Nico took his 17th career victory today - his second at the Shanghai International Circuit, four years after sealing his first Formula One win at the same venue. Lewis produced a battling drive to finish P7 from the back of the grid - despite incurring significant damage to his car in a first lap incident.
Today's result marks the 100th podium finish for the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows in Formula One. Nico (75) leads the Drivers' Championship by 36 points from Lewis (39) in P2. Mercedes AMG Petronas (114) lead Ferrari (61) by 53 points in the Constructors' Championship
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: That was a rollercoaster race today. Nico enjoyed the perfect weekend: he was totally dominant this afternoon, always in control of his performance and did really a flawless job. For Lewis, the circumstances couldn't have been more different. He got a great start, tried to stay out of trouble in the first corners and still got collected by a Sauber, who was avoiding another car coming back on track. His front wing was lodged under the car for a while, which damaged the leading edge of the floor and cost him a chunk of downforce for the rest of the race - though it was hard to know exactly how much during the race. We did something different with him under the Safety Car, cycling through the SuperSoft tyre with no loss of position, in order to open up some strategic options later in the race. He put in a great recovery drive and pulled off some great overtakes - but the damage to the car meant the tyres didn't last as long as we had hoped and made it hard to catch cars through Turn 13 before the back straight. He still did a great job and kept charging to the end - but it was damage limitation again for him this afternoon. We are just three races into the longest season in Formula One history, so this isn't the time to be looking at Championship tables or points gaps. We just need to keep scoring points right now, continue to work on our reliability after some wobbles this weekend and keep working very hard to bring more performance to the car and Power Unit. Today looked like it could have been a three-way fight with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull if our rivals had a cleaner race - so there is no margin for us to relax.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): Starting on Lewis' side, one of the debates we actually had overnight was whether to do a bit more work to the car and start him from the pit lane, which ironically would have been a better decision in hindsight given what happened at the first corner. Equally, Lewis had by far his best start of the season, which ironically contributed to him being caught up in the cascade of collisions ahead of him. So, a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances all round put him on the back foot straight away. We could see that there were problems with the car - both aerodynamic and mechanical - affecting him through the low-speed corners in particular. Under the safety car, we chose to perform consecutive pit stops with Lewis to get rid of the SuperSoft and enable us to run the rest of the race on the Soft, which was the stronger race tyre. As it transpired, his first set of softs were cut from the first corner incident - something we were unaware of at the time - which meant we were then forced to run the medium at the end of the race, rendering our SuperSoft eliminating tactic redundant. So, overall, Lewis did a great job to recover what he could with a car that was significantly underperforming. On Nico's side, he actually had a less good start, losing a place into the first corner - although he was obviously running a less grippy tyre compound than the cars around him. He was, however, able to re-pass Daniel quite quickly once DRS became available and went on to have a straightforward race from there - running a soft / soft / medium strategy as intended from the beginning. An uneventful race from his perspective - but that's not to underestimate the top job he did to manage the car safely within its limits and claim a well-deserved third victory of the season - and the 100th Formula One podium for the Silver Arrows in the process. We now look forward to Russia - targeting a clean and successful weekend on both sides of the garage.
