Well, well, well... there were several layers to today's event, most of which were going on underneath the actual race itself. All the pre-race ramblings of team-orders and the balance of power in a certain front running team have all transfused into the rather convoluted realm of endless conspiracy theories. Theories that started flaring up following the session yesterday morning from qualifying, where a car from a certain leading team mysteriously ran out of fuel, and was subsequently sent to the back of the grid. In this multi-million pound industry you would think that putting fuel in the car would be one of the basic things to get right, alongside other rudimentary things like putting wheels on the car. Having both of those things happen to the same car in the same weekend would be considered ludicrous and bordering on the very thinnest edge of impossibility.
Today was a day when aerodynamasists are probably very confused, because missing parts of a front wing don't seem to destroy overall race pace - except in the cases where said front wing is virtually vaporised and lying alongside an also dislodged series of suspension parts... but that is a different story. Oddly the threatened oncoming storm of complaints about tyre conditioning never quite materialised, most people had planned for the inevitable degradation and hadn't come across any unforeseen surprises. Out of those that had the tyres still attached to the car, which as it turns out, is not as assured at it would seem. You'd often forget that there was an actual race going on, on top of all these little sub-stories. As it has been with Chinese GP's that have come before this one, the main event may not have been a flood of action (although there were plenty of metaphorical showers of the stuff) but it was far from dull and bland. So to the events of the latest instalment in the 2013 season.
The Race
We were promised with the first completely dry weekend of the season and the morning weather was ensuring that came to fruition - coverage here was delayed by some localised football match, which I've been told is of regional significance... At the conclusion of which people decided to beat each other up, which explains of course why I sit here conducting dealings with a more civilised sport. Well civilised in comparison to anywhere that isn't a Red Bull garage because I doubt civilities are in mass supply in that part of the world.
Anyway, there were a couple of pre-race concerns with a fuel leak on Di Resta's Force India - it is always interesting that certain key issues manage to manifest themselves on different occasions down the pit lane. It was issues affixing wheels back in Malaysia (an issue not quite resolved as it would seem today) and now some fuel technicalities were creeping into the equation, but the Scot's car was repaired in advance of the start and didn't have to begin the race from the pit lane behind Webber in the ever so slightly aggrieved Red Bull car.
Off the line it was the Ferrari pairing that made the immediate gains - engulfing Raikkonen's Lotus and bearing down on Hamilton's Mercedes - everyone was playing it safe through the miserable set of opening corners, holding station for the most part. Van Der Garde ran a little wide when battling with Chilton but that was about it for the vast majority of the first lap, up until the final hairpin when a little bit of disorder broke out. Not too much disorder, but the two Force India team-mates were making contact on the exit - Sutil deciding that Di Resta doesn't need to be on the track as much as Scot thought he deserved to be. After the last race, the last thing we need is more teammates on the brink of plunging into another disagreement. Before DRS was enabled the top four drove away in a little group with Rosberg holding up the second train, everyone just waiting for the gadget to be available.
As soon as the DRS was given the green light Hamilton's lead was added to the endangered list, as he was mugged by both Ferraris - one either side - on the front straight, leaving Raikkonen to do battle with the Mercedes. In the second race within the race, those on the harder tyre, Hulkenberg took the lead of that battle from the Vettel once more through the power of DRS. Somewhere in the melee, Ricciardo managed to damage his front wing, so we where told, but no visual evidence made it onto TV. Speaking of wing damage, as the early stops for those wishing to rid themselves of the degrading softer tyres, Adrian Sutil came in with askew rear wing, which proceeded to catch fire for good measure. A series of replays confirmed that it wasn't the result of a mechanical failure from the earlier intra-team contact with Di Resta but pointing the finger very firmly at Esteban Gutierrez. The Sauber driver while running side-by-side with Perez momentarily forgot that there is a hairpin at the bottom of the straight and smashed into the back of the Force India. Obliterating the front of the Sauber but because all the shards of wing and suspension and the car itself were off track there was no need for a safety car intervention.
With the cars on softer-tyres out of position the race was now lead by Hulkenberg, from Vettel and the two McLaren drivers on the harder compound. The most disadvantaged of which was Massa who ended up behind Webber - who was up to 11th from the back of the grid having not stopped. It was this stage when the previous front runners had to carve through those staying out, most of that was made very easy in the DRS zone - Felipe used the back straight to pass Webber and Bottas. Making the most of the fresher tyres was Alonso, scything through cars on an imperious charge, starting with Di Resta and making in-roads towards Perez - using the second DRS zone. In the vein of being slightly rebellious Raikkonen decided to go round the outside of turn one when dealing with Vergne, just to be that little bit different. It was Massa's turn to pass the Torro Rosso and once more the DRS came to the rescue making it a formality rather than anything else...
