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Formula 1
COOPER: Chinese GP Team-By-Team
A breakdown of how each of the 12 F1 teams performed throughout the weekend in Shanghai...
Teammates Jenson Button (Right) and Lewis Hamilton (Left) held down two podium spots in China. (Photo: Getty Images)
The Chinese GP looked good on paper and it delivered everything we hoped, with action up and down the field. While there was chaos behind, Nico Rosberg stayed safely clear of it, putting in a perfect drive and making his Pirellis work over a two-stop strategy when rivals thought it impossible.
Behind him the order see-sawed as strategies played out and some drivers asked too much of their tires with impossibly long final stints.
Here’s how things worked out for each of the teams:
Red Bull Racing
RBR’s struggles to get up to speed were emphasized when the team ran two different specs, with Sebastian Vettel using the old exhaust arrangement and Mark Webber the new one. The Aussie qualified seventh, gaining a spot from Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, while Vettel could manage only 11th. His weekend got worse when he made a bad start and tumbled down the order, and thereafter it was a tough fight for the German. Helped by a two-stop strategy, he worked his way up to be as high second in the closing laps but going from lap 31 to the end was too much to ask. His tires were finished and he fell back to fifth, three-stopper Webber passing him right at the end to claim fourth.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton’s weekend got off to a bad start when damage from Malaysia led to a gearbox change and a five-place penalty. He qualified second and thus dropped down to seventh, which helped teammate Jenson Button move up from sixth to fifth. Both men gained on the first lap with Jenson getting up to third and Hamilton fifth. A three-stop strategy with two stints on options gave them good pace, and the team hoped that Jenson would catch Nico Rosberg in the final stint. However, a bad pit stop put him into traffic and he had to settle for second. Hamilton lost time in traffic and spent a lot of the race battling past people. He still managed third for the third time this year.
Ferrari
Ferrari again struggled for pace, and in the end Fernando Alonso did well to earn ninth. Felipe Massa, meanwhile, had to settle for 12th, although he was happy to be that high after struggling earlier in the weekend. The team went for different strategies on Sunday with Massa starting on the prime tire and stopping only twice. A long first stint put him briefly into second, but he fell back to 13th by the flag. Alonso had a typically feisty race and ran in the top five for a while, chasing Lewis Hamilton. However, he was shuffled down the order and ultimately could not better ninth.
Mercedes
With its ‘double DRS’ system pronounced legal, Mercedes really showed its qualifying pace as Nico Rosberg took pole by over 0.5s. Quickest on Friday, Michael Schumacher was third but moved onto the front row thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s penalty. Rosberg made a great start and thereafter put in a faultless performance. Tire concerns were forgotten as he was able to make a two-stop strategy work, and the threat from Jenson Button ended when McLaren had a bad pit stop. Schumacher ran second but a front wheel was not tightened at his first stop due to the nut not being aligned, and he had to retire.
Lotus
Lotus had some updates but they didn’t work and the team went back to the old spec. Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth and gained a spot from Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, but he was disappointed with the pace. Romain Grosjean made a mistake in Q2 and had to use all his tires to make Q3. He did not do a lap, so started 10th. Raikkonen ran fourth in the early stages and went for a two-stop strategy. His last stop was too early, however, and after holding up a queue of cars in second place, he lost grip and fell back to 14th. Grosjean was in the thick of the action for much of the race and finished a good sixth.
Force India
The Force India drivers were happy enough with the behavior of the VJM05, but the car simply lacked pace over one lap, with Paul Di Resta taking 15th and Nico Hulkenberg a place behind him in 16th. Di Resta made a good start and gained a couple of places, and had a solid race just outside the top 10 pack. However, the lack of attrition meant that he couldn’t rise any higher than 12th. Hulkenberg suffered front wing damage on the first lap, so his first stop was brought forward and the nose was changed. He finished 15th.
Sauber
After the great race in Malaysia, Sauber found some impressive qualifying form in China as Kamui Kobayashi earned fourth, before being gifted third by Lewis Hamilton’s penalty. Sergio Perez was less happy with the car but still earned eighth. Things started to go wrong for Kobayashi on the first lap as he dropped down to seventh and his teammate got ahead. Once again, Perez ran a long first stint and by staying out he even led for three laps after Nico Rosberg stopped. Ultimately it didn’t work out as he slipped back to finish 11th while a disappointed Kobayashi at least managed to earn a point with 10th place.
