It was always clear the 2013 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix was going
to be as much about strategy as speed, and the man who found the optimum
combination was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. As a fascinating race
developed, one by one the Spaniard dropped his main challengers to win
by a comfortable 10 seconds. And as Lotus and Mercedes maintained their
strong form, defending champions Red Bull were left rueing a weekend
when for once they couldn’t seem to get anything right. We take a
team-by-team look at Sunday's Shanghai formbook…
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P1
Felipe Massa, P6
Ferrari greeted their winner with the words ‘Grande weekend’, and that perfectly summarised Alonso’s time in China. The F138 qualified well and had great long-run pace, and the Spaniard was relatively unchallenged on his way to his 31st victory. The timely success made up for the disappointment in Malaysia and put him up to third in the points table. Massa was less fortunate. He ran second early on, but once he fell into the midfield he was unable to claw his way back out.
Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen, P2
Romain Grosjean, P9
Raikkonen made a terrible start but fought back and survived a clash with Sergio Perez which damaged the nose of his Lotus. The E21 is a tough car, however, and though the result was more understeer and subsequent tyre damage, he still had the pace to finish a convincing second. Grosjean looked strong early on but, like Massa, suffered once he fell into the upper midfield traffic and could not better ninth.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton, P3
Nico Rosberg, Retired lap 22, broken anti-rollbar
It was a good and bad story for Mercedes. The good was another great performance from Hamilton, who led initially from pole position, and was strong enough to finish on the podium for the second race in succession. The bad was an anti-rollbar failure for Rosberg, which one again denied him the chance of points after a promising start.
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, P4
Mark Webber, Retired lap 16, lost wheel
It was a similar story at Red Bull, where the tyre strategy chosen in qualifying - running the mediums - compromised Vettel’s race. He defended that on the basis that the RB9 lacked sheer performance, and did his best to make things work. He had a spell in the lead, and was charging in the closing stages after a very late switch to soft rubber. He failed to catch Hamilton for the final podium slot by two-tenths of a second. Webber had a terrible time. He started from the pit lane in an optimised car, and was making progress until he collided with Vergne and damaged his front wing. After the stop to fix that he lost his right-rear wheel, thus failing to finish. Compounding Webber’s miserable day, he gets a three-place grid penalty for Bahrain for his driving misdemeanour and the team were fined 5000 euros for the problem with his wheel.
McLaren
Jenson Button, P5
Sergio Perez, P11
Button had a great run in the revised McLaren MP4-28, and even had a spell in the lead. Like Vettel, he was out of kilter with the others after starting on medium Pirellis. He made them last 23 laps in his first stint, and the next set last 26, before switching to the soft rubber for the final one. Fifth place was a solid result that shows McLaren are making progress. Perez survived the clash with Raikkonen, but his handling was compromised and that prevented him getting involved in the battle for the final points.
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P1
Felipe Massa, P6
Ferrari greeted their winner with the words ‘Grande weekend’, and that perfectly summarised Alonso’s time in China. The F138 qualified well and had great long-run pace, and the Spaniard was relatively unchallenged on his way to his 31st victory. The timely success made up for the disappointment in Malaysia and put him up to third in the points table. Massa was less fortunate. He ran second early on, but once he fell into the midfield he was unable to claw his way back out.
Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen, P2
Romain Grosjean, P9
Raikkonen made a terrible start but fought back and survived a clash with Sergio Perez which damaged the nose of his Lotus. The E21 is a tough car, however, and though the result was more understeer and subsequent tyre damage, he still had the pace to finish a convincing second. Grosjean looked strong early on but, like Massa, suffered once he fell into the upper midfield traffic and could not better ninth.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton, P3
Nico Rosberg, Retired lap 22, broken anti-rollbar
It was a good and bad story for Mercedes. The good was another great performance from Hamilton, who led initially from pole position, and was strong enough to finish on the podium for the second race in succession. The bad was an anti-rollbar failure for Rosberg, which one again denied him the chance of points after a promising start.
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, P4
Mark Webber, Retired lap 16, lost wheel
It was a similar story at Red Bull, where the tyre strategy chosen in qualifying - running the mediums - compromised Vettel’s race. He defended that on the basis that the RB9 lacked sheer performance, and did his best to make things work. He had a spell in the lead, and was charging in the closing stages after a very late switch to soft rubber. He failed to catch Hamilton for the final podium slot by two-tenths of a second. Webber had a terrible time. He started from the pit lane in an optimised car, and was making progress until he collided with Vergne and damaged his front wing. After the stop to fix that he lost his right-rear wheel, thus failing to finish. Compounding Webber’s miserable day, he gets a three-place grid penalty for Bahrain for his driving misdemeanour and the team were fined 5000 euros for the problem with his wheel.
McLaren
Jenson Button, P5
Sergio Perez, P11
Button had a great run in the revised McLaren MP4-28, and even had a spell in the lead. Like Vettel, he was out of kilter with the others after starting on medium Pirellis. He made them last 23 laps in his first stint, and the next set last 26, before switching to the soft rubber for the final one. Fifth place was a solid result that shows McLaren are making progress. Perez survived the clash with Raikkonen, but his handling was compromised and that prevented him getting involved in the battle for the final points.
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