China – The Day After

The 2012 Chinese Grand Prix was an eye-opener for the entire field of cars, as Mercedes managed to lock out the front, albeit due to Hamilton´s penalty, but there cannot be any doubt the fact, that Mercedes has found gold.

The season has started without the ‘usual’ win for Vettel, and the young double world champion is struggling to find the right pace. Frerrari is also not where they want to be, but Alonso´s 9th place is probably where the team should expect to be the next few races. Of course no one can dismiss the idea that Mercedes is aided by their controversial, but legal, W-duct system, but after three races we still cannot be absolutely sure that one driver is stronger than the other. At least not for the moment.

So to the awards:

Driver of the day: Nico Rosberg

Who else could be the driver of the day? Nico Rosberg wins his first race, a long time coming after debuting in 2006. He started by being impressively fast in his first race, and did show some very good performances over the next couple of seasons. But it has always been a question of being ‘almost there’, and ‘good-effort-but-you-need-a-little-bit-more’. I am not saying that Rosberg is now the man to beat, by no means, but he has certainly showed that Mercedes are in a lot better shape than they were last year. Well done to Rosberg, a huge congratulations are in order, and we are all looking forward to seeing more from the poplar driver.

The That´s Actually Not So Bad Award: Romain Grosjean

When Lotus announced that they had secured the services of Romain Grosjean, a lot of pundits and fans thought that the team had seriously lost it. After a tough half season for Renault back in 2009, replacing Nelson Piquet after the Singapore Sling Scandal, sorry but that´s what I call it, no one thought that he could do much. But the Lotus is fast, it looks like they are in good shape to take some points from the top teams and Grosjean seems to be coping a lot better with the tyres. He has also proved that he really has talent, and I for one, and tipping my hat to the young driver,

The Oh Come On Award: Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen was running in second at one time in China, but ver the course of two laps he lost ten positions and ended up well outside the points, in a lonely 14th place. I understand that He is coming back after a two year hiatus and he needs to learn about the new tyres. But so does Grosjean, and he is managing it much better. Lotus could well have pitted Kimi a few laps earlier, sent him back out and he could have scored fourth perhaps. The tyres simply ran out of performance in the last ten laps, and the Finn couldn´t help the many drivers overtake him. A tough result to cope with, but at least now Lotus knows how Kimi uses his tyres. Next time….

The Back To The Drawing Board Award: Toro Rosso

I could easily give this one to HRT, on account of them being the slowest team. But Toro Rosso seems to have been taking a few steps backwards this season. Six points in the first three races, none from China, is disappointing. I would have hoped to see Verge and Ricciardo a bit further up on the standings. Back to the drawing board, guys.

The Thank You For Not Whining Anymore Award: Red Bull

Red Bull pointed fingers at Mercedes because of the wing system that were subsequently deemed legal, but has been whining about almost anything and everything since the first race. And they then decided to sneak out the side door when Lotus lodged the official protest against the wing system, and left Lotus with the losing arguments. Still, I see a team that has now realised that they themselves can change the performance, and I am looking forward to seeing it.

Rosberg takes commanding victory in China

Nici Rosberg took his first race win of his career in China, as the German racer lead the race at Shanghai International Circuit from start to finish.

The lead was only briely interrupted by the usual pit stops, but Rosberg never looked to be having any trouble in staying ahead of the pack. The race also marked the first win for Mercedes since 1955, and Rosberg was extatic about the result.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Rosberg said. “Very cool, very happy, very excited, and it’s been a long time coming for me. And for the team also; the past two years and a bit and now it’s finally there so it’s just amazing. It’s just really nice to see also how quickly we are now progressing. I didn’t expect to be that fast today, I expected that we had a good chance to be in front but I’m very happy with the pace that I was able to go in the race.

“Big thanks to the whole team because all the engineers especially in the last few weeks have been working very hard also, as everybody else has. It’s just improving the setup because we really struggled in the first two races with the race pace and today it all came good which is great to see, again how quickly we’ve managed to progress it’s just fantastic.”

When the qualifying round was over on Saturday, it was clear that 2012 is going to be a very different season than expected. Rosberg on pole, ahead of team mate Michael Schumacher. With Kamui Kobayashi in third and Kimi Raikkonen in fourth, and most notably Sebastian Vettel down in 11th place, the grid promised an awesome race.

