DETAILED REPORT: Nico Rosberg takes dominant Chinese Grand Prix victory
CHEQUERED FLAG and NICO ROSBERG WINS the Chinese Grand Prix!
LAST LAP! Nico Rosberg has lapped the bottom 5.
Final 5 LAPS and Rosberg’s comfortable...losing focus slightly, but there’s no real pressure on the German at this point. Sebastian Vettel all set for P2 and Daniil Kvyat on course for his second podium in Formula One – the first at the Hungaroring last year, where he finished in P2.
Proper wheel-to-wheel racing between Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton – almost made contact there! Kimi moves up to P6 and now he catches out Felipe Massa to go 5th!
Daniel Ricciardo, you beauty! The Red Bull driver pushes his car to steal a march on Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo moves up to P5 now, with Hamilton in 6th.
MAS BOT HAM in 4,5,6 at the moment, with 15 laps to go. Lewis Hamilton takes the inside line on Valtteri Bottas - but now the Finn and Daniel Ricciardo fight! Ricciardo moves up over Bottas well to go P6; both behind Felipe Massa.
Nico Rosberg makes his final pit stop with a nearly 23second lead over Daniel Ricciardo, who is back in P2, but he’s due a pit stop. Now he pits, and it’s Sebastian Vettel in P2. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen is down in 11th for now.
Perez in the points in P9; Sebastian Vettel being urged to “push hard, Sebastian, push hard!” He's trailing Daniil Kvyat in P2 and Lewis Hamilton catches Sergio Perez. He’s picked up pace significantly, and is quickly moving up the points today despite a horror last-place start.
The race looks in the bag for Nico Rosberg and the race seems to have calmed down slightly. Lewis Hamilton is now trailing Kimi Raikkonen and fighting for P8, but Raikkonen’s a fair bit ahead for now. "Give it all you've got, mate,” Mercedes tell him, and so far he’s really been pushing.
McLaren bouncing up and down the grid today – after Fernando Alonso, it’s Jenson Button who goes P4! He still has another 5-6 laps to go on his set of medium tyres. It’s currently Sebastian Vettel rounding off the podium, but some great racing from Force India‘s Sergio Perez! He catches out Jenson Button and goes P5 on his soft tyres, and now Button loses out to Williams’ Valtteri Bottas
Lewis Hamilton pits and rejoins in 14th! Daniil Kvyat is in P2, but he is 13 seconds behind Rosberg. Hulkenberg awarded a 5-second penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane.
Nico Rosberg pits and comes out still in the lead. He’s on softs now and Hamilton, impressively, is in third! He still has to pit though, so that might not be for long. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel steals a jump on the McLaren of Jenson Button, but teammate Raikkonen is back in P13.
Both Force India cars will be under investigation – Hulkenberg for driving slowly in the pit lane, Perez for unsafe release.
Damage to Sebastian Vettel's car - a bit of his wing littering the track. Alonso now pits for new tyres – he’s now on harder tyres – the medium compound and rejoins in 18th! ROS KVY MAS VET PER are your current top 5.
Fernando Alonso is fighting with Sebastian Vettel for P4 – and Vettel gets him! Kimi Raikkonen pits and gets back out on track – rejoining right at the back! Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull has really been brilliant today – after teammate Ricciardo's tyre troubles pushed him to the back of the grid, the young Russian has absolutely excelled.
Sergio Perez of Force India is really pushing his car today – he’s up in 5th. So is Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who taxes his tyres to the max and takes a jump on Valtteri Bottas. He’s now up in P8 and targetting Esteban Gutierrez of Haas F1.
It’s all happening in Shanghai! Fernando Alonso is now in third behind Rosberg and Felipe Massa. It’s been a long time since Alonso has had a podium – and he’s had a maximum 5th place finish since he joined McLaren in 2015. Jenson Button gives chase, successfully, to Renault’s Jolyon Palmer – and it looks like McLaren are up for a fight today! Manor's Pascal Wehrlein is in 5th and yet to pit, so a good performance for him.
Both McLarens are in the top 10 at the moment.
