Lewis Hamilton achieved his hat trick of victories this season with a dominant victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.
This result equals Niki Lauda’s record of 25 wins in Formula 1 and Hamilton is slowly closing the gap to championship leader Nico Rosberg to four points.
Hamilton dominated the race from pole position, while Mercedes team-mate Rosberg had to battle through to second after a slow start.
Australian Grand Prix winner Rosberg started fourth behind the Red Bulls, but drop down to seventh after a sluggish getaway and was fortunate to emerge from the first corner unscathed after tagging the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.
Mercedes lost the telemetry readings from Rosberg’s car before the start of the Chinese Grand Prix, but the team was able to help manage his race without them.
Rosberg repassed Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India and Felipe Massa’s Williams early on, before jumping the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo for fourth at the first round of pitstops.
Once it became clear Rosberg did not have to worry about fuel consumption in his second stint, he closed down and passed the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull for third.
Vettel slipped back on his second set of tyres and fell into the clutches of team-mate Ricciardo, also recovering after a slow start from the front row of the grid.
Vettel refused a team order to let Ricciardo through, but the Australian got the best of their personal duel anyway when the four-time world champion Vettel ran deep into Turn 1 around half race distance.
The pair eventually finished fourth and fifth behind Fernando Alonso, who survived contact with his former Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa at the start to score the Scuderia’s first podium of the 2014 season.
Alonso climbed to third with a fast start from fifth on the grid and jumped Vettel for second by making his first pitstop earlier than the Red Bull.
But the improved Ferrari was not fast enough to prevent Mercedes scoring its third consecutive one-two result, so Alonso had to settle for the final podium spot when Rosberg passing him easily on the back straight with 14 laps to the flag.
Alonso had to do a long stint on his final set of tyres and only held off Ricciardo’s Red Bull by 1.2 seconds, while Vettel finished 24 seconds behind his team-mate.
Massa survived his brush off Alonso as he tried to squeeze between the Ferrari and Ricciardo’s sluggish Red Bull at the start to run as high as fifth, but the Brazilian’s race was ruined by a slow first pitstop at which Williams encountered a problem with the left-rear wheel.
Nico Hulkenberg got the better of Massa’s Williams team-mate Bottas to round out the top six, while Hulkenberg’s Force India team-mate Sergio Perez – a podium hero last time out in Bahrain – climbed from P16 on the grid to finish ninth, just 2.4 seconds behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.
Romain Grosjean’s Lotus retired with gearbox problems – no fourth gear – allowing Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat to continue his strong start to the season and claim the final point by rounding out the top ten in China.
Jenson Button completed a disappointing race for McLaren by finishing in P11, ahead of the slow-starting Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne and his rookie team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
Pastor Maldonado climbed from the back of the grid to P14 for Lotus, one position ahead of the recovering Massa.
So a not a thrilling race at the Shanghai International Circuit compared to Bahrain but the race results means it’s an exciting battle for top honours. Nico Rosberg still leads the Drivers’ championship with 79 over 74 to Lewis Hamilton. While Red Bull Racing moves to second in the Constructors’ as Mercedes extends their lead.
Chinese Grand Prix, race results after 54 laps:
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1h36m52.810s
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +18.686s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +25.765s
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault +26.978s
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +51.012s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +57.581s
7. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +58.145s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +1m23.990s
9. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes +1m26.489s
10. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
13. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault +1 lap
15. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
16. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
17. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault +1 lap
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari +1 lap
19. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari +2 laps
20. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault +2 laps
Retirements:
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 27 laps
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 4 laps
Drivers’ standings:
1. Nico Rosberg 79
2. Lewis Hamilton 75
3. Fernando Alonso 41
4. Nico Hulkenberg 36
5. Sebastian Vettel 33
6. Daniel Ricciardo 24
7. Valtteri Bottas 24
8. Jenson Button 23
9. Kevin Magnussen 20
10. Sergio Perez 18
11. Felipe Massa 12
12. Kimi Raikkonen 11
13. Jean-Eric Vergne 4
14. Daniil Kvyat 4
Constructors’ standings:
1. Mercedes 154
2. Red Bull-Renault 57
3. Force India-Mercedes 54
4. Ferrari 52
5. McLaren-Mercedes 43
6. Williams-Mercedes 36
7. Toro Rosso-Renault 8
Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, Circuit de Catalunya. May 9-11.
McLaren’s Jenson Button admitted post-race that he is really concerned about the car’s lack of form after a difficult Chinese Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the news story.
