Formula 1 - Chinese Grand Prix 2014

The Silver Arrows also outpaced their rivals in the mega-metropolis of Shanghai, China's largest city, despite a resurgent Alonso and the Red Bulls putting on the pressure.

by Bruno Fleckenstein

 
The rainy weather in China took some by surprise and led to a turbulent qualifying session, which Hamilton won by more than a second over his rivals. Red Bull drivers Ricciardo in 2nd and Vettel in 3rd ahead of Hamilton's teammate Rosberg and Ferrari with Alonso lurking behind.

At the start, Hamilton had no trouble retaining pole, only further back there was the usual scrum. Massa had an excellent start, but was sandwiched by Ricciardo and Alonso. This led to Vettel and Alonso overtaking Ricciardo, who started second, and nipping at Hamilton's heels. Rosberg, suffering from the failure of the telemetry data of his Mercedes, touched with Bottas and immediately lost a few places at the start. Massa in 5th and Hülkenberg in sixth were then ahead of him.

Hamilton, like Vettel last season, opened up a lead and steadily pulled away to take an uncontested start-to-finish victory. Alonso pitted on the 12th lap and took over Vettel's 2nd place, who changed tires a lap after him. Standings after 19 laps: Hamilton ahead of Alonso (4.5 sec.), Vettel (7.9 sec.), Rosberg (10.3 sec.), Ricciardo (13.0 sec.), Hülkenberg (19.7 sec.), Bottas (22.2 sec.), Räikkönen (30.2 sec.), Grosjean (33.7 sec.) and Perez (34.8 sec.). Ricciardo was on a two-stop strategy and was held up by his own teammate Vettel on lap 23, whom he passed three laps later. Grosjean had to retire on lap 29 with gearbox damage. Bad luck for Lotus and Grosjean, who drove a good race. Alonso for his second and final pit stop on lap 34. Rosberg changed tires four laps later and stayed behind Alonso for the time being. This gave the Spaniard hope of pulling away for second place. Vettel stayed behind his teammate, who had the better strategy. The positions for the finish seemed to be set early on. But Rosberg didn't want to settle for third place, pressed on and gave chase to Alonso's second place. On lap 40 he was 2.1 seconds faster than the Scuderia driver and three laps later the time had come when Mercedes overtook the Ferrari in the DRS zone.
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(Picture gallery, click on picture)
In the end, Louis Hamilton won in front of his teammate Nico Rosberg, who managed to finish second despite the technical problems, and a competitive Fernando Alonso, who gives the Ferraristi hope for the upcoming races in Europe.

Results Chinese Grand Prix 2014

1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, 1:33:28.388
2 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, 1:33:46.400
3 Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari, 1:33:51.942
4 Daniel Ricciardo, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, 1:33:55.474
5 Sebastian Vettel, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, 1:34:16.116
6 Nico Hülkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 Team, 1:34:22.633
7 Valtteri Bottas, Williams F1 Team, 1:34:24.035
8 Kimi Raikkonen, Scuderia Ferrari, 1:34:44.673
9 Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 Team, 1:34:50.985
10 Daniil Kvyat, Scuderia Toro Rosso, 1:33:31.189
11 Jenson Button, McLaren Mercedes, 1:33:40.258
12 Jean-Eric Vergne, Scuderia Toro Rosso, 1:33:45.301
13 Kevin Magnussen, McLaren Mercedes, 1:33:49.141
14 Pastor Maldonado, Lotus F1 Team, 1:33:59.501
15 Felipe Massa, Williams F1 Team, 1:34:07.633
16 Esteban Gutiérrez, Sauber F1 Team, 1:34:14.186
17 Jules Bianchi, Marussia F1 Team, 1:34:54.713
18 Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham F1 Team, 1:34:55.939
19 Max Chilton, Marussia F1 Team, 1:33:40.693
20 Marcus Ericsson, Caterham F1 Team, 1:33:56.192
- Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 Team, DNF
- Adrian Sutil, Sauber F1 Team, DNF