Google+ Jack Leslie F1: 2014 Chinese Grand Prix Weekend Report

18 April 2014

2014 Chinese Grand Prix Weekend Report

The fourth round of the 2014 Formula 1 season took place at the Shanghai International Circuit in China.
© Red Bull/Getty Images
The 11th Chinese Grand Prix had a tough act to follow after the thrilling previous race in Bahrain, which was dominated by Mercedes.

The teams and drivers travelled to Shanghai following a short break in the schedule, with plenty of new upgrades being taken to the challenging 3.39 mile circuit. Could anyone take the challenge to the two Silver Arrows? Read on to find out.

For a look at the goings-on from the circuit on Thursday, go here. Also be sure check out my in-depth race preview and track guide. Take a look back at some of the most memorable Chinese Grand Prix moments with my F1 Flashback.
 
Here is my Chinese Grand Prix weekend report, which will be updated after each session. 

FP1
Conditions were cool and overcast for Chinese Grand Prix first practice, meaning it was a quiet and relatively unrepresentative session. Rain made an appearance in the opening few minutes but it was only light and soon moved away from the Shanghai International Circuit.
© Ferrari

Fernando Alonso set the pace with a best time of 1m39.783. He managed 20 laps, but it was a very different story on the other side of the Ferrari garage. Kimi Raikkonen only completed one lap before the team discovered a problem that forced him out of the session. 

Nico Rosberg was second, with Mercedes limiting their running to save tyres. Daniel Ricciardo, Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top five. Magnussen, Jean-Eric Vergne, Lewis Hamilton (whose session ended slightly early due to a suspension problem), Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa completed the top 10. 

Reserve drivers Felipe Nasr and Giedo van der Garde drove in FP1 only, finishing 13th and 14th. There were plenty of off-track excursions as drivers got to grips with the tricky circuit. Pastor Maldonado's spin at turn nine was by far the most bizarre after he looked down to change a setting on his steering wheel and found himself going through the gravel. 

FP2
Practice two for the Chinese Grand Prix was a busier and more dramatic session, with Hamilton topping the timesheets.
© Mercedes AMG Petronas

The Brit's suffered a delayed start following the discovery of a suspension problem in first practice. However, when he did finally emerged from the Mercedes pit garage, the 29-year-old soon went fastest on the soft tyre.

Typically, drivers started the session running on the prime Pirelli compound before completing qualifying and race simulations on the option rubber. Alonso was second fastest for Ferrari, just one tenth behind Hamilton, with Rosberg, Ricciardo and Vettel completing the top five.

Massa, Raikkonen, Button and Romain Grosjean were next up. The Frenchman's team-mate had another woeful session after he crashed at the pit entry with one hour of the session remaining. Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10 for Toro Rosso, Hulkenberg and Magnussen were 11th and 12th respectively, just ahead of Vergne and Bottas.

FP3
Conditions remained cool and overcast for third practice on Saturday morning, but earlier rain meant the intermediate Pirelli compound was the tyre of choice.
© Red Bull/Getty Images

It was a quiet session with limited running - particularly from the top teams - to save tyres for qualifying and avoid the risk of finding the wall in the slippery conditions. Ricciardo set the fastest time at the wheel of the Red Bull RB10 after just five laps of the Shanghai International Circuit.

The Aussie's best time of 1m53.958 was half a second faster than Massa's best effort in practice three. Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Raikkonen completed the top five, with Maldonado next up. However, the Lotus driver was forced to park his car at turn 10 after a reliability issue mid-way through the session. 

Kvyat, Bottas, Button and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10. Rosberg, Magnussen, Alonso and Hamilton failed to complete a lap time, but all four drivers managed at least one lap. Bottas suffered a spin at turn 10, while there were several wild slides - including a brilliant save from Kamui Kobayashi.

Qualifying
Q1
The rain intensified in time for the first qualifying session, which saw the slowest six drivers eliminated from the fight for pole position.
© Caterham F1 Team

However, only 21 cars took to the track. Following an oil leak in third practice, Maldonado was unable to compete in Q1. The two Marussia drivers were the first to take to the circuit when the session got underway. The majority of the 2014 field started the session on the wet Pirelli tyre. 

There were plenty of slides and off-track excursions as drivers battled to keep the cars on the tarmac, with the Mercedes duo holding the early lead. Hamilton ended the session at the top of the timesheets with a 1m55.516 after a mid-session improvement. 

Hulkenberg, Vettel, Rosberg and Bottas completed the top five, with Ricciardo, Massa and Alonso next up. Several drivers made a late switch to intermediates, including Gutierrez. However, the Mexican couldn't improve and dropped to 17th. Kobayashi, Bianchi, Ericsson, Chilton and Maldonado joined him in the drop zone.