Jenson Button says McLaren’s decline in Formula 1 form is becoming a major concern after the team failed to score in the Chinese Grand Prix.
McLaren led the F1 constructors’ championship at the start of 2014 following its double podium in the Australian GP with Kevin Magnussen and Button, but did not score in either Bahrain or China and is now 111 points behind leader Mercedes and fifth in the standings.
While a clutch issue ruled out both cars at Sakhir, it was a simple lack of pace that kept Button and Magnussen out of the points at Shanghai as they finished 11th and 13th.
Asked if he was counting on an upgrade package for Barcelona next month, Button replied: “Yeah we’ve got some upgrades, but we’re a lot further behind than we were at the last race.
“I don’t think people brought that much [development parts] here, so I don’t know what we’re doing really.
“It’s a disappointment for the team. When you work so hard and you have such a bad result like this it’s tough, especially back at the factory, so hopefully they can stay positive and update the car because at the moment this isn’t good enough.”
Although Button and the team discussed electrical issues over the radio during the Chinese race, the Briton said that was not a factor in the result.
“No, we’re just not quick,” he said. “We had a few issues but I don’t think they slowed us down.”
He believes the main problem is a lack of affinity with the 2014 Pirellis.
“I think it’s a little bit like in the wet, we can’t get the fronts working,” Button said.
“They just grain. We’re maxed out on everything with the car, we’re very high on the front wing , where we’ve never been before, so it’s all very strange.
“Hopefully we’ll solve it for the next race as it was pretty painful out there.
“I think the car is an alright car, but we can’t get the tyres working and that’s one of the biggest things in Formula 1 these days.”
Team-mate Magnussen still thinks the car is very short on downforce.
“We lack overall grip,” he said. “The car feels good but we just need loads of downforce.”
Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel smarted on Sunday after being told for the second race in a row to let Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo overtake because the Australian was faster.
Ricciardo finished fourth in the Chinese Grand Prix with quadruple champion Vettel, winner of the last nine races of 2013, in fifth.
Vettel sounded reluctant to comply when he received the radio instruction on the 24th lap, replying ‘tough luck’.
Ricciardo went past on lap 27 and ended the race more than 20 seconds ahead of Vettel and with Ferrari’s third-placed Fernando Alonso in his sights. Another lap and he might have overtaken the Spaniard.
“Obviously he’s going to challenge them, he’s a racer, he’s on the same tyres at that point and the guys want to race each other,” said team boss Christian Horner of Vettel’s response to the team orders.
“But we were looking at a different strategy for Seb…and then he’s obviously moved out of the way and let his team mate through.
“From a team point of view we always want to get the best result we can. Seb’s done the right thing for the team today. As he’s said very honestly, he’s let his team mate through. He (Ricciardo) was quicker today.”
Red Bull have made a difficult start to the season but have been picking up pace, with Ricciardo starting Sunday’s race on the front row and alongside Mercedes’ race winner Lewis Hamilton.
He also finished second on his debut with the team in Australia, although he was excluded from that race after a fuel flow rate controversy, and has looked more at home in the new car with its V6 turbo engine.
“I think there was no point holding him back further,” said Vettel, always seen as number one at Red Bull when Australian Mark Webber was his team mate up to the end of last year, of Sunday’s race.
“He was quite a lot quicker. At that stage we were on different strategies. Once I was told that I decided to let him go. And also I had to realise more and more towards the end that I couldn’t hold him back.”
Vettel famously ignored team orders in Malaysia last year when he was behind Webber, overtaking the Australian to win in an incident that poisoned the atmosphere of their final season together.
The ever-smiling Ricciardo indicated he had barely noticed any controversy over the team instructions.
“I was told about the radio now so I wasn’t really aware of it on track,” he told television reporters.
“In turn one I had a bit of a look, I don’t know if he went deep or gave me a bit of room but I managed to get by after the lap so it wasn’t too bad.”
Source: Reuters
The 2014 Chinese Grand Prix finished two laps short due to an error with the chequered flag. Autosport.com has the details.
A mistake with the chequered flag at the Chinese Grand Prix has resulted in the distance of round four of the 2014 Formula 1 season being shortened.
Lewis Hamilton was shown the chequered flag at the end of lap 55 – one lap before it was supposed to have been displayed.
F1’s regulations state that if the chequered flag is shown early, then the race will be deemed to have finished the lap before.
Article 43.2 of F1’s sporting regulations states: “Should for any reason the end-of-race signal be given before the leading car completes the scheduled number of laps, or the prescribed time has been completed, the race will be deemed to have finished when the leading car last crossed the line before the signal was given.”
