Tag Archives: Shanghai International Circuit

2019 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Hamilton runs away from Bottas & field to dominate Chinese GP, Mercedes finish 1-2; Intrigue builds at Ferrari as team orders boost Vettel to P3 at Leclerc’s expense

The Chinese Grand Prix was essentially won on the getaway the moment the lights went out to start the race at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton got the better escape from the line and bested his pole-sitting Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to take a lead he would never really relinquish. After Bottas’ inspiring pole run in Saturday qualifying it had to be deflating for the Finn to once again find himself looking at Hamilton’s war wing for nearly the entirety of the race, as so often happened last season en route to Hamilton’s fifth World Championship. After Hamilton’s somewhat lucky win in Bahrain two weeks ago where he and Mercedes were the beneficiaries of Ferrari’s fumbles, Hamilton was simply supreme in Shanghai this contest and no other driver in the field could put him under duress from Lap 1 onward. It was Hamilton stamping his authority back on team Mercedes and the series itself after Bottas had won in Round 1 in Melbourne. It also put the Englishman solidly into the lead of the Drivers’ points for the first time this young season. And when Bottas brought his Silver Arrow home safely in P2 6.5 seconds in arrears of Hamilton he was also a good 7 seconds ahead of the P3 Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, insuring the third consecutive Mercedes 1-2 finish in three contests so far and maximum points for this era’s dominant team in the 1000th Formula 1 race. It was also Hamilton’s 75th career victory, the most by any current F1 driver and second most in the sport’s history behind only the great Michael Schumacher.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For Ferrari the days discontents ran deeper than their cars clear inferiority to the Mercedes and Vettel’s eventual third place and Charles Leclerc’s P5 finish. The Scuderia’s brain trust made an early and consequential call from the pit wall on Lap 11 for their young phenom Leclerc to the let the veteran Vettel through. While that is never an order for any driver to swallow and Leclerc was understandably miffed it also had the net negative of not paying off. Vettel was not really that much quicker than Leclerc if at all, struggled to get the Medium Pirellis that the all the top five started on to work and never really seemed a threat to P2 Bottas up ahead. The team then tried to make a different play by splitting their strategy, calling Vettel in first on Lap 19 for the Hard compound and then telling Leclerc to stay out to Lap 31 to theoretically take advantage of fresher tires at the end with much younger Hards..

But the very abrasive Shanghai Circuit had other ideas for any team seeking to make the race a one-stopper. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Bottas wins pole in China for F1’s one thousandth race, beats out Hamilton in P2 for Mercedes front row lockout; Vettel third fastest ahead of teammate Leclerc

Mercedes’ ostensible number two Valtteri Bottas laid down a scorching final lap of 1:35.547 in Saturday qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit to claim pole for the Chinese Gran Prix tomorrow. Bottas, who tamale Lewis Hmaitlon by a single point in the Drivers’ standings in the early going, had the superior Silver Arrow on this day and in fact had already secured the pole when Hamilton crossed the line in front of him already a few one-hundredths down on the Finn’s previous fast lap as Q3 ended. Bottas wound up improving his already excellent time on his final pass nonetheless. It was the second Mercedes front row lockout in three race weekends so far this young season and marked Bottas first pole since Round 16 in Russia last year. There is next to nothing separating the two Mercs so it should make for a tight internecine battle up front between the two hard-charging teammates.

Ferrari were slightly slower than the Silver Arrows two weeks after dominating on pure pace in Bahrain. On the tricky high abrasion Shanghai Circuit, veteran Sebastian Vettel pipped his precocious teammate, Charles Leclerc, for P3 on the grid by a mere two-hundredths of a second. Vettel will be looking to reestablish dominance and bolster his confidence after his subpar performance in the Bahrain GP, which featured a P5 finish after an unforced spin by the German while dicing with Hamilton that surely cost the team points. And Leclerc will still be hunting his first career F1 victory and be highly motivated to bag it after he was heartbreakingly robbed of a seemingly certain win by mechanical issues late in that last race.