If only Webber had the same pass so easy, selecting turn five as the overtaking zone didn't go quite as planned. Both he and Vergne converged at the same point and contact was made, damaging Mark's wing and spinning the Torro Rosso - of all the cars to run into, his boss's junior team... oh dear. Webber pitted for a new wing and four new tyres, well that was the intention, cars do tend to work best on four wheels but the Red Bull team only attached three of them correctly. By the time Webber made it down to the bottom hairpin before the rear wheel parted company, rolling with beautiful irony into the path of Vettel. Oh the hilarity that would ensure if it had taken out the German bloke but the loose wheel missed everyone - if anything was closest to taking out Hulkenberg - and rolled to safety on the inside guardrail.
Now were things going to calm down - no was the answer to that one - as One-Stop Perez who hadn't stopped yet (some vague signs of old there) was not making any new friends as the former leaders were making headway towards the front. Making it difficult for drivers to make it through, with some questionable changes of direction, it is nice to see someone actually defending position today because no-one else was. But both Alonso and Hamilton were slightly cross at the weaving that Sergio was doing on his fading tyres, those two drivers made it past without incident - the next car in the line, not so much. Kimi Raikkonen came up on the McLaren on the exit of the dismal first corner complex and made a run on the outside of turn 4. Perez thought the Lotus looked a lot better off in the grass forcing Kimi wide, there isn't quite the grip and braking potential off track and so the Lotus ended up going into the back of the McLaren earning Raikkonen some nose cone ventilation, and missing wing elements.
Once we reached the halfway point calm had finally descended, which was a bit of a shame, madness and things are much more entertaining. Jenson lead the race as the last car to stay out from Fernando the net leader of the race. Raikkonen and his modified Lotus was running just behind Hamilton, track order retained after both cars pitted together. Signifying the start of the next round of pit-stops placing cars out of position once more - this time with a lot less contact and angry radio calls because an odd phenomenon was developing. No-one cared about their position, instead driving to a delta time and running their own race, if a contender wanted past there was no defending. Jenson Button specifically asked his team if he was supposed to fight Hamilton off for position, but in the end he virtually gift wrapped the position and pulled over to hand the present over. It was most disconcerting, a combination of DRS making things very, very easy and no-one fighting to retain their place. Alonso for example was simply driving up the inside of people in the long turn 13 before the excessive straight, including temporary race leader Sebastian Vettel.
It was all strategy from the two thirds distance onwards, with a few passes going on in the DRS areas, Ricciardo was making a sneaky comeback after apparently losing a wing against Rosberg's Mercedes in the first 10 laps. Getting in to the points after passing the Lotus of Romain Grosjean - on the back DRS straight. A couple of better passes came from Vettel after his second stop, instantly dive bombing Massa in turn five and then taking care of Di Resta in turn 13 of the same lap in an attempt to fight his way onto the podium. Pitting out of this battle Massa ended up duelling two wide in the lane with Hulkenberg - the Ferrari taking the high ground on the exit. In this bout of stops there was a change at the front, not the very front because that belonged very securely to Alonso. Raikkonen pitted before Hamilton and used the fresher tyres to jump the Mercedes up into second place. Hamilton was able to close to just inside the DRS window behind the Finn but wasn't quite close enough to mount an attack.
Things remained stable up until the very last set of stops when those who started on the harder compound had to make the change onto the softer options in accordance with the regulations. The key member of this club was Vettel who at the point was running second, and dropped back to 4th after stopping. But was now armed with four fresh soft tyres - which all stayed on the car in contrast to his team-mate's set - and as a result was very fast in comparison to the two cars he was chasing further up the road. Taking up to three seconds a lap out of Hamilton set up the opportunity for a very close grandstand finish, made even more intense by the additional variable of two lapped cars in the middle of the battle. Raikkonen was able to pass Pic's Caterham to give him a safety buffer from the charging German, Hamilton did not have such security in his position - calling over the radio looking for blue flags to move the green car out of the way. On the final lap Vettel was right behind Hamilton and both were behind Pic, while Kimi had escaped and passed Bianchi's Marussia, just to make sure.
