Lewis took his 75th career victory today - his second of the 2019 season and sixth at the Chinese Grand Prix. Valtteri finished the race in second place, completing the third consecutive 1-2 for the team in 2019.
Today's result marks the 90th win for Mercedes-Benz in Formula One. Lewis (68 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by 6 points from Valtteri (62 points). Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (130 points) lead Ferrari (76 points) by 54 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff: To win the 1,000th race in such a controlled way is amazing. It's a very special win and you can tell that everyone in the team is very happy with the outcome. Based on our long run simulations we didn't think it would be so straightforward and our advantage to Ferrari came as a bit of a surprise. They still look very quick on the straights; I'm not sure it's just the power, our car is maybe a bit draggier than theirs, but we have to keep working on our straight-line performance. Stacking the cars for a double pit stop was a risky moment because you have everything to lose when you're leading the race. But we thought we would lose positions if we had stopped one of the earlier. Our plan worked out perfectly; it was a well-choreographed pit stop and the team did a brilliant job. Lewis had the clutch paddle under control today and had a strong start and controlled the race from then on. Valtteri for sure won't be happy as he had pole and the speed to win today, but the start was the deciding factor. Baku is a different ball-game, there's a very long straight and we need to get the power and drag level there right. I think we'll be up for the fight and I'm looking forward to it.
Andrew Shovlin: Obviously a great result, it was luck and solid reliability that got us the 1-2 finish in Bahrain so our goal was to come here and win the race by being fastest. Both drivers did a great job. Valtteri was unlucky to lose the lead into the first corner having put together such a strong weekend. Lewis drove a commanding race from the front, managing the car and tyres well. We knew that the race would be tight between a two and a one stop and were hoping to be able to build a gap to the others so that we could shadow their strategy rather than get forced onto a defensive race plan. It's been very satisfying to see how well the team and the car have worked here. Everyone in Brackley and Brixworth is working very hard to help us optimise for each track and to bring developments to the car, so it's fantastic that all that hard work has been rewarded with such a strong start to the season.
A third place for Sebastian Vettel and a fifth for Charles Leclerc: that was the outcome of the Chinese Grand Prix, the one thousandth race in the history of Formula 1, for Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow, held today at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Off the grid, Sebastian got away better than poleman Valtteri Bottas and attempted to go down the outside of the Finn at the first corner, but that resulted in Charles going past him on the inside. The cars in front were running at a slightly better pace than the SF90s, which is why, after 10 laps, the team asked the drivers to swap positions to see if Sebastian could match Bottas' pace. Max Verstappen's early pit stop then forced the team to bring Sebastian in to cover it, sending him out on the Hard compound, so that he would not end up behind the Dutchman, who did manage to get back on track ahead of Charles.
Sebastian pitted for a second time on lap 35, this time fitting the Medium tyres, as did Hamilton and Bottas, the latter now finding himself behind Charles. Leclerc's second stop came on lap 43 and he rejoined almost 15 seconds off Verstappen.
In the closing stages, Vettel consolidated his third place behind Hamilton and Bottas, while Charles closed much of the gap to Verstappen, but not enough to try and secure fourth place. Ferrari is second in the Constructors' championship on 73 points, while Sebastian is fourth in the Drivers' on 37, with Charles fifth on 36.
Mattia Binotto Team Principal: "Mercedes has been fast throughout the whole weekend, since Friday. They were fast yesterday in qualifying and fast today. We had a completely opposite situation from the one we faced two weeks ago in Bahrain and this shows that we could again have things going the other way around in two weeks time. Things are changing from one weekend to the next and therefore we need to look at the championship thinking that every race may be different. Our decisions on strategy were taken to try to maximize the teams' result. We will go back to Maranello and look at all the data, try to understand what didn't work this weekend in order to improve. We need to further develop the car and understand where the limits are, then come back stronger for Baku. It's again a completely different circuit and we need to approach that race with a positive attitude to do our best."
Christian Horner: "P4 and P6 today represents good teamwork. A strong strategy and being the first to adopt the two stop with Max allowed us to beat Charles Leclerc today. Max drove the wheels off the car all afternoon and although he fought hard to pass Vettel and challenge for a podium, we just didn't quite have the pace to get ahead of him. It is great to see Pierre continuing to settle into our car and he had another solid race, finishing sixth and claiming fastest lap. He took one point away from Ferrari and gaining that additional point for fastest lap was a real positive for him, which I'm sure he will take confidence from."