That means that the Chinese GP was declared to have finished on lap 54 of the 56 that actually ran.
Speaking about the chequered flag incident, Hamilton said: “That was very strange. I was thinking ‘am I seeing things?’
“I looked up, I was coming across the line expecting to do another lap and all of a sudden I looked for a split second and I saw the flag.
“I lifted for a second and I saw there was no one on the wall, so then I just kept going.
“I did lose a second or so. I asked the team, they said no, so I just kept going.
“Very, very strange. It was good to do another lap.”
The changed distance did not alter any of the points-scoring positions but it did result in Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi being relegated to 18th, having pulled off a late move on Jules Bianchi’s Marussia for 17th.
The Brackley-based team admitted that Nico Rosberg was effectively driving blind without telemetry. Despite this, the championship leader was able to finish second behind his team-mate and race winner Lewis Hamilton. Autosport.com has the news story.
Mercedes Formula 1 chief Toto Wolff believes Nico Rosberg did “an awesome job” to cope with the lack of telemetry on his car during the Chinese Grand Prix.
F1 championship leader Rosberg finished a distant second to dominant team-mate Lewis Hamilton at Shanghai, having only qualified fourth, fallen to seventh at the start in an incident with Valtteri Bottas, and battled with issues on his car.
“We lost telemetry before the formation lap actually,” Wolff explained.
“It was zero data. It was like driving the car blind, and he was really doing an awesome job because he was giving us fuel consumption [information].
“Normally there is a switch that shows the state of the tyres – he was telling us where the tyres were with the best guess, and it lasted until the end of the race.”
Rosberg was heard complaining over team radio that providing the fuel information was “annoying”, but clarified that his concern was more the point on the track where he had to focus on it.
“I was completely on my own out there,” he said. “I was telling the team what my fuel level was so that they could judge if I was using too much fuel or if I’m safe – and I had to do that in Turn 1 and Turn 1 is a difficult corner anyway, so I didn’t enjoy that point.
“It was just once in a while so they could put a few dots and see where it’s going, so that wasn’t a problem at all, it was just that I didn’t like where I had to do it because it was in Turn 1 and that was not good.”
Hamilton is now just four points behind Rosberg after taking his third successive victory. The German admitted he had ended up in a weekend of damage limitation.
“It’s definitely good I’m still in the lead, especially considering that the whole weekend was really, really bad for me,” said Rosberg. “It went completely wrong in so many different respects.”
This was a difficult race for the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel. He was outqualified and out-paced by his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
At one point, Red Bull instructed the number one driver to move aside in which Seb replied it was ‘touch luck’. Despite this, the team insists there’s no tension over Vettel orders. Autosport.com has the full story.
Red Bull played down talk of tension with Sebastian Vettel after he appeared to ignore team orders at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Vettel proved reluctant to move aside for his faster team-mate Daniel Ricciardo just before half distance.
The reigning Formula 1 champion queried their strategies, and when informed that they were on the same tyres but Ricciardo had pitted later, Vettel replied “tough luck.”
But despite being initially unwilling to move out of the way, when Vettel was told that Ricciardo was at that stage on a different strategy he elected to let the Australian through.
Both drivers had planned two-stop races, but during that phase of the grand prix Vettel’s high tyre wear meant that the team briefly considered switching him to a three-stop, before it stuck to its original plan.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner saw little problem with Vettel’s action and said it was natural for someone as competitive as the German to not give up positions so easily.
“He is a race driver,” said Horner. “We employ these guys because they have that fighting spirit.
“He hasn’t won four world championships by not being a racer.
“Of course, he is going to question it to understand, but as soon as he understood the reasoning he immediately moved aside.”
Horner was adamant that the time Ricciardo lost being stuck behind Vettel did not rob the team of a chance to overhaul Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari for a podium finish.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think that arguably he would have been one second further up the road, but he did the right thing for the team and let his team-mate through.
“With Fernando, catching is one thing, but the [speed] deficit we had on a kilometre long straight here, passing was going to be something quite different.”
Felipe Massa’s disastrous pitstop, which cost him a likely sixth place finish in the Chinese Grand Prix, was caused by the team attempting to fit the replacement rear wheels to the wrong side of the car.
Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley would not go into detail of exactly how this happened, but it led to the team attempting to fit the new rubber to the opposite side of the car to which they were intended at Massa’s first pitstop before realising the mistake and swapping them over.