On the short straight before turn 11, Hamilton passed the Caterham and then Vettel threw it into the corner to follow suit, but ran fractionally wide - and because the corner is horribly engineered it was impossible to get the car into turn 12 properly either. These two little mistakes granted Lewis a stay of execution into the back straight, and immunity from a DRS attack into the hairpin, both sailing through the smoke and haze from a locked wheel from the Marussia ahead of the pair. Lewis got a little out of shape, locking a front left himself in the final corner, but it was enough to hold the position despite Vettel virtually pushing the Mercedes across the line. Alonso won the race, 11s clear of Raikkonen's damaged Lotus and the Lewis/Vettel battle. Jenson Button scored some decent points in the McLaren on the same alternate strategy as Vettel, an early time delay for Massa locked him in 6th. Ricciardo managed to work through an additional stop for a front nose, to end up exactly where he started, ahead of Romain Grosjean and the remaining Force India of Paul Di Resta.
The bonus points championship points winners
China managed once again to fit many talking points into a race where the majority of it was fairly routine - fitting all the madness and collisions into a 15 lap period at the beginning of the race. From it all here are the points winners.
- 25pts - Fernando Alonso - Not so much for winning, but for being able to scythe through cars on an alternate strategy especially when pulling away from Hamilton mid-race
- 18pts - Jenson Button - Making the alternate strategy work in an car which is not on the same pace as those around him
- 15pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Managed not to lose any ground depite losing a front wing at some point
- 12pts - Kimi Raikkonen -Proving that all those fancy wing vanes and a complete nosecone are overrated constructs making it onto the podium regardless of the damage
- 10pts - Sebastien Vettel - A spirited final charge and supreme pace, with some decisive moves alon the way
- 8pts - Paul Di Resta - For being probably the only car that held off an attacker later in the race, when battling Massa
- 6pts - Nico Hulkenberg - For holding off Vettel and initially being the leader of the alternate strategy contingent
- 4pts - Charles Pic - Someone able to stay with Bianchi, in the Caterham which appears to be the slowest car on the grid
- 2pts - Ferrari - Get two points for the dual pass on Hamilton once the DRS was activated.
- 1pt - Scott McGlaughlin - Scoring his first win in only race five of his V8 supercar career at the redesigned Pukekohe circuit in New Zealand
The penalties championship
We might have gotten away with penalising people in the first part of the weekend and, for the most part the season as a whole has been fairly clean. Only one penalty was handed to Raikkonen for blocking in Malaysia - well that list is expanded today, it would be much longer if the eight yellow flag DRS penalties went out. But that is down to an electronic telemetry problem instead.
- Mark Webber - Gets a three place grid drop for spinning out Jean-Eric Vergne early in the race
- Esteban Gutierrez - Gets a five place grid drop for wiping out Sutil and demolishing his Sauber in the process
The penalty points championship
This weekend the authorities didn't really miss anything, waving the Perez, Raikkonen collision as a racing incident and everything else as telemetry problems that have plagued the FIA all season. So there is little for me to catch up... but:
- One-Stop Perez - Not so much for forcing Raikkonen offline but for weaving a when competing with both Alonso and Hamilton as they came through the field.
- Red Bull - I would think the team that has won three consecutive constructors and drivers titles knows how to manage two of the most basic parts of a car - fuel and wheels, today was a bit of an embarrassment.
- Newcastle and Sunderland - Shame on both of you, it is only football - neither of you can be absolved of the violence. I've been displeased at a race result but never decided to go out and throw things at fans of other teams... I despair...
Looking ahead to Bahrain
This coming week is going to be a very pensive one, where every potential protesting and government oppresion story from the middle eastern nation is going to rise to the surface. Since it's involvement in the Arab Spring F1's visitation to the small country has been veiled in controversy and complaints, Force India pulled out of some of practice last season just to make it back to the hotel safely before nightfall. Rumours of cars being held up at gunpoint and armed personnel (and general public) walking around naturally cause great concern. This year things seem much quieter, but far from silent - stories of potential protestors being rounded up 'just in case' have been filtering through the media, and I fear whatever happens next weekend will be marred by the setting and the conflict we are wandering into. F1 is a very public event, when the whole world is watching, making it the perfect time for any protesters to get their message out - we've had track invading protesters before in Germany and the British GP. But in a nation with such arms floating around, things are a lot more tense and balancing on a knife-edge. In all reality nothing will take place, or like last season will be screened away from the media, cutting off their power and intent. But it only takes a small catalyst for anything to erupt, if only the on track action could topple any unrest, because the Sakhir circuit could do with a decent race in the current climate. So until then this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.
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