Chinese Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso
McLaren Tops China in the Rain
By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media
There were two camps that were excited about the race in Shanghai this weekend. McLaren was able to capitalize on tire strategy and left the field behind by finishing one-two. The race promoters were also excited because with the rain, the camera angles were low and no one really should have noticed that the stands were empty, except on the main straight. If you Tivo’d the race, go back and compare it to the first couple of years that the race was held there. See anything missing? People maybe?
Many may claim that rain makes things interesting, but in a sprint race like F1, versus an endurance race like Le Mans, all rain does is shuffle the order (and make for some cold and wet fans that shelled out a couple of hundred dollars to sit in the cold and wet). At least F1 fans don’t have to deal with an endless number of debris flags that the NASCRAP camp does when the field gets too spread out. Yes, there was some passing, but I would hardly call this exciting.
Felipe Massa
Nico Rosberg managed to finish in third place with the Mercedes. He was leading for a while, also choosing to go with dry weather tires, but a spin on lap 19 cost him the race. But the son of the world champion had a nice recovery and more or less held his own to the finish.
Fernando Alonso spent more time in the pit lane than the safety car, but still managed to finish the race in fourth place. His team mate, on the other hand, only captured two points from his ninth place finish. The 1-2 finish by McLaren moved the team to the top of the leader board, and Ferrari is now 19 points behind, as changing the number of points for a win will be more of a differentiator this year.
Fernando Alonso
The rest of the field was basically a list of who didn’t get hit or who didn’t hit someone else. The young lions of Kubica and Vettel finished in fifth and sixth, respectively, neither doing anything truly spectacular. Petrov had a career best with not only a finish, but a seventh place finish. Well, Moscow taxi drivers do occasionally get you to where you want to be. Even though Renault is supposed to be a French team, it does look like all of their drivers are eastern European. Maybe all of the concerns about the French way of life being destroyed by Polish plumbers is coming true…
Mark Webber backed his second place finish in Malaysia with an 8th in Shanghai. Before any one starts saying that he’s fallen, take note that in the first two races of the season his finishes were 8 and 9. Hmm, maybe he is finding his average final position.
Fernando Alonso
The continuing big non-story of the weekend is Herr Schumacher. The Italian press, holding up their standard tradition of “what have you done lately” has not only burned the bridge, but has rewritten the history books of any reference that a bridge may have even existed. La Stampa ran the comment “For those who claim that there’s no passing in F1, just ask Schumacher.” And my personal favorite showed up in Tuttosport with “Why did Schumacher come back? All but the safety car passed him!” There have been some rumors that Massa and Alonso are not getting along, as well. (My wife still claims that using “Alonso” and “Ferrari” in the same sentence makes her teeth itch.) Could there be certain people in the Emilia-Romagna region pointing out the performance of a former Scuderia driver to the press as a red herring? Before anyone starts jumping on the “no way that could happen” bandwagon, don’t forget that an individual by the name of Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was born just down the road from there.
Racing goes back to Europe on May 9. The teams can start getting back to their own homes at night after this round of fly away races. Let’s see if Alonso gets the same response from his home race in Spain driving the red car as he did driving the blue one.
Race Results
| 1 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 1h46m42.163s |
| 2 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 1.5s |
| 3 | ROSBERG | Mercedes GP | + 9.4s |
| 4 | ALONSO |
Ferrari | + 11.8s |
| 5 | KUBICA | Renault | + 22.2s |
| 6 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | + 33.3s |
| 7 | PETROV | Renault | + 47.6s |
| 8 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 52.1s |
| 9 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 57.7s |
| 10 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes GP | + 61.7s |
| 11 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 62.8s |
| 12 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | + 63.6s |
| 13 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 71.4s |
| 14 | KOVALAINEN | Lotus-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 15 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 16 | SENNA | HRT-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| 17 | CHANDHOK | HRT-Cosworth | + 4 laps |
| 18 | TRULLI | Lotus-Cosworth | + 30 laps, hydraulics |
| 19 | DI GRASSI | Virgin-Cosworth | + 48 laps, clutch |
| 20 | DE LA ROSA | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 49 laps, technical |
| 21 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 56 laps, accident |
| 22 | KOBAYASHI | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | + 56 laps, accident |
| 23 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | + 56 laps, accident |
| 24 | GLOCK | Force India-Mercedes | + 56 laps, engine |
| Fastest Lap | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m42.061s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 60 Points |
| 2 | ROSBERG | Mercedes GP | 50 Points |
| 3 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 47 Points |
| 4 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 49 Points |
| 5 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 45 Points |
| 6 | MASSA | Ferrari | 41 Points |
| 7 | KUBICA | Renault | 40 Points |
| 8 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 28 Points |
| 9 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | 10 Points |
| 10 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes GP | 10 Points |
| 11 | LIUZZI | Force India-Mercedes | 8 Points |
| 12 | PETROV | Renault | 6 Points |
| 13 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | 5 Points |
| 14 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | 2 Points |
| 15 | HULKENBERG | Williams-Cosworth | 1 Point |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 109 Points |
| 2 | FERRARI | 90 Points |
| 3 | RBR-RENAULT | 73 Points |
| 4 | MERCEDES GP | 60 Points |
| 5 | RENAULT | 46 Points |
| 6 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 18 Points |
| 7 | WILLIAMS-COSWORTH | 6 Points |
| 8 | STR-FERRARI | 2 Points |
I agree with your wife, very well put. In the movie “Pulp Fiction”, Marsellus Wallace explains to Butch, Bruce Willis’s character, that unlike wine, athletes do not improve with age, they turn to vinegar. I’m not naming names, I’m just sayin’. I’m a huge MS fan, but I hope he has another plan that we’re no privy too, because the plan we expect doesn’t seem to be working.
That may be Carson; however, at age MS is still better than all but maybe five of the current F-1 drivers.
Don’t write Michael off just yet. He is smart and methodical and will take his time to get it right. He didn’t pull Ferrari out of the dumpster over night and he’s adjusting to a car that doesn’t suit his style. He may not have much impact this year, but if he doesn’t quit (and he’s not a quitter) he may become a force once again.
But man, is Vettle fast! Here, the age difference and raw talent may be too much for Michael to overcome.