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Like 2011 rivals Force India, Toro Rosso is struggling for pace at the moment, and the team admitted to being a bit lost. Daniel Ricciardo could manage only 17th, while Jean-Eric Vergne did not progress from Q1 and started behind his teammate in 18th. The team decided it had nothing to lose by dropping out of parc ferme, making big aerodynamic changes, and starting from the pitlane. After pitting four times, Vergne ultimately worked his way up to finish 16th, jumping his teammate, who finished just a place behind.
Williams
Williams didn’t have the pace to get a car into the top 10 and emerged from qualifying with Pastor Maldonado in 13th and Bruno Senna 14th and satisfied to be just 0.006s off his teammate. If the grid positions were disappointing, the race was much better. Senna was one of the few drivers to start on the prime tire, and he had a solid first stint, but it was in the latter part of the race that he worked his way to take seventh with another strong drive. Teammate Maldonado fought some big names along the way as he finished eighth as the team continues to show good Sunday form.
Caterham
Caterham had its customary place as Heikki Kovalainen took 19th, despite a scrappy session that saw him blocked by Pastor Maldonado, who received a reprimand. Vitaly Petrov started behind his teammate in 20th. After Sebastian Vettel made a bad start, Kovalainen found himself in the unusual position of battling with the World Champion. He held 16th for a while but lost a lot of time when he felt a problem with the rear and had to come back to the pits. He resumed but lost a couple of laps and finished only 23rd. Petrov had a relatively uneventful run to 18th.
Marussia
Timo Glock had an alarming incident on Friday when his nose became detached under braking for Turn One and he speared off the track. On Saturday he earned 21st, while Charles Pic showed signs of progress in 22nd. A lack of attrition made progress difficult but a delay for Heikki Kovalainen at least allowed Glock to finish 19th and second in the battle of the youngest teams. After a reliable race for Marussia, Pic followed him home in 20th, finishing just 0.3 behind his veteran teammate as he gained some useful experience.
HRT
After the panic of the first couple of races, HRT admitted to being more under control in China, but the cars were still well off the pace even of Marussia. Pedro de la Rosa, who had a reprimand for blocking Bruno Senna in qualifying, started 23rd, while Narain Karthikeyan was 24th and last. Both drivers made bad starts and were thus consigned to run around at the back for the duration, with blue flags inevitably making their life difficult. De La Rosa ultimately finished only one lap down in 21st, while Karthikeyan was a place behind him as the cars at least showed good reliability.
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
Behind him the order see-sawed as strategies played out and some drivers asked too much of their tires with impossibly long final stints.
Here’s how things worked out for each of the teams:
Red Bull Racing
RBR’s struggles to get up to speed were emphasized when the team ran two different specs, with Sebastian Vettel using the old exhaust arrangement and Mark Webber the new one. The Aussie qualified seventh, gaining a spot from Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, while Vettel could manage only 11th. His weekend got worse when he made a bad start and tumbled down the order, and thereafter it was a tough fight for the German. Helped by a two-stop strategy, he worked his way up to be as high second in the closing laps but going from lap 31 to the end was too much to ask. His tires were finished and he fell back to fifth, three-stopper Webber passing him right at the end to claim fourth.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton’s weekend got off to a bad start when damage from Malaysia led to a gearbox change and a five-place penalty. He qualified second and thus dropped down to seventh, which helped teammate Jenson Button move up from sixth to fifth. Both men gained on the first lap with Jenson getting up to third and Hamilton fifth. A three-stop strategy with two stints on options gave them good pace, and the team hoped that Jenson would catch Nico Rosberg in the final stint. However, a bad pit stop put him into traffic and he had to settle for second. Hamilton lost time in traffic and spent a lot of the race battling past people. He still managed third for the third time this year.
Ferrari
Ferrari again struggled for pace, and in the end Fernando Alonso did well to earn ninth. Felipe Massa, meanwhile, had to settle for 12th, although he was happy to be that high after struggling earlier in the weekend. The team went for different strategies on Sunday with Massa starting on the prime tire and stopping only twice. A long first stint put him briefly into second, but he fell back to 13th by the flag. Alonso had a typically feisty race and ran in the top five for a while, chasing Lewis Hamilton. However, he was shuffled down the order and ultimately could not better ninth.