Further back, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was the best of the rest with a decent P5 and while his new teammate Pierre Gasly had his best qualifying and will start beside the Dutchman in P6 he was still over eight-tenths behind Verstappen. On the other hand Daniel Riccardo got the better of his Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg, out-qualifying him P7 to P8 by a hair’s breadth. The factory Renault team will be desperate to have both cars fisinsh solidly in the points after their double DNF in the desert a fortnight ago. The two Haas F1 cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 qualifiers in P9 and P10 respectively,

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:32.658 1:31.728 1:31.547 16
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:33.115 1:31.637 1:31.570 16
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:33.557 1:32.232 1:31.848 17
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:32.712 1:32.324 1:31.865 16
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:33.274 1:32.369 1:32.089 14
6 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:33.863 1:32.948 1:32.930 14
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:33.709 1:33.214 1:32.958 18
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:33.644 1:32.968 1:32.962 15
9 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:34.036 1:33.150 DNF 16
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:33.752 1:33.156 DNF 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 2AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. So set your DVR or brew a fresh pot of late night coffee to see just who is going to win this contest in Shanghai amongst the very tightly grouped and competitive top 4. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Ricciardo pulls off stunning upset in China for Red Bull; Bottas savages second for Mercedes, Raikkonen P3 for Ferrari; Vettel and Verstappen tangle

A Safety Car on Lap 31 upended the prevailing order of an already unpredictable Chinese Grand Prix this Sunday, opening the door for some canny strategy by team Red Bull. That enabled their most senior driver, Daniel Ricciardo, to stun the main contenders and take a massive upset win for the team after nearly missing out in Saturday qualifying due to turbo issues. Once again Formula 1’s peculiar open pit rules came into play when the Safety Car was deployed after the leading quartet or Mercedes and Ferraris had passed the pit entrance but just as the Red Bulls were just approaching. This enabled the team to call both their drivers in for back-to-back pit stops that switched their men off the long lasting but slow Medium Pirellis, which the other contenders had also switched to, and back onto the grippier Soft tire compound that they had started the race on. When proceedings resumed it was clear that the new tires had given the Red Bulls a decisive performance advantage. Ricciardo was then able to pick off the front runners one by one, vaulting by first the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel and then the leading Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas with a forceful move on Lap 45. Riccardo would’nt be seen by the rest of the field after that, steaming home to his first victory of the year in this eventful 56-lap GP. It made up for some recent bad luck and the affable Aussie was all smiles after the race.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix24.com

However, Ricciardo’s teammate Max Verstappen once again took one too many risks even though he had a decisive advantage over the competition and would have been better served biding his time to make clean passes. The 20-year-old Dutchman has been driving like his hair is on fire on these first 3 rounds of the World Championship so far this year and it was no exception in Shanghai. First he tried a couple of over ambitious passes on Louis Hamilton that resulted in Verstappen running off track and losing positions. Then when he finally did get by Hamilton he bashed into Vettel at the hairpin on the very next lap, spinning both cars and destroying Vettel’s race. Verstappen was later handed a 10-second penalty for causing the accident which cost the wunderkind a likely podium finish if not the win and dropped him down to P5. Vettel never really recovered from the contact and burning out his rear tires trying to get his Prancing Horse pointed back in the right direction. The pole-sitter limped home a forlorn P8, even suffering the ignominy of being passed by Fernando Alonso’s McLaren on the closing laps, as the Spaniard took an opportunistic P7.

It was a stunning turnaround for Vettel and Ferrari, who had reason to hope for overall victory after they showed blistering speed all weekend long. In truth, however, while the team could do nothing about the fortuitous track position of the Red Bulls when the Safety Car was deployed Ferrari had somewhat botched their strategy earlier in the race. They unwisely kept the at that time front-running Vettel out a lap too long while Mercedes executed the undercut with Valtteri Bottas to perfection. Bottas came around in the lead as Vettel exited the pits and Vettel was all of a sudden the hunter rather than the hunted. Obviously it all came a cropper after his contact with Vertsappen but it is still worth remembering that the pit wall of Ferrari dropped the ball even before that dramatic later incident.

Bottas managed to keep his incredibly degraded Medium Pirellis under him long enough to secure a P2 finish, his second consecutive second place. Raikkonen managed to avoid his teammate’s troubles and secured the last place on the podium in P3. Hamilton had a desultory race and could only secure P4 and that only after Verstppaen was demoted. Mercedes need to figure out how to make the car more to their 4-time champion driver’s liking, as so far this season it appears that  Bottas is much more in tune with his machine. Nico Hulkenberg took advantage of the chaos to bring his factory Renault home an impressive P6, while his teammate Carlos Sainz snuck across the line in a valuable P9 despite running out of the points for most of the day. The Haas of Kevin Magnussen rounded out the Top 10 with the last points paying position, another good day for the hard-nosed Dane who is off to a good start to his campaign for the American team.