Renault F1 Team's Daniel Ricciardo secured his first points in black and yellow in the Heineken Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit; the landmark 1,000th race in Formula 1 history.
Daniel's seventh place finish, after starting the race in the same grid position, meant the Australian took home six points to open his 2019 account.
Nico Hulkenberg retired from the race on lap 16 shortly after his pit-stop, with the team investigating an MGU-K issue on his car.
Nico started from P8 on Pirelli's used Soft (red) tyres, pitting on lap 11 for new Hard (white) tyres, before retiring on lap 16. Daniel started from P7 on used Soft tyres, pitting on lap 18 for new Hard tyres.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "We can be pleased that Daniel opened his points-scoring account with us this weekend. He drove an intelligent race to conserve the tyres on a one-stop strategy, which we had to adopt to maintain position despite the challenge of starting on the soft tyres. Nico, unfortunately, retired with an MGU-K related problem that we will investigate further after this weekend. We will look at the weekend as a whole and our focus switches to the next race."
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen brought home finishes of 11th and 13th, respectively, in the Chinese Grand Prix Sunday at Shanghai International Circuit, the third round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship and the 1,000th grand prix in Formula One history.
Grosjean, who started from the 10th grid position, chased Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon for the 10th and final points-paying position over the closing laps around the 5.451-kilometer (3.387-mile), 16-turn track but fell 1.020 seconds short at the checkered flag. He made his second and final pit stop 20 laps from the finish to take a fresh set of Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires in place of the White hard compound he used for the middle portion of the 56-lap race. Albon and the three finishers ahead of him all completed the race on just one stop.
Magnussen, who like Grosjean started the race on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires, struggled to maintain pace in the early going from his ninth starting position, falling back to 12th before pitting on lap 10 for a set of hards. He resumed in 17th and worked his way up to as high as 11th before pitting for a set of mediums on lap 35 that would take him the rest of the way. He settled into the 12th position by lap 46 and dropped a spot just before the finish.
Today's results dropped the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team on position to sixth in the constructors' standings, tied with McLaren with eight points each, four points behind Renault and Alfa Romeo who are tied for fourth, and one point ahead of eighth-place Racing Point.
Guenther Steiner: "Not the race we'd have hoped for. It seems that we had a very similar problem to what we had in Bahrain. It was déjà vu. So, we need to look into it, and work hard to get this issue sorted. We move on to the next one."
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "Racing can be very cruel sometimes, and today it was. Obviously, the first-lap incident destroyed our race, but we tried to do our best and raced hard to the end.
"Despite it all, there were several positives to come from this grand prix, particularly our race pace, which was very competitive when compared to the guys that finished in the points.
"We also learned more about our car on this very different track, and now we look ahead to another fighting weekend in Baku."
Andrew Green: "We leave China with four more points in the bag and today's result means we've scored points in every race so far this season. Sergio drove a skilful race and managed the tyres well. He got himself in a good position on lap one and stayed out of trouble to bring the car home in P8. Lance was close to scoring points today, but just didn't have the track position to make the one-stop strategy pay off. Losing out to Albon at the first pit stop proved costly and he spent most of the afternoon chasing the Toro Rosso, fighting for the final point. We switched Lance to a two-stop strategy late in the race - taking a gamble - and giving him the final few laps on the soft tyre. He managed to pass Magnussen on the final lap, but there were a lot of blue flags to deal with which made things tricky. He made a great start and drove well, but the strategy didn't quite play out in his favour today."