This race is going every which way but loose! Vettel shunt with Kimi, who gets a new nose, leader Daniel Ricciardo loses a tyre so has to pit; and loses his lead to Rosberg in the process! Hamilton lost a bit of his front wing and drivers are now trailing the Virtual Safety Car. Debris from Hamilton’s car now being cleared off the track. Most drivers are on softs now.
LIGHTS OUT! Lewis Hamilton is at the back and on the soft tyre like his teammate, but Rosberg is the only one in top 10 on softs. So is Felipe Massa.
1..2..3.. GO GO GO! And a MASSIVE SHUNT for KIMI RAIKKONEN with teammate Vettel back in 9th. Daniel Ricciardo takes the lead!
Rosberg is on softs, with nearly everyone else on supersofts! Hamilton chooses to start at the back rather than the pit; he’s had a power unit change. Exciting racing up ahead!
TEN MINUTES to go until lights out and Rosberg will be starting on the soft option tyres. Unlike yesterday’s qualifying session, which was quite damp after a wet practice, today is dry. It’s cloudy, but no sign of rain during the race.
Track temperatures are cool.
T – 20 minutes to lights out! We’re looking at Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari on the front row; Daniel Ricciardo and team boss Christian Horner were both 'shocked' by the Australian’s brilliant performance at qualifying yesterday to go P2. He had only a single podium last year – in Hungary, but with consistent finishes is among the top in the standings this time around.
We’re at the third race of the season – the Chinese Grand Prix, with qualifying done and dusted and Mercedes coming out on top again. This time, it’s Nico Rosberg on pole. The German has been in fine form this season, winning both the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and the race in Bahrain.
Teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was on pole for both those races, begins the race in a last-place shocker after serious problems with his ERS unit. The Briton earlier was due a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, meaning he would not have been able to start from the front even if he had finished qualifying on pole.
READ: Nico Rosberg on pole, last-place howler for Lewis Hamilton
Scuderia Ferrari impressed in Free Practice, with Kimi Raikkonen topping second practice and teammate Sebastian Vettel the third. The pair were also both strong in qualifying, even leading proceedings for a time with Raikkonen atop the standings until Rosberg set the fastest pace in the final qualifying session.
Another surprise came courtesy Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian, whose team is on Renault power, and teammate Daniil Kvyat, both posed stiff competition to other drivers on the track, and Ricciardo pulled in a surprise fast lap to go to second in qualifying behind Rosberg.
Ferrari and Raikkonen rounded off the top 3; the Iceman, as he is popularly known, is one of the oldest drivers on the track and, with Jenson Button, both of them world champions, the most experienced on the track. Since returning to the team with whom he won his first championship, Raikkonen initially had a slow start, but has looked in fine form in 2015, and despite issues in Australia that saw him unable to complete the race, has come back resoundingly in Bahrain and now in Shanghai.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso returned to racing after a big crash in the Australian Grand Prix saw the Spaniard and two-time world champion sustain rib fractures. Rested for a time, he was replaced by GP2 winner Stoffel Vandoorne for the Bahrain race weekend, with the Belgian, who is the reserve driver for McLaren-Honda, stepping ably into Alonso's shoes and scoring a points finish on his Formula One debut.
Hamilton expressed his disappointment following the race, and addressing teammate Rosberg said that his own engine troubles were making the season “easy for Nico.” Hamilton was unable to set a time, with Manor rookie and DTM winner Pascal Wehrlein crashing in the first 30 seconds of yesterday’s qualifying session.
The youngster, who made his Formula One debut in Australia this year, was dealing with semi-wet conditions that he was unused to, and activated his DRS at the wrong time; that saw him spin into the wall, effectively ending his session and causing the first red flags to come out.
Force India did well in free practice, but the team lost out in qualifying – and their issue caused troubles for other teams as well. In the dying minutes of Q2, Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg saw his front left wheel spin right off the car, prompting the German to bring his car to a halt by the side of the track and bringing the session to a halt. With only a minute to go, the session was declared ended.
The team were later penalized for violating F1 safety rules after an investigation showed Hulkenberg’s wheel nut had come loose.
That also meant problems for Williams’ Felipe Massa, and McLaren’s Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, all of whom had been on the way to improving their times to avoid elimination in Q2. Unable to complete their laps, they were all eliminated, with Hulkenberg himself progressing to Q3.
Race begins at 11:30 a.m. IST