The delay while Williams switched the wheels back cost Massa close to one minute and Smedley says that steps will be taken to avoid a repeat of the error.
“We tried to fit the left on the right and vice versa,” said Smedley when asked by AUTOSPORT about the problem.
“What led to it, in very broad, general terms, was not having good enough procedures, not having good enough processes to catch things like that to ensure they don’t happen.
“We have to go away, be pragmatic, be very honest and open with each other in the team.
“That’s something that I am keen to do at Williams, to be absolutely transparent with everybody and go away and see this was good, this wasn’t good and needs to be fixed.
“We will decide on Monday/Tuesday exactly what needs to be fixed, where the priorities are, and just get on with it.”
Smedley added that he was happy to take responsibility for the error because he of his senior position in the team.
“When I spoke with all the guys after the race, even the guys in the pitstops who brought the tyres out, I said if we want to blame anyone, then blame me because that’s what I’m paid to do,” said Smedley. “I take that hit on my shoulders, that’s my position in the team.”
Massa’s race was also compromised by the clash with Fernando Alonso at the start, which momentarily launched his Williams into the air. This was a result of Alonso’s Ferrari drifting over on him on the run to the first corner as the fast-starting Massa attempted to go between the Spaniard and Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull.
Massa blamed Alonso for the incident.
“I had a great start and then, in my opinion, Fernando didn’t see me and he hit my car,” said Massa “We need to check the car to see if something has happened because we had a lot of understeer after because I also flew a bit.
“The stewards didn’t think it was a problem, so they didn’t do anything.”
Source: Autosport.com
Despite finishing on the podium, Fernando Alonso was left feeling unsure that this third place finish is a breakthrough for Ferrari. Autosport.com has the news story.
Fernando Alonso is unsure whether the Ferrari Formula 1 team’s podium in the Chinese Grand Prix signals a breakthrough in its troubled 2014 season.
The Spaniard split the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg for much of the race in Shanghai, and eventually held off Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull to finish third and record the Scuderia’s first podium of the campaign.
Alonso said after Friday’s dry free practice sessions that he felt Ferrari was closing in on Red Bull, and the double world champion delivered on that promise in China.
But although he feels his team has improved the F14 T, Alonso said the unique characteristics of the Shanghai circuit meant he could not promise Ferrari would continue to challenge for the podium next time out at his home race.
“We need to enjoy the result today but [there is] still a long way to go and we cannot promise anything for Barcelona,” he said.
“In terms of the result we need to remain very calm. [China is] a unique track with the front [tyre] graining that you need to take care [of].
“We brought new parts [to China] that feel a little more competitive, but we need to see if we can bring some extra new parts for Barcelona.
“I personally have had an extremely good weekend, probably at the level of 2012 in terms of driving and feeling comfortable with the car.
“In Bahrain, we were one minute behind the leaders, ninth and 10th, and today we are on the podium, seven seconds behind Nico. But Kimi was [still] one minute behind the leaders [here].”
Raikkonen started down in 11th and could only rise to eighth after struggling for grip in his Ferrari.
The Finn said Alonso’s podium was at least a sign Ferrari is moving in the right direction, despite his own problems.
“In the race it just felt slow and I had problems with the grip overall, the front and rear end,” Raikkonen said.
“At least I got some points, but it’s not what we want.
“For the team it was probably our best weekend and it gives a good feeling.
“We improve, not as much as we wanted, but a podium from him [Alonso] is a good thing.”
Fernando Alonso earned Ferrari their first podium finish of the Formula One season on Sunday and handed some of the credit to former team boss Stefano Domenicali.
The Spaniard said his third place in China, the fourth race of the year, was a confidence boost for Formula One’s most glamorous team after a difficult start to the season led to Domenicali’s resignation last week.
“I think this podium should be dedicated to Stefano, as everything we do up to July will also be the result of his efforts,” said Alonso.
“We have definitely made a step forward, because compared to two weeks ago, we have partly closed the gap to the leaders, but we are well aware there’s still a long way to go and we have to keep our feet on the ground.”
Mercedes have won every race this year, with Lewis Hamilton leading Nico Rosberg in a one-two finish in the last three including China.
Alonso was only ninth and way off the pace in Bahrain two weeks earlier but Ferrari’s improved form, with new principal Marco Mattiacci watching from the pit wall, will be good for morale as the team tries to catch up.
“We felt more competitive and now … being here on the podium is some kind of surprise for us, a nice surprise finally,” Alonso said from the podium.
“We didn’t have the start of the season that we would like but at the end of the day we’re still in the fight.”
