Only two
points to its name for Scuderia Ferrari come the end of
the Chinese Grand Prix, brought home by Fernando Alonso,
who finished the race in ninth place, while Felipe Massa
was classified thirteenth. It is without a doubt a
disappointing result, which came at the end of a race
where the two drivers were practically always in
traffic. After the third Grand Prix of the season,
Fernando finds himself third in the Drivers’
classification, eight points off the leader, while
Felipe is still on a blank score sheet. The Scuderia
remains third in the Constructors’ championship.
Nico Rosberg meanwhile had a perfect weekend, converting
Saturday’s pole into a commanding win, his very first in
the top category of motorsport. It was also a maiden
victory for his Mercedes team in its current
incarnation. Completing the podium with the German were
the two McLaren drivers, in the order Jenson Button and
Lewis Hamilton. As expected, Fernando thus loses the
lead in the Drivers’ championship, slipping to third
behind the two McLaren men, this time in the order
Hamilton, Button. The Scuderia is third in the
Constructors’ classification.
Tyres and traffic were the key factor today with the
Prime seemingly the most suited to the track conditions.
There was a variety of strategies in use, with the
winner opting for a two stop and his two closest
pursuers using four sets of tyres, which would only work
if they kept clear of traffic. This would later affect
Fernando as he spent time stuck behind slower cars,
unable to get by because of the F2012’s lack of top
speed. Not only were the number of stops varied, but the
difference in stint length also made for a fascinating
race as drivers fought one another with different rates
of tyre wear.
Everyone got away cleanly at the start, with Vergne
starting from pit lane in the Toro Rosso. Rosberg and
Schumacher maintained their front row grid positions for
Mercedes, while Fernando Alonso went from ninth to
eighth on the opening lap and Felipe Massa went from
twelfth to tenth. The Brazilian made up an extra place
when Webber ahead of him made an early stop on lap 7 to
switch to the Prime tyre, however, the Ferrari man had
the Lotus of Grosjean just half a second behind him.
Vettel was the next to pit in the Red Bull on lap 10
followed by Hulkenberg who also changed the nose on his
Force India. Raikkonen and Hamilton pitted together and
the McLaren got the advantage as they went down pit lane
side by side. Back on track, Webber also managed to get
past the Lotus.
On lap 14, Rosberg pitted from the lead, one lap after
Schumacher parked out on track to retire, so this meant
Perez was leading in the Sauber. Felipe, also yet to
stop, was lying second while Fernando, who had pitted on
lap 12 was eighth. Rosberg was third at this point,
followed by the McLarens of Button and Hamilton, then
Webber and Raikkonen. Completing the top ten behind
Fernando were Kobayashi and Grosjean. Felipe, still on
the Prime tyre, took the lead on lap 17 when Perez
pitted the Sauber.
Felipe made his first pit stop on lap 18, which dropped
him down to fourteenth, also finding himself in traffic,
while Fernando was sixth. At the front, on lap 20 the
order was Rosberg, Button, Hamilton, Webber, Raikkonen.
The Australian Red Bull driver was again the first
driver to make the second stop on lap 22, as Fernando
was closing on fourth placed Raikkonen. Hamilton pitted
on lap 23 from third taking on the Prime tyre. Lap 24
saw Fernando still fourth behind Raikkonen while Felipe
was now 12th behind Di Resta in the Force India. Button
made a second stop on lap 25, which meant Fernando was
lying third, behind Rosberg and Raikkonen. One lap
later, Hamilton managed to squeeze himself past Felipe
who thus dropped to thirteenth and on lap 27, Webber got
past the F2012 at the same point on the track. Fernando
pitted for a second time and the Ferrari rejoined in
13th, one place behind his team-mate. On different
strategies, the Spaniard, who was three stopping, was
able to pass the two-stopping Brazilian on lap 31 and
then moved up to ninth, passing Di Resta. As Vettel
pitted from seventh, the two Ferraris each moved up a
place on lap 32. Grosjean pitted from second on lap 33,
with Button now in second place, faster than anyone,
running a three stop strategy, but 14.5 seconds adrift
of Rosberg.
Behind the Englishman, Perez, Hamilton and Webber were
having a fantastic scrap for third place, until the
Sauber pitted on lap 36. Rosberg made his second and
final stop, rejoining behind a new leader, Jenson
Button, with the Mercedes hoping to go to the end of the
race from here while the McLaren would visit the pits
once more. Fernando was now fourth with Felipe, yet to
make his second stop, behind him but over eight seconds
down. Lap 38 and Hamilton came in just ahead of
Fernando, the two men battling for third, rejoining 10th
and 11th. While the McLaren would now be able to work
its way past slower cars, the Ferrari man could not.