Top 10 finishers of the Chinese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 56 1:35:36.380 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 56 +8.894s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 56 +9.637s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 56 +16.985s 12
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 56 +20.436s 10
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 56 +21.052s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 56 +30.639s 6
8 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 56 +35.286s 4
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 56 +35.763s 2
10 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 56 +39.594s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time on April 29th from Baku in Azerbaijan. Last year’s race on that street circuit was an absolute cracker so hopefully F1 can keep the excitement from today’s  unpredictable clash in China going. Hope to see you then to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Vettel edges Raikkonen for pole, leads Ferrari front row lockout in Shanghai; Bottas again quicker than Hamilton for Mercedes as Silver Arrows qualify P3 and P4

Ferrari displayed definitive pace over their arch-rivals Mercedes in Saturday qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit in China indicating that they may well have shifted to the favorites to win the one or both of the F1 championships this season. Their ace Sebastian Vettel was able to dig deep and take pole from his teammate Kimi Raikkonen with a sterling lap in the dying seconds of Q3. The Iceman had been looking good for his first-ever top starting spot in China but Vettel once again saved his best fo last, thwarting the best laid plans of his Finnish teammate by a mere .09 seconds. It was Vettel’s fourth career pole in China and it also marked two consecutive front row lockouts for Ferrari, the first time the famed Italian team have achieved that feat since the great Schumacher-Barrichello years back in 2006. Three race weekends into 2018 the Prancing Horses appear to be for real and Mercedes have so far not been able to match Maranello’s significant performance improvements.

That deficit by the Silver Arrows to Ferrari was clearly evident when Mercedes’ ostensible number two, Valtteri Bottas, lagged behind Raikkonen’s P2 time by nearly half a second. Worse yet for the team, its reigning champion Lewis Hamilton botched his last attempt in Q3 and had to settle for the fourth best time over all. It was the second time in a row that Bottas out-qualified Hamilton, an uncommon circumstance to say the least. The only potential external excuse Mercedes may have had for their lack of pace was the unusually cold weather in Shanghai, where temperatures hovered only in the low teens Celsius/50s Fahrenheit. Mercedes will hope to make a good start behind the Ferraris with their dynamic duo and then ride some sort of tire strategy to a potential upset. However Ferrari are starting on the same Pirelli Soft tires as the Silver Arrows so it remains to be seen which team can really play an advantage via savvy pit calls.

Further down the grid Red Bull are hoping for a bounce-back result after a double DNF in Bahrain. Max Verstappen was able to secure P5 on the grid, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and his crew did yeoman’s work to take P6. The Ricciardo side of the garage just got the Aussie veteran’s machine out in Q1 fir one flying lap good enough to go through after a blown engine in the last practice session and then an under-built Renault replacement engine almost caused the team to miss quali completely.

Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz qualified P7 and P9 for the Renault factory team respectively. They were split by the improving Force India of Sergio Perez in P8. Romain Grosjean drove well in his Haas to take P10 on the grid, outperforming his teammate Kevin Magnussen in qualifying for the first time this season.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:32.171 1:32.385 1:31.095 15
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:32.474 1:32.286 1:31.182 17
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:32.921 1:32.063 1:31.625 20
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:33.283 1:31.914 1:31.675 17
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:32.932 1:32.809 1:31.796 12
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:33.877 1:32.688 1:31.948 12
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:33.545 1:32.494 1:32.532 15
8 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:33.464 1:32.931 1:32.758 13
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:33.315 1:32.970 1:32.819 18
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:33.238 1:32.524 1:32.855 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ESPN2 starting at 2AM Eastern here in the States. So set that DVR or brew that late night pot of coffee because all six cars of the contending teams barreling into Turn 1 should alone be worth the price of admission!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Hamilton back on top in Shanghai, Vettel a close 2nd; Verstappen P3 after another wonder drive in the wet

Mercedes’ hard-charging ace Lewis Hamilton was back to his winning ways at the Shanghai International Circuit dominating the Chinese Grand Prix from pole and taking his first victory of the year. In the new season’s second contest Hamilton avenged his defeat two weeks ago in Australia by driving a masterfully fast and controlled race and keeping all comers in his rearview mirrors. In the end, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the closest contender on a damp day following up his victory in Melbourne with a solid P2 some 6.25 seconds adrift of the English Mercedes driver. Vettel proved again that the new Prancing Horse will be a force to be reckoned with and a genuine threat to mighty Mercedes’ recent run of unchallenged dominance. The two most talented drivers from the most competitive F1 factory teams are now tied in Championship points and it looks for all the world that we will be treated to a genuine nip-and-tuck year long chase between teams and star pilots to see who comes out on top.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