Mercedes
With its ‘double DRS’ system pronounced legal, Mercedes really showed its qualifying pace as Nico Rosberg took pole by over 0.5s. Quickest on Friday, Michael Schumacher was third but moved onto the front row thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s penalty. Rosberg made a great start and thereafter put in a faultless performance. Tire concerns were forgotten as he was able to make a two-stop strategy work, and the threat from Jenson Button ended when McLaren had a bad pit stop. Schumacher ran second but a front wheel was not tightened at his first stop due to the nut not being aligned, and he had to retire.
Lotus
Lotus had some updates but they didn’t work and the team went back to the old spec. Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth and gained a spot from Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, but he was disappointed with the pace. Romain Grosjean made a mistake in Q2 and had to use all his tires to make Q3. He did not do a lap, so started 10th. Raikkonen ran fourth in the early stages and went for a two-stop strategy. His last stop was too early, however, and after holding up a queue of cars in second place, he lost grip and fell back to 14th. Grosjean was in the thick of the action for much of the race and finished a good sixth.
Force India
The Force India drivers were happy enough with the behavior of the VJM05, but the car simply lacked pace over one lap, with Paul Di Resta taking 15th and Nico Hulkenberg a place behind him in 16th. Di Resta made a good start and gained a couple of places, and had a solid race just outside the top 10 pack. However, the lack of attrition meant that he couldn’t rise any higher than 12th. Hulkenberg suffered front wing damage on the first lap, so his first stop was brought forward and the nose was changed. He finished 15th.
Sauber
After the great race in Malaysia, Sauber found some impressive qualifying form in China as Kamui Kobayashi earned fourth, before being gifted third by Lewis Hamilton’s penalty. Sergio Perez was less happy with the car but still earned eighth. Things started to go wrong for Kobayashi on the first lap as he dropped down to seventh and his teammate got ahead. Once again, Perez ran a long first stint and by staying out he even led for three laps after Nico Rosberg stopped. Ultimately it didn’t work out as he slipped back to finish 11th while a disappointed Kobayashi at least managed to earn a point with 10th place.
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Like 2011 rivals Force India, Toro Rosso is struggling for pace at the moment, and the team admitted to being a bit lost. Daniel Ricciardo could manage only 17th, while Jean-Eric Vergne did not progress from Q1 and started behind his teammate in 18th. The team decided it had nothing to lose by dropping out of parc ferme, making big aerodynamic changes, and starting from the pitlane. After pitting four times, Vergne ultimately worked his way up to finish 16th, jumping his teammate, who finished just a place behind.
Williams
Williams didn’t have the pace to get a car into the top 10 and emerged from qualifying with Pastor Maldonado in 13th and Bruno Senna 14th and satisfied to be just 0.006s off his teammate. If the grid positions were disappointing, the race was much better. Senna was one of the few drivers to start on the prime tire, and he had a solid first stint, but it was in the latter part of the race that he worked his way to take seventh with another strong drive. Teammate Maldonado fought some big names along the way as he finished eighth as the team continues to show good Sunday form.
Caterham
Caterham had its customary place as Heikki Kovalainen took 19th, despite a scrappy session that saw him blocked by Pastor Maldonado, who received a reprimand. Vitaly Petrov started behind his teammate in 20th. After Sebastian Vettel made a bad start, Kovalainen found himself in the unusual position of battling with the World Champion. He held 16th for a while but lost a lot of time when he felt a problem with the rear and had to come back to the pits. He resumed but lost a couple of laps and finished only 23rd. Petrov had a relatively uneventful run to 18th.
Marussia
Timo Glock had an alarming incident on Friday when his nose became detached under braking for Turn One and he speared off the track. On Saturday he earned 21st, while Charles Pic showed signs of progress in 22nd. A lack of attrition made progress difficult but a delay for Heikki Kovalainen at least allowed Glock to finish 19th and second in the battle of the youngest teams. After a reliable race for Marussia, Pic followed him home in 20th, finishing just 0.3 behind his veteran teammate as he gained some useful experience.
HRT
After the panic of the first couple of races, HRT admitted to being more under control in China, but the cars were still well off the pace even of Marussia. Pedro de la Rosa, who had a reprimand for blocking Bruno Senna in qualifying, started 23rd, while Narain Karthikeyan was 24th and last. Both drivers made bad starts and were thus consigned to run around at the back for the duration, with blue flags inevitably making their life difficult. De La Rosa ultimately finished only one lap down in 21st, while Karthikeyan was a place behind him as the cars at least showed good reliability.
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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