Felipe Massa finished sixth and Valtteri Bottas 10th in today’s Chinese Grand Prix. Felipe gained three places on the opening lap and managed his strategy and tyres well. He fought hard throughout and was able to hold off the Mercedes of Hamilton to finish sixth. Valtteri lost out at the start after avoiding a collision between two Ferraris. He ran as high as second despite the safety car disrupting his strategy, but came under attack by drivers on fresher tyres late on and crossed the line 10th.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It was a difficult race to read with the safety car and people on very different strategies. To come out of that with the car that started 10th finishing sixth means we did a good job with the strategy. We tried to minimise the stops and that was definitely right if you look at what happened with Felipe. He drove a great race and it was good to see him hold off Hamilton. To keep a faster car behind for that length of time, and to actually pull away because he managed his tyres well, was pleasing to see. Valtteri had to go wide at Turn 1 on the first lap, which put him right down the pecking order in 10th, so it was a game of catch up from there on in. His race was going pretty well until the safety car. He was a little bit off colour at the end on the mediums, so we need to have a look because that’s completely not like him. He’s usually very good at saving the tyres and getting the most out of them, so we’ll look at what happened and come back stronger for the next race. It was a good reaction from the team, on the back of Bahrain, to come and have a sensible weekend. We made some very good decisions on car set-up, which perhaps gave us a little more pace in the midfield. We still need more pace because this is not where we want to be, another two or three tenths would make a big difference.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "It's been a great day for the team, especially after that unfortunate start. For Daniel to take the lead and then get that puncture was desperately unlucky after he hit some debris. The safety car then came out at exactly the wrong time for him and put him on the back foot, but it was a fantastic recovery drive. Dany took up the baton and drove a fantastic race, racing with Sebastian for a large part of the race to achieve his second podium. A third and fourth place finish, lots of constructors points so yes, a great day for the team."
Despite a very strong start to the race, Sahara Force India missed out on points in today’s Chinese Grand Prix as Sergio Perez crossed the line in P11 and Nico Hulkenberg in P15.
Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer: "It’s disappointing to come away from today’s race empty-handed, especially when you consider that we were so well placed in the early laps - up in third and fourth places. The safety car was unfortunate from our perspective as it cost us our track position and left us fighting through traffic to try and recover. We stuck to the planned three-stop race for Sergio and for a while it looked as though we might come away with points. However, he suffered with high degradation on the medium tyres toward the end and dropped out of contention with a handful of laps remaining. With Nico, we threw the dice and switched him to a four-stop strategy, but having lost so much track position from the safety car and subsequent time penalty, his race was heavily compromised. I think this weekend has shown us that we have inherent pace in the car, but we need to work hard to make sure we can deliver that pace consistently over a race distance."
Renault Sport Formula One Team was unable to move up the order in an action-packed 2016 Formula 1 Pirelli Chinese Grand Prix where both drivers finished the race, but finishing positions of seventeen for Kevin Magnussen and twenty-second for Jolyon Palmer illustrated that the team wasn't able to harness its performance potential at the Shanghai International Circuit today.
Kevin started from P17 on the grid on new super soft compound Pirelli tyres, changing to new soft tyres on laps 4 and 20, before moving on to new medium tyres on lap 35.
Jolyon started from P19 on the grid on new soft compound Pirelli tyres, changing to new super soft tyres on lap 15, back to new soft tyres on lap 24 and finally changing to new medium tyres on lap 38.
Fred Vasseur, Racing Director: "It has been a tough race for the team and we suffered a lot with tyre degradation. Kevin was disadvantaged by the fact that he had such limited running in the dry which meant limited time to refine set-up. This made it difficult to manage the tyres in the race. Jolyon started on the soft tyre, and we opted not to bring him in during the safety car period. Unfortunately, he had real difficulties warming these tyres up afterwards which cost him a number of places and moving him to a four-stop strategy would have cost too much time in the pits. We will investigate why we lost so much tyre temperature and performance after the safety car period. We must now look forward to the next Grand Prix and continue to learn, work hard and improve."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "The Chinese Grand Prix was a very exciting race from start to finish. Both Max and Carlos did a really good start, but unfortunately Max lost some places in the first corner as he had to back off because of the crash between the two Ferraris. Carlos was in a good position until the Safety Car came out when he was then heavily stopped by Hulkenberg, who slowed down massively in the pit-lane and this caused us to lose a lot of places. Nevertheless, both drivers were able to catch-up and crossed the line in P8 and P9 - a very satisfying result. Both cars scored points, we showed that the car is competitive and that the team and drivers did a good job. I'd like to thank everyone for this and we are now looking forward to the race in Sochi where we also expect quite a good performance from our side.
"Today we saw that the midfield is very close together - it's a fight between Williams, Force India, Haas, ourselves and McLaren, who is also closing-up. This means that we have to be fully concentrated for the next races. Finally, I'd like to congratulate Daniil Kvyat for finishing on the podium. It's also great to see that four Red Bull cars are within the first nine top-finishers in today's race."