Q2
Conditions improved slightly for the second qualifying session, as 16 drivers battled for a place in the top 10 shoot-out. It was a quiet start, with Sutil being the first to take to the track and set a time.
© Ferrari

He was soon displaced by Rosberg, Alonso and Hamilton. Drivers continued to struggle for grip on the intermediate tyre, with Perez taking a trip across the turn one run-off area and Grosjean catching a wild slide at turn 12 in the early stages.

Teams pitted their drivers for a fresh set of Pirelli rubber with five minutes remaining. Hamilton once again set the pace with a 1m54.029 from Vettel, Rosberg, Ricciardo and Alonso. 

Bottas finished in sixth, with Grosjean giving the Lotus E22 its first Q3 appearance of the year in seventh. Vergne, Massa and Hulkenberg also made it through. Surprisingly, Raikkonen just missed out on the final session in 11th, just ahead of Button, Kvyat, Sutil, Magnussen and Perez.

Q3
With heavier rain falling at the Shanghai International Circuit, it was a busy start to the top 10 shoot-out. 
© Mercedes AMG Petronas

Drivers were split on which Pirelli tyre to use, with some starting the session on the intermediate rubber and others using the blue-marked wet compound. Vettel put in the opening lap time, but he didn't hold the top spot for long and was swiftly displaced by Hamilton. 

Rosberg was seven tenths off his team-mate in third, with Ricciardo and Alonso completing the top five after the first runs. The drivers then dived into the pits for fresh sets of the intermediate tyre.

Hamilton extended his advantage and stormed to his third pole position of the season. It was the 34th of his career, beating Ricciardo by over half a second. Vettel made it two Red Bulls in the top three, with Rosberg in fourth. The German ruined the first lap of his second run after a lock-up at turn 14. 

He then pushed too hard on his final attempt and spun at the final corner. Alonso dropped to fifth, with Massa in sixth. Bottas was seventh on the timesheets in the second Williams, with Hulkenberg, Vergne and Grosjean completing the top 10.

Results:
Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes         1m53.860s
 2.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull         1m54.455s  +0.595s
 3.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull        1m54.960s  +1.100s
 4.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m55.143s  +1.283s
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m55.637s  +1.777s
 6.  Felipe Massa       Williams      1m56.147s  +2.287s
 7.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1m56.282s  +2.422s
 8.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India  1m56.366s  +2.506s
 9.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso    1m56.773s  +2.913s
10.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus        1m57.079s  +3.219s
                        Q3 cut-off time:      1m56.847s
11.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m56.860s  +2.831s*
12.  Jenson Button      McLaren      1m56.963s  +2.934s*
13.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso  1m57.289s  +3.260s*
14.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber        1m57.393s  +3.364s*
15.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren      1m57.675s  +3.646s*
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India  1m58.264s  +4.235s*
                        Q2 cut-off time:      1m58.411s
17.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber       1m58.988s  +3.472s**
18.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham      1m59.260s  +3.744s**
19.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia     1m59.326s  +3.810s**
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham     2m00.646s  +5.130s**
21.  Max Chilton        Marussia    2m00.865s  +5.349s**
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus   
The Race
Following a challenging wet qualifying session, dry conditions welcomed the F1 paddock to the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday morning.

Hamilton dominated on Saturday to take pole position, with his team-mate only managing fourth on the grid - behind the Red Bull duo of Ricciardo and Vettel. Could anyone take the fight to the Brit? Read on to find out...

The revs rose, the lights went out and the fourth round of the 2014 season got underway. Off the line, Hamilton had a strong start and Vettel moved up to second, with Alonso jumping up to third. 
© Mercedes AMG Petronas

Massa quite literally jumped up to fifth despite wheel-to-wheel contact with his former team-mate, with Rosberg dropping to seventh. The German collided with the second Williams of Bottas at the first turn but the Finn managed to continue. Magnussen damaged his front wing at turn six.

Hamilton soon edged away from Vettel, with the gap increasing to 2.4 seconds by the end of the second lap. There was plenty of movement up and down the field in the early stages, with Rosberg moving ahead of Hulkenberg and Button displacing Vergne.

Massa was then displaced by the second Mercedes driver, as Sutil retired from the race on lap six - his third consecutive DNF. Rosberg soon closed in on Ricciardo's Red Bull but the German was told that his car had lost telemetry and he would have to self-manage his fuel.

