2013 Chinese Grand Prix: Pre-Race Feature

After a three-week long hiatus, Formula One is back in business. In a lot of ways, the break was a welcome departure given that the ambience was rather tensed by the time we were done with Sepang. Hopefully, Redbull should have got their house in order while McLaren should have risen, dusted themselves off and got going with the reboot of their 2013 season. This weekend we’re at Shanghai, the world’s largest city (proper) in terms of population. It was here last year that Mercedes scored their first and only win so far, with Nico Rosberg. Unfortunately, that proved to be a flash in the pan as things went terribly downhill for the Brackley outfit for the rest of the season.

Just a race apart, the Shanghai International Circuit is yet another purpose-built, constructed from nothing Tilke-drome, much like Sepang. The track layout is inspired from the Chinese character shang (?), that means ascend. When the venue first came on the F1 calendar in 2004, it was a huge improvement in terms of the standards of the facilities offered by F1 circuits – the facility was vast with towering and gleaming architecture. Shanghai is typical of Tilke’s efforts – a long straight book-ended by sharp corners, a unique combination of slow spiraling corners and hairpins and long and short straights and a fast esses section reminiscent of Suzuka. But unlike some of Tilke’s other products like Sepang, Shanghai is mostly dominated by lower speed corners with tightening arcs and a smattering of medium corners. The circuit presents ample overtaking opportunities, especially on the long straight, which is one of the longest on the calendar at 1.1 kms. The circuit, as such, is very demanding on the brakes and tyres and given the performance of the Pirelli rubber this season, especially the soft compounds, it’s very easy to wreck the rear tyres pretty quickly. The low ambient temperatures and a smoother tarmac may add to the woes with graining issues.

The circuit has the happy knack of pulling off spectacular races – a huge proponent in this is the fact that race strategy considerations at Shanghai are quite unforgiving. A two-stop or three is what teams wreck their brains with and still there isn’t a consistent solution. While Hamilton pipped Vettel two years ago on a three-stopper, Rosberg took the honours very comfortably on a two-stop strategy last year. And there’s another twist to this – Raikkonen fell spectacularly off the cliff attempting a two-stopper, losing eight places in a single lap. But one needs to recall that he did make an early first stop that might have proved to be the cause of the downslide. Anyhow, strategies are at the forefront here and that’s what makes it for an exciting watch. And as for the weather, this will be the first completely dry weekend for us and by the time we’re done here, the pecking order might have unfolded a tad, given that so far, there have been too many variables in assessing the field.

Qualifying Report

Q1: Tyre conservation seemed to be dominating the minds of the teams as nobody ventured out for the first eight minutes or so – concern being the soft option tyres. Bianchi finally broke the silence heading out first in his Marussia on the option tyre. It was business as usual for the stronger teams, with no upsets. The Toro Rosso duo of Vergne and Ricciardo hauled up good lap times in the dying stages pushing Williams driver Bottas and Gutierrez of Sauber into relegation. Lotus had looked off the pace in Friday practice, and in the first part of this qualifying too, the car seemed to have a lot of under-braking. Mercedes was the top team in the session as Hamilton went fastest, followed by Rosberg and Massa in Ferrari.

Not making it into Q2: 17. Valterri Bottas (Williams) 18. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) 19. Jules Bianchi (Marussia) 20. Max Chilton (Marussia) 21. Charles Pic (Caterham) 22. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham)

Q2:.Vettel rolled out nice and early on option tyres as he was reminded by the team that he’ll have just one timed lap. The session was a disaster for his teammate though, as he parked his Red Bull midway into Q2 on the inside of turn 14 hairpin. His car ran out of fuel, forcing him to retire prematurely, finishing only P14 and it was ‘double-whammy’ for the Aussie as the stewards later found the car short of the stipulated minimum amount of fuel, hence pushing him to the rear of the field for tomorrow. Meanwhile, Hamilton continued to impress, breaking into the 1 min 35s bracket and finishing P1 ahead of Alonso and Vettel. But the most impressive performance came from Ricciardo, who managed to sneak into the top 10 popping his Toro Rosso into P9 in the final minutes.

Not taking further part: 11. Paul di Resta (Force India) 12. Sergio Perez (McLaren) 13. Adrian Sutil (Force India) 14. Mark Webber (Redbull) 15. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) 16. Jules Eric-Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Q3: Vettel was the first out but he abandoned his timed lap and was back into the pits. Raikkonen was the first to get a timed lap as most teams decided to go for just the one timed-lap, staying put in the garage. Vettel and Button headed out on a set of medium compounds which effectively ruled out a Red Bull on the front row of the grid, but meant that he will stay out longer on the first stint – two-stop maybe? Hamilton pulled off a stonking lap to pip Raikkonen for P1 as Alonso slotted P3 ahead of Rosberg. Massa finished P5, unable to out-qualify Alonso for the fifth time while Grosjean came in P6. A supreme driving effort from Ricciardo sees him on the fourth row alongside Button, who will start on the medium compounds. Vettel at P9 and Hulkenberg round up the top 10.

Rounding up the top 10: 1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) 3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 4. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 5. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 6. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 7. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 8. Jenson Button (McLaren) 9. Sebastian Vettel (Redbull) 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

Heading into the race, we have potentially yet another great race on the cards at Shanghai as the field looks close. Button and Vettel have already set the course for tomorrow, almost hinting at a two-stop strategy with a longer first stint. Red Bull is already into the thick of things with Vettel’s distinguishing race strategy and Webber’s marred race. A point worthy of mention is that both Red Bull and Mercedes have put an end to team orders and left it upon their drivers to ‘sort it amongst themselves’. Though it might not make much of a difference tomorrow in the Red Bull pit-wall, it will be interesting to see when Rosberg or Hamilton come into striking distance of each other.