heavy degradation in the races which has cost it competitively.
In China however, Rosberg led the race except during his pitstop phases, and made one less stop (two in total) than his nearest rival Jenson Button.
“We thought before the race that the three-stop [strategy] was most probable and two was possible but probably at the limit, and you’ll probably find that at Mercedes they were even questioning at the time whether they should do a third stop and try and get out,” said Hembery.
“I haven’t spoken to the guys but I am quite sure that conversation would have gone on so it’s fascinating.
“Before the race everyone was talking about Mercedes’ problems managing tyres, so I did say that Ross [Brawn] had mentioned to me that he thought they had understood a lot of them and it seems quite clearly that they have. They were quite superb from start to finish so it is good to see.”
Hembery also suggested that Rosberg’s ability to make the most of his start and run up at the front in clear air had helped him conserve his tyres.
When asked whether the German has stayed out too long on his first stint using primes, allowing Jenson Button’s McLaren to threaten him, Hembery said: “No, I don’t think so, I think they were also trying to monitor the levels of degradation so they were changing their strategy almost in real time.
“We were sure that a lot of teams were altering their strategy during the first stint which is common throughout the season,” Hembery added. “You do get races like that as we saw, and the McLarens were on a three stop strategy which was nearly good enough.
“They came second and third, so as we said it was marginal whether it was two or three and in the end two was enough because Mercedes had the performance advantage by starting at the front.
“And in F1 we know how much of an advantage that gives you on the road, you are not running into any dirty air or anything and you have a clear road and they took that advantage superbly.”
Source: Autosport.com
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has commented that the race pace in Chinese Grand Prix was a good step forward despite finishing in P13. Autosport.com has the details.
Felipe Massa says he took a step forward in the Chinese Grand Prix despite finishing outside the points.
The Ferrari driver struggled to match the performance of team-mate Fernando Alonso in the first two races of the season, and he finished in 13th position at Shanghai on Sunday.
Alonso was only ninth, however, and the Brazilian crossed the finish line some five seconds behind the Spaniard.
“I tried to do my best in a very close fought race,” said Massa, who is yet to score a point this season. “Sure, 13th place is not something I can be happy about, but I think that as far as my race was concerned, this was a step forward compared to the first two races of the season.
“At least I managed to run a normal race and I know I did everything that I could.”
Massa said his two-stop strategy had worked well, but like Alonso the Brazilian was hindered by traffic.
“The decision to make two stops was the right one given my position, but maybe, in the light of how the race went, it would have been better to stop at different times: however, that’s easy to say now, after the chequered flag,” he added.
“Each and every time I found myself in traffic and paid for the lack of top speed, one of the major problems with our car at the moment.”
And Massa also reckons next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix will be a big challenge for Ferrari, with the circuit not suiting the Italian car’s characteristics.
“The Sakhir circuit, for the next round of the championship, does not look like being very favourable for us, given how things have gone so far. For me, it is a race where I have always done well, but I’m not under any illusions. As always, we will try and give it our best shot.”
Mercedes boss Norbert Haug hails Nico Rosberg’s maiden Formula One victory. Autosport.com has the story.
Norbert Haug has hailed Nico Rosberg’s maiden victory as one of the most memorable of his career as the boss of Mercedes-Benz motorsport, after he stood on the podium to celebrate the first success for the works team since 1955.
The German was a key factor in helping create the modern day ‘Silver Arrows’ at the start of 2010, after his bosses agreed to buy the then championship-winning Brand GP outfit.
And after finally seeing that faith come off with Rosberg’s success, Haug reckons the win was as good as David Coulthard’s first triumph with a Mercedes-Benz engine at Albert Park in 2007, and the inaugural success for the German car manufacturer at Indianapolis in 1994.
“This was one of the very, very good ones,” explained Haug. “We have had David’s first in 1997. That was certainly a landmark as well, as we painted the car silver and won the first race. We had a splendid Indianapolis in 1994 too.
“We have had quite a few victories together with McLaren and Brawn GP, but this is certainly a very important one for us – especially in this country and because there was so much hard work behind it.”
Haug was also happy with the timescale it took for the Mercedes outfit to win, having experienced two difficult years since taking over Brawn.
“I don’t think it is that long if you look in the history books,” he said. “Winning in the third year is not something that lots of teams are achieving. I would not have had something against wins in the first year that is for sure, but whatever we have now I am happy with.”
Ross Brawn believes that his team getting its tyres into the ‘sweet spot’ of performance was key to Nico Rosberg delivering his maiden victory for Mercedes in China.
With the Brackley-based outfit having headed to Shanghai aware that it needed to work on solving the tyre problems that had blighted its performances in the first two races, Rosberg was dominant in Sunday’s event.
And Brawn believes that rather than the result showing the relative performance of the cars, he thinks it was all about tyres.
“I think with these tyres if you get it right on the day then you can do what we did today,” explained Brawn. “You can see what is very strong opposition perhaps not quite hitting the sweet spot, and having what happened today.
“We managed to get it to work and others didn’t, and that will be the characteristic of this year. I think the teams will all get better in using tyres and, as they get better, the occasions when you don’t get it right will be fewer.
