I must begin this race review with a rather embarrassing revelation. On lap 28 of the race, as Sebastian Vettel cleared both Mclaren’s in the pit stops, I tweeted this message: “why are Mclaren so terrible with their strategy?” Well, don’t I look silly now? An hour later, Lewis Hamilton took a sensational victory in Shanghai having passed Vettel’s Red Bull with just four laps remaining. It was an extraordinary race in China, where any one of five drivers could have taken the win. Yet Hamilton stole the show with some memorable overtaking manoeuvres to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time since Spa last season. Mark Webber completed the top three with an astonishing drive from 18th on the grid.
There was drama for Hamilton before the race had even started. His engine flooded whilst in the garage and his mechanics worked frantically to get him on the grid in time. He achieved this with just minutes to spare. At the start Button immediately passed Vettel alongside him and despite his best efforts, Hamilton also got head of the slow-starting Red Bull. Vettel also found himself under threat from Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes but managed to hold back his fellow German. Massa again jumped Alonso off the start line and got ahead, while Paul di Resta was up to 7th at the end of the first lap.
Button and Hamilton getting past Vettel at the start was a significant moment in the race. The Red Bull was now bottled up behind both Mclarens and, having qualified seven tenths ahead of Button in qualifying, was unable to unleash the true pace of his car. Rosberg was the first of the front-runners to pit on lap 14 and this was another crucial point in the race; Rosberg was absolutely flying on the undercut of his new tyres and managed to jump those ahead following their stops and lead the race. Meanwhile Vettel was able to get ahead of Hamilton into the turn 14 hairpin. He immediately followed Button into the pits and, somewhat bizarrely, his own pit-box. Button became distracted as he entered the pits and unbelievably pulled into the Red Bull garage. He was waved into his correct pit by the perplexed Red Bull mechanics and his mistake cost him valuable seconds as Vettel got ahead.
A side story from today’s race was the return to form of a certain Felipe Massa. Massa, who was running ahead of Alonso, ran solidly in the opening stages and passed Hamilton before his first stop. Massa was able to break away from his team-mate at this point as Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher joined in the action. Schumacher was able to split the Ferrari’s, which led to a wonderful duel between the former title rivals. Alonso was unable to breach Schumacher’s defences on several occasions before finally overtaking the German on lap 25.
When Button, Rosberg and Hamilton pitted within a few laps of each other it was clear that they would need to stop three times. Of all the key moments in the race, this was the most important. In 2010, with the more durable Bridgestone tyres, the two-stoppers - Vettel and Massa - would have cruised to the finish in first and second places. However, what followed was a fascinating strategic battle. The rapid degradation of the Pirelli tyres means having track position isn’t the be all and end all if you are struggling for grip. Vettel and Massa learnt this lesson in harshly in China as they were exposed as the race reached its climax. Without grip, they were defenceless.
Hamilton began to fly on the prime tyres. His team-mate Button was his first victim and the two drivers went toe-to-toe into turn 1. Button was caught slightly on his back foot as Hamilton dived down the inside and it was evident in the ensuing laps that he didn’t have as much pace as his team-mate. Despite the 2008 world champion’s speed, Rosberg was still able to clear him after his final stop. Hamilton sat behind his former karting team-mate for three frustrating laps before passing the Mercedes driver down the inside of Turn 6. He was now up to third with 14 laps remaining and just the two-stopping Vettel and Massa ahead of him.
Having been anonymous for the opening stages of the race, Webber’s pace on the softer tyres was simply mind-blowing. He chose the harder rubber for the first stint and having made no ground, especially without KERS, swapped to the softer compound thereafter. Remarkably, from the second stint he was the fastest man on the track. He swept aside Alonso before reaching the frontrunners. Massa was quickly disposed of before passing his former team-mate into turn 7 on lap 54 and went inside Button at the hairpin one lap later. His race engineer Ciaran Pilbeam described his performance as ‘unbelievable’ and who could disagree. Third place was fully deserved.
Hamilton quickly closed in on his 2008 title rival and passed him down the pit straight to set up a thrilling finale. He began homing in on Vettel at a rapid rate as his tyres were seven laps newer. Hamilton tried twice into turn 14 as he closed immensely through the DRS zone but pulled off a quite brilliant move into the high-speed left-hander at turn 7.
It was fitting that for all the bemoaning amongst some fans post-Sepang that overtaking in F1 was becoming artificial, Hamilton’s pass to take the lead of the Grand Prix wasn’t because of DRS, but because of his bravery at one of the fastest corners on the circuit. Hamilton, who has been Vettel’s closest challenger this season, took his 15th career win to end Vettel’s stranglehold on this season.
I was there at Silverstone in 2008 and for me it still stands as Hamilton’s best ever performance, almost parallel to the late, Ayrton Senna at Donington Park fifteen years previously. This was certainly a close second. Hamilton was wise in qualifying to use just one set of tyres in Q3 having clearly learnt his lessons from Malaysia. For all the talk that Hamilton is too aggressive and harsh on his tyres, to deliberately plan his strategy for the race in qualifying is something only a champion could do. And Hamilton is certainly that.
However, the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix shouldn’t just be remembered for Hamilton’s glorious win. There was so much action that this post is somewhat longer than normal but in truth I don’t care. Today’s race proved that in the right circumstances, the Vettel/Red Bull combination can be beaten fair and square. For a season that appeared to be a one horse race, isn’t this the result we all wanted?
Chinese GP results
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1hr 36mins 58.226secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull + 5.198
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull + 7.555
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren + 10.000
5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP + 13.448
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari + 15.840
7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari + 30.622
8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP + 31.206
9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault + 57.404
10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber + 1:03.273
11 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India + 1:08.757
12 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault + 1:12.739
13 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams + 1:30.189
14 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1:30.671
15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India +1 lap
16 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Team Lotus +1 lap
17 Sergio Perez Mex Sauber +1 lap
18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams +1 lap
19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Team Lotus +1 lap
20 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing +2 laps
21 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing +2 laps
22 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Hispania +2 laps
23 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Hispania +2 laps
Not Classified
Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 10 laps completed
Josh.
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