The Sauber F1 Team finished the third race of the 2016 FIA Formula One Championship, the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit, in P16 (Marcus Ericsson) and P20 (Felipe Nasr) . A very interesting and eventful race, where all 22 cars were able to cross the finish line.
Despite showing flashes of pace throughout the weekend, both drivers able to push hard inside the top 10, we finished the Chinese Grand Prix just out of the points - in 12th (Fernando Alonso) and 13th (Jenson Button).
As the race progressed, it became apparent that the MP4-31 could not quite match the pace of the top 10 runners. Despite the team executing five flawless pit-stops, and running alternative strategies (Fernando did a two-stopper; Jenson a three-), the drivers crossed the finish line just a few seconds apart, strongly suggesting that they had delivered their respective maxima this afternoon.
Despite the immediate disappointment, there are positives to take away from the race weekend: both cars ran flawlessly throughout every session, Fernando completed his first race distance of the season, and the team has learned a great deal more about the strengths and weaknesses of MP4-31.
Eric Boullier, Racing director: "Ultimately, we didn't have quite enough race pace to score points today, especially with such scant attrition ahead of us.
"Having said that, both Fernando and Jenson maximised their race strategies, the fact that they finished more-or-less nose to tail after 56 hard-driven laps underlining that Fernando had efficiently mined the most out of a two-stop approach while Jenson had pugnaciously realised the maximum available out of his necessarily more dynamic three-stopper.
"Moreover, although we still need to find more straightline speed, the power units in both our cars performed with commendable reliability throughout all three days of today's grand prix, yesterday's qualifying hour, and all the practice sessions that preceded them. So our friends at Honda should be lauded for that achievement. Equally, we're encouraged by the power unit developments they have in the pipeline, and as a result we're confident that our overall performance will continue to improve apace.
"Operationally, we made no mistakes all weekend, and our pit-crew performed with their customary aplomb. Well done, guys.
"Last but not least, it's encouraging to note that, when we fitted Options to Jenson's car for his fourth and final stint, he immediately began to fly, clocking the then-fastest lap of the race on lap 46, a spirited circumnavigation of the Shanghai International Circuit that was thereafter eclipsed by just two other drivers."
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd head of F1 project & executive chief engineer: "Throughout the eventful weekend of changing weather conditions and qualifying red flags, the drivers and the team have performed at their best, and it was a positive weekend to bring two cars home.
"We are obviously disappointed that we could not score points, but I think the race result is a good indication of where we currently are. The entire team did solid work today which will hopefully lead to better results in the future races."
The Shanghai International Circuit played host to an exciting and chaotic Chinese Grand Prix today; Pascal was running as high as 4th at one stage! As was the case with the rest of the weekend, tyres were the biggest factor over the 56 laps and 6 stops made it a busy day for our pit crew. Towards the end of the race, we spotted an opportunity for Pascal, already keeping four cars behind him, to reel in the Renault of Kevin Magnussen, running directly ahead on worn tyres. We opted for our only Supersoft stint of the race and Pascal took 6.6 secs out of Kev's advantage over 10 laps but at the flag had to settle for 18th place. Rio came home in P21, ahead of Palmer, securing our second two-car finish of the season.
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "Both drivers did a great job today and made the best of the car's potential. The opening lap mêlée presented a few opportunities for a while and it was nice to see Pascal riding as high as 4th and Rio in 8th. These situations shake out eventually, although Pascal did hold on to the top 10 for a good few laps and fought hard to stay in touch with our immediate competitors until the flag. For his final stint we saw an opportunity to reel in Magnussen, who was on old Soft tyres in the dying stages of the race, so we opted for Supersofts which enabled Pascal to take a good chunk out of the Renault, getting the gap down from 10s to as little 3.8. It wasn't quite enough in the end but it was a good feeling to be racing all the way to the finish. Rio didn't have the pace to close up to Nasr, so the objective with him in the final stint was to keep Palmer at bay, which he did quite easily. In short, a better day than yesterday and not a bad outcome, getting two cars to the finish. However, we need to do better and try to get on top of the issues that are holding us back."