“But today we got the tyres right, we got the set-up right and we saw the results.”
After Mercedes overheated its tyres in Australia and did not get them warm enough in Malaysia, Brawn said that he was actually fearful of the temperatures dropping in China.
“We didn’t want it to get too cold funnily enough, because when it gets cold the rubber can start to grain, and you can struggle and fall out of window.
“We were anticipating it being a bit warmer, and we set the car up for that. But the tyres worked perfectly and James [Vowles], our strategy guy, called the race absolutely perfectly in terms of it being two stop. The tyres were just starting to ease off as we came in the pits and that side worked out very well.”
Brawn also said that he was not too fearful of Jenson Button threatening Rosberg for victory if the McLaren’s last stop had not been delayed.
“We were keeping a pretty close eye on him, and obviously it was a big relief that they had a slow stop and fell into that pack, because obviously they should have come out in front of it.
“It would have been much more of a race though. I haven’t really spoken to Nico, but I have a feeling that he had a bit in reserve.”
Source: Autosport.com
Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg has commented that this achievement was far from easy due to tyre management. Autosport.com has the story.
Nico Rosberg says his victory in the Chinese Grand Prix was far from easy as he claimed he was never able to go flat out in order to manage his tyres properly.
Rosberg scored a commanding maiden win in Shanghai after having started from pole position, the German finishing over 20 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Despite the big gap to his closest rival, Mercedes driver Rosberg said the race was very challenging, as keeping the tyres in good form was far from easy.
“It was all about tyre management,” said Rosberg in a video blog on Monday. “It was very difficult to manage the tyres.
“There was not one lap in the race where you could go flat out. You really have to take it carefully and manage the tyres, so it’s very challenging. But it worked out fine, and the strategy was also perfect.”
Rosberg, who took his victory after 111 grand prix starts, admitted the second part of the race felt like the longest of his life.
“It was the longest race of my life. It felt like I was driving the Le Mans 24 Hours,” he added. “It was crazy. The last 30 laps never ended. Then I really enjoyed the last few laps, because I thought ‘okay, this one is my win’. I’m very happy for the whole team.
“It’s great to see how fast we have progressed as as team and get our first win. It’s been a long time waiting. Niki Lauda said that the first one is the most difficult, after that it gets easy, so if that’s the way it is it will be fantastic.”
Formula 1 is in store for one of its greatest seasons on the evidence of the first three races, according to Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug.
Nico Rosberg’s victory in China was the third by a different car in as many races and Haug believes that the rest of the year could prove just as unpredictable as the first three rounds.
“I think this could be one of the best Formula 1 seasons of all time and harder fought than ever,” he said. 1And that makes our win even more special.
“The reigning world champion was little more than three tenths slower than the fastest car in second qualifying, and he had to start 11th.
“Rosberg started from pole with Vettel outside the top ten – it just goes to show F1’s power to surprise.”
The inconsistent results of various teams throughout the opening races of this season is partly down to their varying levels of success in finding a setup that worked consistently within the narrow operating window of Pirelli’s new-for-2012 tyres.
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn admitted during the Chinese GP weekend that it too had found a ‘sweet spot’ with its tyres.
Pirelli’s motorsport boss Paul Hembrey reckoned that this pattern could well help to form a truly unpredictably competitive championship battle for the rest of 2012.
“If you look, Nico had a big advantage [in China] but from second through to tenth it was only a few seconds so I think we are in for one of the real classic seasons of Formula 1, which is absolutely fascinating,” he said.
“No one can predict it, not even the experts, not even ourselves when we have all the data. I think it is almost impossible to call this year and we should be very excited for this season.”
Source: Autosport.com
Following the success of Nico Rosberg’s victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, team boss Ross Brawn says it’s too early to predict repeat wins for Mercedes. Autosport.com has the details.
Ross Brawn thinks it is too early to say whether Mercedes can deliver more victories this season, despite the nature of Nico Rosberg’s dominant performance in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Rosberg was in a class of his own in Shanghai, as he finished well clear of his opposition for his maiden Formula 1 win.
But despite the performance, Mercedes team principal Brawn thinks the uncertainty caused by tyre characteristics this year means he has to be cautious about his outfit’s chances going forward.
When asked by AUTOSPORT if he felt the Mercedes W03 had the speed to produce a series of wins in 2012, Brawn said: “It is so difficult to judge because of the sensitivity of the tyres. Did everyone else get it wrong and we got it right? Or did everyone get it right and this is a fair measure of where we are? I don’t know.
“The fact that we have been close in qualifying in the first two races gives me encouragement, but it was just a perfect race for us here and I expect it wasn’t for others. We have to turn as many races as we can into perfect races.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug added that the team would maintain a realistic approach to the remainder of the season, as he was not sure just how good its car was.
“I will not make an answer that is unrealistic,” he said about the possibility of Mercedes adding further wins this season. “We are not favourites but we are not nowhere. Not lots of people would have had us do this after the first two races.
“We have our own expectations, and I think the team can handle that. They won before and hopefully they will win in the future again.”