And awesome it was. Rosberg in front, but on lap 12 Schumacher had to retire due to a loose wheel from his pit stop. Button was now in second, with Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber following. Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa enjoyed brief visits at the front, but the many overtakings and close battles, meant that they could never really be a threat to the top positions.

There werea short period of time when Button lead Rosberg, the two drivers were on different pit stop strategies, but unfortunately for Button, the left rear wheel took five extra seconds, and Rosberg glided past on the track, never looking back.

The end results was a win for Nico Rosberg, a truly well-deserved victory for the popular German drivr, followed by Button 20 seconds behind and Lewis Hamilton in third, a further six seconds behind Button.

Red Bull was lucky to get away with fourth and fifth place for Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel respectively, especially considering that Vettel lingered in eleventh for a long time. Romain Grosjean finished in sixth pace, a very good result, considering team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who was in the top three at one point, found himself losing ten places in just two laps, due to old tyres. Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado for Williams, came seventh and eighth, with Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi ninth and tenth or Ferrari and Sauber.

Sergio Perez eleventh ahead of Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg finished 15th ahead of the two Toro Rosso drivers, Vergne and Ricciardo, Petrov finished 18th for Caterham, while team mate Heikki Kovalainen ended his race deadlast. Timo Glock and Charles Pic for Marussia in 19 and 20, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan 21 and 22.

Lewis Hamilton is now leading the championship with 45 points, ahead of Jenson Button, 43 points. Fernando Alonso has dropped to third with 37, Mark Webber a point behind with 36, and Sebastian Vettel has 28 points in fifth place.

Rosberg grabs pole in China

In a rather surprising turn of events, Mercedes´ Nico Rosberg has secured his first ever pole position and making history while doing it.

Mercedes has not been on pole since Juan Manuel Fangio´s pole position at Monza in 1955, and the German racer set a blinding lap, by being more than half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton.

While Mark Webber was fastest on medium tyres for some time, but the soft tyres, which many other drivers opted for, was simply a lot faster. Eventually, Sergio Perez won the first of the three qualifying sessions, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean.

In Q2 Fernando Alonso redeemed himself quite a bit, after being 15th in the final practice this morning, the Spaniard was one of many drivers who pushed world champion Sebastian Vettel out of Q2, a rather surprising result. The lap times were very close in Q2, Webber´s fastest lap was 1:35.700 was just 0.331 faster than Vettel´s time, however the double world champion was not able to snek into the top. The session ended with Vettel in 11, Massa behind , then Maldonado in 13th, Senna, di Resta, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo.

The final shootout was where it all came together. Nico Rosberg set his fastest lap, went back to the pits, climbed out and didn´t feel the need to go back out. And rightfully so. It was up to the rest of the runners to do what they could to close the huge gap of half a second up to Rosberg, but the times stood.

So on pole we have Nico Rosberg for the first time, congratulations are in order, followed by Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button,  Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton(P2, but received five place penalty), Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean.

 

China FP3: Hamilton goes fastest again

Lewis Hamilton once again set the fastest time in a practice session, as he topped the final session in Shanghai this morning.

The Briton is in good shape to take another pole position, he has so far been dominant in the first two qualifying sessions, but they have yet to materialize themselves into a race win. Also the McLaren driver will have to move five places down the grid, as he needs to change the gearbox of his car before the race.

Team mate Jenson BUtton managed second place, just a tenth behind Hamilton, while Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg lead Michael Schumacher for third and fourth, four and six tenths off the pace respectively. Red Bull´s Mark Webber in fifth, ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, with Sebastian Vettel in a lowly ninth and Kimi Raikkonen finishing the top ten.

Ferrari´s Fernando Alonso was down in 15th place, with Felipe Massa in 18th.

Marussia searching for answers to broken nose

During the second practice session in Shanghai this morning, Timo Glock´s nosecone on his Marussia racer flew off, apparently for no reason. The team is searching for answers to how this could happen.

Halfway through the second session, Glock was suddenly seen going off, with a missing nose cone. Footage didn´t reveal much, other than that the front of the car seemed to simply fall off. Glock was lucky not to crash into the barriers.