Haas F1 Team didn't score its third straight point-paying finish in the Chinese Grand Prix Sunday at the Shanghai International Circuit, but it did secure another "first" in its debut season. Haas F1 Team drivers Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean both finished the race, something that hadn't been done in the first two races of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship in Australia and Bahrain.
Gutierrez finished 14th to lead the way for Haas F1 Team in Shanghai, while Grosjean finished 19th. Each driver completed 55 of the 56 laps available, lapped by the lights-out Nico Rosberg, who drove his Mercedes to a massive 37.776 second margin of victory over second-place Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari.
Gutierrez's solid run came via a three-stop strategy. The 24-year-old started the race in 18th place on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tire before switching on lap 35 to the Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft tire. Gutierrez took another set of supersofts on lap 44 that carried him to the finish. It was his first full race distance of the 2016 season, as Gutierrez suffered retirements in Australia and Bahrain.
After celebrating his 30th birthday earlier in the day, Grosjean started 14th and was on the same tire strategy as his teammate. That strategy, however, endured a hiccup when a first-turn skirmish on the opening lap sent Grosjean to the pits for a new front wing. A stack-up involving a number of cars saw the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson cut across the nose of Grosjean's VF-16. Grosjean was forced to the pits for an unscheduled stop after only one lap, with valuable time needed to attach the new wing. Despite returning to the race in 21st, Grosjean employed the same tenaciousness that earned him back-to-back top-six finishes to open the season. He gained back two positions to cross the stripe in 19th when the checkered flag waved.
Despite not scoring any points in Shanghai, Haas F1 Team remains fifth in the constructor standings, 11 points behind fourth-place Williams and one point ahead of sixth-place Toro Rosso.
Rosberg's victory kept him undefeated in 2016 and extended his win streak to six, dating back to last year's Mexican Grand Prix. His triumph in Shanghai was his second at the 5.451-kilometer (3.387-mile), 16-turn circuit, making him only the third driver to have multiple Chinese Grand Prix victories, joining his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's Fernando Alonso. Rosberg leads the championship standings by 36 points over Hamilton.
Guenther Steiner: "A difficult race for us, but we took two cars to the finish. The drivers did their jobs. Romain was unlucky at the start, losing part of his front wing. He had to come in for a wing change, which lost him track position and time. The car afterward was very difficult to drive. Good for Esteban finishing 14th. He finished his first race for Haas F1 Team. I think we learned a lot this weekend, and all that we've learned we'll take to Russia and see what we can do there."
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg claimed victory from pole using a two-stop strategy in China: one of the most action-packed and challenging races of the year. The majority of drivers used a three-stop strategy: however there were a number of different variations on this theme. Rosberg used a two-stop soft-soft-medium strategy to win: the same as Felipe Massa, who finished sixth for Williams.
A very different strategy was used by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who climbed to seventh place behind Massa after starting from the back as a result of a technical problem in qualifying, despite making five pit stops.
In total, 13 drivers used all three compounds available, in a strong demonstration of how the latest regulations have shaken up the range of tactics that are possible during a grand prix.
Paul Hembery: "Most teams came into the Chinese Grand Prix, which we were delighted to sponsor this year, with not as much dry running as they would like. As a result, their strategy forecasts were made even harder, but Rosberg and Mercedes made exactly the right calls after starting on the soft tyre: which just goes to show how strategy really starts from before qualifying. Shanghai is one of the most demanding circuits of the year, yet Rosberg's win was achieved with just two pit stops. Behind the winner a wide variety of different approaches were used, underlining how teams are using the 2016 three-compound choice to great effect".
Truthometer
We predicted a three-stop strategy as being fastest, starting on supersoft and then switching to soft on laps 11, 26 and 41. Rosberg however started on the soft, so we thought that for him a three-stopper changing to soft on laps 16 and 31, then supersoft from lap 46,could be interesting. In the end he stopped twice, for the soft on lap 16 and medium on lap 39.