Button was the first driver to pit for a scheduled pit stop on lap eight, swapping his worn options for a fresh set of the medium compound Pirelli rubber. Hamilton's lead rapidly increased, with Vettel crossing the line to start the 10th lap of the race 9.6 seconds behind the 2008 world champion.

Massa dived into the pits on lap 11 but he lost a considerable amount of time after a problem in his stop. Alonso, Hulkenberg and Maldonado took to the pit lane on the following tour. Vettel emerged from his opening stop of the race behind Alonso, who took second place.

Ricciardo visited the Red Bull pit box at the end of lap 15 and returned to the circuit behind Rosberg. Further back, Raikkonen moved ahead of Grosjean and Perez displaced Button. Hamilton suffered an off-track excursion at turn six just prior to his first stop on lap 17. Due to the mistake and his longer first stint, he emerged just 3.7 seconds clear of Alonso.
© Red Bull/Getty Images

Following a few fast laps, Rosberg closed in on Vettel and passed the four-time champion into the turn 14 hairpin. The Red Bull driver then fell into the clutches of his team-mate and was instructed to let Ricciardo through, as he was on a different strategy.

The pair battled closely before the Aussie eventually found his way through at turn one on lap 26. Grosjean suffered an off-track excursion at turn 11 and retired from the race after earlier informing the team of a gearbox issue.

Alonso pitted for the second time at the end of lap 33, with Vettel stopping for fresh rubber on the following lap. Rosberg and Ricciardo took to the pits a few laps later, with Hamilton reacting on the next tour. Out front, Hamilton continued to extend his lead, which was 15 seconds by the 46th lap.

The Brit remained at the front of the field, extending his advantage in the closing stages to cross the line and win the Chinese Grand Prix for the third time in his career.
  
Lewis Hamilton dominates the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix
© Ferrari

It was also Hamilton's third consecutive race victory of the 2014 season - his first hat-trick of wins. The Brit dominated from start to finish and produced an almost faultless display to close to within four points of his team-mate in the drivers' standings. 

Rosberg put in a strong recovery drive after a poor first lap that saw him drop to seventh place. However, he completed some good overtakes to secure the Mercedes team's third 1-2 finish. Alonso secured Ferrari's first top three result of the year after a quiet run to third.

The Spaniard ended the race 25 seconds behind Hamilton, proving the dominance of the Mercedes duo once again. Ricciardo took the chequered flag in fourth after starting from the front row of the grid. He slipped down the order at the start but managed to pass his team-mate and closed to within 1.2 seconds of Alonso by the finish.

Vettel was some way back in fifth, with Hulkenberg scoring another good result for Force India in sixth. The German crossed the line just half a second ahead of Bottas, who managed to emerge unscathed after contact with Rosberg on lap one. Raikkonen had another poor race to finish in eighth, just under 60 seconds behind his team-mate.

Perez had a quietly impressive run to ninth after starting from 16th, with Kvyat completing the top 10 for Toro Rosso. Button was a disappointing 11th, with Magnussen finishing 13th in the second McLaren. Vergne separated the two MP4-29s, with Maldonado reaching the finish line in 14th.
© Sahara Force India F1 Team

Massa had a disastrous race to finish 15th following his incredibly long first pit stop, but he finished ahead of Gutierrez. Bianchi won the battle of the backmarkers in 17th, ahead of Kobayashi despite the Japanese driver overtaking him on the final lap. That is because the chequered flag was accidentally shown to Hamilton two laps early, meaning the race results were officially declared on lap 54.

Chilton and Ericsson completed the finishers. Grosjean retired mid-way through the race with a gearbox issue, with Sutil also failing to finish. 
Results:

Pos  Driver             Team/Car         Time/Gap
 1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1h36m52.810s
 2.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes        +18.686s
 3.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari         +25.765s
 4.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull        +26.978s
 5.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull         +51.012s
 6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India     +57.581s
 7.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams       +58.145s
 8.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari         +1m23.990s
 9.  Sergio Perez       Force India      +1m26.489s
10.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso        +1 lap
11.  Jenson Button      McLaren         +1 lap
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso       +1 lap
13.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren         +1 lap
14.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus           +1 lap
15.  Felipe Massa       Williams         +1 lap
16.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber           +1 lap
17.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham          +1 lap
18.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia          +1 lap
19.  Max Chilton        Marussia          +2 laps
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham         +2 laps

Retirements: 
Romain Grosjean    Lotus              27 laps
Adrian Sutil       Sauber            4 laps 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Yes. Great job Hamilton.
See you on the top step tommorow.