Button came in from the lead on lap 40, but a delay on
changing the left rear cost him too much time and he
rejoined sixth.
Rosberg was back in command, now with Felipe second,
17.5 behind, followed very closely by Raikkonen, Vettel,
Button and Grosjean. As Felipe made his second stop, on
lap 41he dropped down to 14th. Fernando slipped off the
track trying to pass Maldonaldo. With nine laps
remaining there was a massive crocodile of six cars
behind second placed Raikkonen, all of them nose to
tail. The final laps were chaotic, conditioned by tyre
wear and the Finn spiralled down the order, eventually
finishing 14th, just behind Felipe. Vettel was second
for a while but he could not fend off the two McLarens
or his team-mate Mark Webber who finished fourth, with
the reigning world champion in fifth. Grosjean came home
sixth for Lotus ahead of the two Williams of Senna and
Maldonaldo, while in the final points place behind
Fernando, came the Sauber of Kobayashi.
Packing up the cars and equipment is a high-speed
operation at the Shanghai Circuit as there are just four
days to go before the engines are fired up again, this
time at the Sakhir Circuit which hosts next Sunday’s
Bahrain Grand Prix.
Stefano Domenicali:
“There’s no point denying we are disappointed. We had
the potential to get a better result than this, but we
did not manage it. The lack of top speed, one of the
weak points of this F2012, prevented Fernando especially
of making the most of a strategy, which at one point,
had put him in a situation where he could fight for a
place in the top five. Felipe went for a two stopper,
counting on others having higher tyre degradation, but
this only turned out to be the case for a few cars. It
was quite an unusual race, as indeed was qualifying,
which still delivered some surprises compared to what
was being predicted and I think it is worth analysing
the way it went in depth to try and understand how best
to tackle the next round. In Bahrain we will again have
to be racing on the defensive but that doesn’t mean we
will go there in a resigned state of mind. We have seen
three different winners in three races, with performance
levels of some cars changing very significantly from
race to race. At this stage, we must do the maximum on
track and exploit every opportunity, but the most
important work is that done in Maranello, especially on
the aerodynamic development. We need to accelerate the
introduction of updates and change gear. This is very
long and unpredictable championship, where things can
change very quickly. Finally, I’d like to congratulate
Nico Rosberg on his first win in Formula 1 and Mercedes
for a return to victory after a gap of 57 years.”
Fernando Alonso: “We knew this would be
a difficult race and that’s how it turned out. We were
always in traffic, without an opportunity to exploit the
car’s potential and when you are behind other cars, the
tyres get worn much more easily. Choosing to do three
stops clearly meant we would be forced to do some
overtaking, but with the top speed we had, it turned out
to be almost impossible on the main straight, so I had
to invent some overtaking moves at other points on the
track, where I could make better use of the car.
Obviously, this does not leave me very optimistic for
Bahrain, on a track where traction and speed are vital,
exactly the areas where we are weakest. Once again next
week it will be mainly a case of damage limitation. I
don’t want to think of the classification because the
priority is to improve the performance of the F2012.
This does not mean however, that I have lost hope, quite
the contrary. Last year, we believed all the way to Spa
and there’s no reason not to at the moment, when we are
third in the classification, just eight points off the
leader. Sure, we definitely need to make a good step
forward to make the car quicker. In Spain we will have
major updates but so will the others and so it’s not
that I’m expecting a miracle of going one second quicker
than the others.”
Felipe Massa: “I tried to do my best in
a very close fought race. Sure, thirteenth 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. 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. 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. 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.”
Pat Fry: Definitely an interesting race
for the spectators, but very frustrating for us. Traffic
was the decisive factor in this race, which was easily
predictable, given where our cars were on the grid. We
split the strategies, also in light of the fact that
with Felipe, we could choose which type of tyre he could
start on. Seeing where we came out of the third pit stop
with Fernando – alongside Hamilton, I think the choice
was the right one, but we will analyse the way the race
played out carefully to understand if we could have done
anything differently. Clearly today, we paid a very
heavy price for the lack of a good top speed on a track
like this. The result does not represent the car’s true
potential in race configuration but we have to accept
it. We lack performance, we know it, but there is no
point in beating ourselves up over it: rather we need to
concentrate all our efforts on improving car
performance. Next week in Bahrain we won’t have any
particularly significant updates, so we cannot expect a
miracle: we must try and squeeze the maximum out of what
we have to work with. I want to finish on a positive
note, complimenting the pit stop guys, who once again
today did a great job, as the times can testify.”
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