The double world champion is third in the standings, 38 points adrift of Rosberg.
Ferrari are fourth overall with 52 points, 102 behind Mercedes.
“This weekend we made some progress and in general, the speed of the car has increased, both in the corners and on the straights,” said technical head Pat Fry.
“But we have to be realistic about our current potential and continue working, because the gap to Mercedes is still big and no one within our team has any intention of giving up.”
Source: Reuters
Mercedes’ non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has issued a warning to his team following four successful races. Autosport.com has the details.
Niki Lauda has warned his Mercedes team that it needs to be careful about its Formula 1 title prospects despite its dominant start to the campaign.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have won all the races this season, with none of their rivals having yet looked like threatening them for a victory.
But Lauda, who is non-executive chairman at Mercedes, thinks that nothing can be taken for granted, especially with Red Bull having shown such progress in recent weeks.
“It is looking good, but let’s be careful,” said Lauda. “There are a lot of races to come.
“The Red Bulls are famous for coming back, and [Adrian] Newey is there.
“He wasn’t here [in China], so he sends something new for Barcelona I’m afraid.
“Things can go wrong in any way. But, at least the start point for us is not a bad one.”
Teams have focused on reliability and engine performance at the start of this year, but everyone is planning a major aerodynamic upgrade for the next race in Barcelona.
Lauda thinks that the Spanish Grand Prix will be a big test for Mercedes and give a true answer as to whether or not it is set for title glory.
“For me the biggest worry, which I am always worried about, is that we keep on working,” he said.
“We can’t just breathe once and say we are the best. This will not happen.
“The most important time is the next three weeks, as everyone will come up with a new package.
“Plus Barcelona is a very particular circuit. It is hard on tyres, and not so much about engine alone. You need a good car/engine combination.
“There will be the next level of measuring about who did the best upgrades? Who is the quickest there? And who will win the race?
“This will be very important information for me personally to see how the season will continue. If you are on top of the game in Barcelona, then it is a bit easier.
“After that, you have to watch it again after the summer break, but Barcelona for me is a key race.”
This was a disappointing race for McLaren and the Woking-based team believes the weather was the key to their form. Autosport.com has the news story.
McLaren suspects that the form of its 2014 Formula 1 car is being dictated by the weather.
On the back of a disappointing Chinese Grand Prix, where Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen failed to finish in the points, McLaren’s lack of downforce has been exposed.
That means the team can only shine when the temperature is in the right range to allow its tyres to get in to the right operating window.
When asked why the car has been able to show flashes of speed this year, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said: “To be honest, what is difficult to explain is that if you look at Bahrain, except for Mercedes, we were chasing the Force Indias and we could have, with a better strategy, even finished on the podium.
“So it seems the performance range our car works in is weather dependent. If it is too hot we are out, if it is too cold we are out.
“We are missing downforce, so we cannot exploit the tyres as easily as Mercedes and Red Bull.”
With McLaren having failed to bring home any points for the second race, Boullier confessed to China having been harder to accept than the double retirement in Bahrain.
The Bahrain retirements were caused by a clutch failure that came about because the team tried an unproved gear-change setting in a bid to find more lap time, whereas the team was just off the pace last weekend.
“It is obviously bad – but it is even worse, to be honest,” said Boullier of the Chinese GP showing.
“If you try something [like the Bahrain gear-change gamble] because you are under pressure that is one thing. I accept an honest mistake.
“I don’t accept it because something went wrong, but you can make this kind of mistake. But to have a DNS (did not score) – that hurts.”
Lewis Hamilton says he has never been happier in Formula 1 than he is right now.
The Mercedes driver took his third consecutive victory at the Chinese Grand Prix to close the gap to team-mate Nico Rosberg in the title standings to just four points.
“I am in the happiest mood that I can remember being in,” he said.
“It was just a really incredible weekend. It was a great qualifying, and I was not expecting it to be as it was.
“In the race, to get a great start and pull away, and control it from there, it was an incredible feeling.
“The job the guys are doing, and the guys that are around me, means I am so much more comfortable with the people I am working with this year.
“I am able to extract the most out of my engineers, so I feel like we did a good job with the set-up.”
Hamilton believes that the step he has made on track this season has been helped by getting his life more stable off it.
“It is a combination of lots of things,” he said. “It is where you are in your life, family, girlfriend, where I live. Everything. And having the right people in place.
“My management, being in the right team, and then this year I am just able to arrive and drive with no other worries.
“And of course I have a great car and a great group of people to work with.”
Source: Autosport.com