“I’m fine,” said Glock, who climbed from the car, grabbing his left hand, which seemed injured in some way. “I had a bit of a problem at the first moment with my left hand – it was just the impact, but it’s fine.”

Timo Glock was, as the rest if us, in the dark as to what exactly happened.

“I don’t know, we have to see the footage, I have no idea. I came down the straight and went straight on. I don’t know when (the front wing) came off, because I just saw it off when I jumped out of the car.”

 

China FP2: Schumacher fastest

Michael Schumacher managed to put his Mercedes on the top spot in the second practice session at Shanghai International Circuit, with 1:35.973 as his best time.

Timo Glock delivered some drama, as his nose cone flew off his Marussia car and he had to leave the car on track for the marshalls to pick up. The team will need to figure out how this happened.

Schumacher´s time was set 52 minutes into the session, and second placed Lewis Hamilton finished 0,172 behind the German. Another German, double world champion Sebastian Vettel, came in third, and his team mate Mark Webber finished fourth. Nico Rosberg ended his session in fifth, Jenson Button sixth, Kamui Kobayashi, Paul Di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

 

China FP1: Hamilton on top

Lewis Hamilton was once agai the fastest man on track, as he roared to the top spot at the Shanghai circuit, with over a second to second placed Nico Rosberg.

A 1:37.106 was a second and a tenth faster than Nico Rosberg´s time for Mercedes, and Michael Schumacher came in third, two tenths behind his team mate. The interesting thing about the times in FP1, at least Hamilton´s time, is that he used his old damaged gearbox. The team will change the gearbox before the race on Sunday, and Hamilton has already been handed a five place penalty. McLaren also fitted a new floor and this could have a dramatic effect for the speed of the car.

Fourth place went to Sergio Perez and right behind him was team mate Kamui Kobayashi. Following close behind Kobayashi is Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull are using two different exhaust configurations for the weekend, so far at least, but it is so far not certain if the cars have benefitted from it.

Rain affected the session, first after about 45 minutes. The rai stopped, the track dried up and the session continued until the end, when a short shower once again forced the drivers to ease off the gas. A few minutes later it stopped and the track was dru enough for Hamilton to set his fastest lap of the session.

Jenson Button finished 8th, then Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne for Toro Rosso finishing the top ten.

Ferrari are still in trouble it seems, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa 11th and 12th, three seconds off the pace from Hamilton. Nico Hulkenberg was sandwiched between the two Williams drivers, Valtteri Bottas(13) replaced Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado was 15. Heikki Kovalainen fastest man of the new teams in 16th, Romain Grosjean, Timo Glock, Giedo van der Garde for Caterham, Jules Bianchi for Force India in 20th. Pedro de la Rosa in 21, Charles Pic, Narain Karthikeyan and finally Kimi Raikkonen, who suffered problems with his DRS. Towards the end he was forced to manually closing the slot.

 

Lotus lodges official protest against Merc wing

The Lotus team has lodged an official protest to the FIA, under Article 3.15 which states that: “With the exception of the parts necessary for the adjustment described in Article 3.18, any car system, device or procedure which uses, or is suspected of using, driver movement as a means of altering the aerodynamic characteristics of the car is prohibited.”

So on paper it seems Lotus is adamant that the device is still driver controlled in some way, which of course is illegal. However, the definition of driver aid is a grey area, one that, at least it seems, Mercedes has been able to use to the fullest extend.

The DRS itself is driver controlled, the driver decides when to push the button to activate the device. This much is well-known. But the W-duct, or ‘double-DRS’ as I heard it named as well, is not at all driver activated. When the DRS is open, or activated, supposedly uses the mechanism to open some small holes in the endplates of the rearwing. . The air that goes through these holes, channels the airflow through the chassis and onto the frontwing, hitting some rather clever small winglets. This reduces drag and boosts the top speed. See this article for more information.

But now Lotus has lodged an official protest. Several rival teams have said that the device gives Mercedes an unfair advantage, as the straight-line speed is increased during the activation of the device.

The protests have been lodged on the eve of the first practice session for the Chinese GP this weekend.