YallaF1 Magazine 18 April 2012

yallaf1Formula 1 magazine & news digest

18.04.2012

CHINESE GPNICO ROSBERG A VERY BIG DAY

FIRST FRame

CHINESE GRAND PRIX REPORT

NICO ROSBERG AND MERCEDES MAKE HISTORY

MCLAREN LEAVE CHINA ON TOP OF THE WORLD

RED BULL DAMAGE CONTROL

ROMAIN GROSJEAN MAKES A POINT

WILLIAMS REVIVAL CONTINUES

FERRARI FAILURE PROMPTS REVOLUTION

ALL THE DRIVERS POST RACE QUOTES

QUALIFYING, FP1, FP2 & FP3 REPORTS

BIG PICTURE: NICO’S BIG WEEKEND

AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

18 april 2012

It’s is always great for Formula 1 when a driver wins his first grand prix, a coming of age no matter how young or old the driver is - in this instance, after another action packed race, Nico Rosberg finally did the business.Exactly 111 races since he made his debut, a nice number which numeroligists will no doubt go to town with. It took Jenson Button 113 races to finally step on to the coveted top step of a podium, and look how often he has been there since.One gets a sneaky suspicion that Rosberg will be a frequent visitor too, in years to come. Many have predicted great things for the German - son of 1982 F1 world champion Keke Rosberg.Rosberg’s victory in China for Mercedes on Sunday made him only the third son of a winning Formula One driver to triumph in the sport since the world championship started in 1950. Graham Hill and Damon Hill, Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve - now Nico and Keke Rosberg.Both Villeneuve and Hill (of junior variety) went on to become world champions....Enjoy our 15th action packed issue.

Content & Credits

• Editor: Peevee• Sub Editor: Adrian Nel• All content sourced from YallaF1.com• Content providers: PVM, GMM, Reuters, FIA, Red Bull,

Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus, Mercedes, Force india, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams, Marussia, Caterham, HRT, Pirelli, Cosworth, Renault and other F1 related organisations.

• Main Photography by Sutton Images• Additional photography services provided by F1

teams including Getty Images, LAT, Hoch Zwei, Ercole Colombo

• Contact: [email protected]

COVeR: SUTTON ImaGeS

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IN THIS ISSUe FIRST WORD

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NICO ROSBERG: MY DAD SAID THAT WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT THE WIN WOULD COME

COVeR STORY

After waiting 111 races for his first Formula 1 victory, Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg accepted

that he might have to be patient a while longer before celebrating the occasion properly with his team and friends.

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ROUND 3, CHINESE GRAND PRIX

NICO ROSBERG: MY DAD SAID THAT WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT THE WIN WOULD COME

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After waiting 111 races for his first Formula 1 victory, Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg accepted that he might have to be patient a while longer before celebrating the occasion properly with his team and friends.

The Mercedes driver looked around the Shanghai paddock as mechanics and truckies packed up the cars and freight to be flown out early on Monday bound for round four of the world championship in Bahrain.

“It’s a bit of a pity that we have the next race coming up next weekend because everyone is busy packing and everything,” he declared, the forklifts beeping behind him as dusk fell. “But there will be more wins to come so we have plenty of time to go crazy celebrating.”

The party may have to wait until after Bahrain, with the travelling circus heading for the Gulf kingdom with considerable trepidation and no mood for frivolity while political unrest and violence continues on the streets.

Only four Formula One drivers have waited longer than Rosberg for a first win and one of them was on the podium with him in Shanghai on Sunday with Britain’s Jenson Button finishing second for McLaren.

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Button, who delights in jokingly calling the blond German “Britney”, had to wait 113 races but won the championship with what is now Rosberg’s team in 2009. Both were similarly precocious talents.

The German is still only 26 and

has plenty of time to catch up – and to discover whether he has a win bonus written into his Mercedes contract.

“(Austrian triple world champion) Niki (Lauda) just said to me ‘From now on, winning gets easy’,” laughed Rosberg. “So if that’s the case I’ll take it.

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He must know.”The son of Finland’s 1982

champion, and only the third son of a winner to win himself, Rosberg had the perfect weekend after drawing a blank in the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia.

He took his first pole on Saturday by a massive margin of more than half a second and took the chequered flag with his rivals down the road and out of sight. Button crossed the line 20.626 seconds later.

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So effortless seemed the victory that Rosberg did not have to overtake anyone in anger and ended the race with an unused set of new tyres still sitting on the shelf in the Mercedes garage after he made just two pitstops.

Before Sunday, the Monaco-based driver had only a solitary second place – in Singapore with Williams in 2008 – and four thirds. But he never doubted his abilities.

“I was convinced that my time would come when the car is ready. And today was the day,” he said. “My Dad said when the time is right it will come, just keep on believing it and be patient.”

The win acquired far more resonance given it was by a German driver in a Mercedes, the German manufacturer whose last win as a works team came with the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio back in 1955.

“I’m pleased for everybody. It’s been a long time coming now for all of us, the whole team,” said Rosberg, who drenched a beaming Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug in champagne on the podium.

Button did not expect Rosberg to wait as long as him for a second win, with the McLaren driver having to wait three years after his first with Honda in 2006 before getting back to the top of the podium with Brawn.

“I’m sure that this won’t be Nico’s first and last win,” he said in the post-race news conference.

“They, the team, seem very competitive this year and Nico obviously hasn’t put a foot wrong all weekend. So I think we’re going to have a battle on our hands.”

