Red China

A perfect race for Fernando Alonso who dominated an interesting Chinese Grand Prix that while dominated by tire considerations and strategy non the less presented some good scraps and confirmation the 2013 Ferrari has plenty of race pace. The only sour note for Ferrari was the less than stellar performance from Massa who got lost during the race and only managed sixth on a day when Ferrari could have made up more ground on Red Bull in the Constructor's Championship.

Red Bull's qualifying gamble and race strategy, starting on hard tires from further back on the griddid not pay off.   Webber who started from pit lane,  tried a bonehead low percentage pass on Vergne's Toro Rosso and had to pit earlier than planned for a new nose.  During his service, Red Bull made yet another error on Webber's car and did not tighten the read right wheel which then came off, right in front of Vettel.
RBR seem to be in a bit of a Multi-21 daze.

Raikkonen also managed to mess up his nose and front wing when he ran into the back of a weaving Perez but did not change it in the pits with Lotus opting to keep track position.  Kimi showed aerodynamics who's boss  as he managed to keep Hamilton at bay for more than half the race.  "yes, yes, frontwingwhatever".  Brilliant and it makes you wonder how good the Lotus might have been with a complete front wing.

Hamilton's Mercedes did not live up to the promise of qualifying but Brawn's team have certainly made progress with that car. Hamilton had some great overtakes and great moments with both Kimi and Button. It's a new Lewis.



Pirelli's brief is to deal wild cards, well, that they did.  4 useful laps on the option tire must be a record of sorts. Not totally convinced about a race where so much is determined by tire performance delta.

However, as long as everyone's given the same lemons...  Let's see who will make the best lemonade in Bahrain in six days time.

results after the break




(result tables via Autosport.com)

The Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, China;
56 laps; 305.066km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h36:26.945
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 10.168s
3. Hamilton Mercedes + 12.322s
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 12.525s
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 35.285s
6. Massa Ferrari + 40.827s
7. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 42.691s
8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 51.084s
9. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 53.423s
10. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 56.598s
11. Perez McLaren-Mercedes + 1m03.860s
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m12.604s
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1m33.861s
14. Bottas Williams-Renault + 1m35.453s
15. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Pic Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1m36.808s

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Rosberg Mercedes 22
Webber Red Bull-Renault 16
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 6
Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 5


World Championship standings, round 3:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 52 1. Red Bull-Renault 78
2. Raikkonen 49 2. Ferrari 73
3. Alonso 43 3. Lotus-Renault 60
4. Hamilton 40 4. Mercedes 52
5. Massa 30 5. Force India-Mercedes 14
6. Webber 26 6. McLaren-Mercedes 14
7. Button 12 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
8. Rosberg 12 8. Sauber-Ferrari 5
9. Grosjean 11
10. Di Resta 8
11. Ricciardo 6
12. Sutil 6
13. Hulkenberg 5
14. Perez 2
15. Vergne 1

All timing unofficial