Grill the grid - Nico Hulkenberg

Winners and Losers - China

With his sixth victory in a row Nico Rosberg was the clear winner in Shanghai on Sunday. But who else left with a tasty Chinese takeaway - and who endured a dog's dinner of a race?

The winners…

Nico Rosberg and Mercedes
Nico Rosberg might choose to play things down right now by reminding all and sundry that there are still another 18 rounds of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship to go, but even Mr Cool must be very chuffed by his 17th victory and his third from three races.

As everything went wrong for his main rivals, he dominated the race in great style and yet again never put a wheel wrong as he headed Sebastian Vettel home by 37.7s. It doesn’t get much better than that.


Red Bull
Christian Horner admitted prior to the start that he doubted his team would truly be able to fight for victory, and also suspected that Ferrari’s pace would prove insurmountable. But there was Daniel Ricciardo leading for the first three laps, as Daniil Kvyat blasted down the inside of the Ferraris in the first corner to put Rosberg’s Mercedes in an energy drink sandwich.

It was a shame that Ricciardo then had a debris-induced puncture as Rosberg sped by, but the Australian’s fight back to fourth was one of the highlights of the race and proof that the Red Bull side of the chassis-power unit performance equation is back to its 2010-2013 standards.

Kvyat’s drive to fend off Vettel initially, then follow him home to complete the podium was further proof that you underestimate the team from Milton Keynes at your peril.


Sebastian Vettel
When he clobbered team mate Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen at the start and dropped down to seventh place, it looked like things were over for Sebastian Vettel. But even though he needed a new nose when he stopped under the safety car on the fourth lap, and later damaged the replacement in a collision with Valtteri Bottas, the German was able to exploit good strategy to force his way back up to an albeit distant second place by the finish. That’s a win in anyone’s book.

Max Verstappen
At one stage the young Dutch star was back in 17th place after he had an indifferent opening lap and was then stacked behind Toro Rosso team mate Carlos Sainz during the pit stops on the fourth lap, but you can’t keep a good man down. He put his foot down and drove another of his sensational races to claw his way back into contention, and in the closing laps overhauled Button, Alonso, Perez, Sainz and Bottas to scratch his way up to eighth. With one more lap he likely would have had Hamilton, too.

Pascal Wehrlein
The Manor driver’s plan was to let Hamilton go by at the start then nail himself to the Mercedes’ gearbox in the hope of following it through the field. But when the world champion met trouble in Turn 1, the young German rookie did it his own way. He was 15th at the end of that opening lap, then fourth as his medium tyres carried him on as so many supersoft-shod rivals pitted under the safety car.

He then dropped to fifth, but defended that cleanly but forcefully for a while from more experienced drivers in much faster cars. Inevitably he fell back down the order, but it was yet another reminder that he is very much a man to watch.

And the losers…

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes
What does the world champion have to do to catch a break in 2016?

He came to China determined to avoid having yet another damage limitation weekend, but first there was the gearbox change and the prospect of a five-place grid drop, then the MGU-H ERS problem in Q1 which prompted an engine change and forced him to start from the back row.

He had made up three places in the first corner, when he got collected by Felipe Nasr, who had to take avoiding action as the errant Kimi Raikkonen veered back on to the track. Delayed by the need to stop for a new front wing, then further hampered by two more stops before the sixth lap, he battled with a car which had yet again lost downforce as a result of collision damage, and could not better seventh when, with only slightly better fortune, fourth was a possibility. As a result, he trails his team mate by 36 points.


Kimi Raikkonen
The veteran Finn looked his most convincing in a long while in China, and seemed set to play a key role in the race until he got hit by his team mate in the first corner. The resultant damage spun him off, then necessitated a stop for a new nose and tyres. After that he struggled initially, but was later able to fight back to fifth on a day when, with only slightly better luck, he might have challenged for victory.