As good as Hamilton and Vettel were special mention must be reserved to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The 19-year-old wunderkind started way back in P16 after mechanical issues ruined his qualifying effort. But just as he put on a passing clinic in the rains of Brazil last year the Dutchman once again excelled in wet conditions in China, making up a ton of positions right after the lights went out to start the race and then carving his way through tougher traffic. After hustling and dicing with essentially all the top contenders including both Ferraris and Hamilton’s Mercedes, Verstappen found himself dueling with his teammate Daniel Ricciardo for the last podium place as the laps wound down. Despite the more experienced Aussie’s pressure tactics and his keen desire to repay his junior partners exception earlier pass on him Verstappen held on for P3, another amazing drive in this talented kid’s growing legend. For Ricciardo the disappointment over missing out on a podium must have been eclipsed by his strong P4 finish and ability to contend with the best drivers in the field after an utterly miserable DNF at his home Grand Prix in Australia a fortnight ago. It should be interesting, however, to see if Red Bull can replicate these strong performances in the perfectly dry conditions that as we are sure to have in Bahrain next weekend, as their Renault power plant still seems down on pure power.

F1GPfChina_2017-RedBull

Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen was again not quite up to speed and complained throughout the race about lack of torque. Unable to stick with the elite pack and bested by Vettel for a second race weekend the Iceman settled for a P5 finish. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas also had a disappointing day with an inexplicable spin behind the safety car early on costing the Finn big time. Continue reading →

2017 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton shatters track record in Shanghai for pole; Vettel again P2 for Ferrari, Bottas P3

Saturday qualifying for the first two races of the season have now produced identical results. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton smashed the 13-year-old track record previously held by the great Michael Schumacher to grab pole position at the Shanghai International Circuit for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix. But just like two weeks ago in Melbourne Ferrari showed that they are ready to mount a legitimate challenge to mighty Mercedes. With the checkered flag flying in Q3 the Scuderia’s ace Sebastian Vettel, the race winner in Australia, pipped Hamilton’s Mercedes’ teammate Valtteri Bottas by a thousandth of a second for P2. And once again Bottas was superior to Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen, P3 to P4. It seems like there will finally be a genuine two-team chase for the Championship this year because Ferrari’s development during the off season has been a revelation. The Prancing Horse and their new chassis have clearly got the firepower to take the fight to the Silver Arrows, as well as the pilots to execute a winning game plan. And that can only be good for Formula1. All that said, tomorrow’s weather in Shanghai is not looking great and we could have a wet weather start where strategy becomes even more important than race craft. So not only the contending drivers will be feeling the pressure come race day but also the respective Mercedes and Ferrari brain trusts. With Ferrari’s race-winning strategic coup in Melbourne the ball is clearly in Mercedes’ court to prove they can think as fast as their cars drive.

Further down the field Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo recovered from his homeland horror weekend  a fortnight ago to set the fifth fastest time. This despite some technical issues on his car yet again at the start of qualifying and ominous engine problems for his teammate Max Verstappen that saw the wunderkind unable to escape Q1. Verstappen will start way back in P19. But if there is rain we could be treated to another spectacular Rain Meister passing performance by the kid a la his wonder drive through the field in Brazil last year. Either way, Red Bull have got to be seriously concerned about the early signs of unreliability in their Renault power plant.

Rounding out the Top 10 Felipe Massa was P6 for Williams and his rookie teammate, Canadian Lance Stroll, acquitted himself decently with a time good enough for P10. Nico Hulkenberg was P7 for the factory Renault team, while Sergio Perez was P8 for Force India and Daniil Kvyat took P9 on the grid for Toro Rosso.

Sauber rookie Antonio Giovinazzi, subbing for the injured Pascal Wehrlein, was already through to Q2 but still pushing hard on his final Q1 run when he crashed heavily just before the start-finish line as time ran in that first session. The young Italian driver was thankfully unhurt but his misfortune also scrubbed promising laps by Force India’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, relegating them to the back of the pack. And the Sauber team has a long night of work to get the totalled car race worthy for tomorrow.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:33.333 1:32.406 1:31.678 13
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:33.078 1:32.391 1:31.864 15
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:33.684 1:32.552 1:31.865 14
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:33.341 1:32.181 1:32.140 15
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:34.041 1:33.546 1:33.033 12
6 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:34.205 1:33.759 1:33.507 14
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:34.453 1:33.636 1:33.580 16
8 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:34.657 1:33.920 1:33.706 15
9 26 Daniil Kvyat TORO ROSSO 1:34.440 1:34.034 1:33.719 17
10 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:33.986 1:34.090 1:34.220 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race coverage starts at the ungodly hour of 2:00 AM Eastern here in the States and will be broadcast on NBC Sports, so set your DVR or pull an all-nighter. Between the remarkably tight Mercedes-Ferrari competition and the serious threat of rain to throw the cat amongst the pigeons you don’t want to miss this one. Hope to see you then!