China Grand Prix - Shanghai - 18 April 2010

[Guest]

China next then. Can the Red Bulls continue at the top and keep both cars running again? Will McLaren sort out their tactics in qualifying and get both cars finishing in a decent position? Will Schuey manage to keep with Rosberg? and will Virgin have enough fuel in the tank to get them to the end?

Wait and see.

[MadBoB]

China next then. Can the Red Bulls continue at the top and keep both cars running again? Will McLaren sort out their tactics in qualifying and get both cars finishing in a decent position? Will Schuey manage to keep with Rosberg? and will Virgin have enough fuel in the tank to get them to the end?

Wait and see.

[MadBoB]

Chinese GP grid
Saturday, 17 April 2010 00:00

1  VETTEL        Red Bull     
2  WEBBER        Red Bull     
3  ALONSO        Ferrari       
4  ROSBERG       Mercedes     
5  BUTTON        McLaren       
6  HAMILTON      McLaren       
7  MASSA         Ferrari       
8  KUBICA        Renault       
9  SCHUMACHER    Mercedes     
10 SUTIL         Force India   
11 BARRICHELLO   Williams     
12 ALGUERSUARI   Toro Rosso   
13 BUEMI         Toro Rosso   
14 PETROV        Renault       
15 KOBAYASHI     Sauber       
16 HULKENBERG    Williams     
17 DE LA ROSA    Sauber
18 LIUZZI        Force India       
19 GLOCK         Virgin       
20 TRULLI        Lotus         
21 KOVALAINEN    Lotus         
22 DI GRASSI     Virgin       
23 SENNA         HRT           
24 CHANDHOK      HRT

[halfpint]

if the race is anything like qualifying it is gonna be a spectactular race.

[MadBoB]

SO even though the McLaren twins had traded fastest times through the practice sessions, they were no match for the Red Bulls at all. Alonso seems well on the pace, though how long the Ferrari engine will hold together is another thing. A quick glance through the grid looks a bit 2 by 2 and may not put up the best race because of it. They were all talking about rain again though, so it could all get very messy.

Liuzzi bombed in Q1, I don't really see what went wrong, he just didn't seem to get a good lap in - blamed the traffic but come on, it wasn't that bad. Interesting that Glock and Trulli head the new teams, HRT are looking a little lost I think. Sauber didn't look too clever either and were joined by Hulkenburg in the drop out from Q2.
Petrov again couldn't stay with Kubica and Barri did the best he could with the Williams in 11th spot. Best place to be if you're not in the top 10 I suppose.

Toro Rosso have hopefully got over the exploding front suspension, look it up on youtube if you haven't seen it, its almost a comedy car as the front wheels and suspension just fly off. Trouble is at 150+ mph its horrific really.

As for the top 10, Sutil got in there again, as did Kubica. Schuey was outqualified by the flying Rosberg by a country mile and the McLarens look poised to catch any errors from the guys at the very front. Might well be worth a watch.

8am start time so can even watch the start in bed with a coffee.

[MadBoB]

Lap 34 - and theres been drizzle at the start, two safety cars, more tyre changes than kwikfit on a saturday morning, and then more rain. so far Button and Rosberg had played it spot on, with Hamilton now trading with Rosberg for 2nd. ooer.

[MadBoB]

Chinese Grand Prix result (56 laps)

1  BUTTON       McLaren      
2  HAMILTON     McLaren      +1.5s
3  ROSBERG      Mercedes     +9.4s
4  ALONSO       Ferrari      +11.8s
5  KUBICA       Renault      +22.2s
6  VETTEL       Red Bull     +33.3s
7  PETROV       Renault      +47.6s
8  WEBBER       Red Bull     +52.1s
9  MASSA        Ferrari      +57.7s
10 SCHUMACHER   Mercedes     +61.7s
11 SUTIL        Force India  +62.8s
12 BARRICHELLO  Williams     +63.6s
13 ALGUERSUARI  Toro Rosso   +71.4s
14 KOVALAINEN   Lotus        +1 lap
15 HULKENBERG   Williams     +1 lap
16 SENNA        HRT          +2 laps
17 CHANDHOK     HRT          +4 laps
R  TRULLI       Lotus        +30 laps
R  DI GRASSI    Virgin       +48 laps
R  DE LA ROSA   Sauber       +49 laps
R  BUEMI        Toro Rosso   +56 laps
R  KOBAYASHI    Sauber       +56 laps
R  LIUZZI       Force India  +56 laps
R  GLOCK        Virgin       +56 laps

Fastest lap: HAMILTON  1m42.061s

Off the line Alonso appeared to jump both the Red Bulls, trouble was he started before the lights turned green and paid with a drive through a few laps later. The startline drizzle tempted both Red Bulls in for inters as did most of the rest. Kubica Rosberg and Button stayed on the slicks and as the rain eased, their pace and lead grew despite a safety car to clear the debris from Liuzzi's off collecting a couple of others.