Romain Grosjean
It was his 30th birthday, but the star of Australia and Bahrain didn’t get the present he and Haas were hoping for. A collision with Marcus Ericsson on the opening lap forced him pitward for a new nose, and then he got stacked and further delayed when everyone dived into the pits under the safety car on the fourth lap. Thus, for the first time in their F1 career, Haas scored nil points. Two fastest laps, on the 47th and 48th laps when Grosjean was running supersoft tyres, were no consolation to either party.


Renault
No grip, no traction, poor balance and severe tyre degradation - the Chinese race was a horrible one that Renault will not want to remember, as Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer trailed home 17th and 22nd respectively, both a lap down on the leaders.

(source: f1.com)

2016 Chinese GP - Post Race Press Conference

2016 Chinese Grand Prix review

The start was very interesting again for the third time. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo took the lead and the Ferraris crashed. Sebastian Vettel was so focused on overtaking his teammate Kimi Raikkonen that he left the door open for Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat who overtook the German easily. Vettel crashed with Raikkonen who dropped back and had to pit. Vettel blamed Kvyat for the crash but has today already admitted that it was not Kvyat's fault.

At the back of the grid Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton crashed into one of the Saubers and lost his front wing. He also had to pit on the next lap.

Haas' Romain Grosjean also managed to crash with one of the Saubers and had a broken front wing. Now he also had to pit.

Ricciardo was flying in the front but lost his lead to the Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg when he had a puncture. Now Ricciardo also had to pit in the end of lap 3.

The safety car was deployed on lap 4 because there was so much stuff on the track. Vettel pitted right away and managed to overtake 2 cars just before the pit lane. He had to go two wheels on the grass but did a good job.

Hamilton also pitted on lap 6 and again on lap 7 so that he could continue with the soft tyres as much as possible.

Two laps later the safety car pitted and the race continued with Vettel overtaking 8 cars on 3 laps. Very good work from the 4 time world champion. He continued overtaking cars after this as well but not as fast as on those three laps. Everything went as he had planned but he still managed to have contact with Williams' Valtteri Bottas when he crashed into his rear tyre. Luckily nobody got any serious damage from that. In the end Vettel was second and seemed to be happy with the result because Rosberg was too far away in front.

Red Bull was very strong this weekend! Ricciardo started by leading the race and was fourth at the checkered flag. His teammate Kvyat was third and got his first podium of the season. Red Bull is clearly the third best team now.

All in all Raikkonen did a very good job getting his car to the finish line in fifth. He had been in last place at one point so it was a great day for the Iceman.

Hamilton on the other hand was a disappointment for me. I really thought he would make it to the podium in China even though he started from the back. His car is so good that it was possible.

Rosberg is the only driver from the whole grid who has managed to win the three first races on any season of their careers. It looks like this season will be much more interesting to follow if Hamilton starts to catch his teammate a bit and I am sure that he will. There's still a lot of races to go.

And then as usual it's time for the predictions and how it went.

Pole position: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - CORRECT.

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG, he was 7th because he started the race from the back.
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG, he won the race.
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG, he was 2nd and Daniil Kvyat was 3rd.

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG, Daniel Ricciardo was fastest.

Surprise: Keep an eye on Valtteri Bottas - He overtook several cars very nicely but I didn't see anything surprising about it. He could have done better in my opinion. It seems that Williams is now the fourth best team though.

Join our PREDICTORS LEAGUE now!





POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW, MH, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2016 PREDICTORS LEAGUE standings after the Chinese GP

1. Larry Gallagher - 23 points

2. James Redman - 21 points

3. Leonardo Machado - 18 points

4. AE (F1-4-LIFE) - 15 points

4. JI (F1-4-LIFE) - 15 points

4. Darcy P. Lang - 15 points

7. Denis Borges Nastasi - 13 points

8. JT (F1-4-LIFE) - 8 points

8. PM (F1-4-LIFE) - 8 points

9. MW (F1-4-LIFE) - 0 points

9. MH (F1-4-LIFE) - 0 points

9. Vitor Lobo - 0 points

9. Dylan Curry - 0 points

Come onboard in the next GP if you want to be a part of our league!

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW, MH, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2016 Driver Standings after the Chinese GP

2016 Constructor Standings after the Chinese GP