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "It was a tricky weekend for us, having faced some technical issues on Friday and Saturday. Both drivers did a good job in the race today, managing their individual situations well. We scored some more points with Kimi finishing in P9. Antonio showed a consistent performance and finished the race in the midfield, after starting from the back row. We have some work ahead and will push to come back stronger in Baku."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "This event has certainly been a very busy one for the mechanics. However, to start from the pit lane with one car and to score a point with it is a fantastic reward for the hard work of these guys and the rest of the team. In terms of the race itself, Alex has put in a strong performance today, pushing when required to obtain track position and then managing his tyres well in order to defend 10th position. Dany's race was less smooth with contact on the opening lap resulting in damage and a drive through penalty. A nose change was required as a consequence of the incident, so taking points away was going to be a challenge, even if his pace was quite reasonable. Today we have seen again that the midfield is very competitive and we are looking forwards to Baku."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "From the beginning of the weekend we had a very competitive package. We were strong in the midfield, so we went into Qualifying quite optimistic for a good result. Unfortunately, Alex had a crash at the end of FP3 which caused a decent amount of damage to the car. We changed the monocoque and built a completely new car which meant he missed Qualifying and had to start from the pit lane. He drove a fantastic race, overtook many drivers and finished inside the points in 10th position, which showed how good our package has been this weekend. Daniil's race was unfortunately not as successful, he had a crash on the first lap after being hit from behind which destabilised the car. At the same time, Norris returned to the track after going wide and hit Daniil's front left-hand side of the car. In my opinion, Daniil couldn't do anything different, nevertheless the Stewards decided to give him a drive through penalty. Later in the race when Daniil made his pit stop, we detected damage on the front nose probably caused by his lap one incident. We made another stop to change the front wing which put him a lap down, therefore we decided to retire the car to save engine mileage. This was disappointing because Daniil's lap times were very competitive and I'm convinced he could have scored points today."
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director): "It is good to have three cars in the points again. Alex did incredibly well to come back from that very big accident on Saturday morning and go from pit lane to tenth at the flag and pick up another point. Well done also to the team who worked so hard to get the car ready for the race. It was a busy weekend on the PU side. Now we must analyse the problems we had with Daniil's PU. It was a shame his car was damaged in that incident on the opening lap, preventing him from having a strong race. We will keep pushing hard on the development front in order to close the gap to the front runners for further races."
George Russell finished 16th and Robert Kubica 17th in the Chinese Grand Prix. Both drivers started on the medium Pirelli tyre, with George lining up 17th on the grid and Robert 18th. The Brit ran a two-stop race, pitting on lap 22 for the hard tyre before switching onto the soft on lap 49 for a final short stint. Robert made his first and only pitstop of the race on lap 26 switching to the hard Pirelli tyre.
Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: We had an enjoyable race today and were able to race a couple of cars who had found themselves a little out of position following their first lap incidents. We had clean, well-driven races from both drivers and were able to execute a sensible one-stop strategy with Robert. We tried a similar strategy with George, but the length of the stint and the loss of some tyre temperature meant that ultimately, we opted to pit George for a second time and allow him to finish the race on a new qualifying tyre. We have made some improvements to the car this weekend and have started to close the gap. We also tested some new components which may help us close the gap further in the coming races. The next race on the streets of Baku will pose a new set of challenges, but we are ready to meet those as we continue to learn about the FW42.
Lewis Hamilton has made it three one-two finishes for Mercedes from the first three grands prix of the season, after leading from the first corner. The majority of the field stopped twice during the 1000th race in Formula 1 history, with the top five finishers adopting identical two-stop medium-hard-medium strategies. Cooler temperatures than anticipated influenced tyre behaviour in the race.
Tactics were at the forefront of the race, with each of the top teams monitoring each other closely and reacting accordingly.
Following a very warm Saturday, conditions today were cooler and more overcast, with air temperature peaking at 21 degrees and track temperature at 29 degrees.
At each of the stops, Red Bull and Max Verstappen were the first to pit - prompting their rivals to do the same. The top five on the grid, who all started on the medium tyre, were also the top five at the finish - albeit in a slightly different order.
Red Bull's Pierre Gasly was the highest-placed driver to start on the soft tyre, starting and finishing in sixth place after using all three compounds (along with seven other drivers). He made a third stop with one lap to go to put on the soft tyre and score the point for fastest lap.
Toro Rosso's Alex Albon scored a point with 10th place after starting from the pit lane: he stopped once from soft to hard (the same strategy as Renault's Daniel Ricciardo).
Mario Isola: "Today was cooler than yesterday, a factor that affected the performance of the hard tyre and led the frontrunners to put on the medium in order to find extra performance in the final stint. Strategy was a key element of the race, with all the teams watching each other carefully and timing their pit stops to counteract moves from their rivals. We even saw both Mercedes cars stop on the same lap. The majority of the drivers stopped twice, but we saw an interesting mix of one and two stop strategies - as well as even three stops for Pierre Gasly, who used an extra stop for the soft tyre to his advantage by claiming the point for fastest lap. Congratulations also to Alex Albon, who turned round an unfortunate situation yesterday to score a point."
