First of all happy 10th anniversary for the Chinese Grand Prix!
The first event back in 2004 ended with Rubens Barrichello taking the checkered flag as the race winner followed by Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen.
Michael Schumacher had spun off the track in qualifying and didn't set a time. He started from the pit lane and was 12th in the race.
Then in 2005 Renault was the best car so the podium had the two Renaults in front (Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella) and Kimi Räikkönen was best of the rest in third.
The next year in 2006 the same thing - Renault was the best car but what is this? The Renaults were 2nd and 3rd and the winner was Michael Schumacher! Well.. the 2nd best car was Ferrari so it wasn't that strange.
My favorite race in China was probably in 2007. McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had been the favorites for the championship and in this race something else happened. Their luck changed and the black horse (also known as the Iceman) started breathing down their necks. Hamilton made a mistake and then...
Kimi won the race! He really needed that victory. Alonso was 2nd in his McLaren, Felipe Massa was third in his Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel was 4th in his Toro Rosso which was his best result at that point and here's his reaction...
In 2008 Hamilton didn't make a mistake and won the race followed by the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen.
The year after that it was all about Brawn GP and Red Bull started showing some improvement as well. In this race Sebastian Vettel took the first win ever for Red Bull and Mark Webber was 2nd which made it a perfect day for them. Jenson Button was 3rd after winning the two previous races.
In 2010 Red Bull were very hungry after they barely lost to Brawn in 2009. They wanted to win more than ever but the man who had switched teams from Brawn to McLaren (Jenson Button) won the race! His teammate Lewis Hamilton was 2nd and Nico Rosberg was 3rd.
Then in 2011 it was the other McLaren, Lewis Hamilton who won the race. This time the Red Bull's were right behind in 2nd and 3rd.
In 2012 Lewis Hamilton's current teammate Nico Rosberg took his maiden victory in Shanghai followed by Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton was on the podium in 2013 as well but in 3rd. Just Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen were in front of him.
It seems that the most successful drivers at Shanghai are Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel.. oh and Nico Rosberg too! So the champions and a future champion perhaps.
Then it's time for my guesses as usual but this time it's a bit different. We started a predictors league on the Facebook page as some of you may know so I am forced to give you the same top3 answer as I gave earlier. Pole position, fastest lap and surprise is not in the game but I will continue posting those predictions as well.
If you don't know what I am talking about then check out this link: http://f14life.blogspot.fi/2014/04/we-have-made-this-season-more.html
Please join the league because it's more fun to predict these results together and not just me doing it alone. You will see that this is actually very difficult even though Mercedes is by far the best team.
OK so let's do this!
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
The race:
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Surprise: Nico Hülkenberg, Force India
That was it for today. Tomorrow I will post everything about the press conferences.