Staying on the slicks was the right choice and everyone on the inters had to stop again within 4 or 5 laps as the tyres burned out in no time. This left Jenson, Rosberg and Kubica away int eh distance with the Lotus of Kovaleinen up in 6th as well. All looked pretty good until the rain started to return, a few drops at first. Alguersauri then lost a chunk of front wing and the safety car was deployed again. Inters were the order of the day again and all the good work was gone for Button and Rosberg. On the restart, Jenson bunched everyone up really tight into the hairpin and Webber got pushed wide by Hamilton, banging wheels.

The run through to the end saw Hamilton close down Kubica and Rosberg to make it a 1-2 for McLaren. Tyres were pretty marginal at the end though no-one was showing the canvas just no tread.

Schuey? had a good tussle with Sutil to take 9th, but all in all Rosberg is getting far more from the car.

McLaren - Super smooth and great choice of tyres kept Button at the front. Hamilton got on the podium the hardway having stopped for inters early and having to overtake to get back to a decent finish. Fought hard with Vettel and with Vettel and is under investigation for a move that left the pair side by side exiting the pits.

Mercedes - Rosberg followed the lead of Button and could easily have taken a win had Button also chosen to stop for the inters. SChuey on the other hand just didn't look like the champion he is. How long until the rumour mill starts to question the wisdom of running him at all.

Ferrari - Despite jumping the start, then changing to inters and making more stops than a No29 bus, Alonso raced very hard to pull himself back up to 4th. Aided hugely by the second safety car though. Massa 9th - just didn't seem to be his day.

Renault - Kubica showed his continued good form and Petrov raced well to take 7th. Two cars in the top 7, and this is a team with reduced budget and not the real manufacturer backing it had last year. What a duo.

Red Bull - Did the team simply get it wrong with the tyres? would the better bet have been to run one on inters and one on slicks in the marginal early laps? Hindsight really is a wonderful thing. Vettel is under investigation for the pit lane incident with Hamilton, not sure myself - both apppeared to get released almost together, should Hamilton have yielded? or should Vettel? was Vettel right to squeeze Hamilton into the pit boxes further down the pit lane? not the safest of strategies I would say, then again, should Hamilton not have yielded rather than endanger the pit crews....or was it all good clean hard charging fun with a bit of red mist on both sides? The stewards will give their verdict I'm sure.

Force India - 11th for Sutil was not really the result yuou'd expect. I have to wonder if the reason was lack of downforce leaving the car with poor traction, wearing tyres and all in all not a good set up for a wett(ish) race. Liuzzi paid for his abysmal qualifying by tangling with the cars around him on the first lap..shame.

Williams - 12th and 15th, not really the result they would have wanted. They seem to be going backwards - hopefully it'll improve when the teams get back to Europe.

Toro Rosso - Good effort from Alguersuari despite losing a front wing and barrelling into the pits with very little steering I'd imagine.I think Buemi got took out by Liuzzi, so no chance to see if Buemi could have scored today.

Lotus - Kovaleinen beat a Williams so you have to say the Lotus is going in the right direction. Much to do with a solid drive and a cool choice for tyres early on. Well done guys.

HRT - both cars were running at the end, 2 laps and 4 laps adrift is still a long way off, but if you are reliable you stand a chance.

Virgin - Glock didn't even make the warm up lap having been left on his jacks. Wheeled into the garage and never came out. Di Grassi managed 8 laps. Hmmm not much reliability there then.

Sauber - Kobayashi was a victim of the Liuzzi bump, but De La Rosa suffered what looked like a Ferrari engine failure 8 laps later. Not the best of times then.

So there you have it. Button takes a second win and with 25 points a time now leads the drivers championship. Red Bull will be back fighting and Ferrari will be in the mix too. Renault are promising to continue to improve as well. Spain in three weeks, wonder if they'll get there or will it all be messed up by the volcano.

[halfpint]

was a cracking race. and how's bout the russian Petrov. a rookie but he could be one to watch as a new comer. waiting to see what they say bout the shananigans in the pits. the wet makes it so much worth watching.