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RaCe RepORT

NICO ROSBERG DOMINATES IN CHINA TO WIN HIS FIRST GRAND PRIX AFTER 111 ATTEMPTS

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RaCe RepORT

NICO ROSBERG DOMINATES IN CHINA TO WIN HIS FIRST GRAND PRIX AFTER 111 ATTEMPTS

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Nico Rosberg won his first ever F1 race, after 111 grand prix starts, when he powered to a dominant and faultless

victory in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, giving Mercedes their first win, as a team, in more than half century.Rosberg, in the Mercedes AMG W03, was in a class of his own in qualifying a day earlier when he took his first ever pole position with a scintillating lap, and on race day from the moment the red start lights went out the German simply drove away from his rivals, made no mistakes and in the end cruised to a well calculated and much deserved victory.

Nevertheless, it was a bittersweet day for the Silver Arrows. As they celebrated victory they would surely be excused for a pitstop error which forced Michael Schumacher to retire while running strongly in second, in the process scuppering a very likely one-two finish on the day.

On the up side it appears that the team have resolved the tyre wear issue on the W03 which is now a contender, having beaten McLaren, and the rest for that matter, head to head in normal conditions – fair and square as they say. Game on! True lovers of grand prix racing won’t be complaining about the implications for the quality of racing yet to come in the Chinese year of the dragon.

Rosberg, beaming from ear to ear, said after the race, “It’s an unbelievable feeling. I’m very happy, very excited. It has been a long time coming for me and team after two years and a bit. We are finally there. It’s nice to see how quickly we are progressing. We didn’t expect to be that fast today but I’m very happy with the pace.”

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The victory also returns Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn to the winner’s circle which was so familiar to him during his legendary Ferrari era, and more recently in the Brawn GP days, “I am elated, any race win is special but after a tough time to win a race like that is very special. It was a super super job from Nico. The engineers and

drivers knew exactly what they had to do and they did it perfectly. It was stunning, we still had the fear with the tyres but he used them perfectly. It’s just a tragedy that we had the problem with Michael [Schumacher] because he

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would have been in great shape too. We have started a new adventure, I have been lucky to have a lot of special days and this is certainly a special one.”

Behind Rosberg it was a case of barely controlled mayhem as a dozen

drivers rubbed wheels and threw everything at one another in a

fierce, race long battle, for second place – seldom have we witnessed such close racing, incident packed but ultimately devoid of controversy and a not easily described day at the magnificent Shanghai International Circuit. This was one of those races we will all want to remember for years to come.

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In the end it was Jenson Button who, despite a ten second delay during a pitstop, carved his way through to take the runner-up spot ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton who overcame a five place grid penalty to take third. Along the way the pair had to dispense of the Red Bull pair, the Lotus duo, both Williams, the Saubers and Fernando Alonso – and in no instance was it a simple move. The McLaren boys had to work very hard for the podium.

In retrospect McLaren will be happy having two drivers on the podium, albeit not on the top step, after all they started from fifth and seventh respectively. As for victory, they were the among the first to acknowledgethat Rosberg and Mercedes were simply the best on the day and no way were they beatable in China – victory ordained for the German squad and duly delivered.In the end it was Jenson Button who, despite a 10 second delay during a pitstop, carved his way through to take the runner-up

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In the end it was Jenson Button who, despite a ten second delay during a pitstop, carved his way through to take the runner-up spot ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton who overcame a five place grid penalty to take third. Along the way the pair had to dispense of the Red Bull pair, the Lotus duo, both Williams, the Saubers and Fernando Alonso – and in no instance was it a simple move. The McLaren boys had to work very hard for the podium.

In retrospect McLaren will be happy having two drivers on the podium, albeit not on the top step, after all they started from fifth and seventh respectively. As for victory, they were the among the first to acknowledgethat Rosberg and Mercedes were simply the best on the day and no way were they beatable in China – victory ordained for the German squad and duly delivered.In the end it was Jenson Button who, despite a 10 second delay during a pitstop, carved his way through to take the runner-up

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spot ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton who overcame a five place grid penalty to take third. Along the way the pair had to dispense of the Red Bull pair, the Lotus duo, both Williams, the Saubers and Fernando Alonso – and in no instance was it a simple move. The McLaren boys had to work very hard for the podium.

In retrospect McLaren will be happy having two drivers on the podium, albeit not on the top step, after all they started from fifth and seventh respectively. As for victory, they were the among the first to acknowledgethat Rosberg and Mercedes were simply the best on the day and no way were they beatable in China – victory ordained for the German squad and duly delivered.

Button summed up his afternoon, “I had some really good battles out there. It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me who I wouldn’t have been up against. If that didn’t happen, I would have had a clear run on Nico. All in all though, it was a fun day, I really enjoyed it out there.”

Hamilton, who has now scored a hat-trick of third places in the three races so far this season and leaves China leading the world championship points standings, said, “We knew Nico would be really quick, and we knew if he got away it would be hard to catch

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him as it proved. First pole and first win is always special so congratulations. I’m happy to be on the podium after starting seventh, the strategy was good – it was one of the best races of the season. There was a trail of cars behind me at the end, but overall it was a fantastic day.”

Mark Webber took his tally of fourth place finishes, this year, to three out of three after snatching the place from Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel on the final lap. Webber was the first driver to stop for tyres and spent most afternoon battling his way up the field. “You needed a bit of experience today, it was a very, very close grand prix but congratulations to Nico. It was different

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strategies playing against each other – utter chaos. The difference between fourth and fifth is not massive between team-mates, it was just a few more points that was all. We’ve finished close to McLaren in all three races but there’s a long way to go,” commented Webber afterwards.

Vettel was one of the biggest winners on the day, recovering from 11th on the grid to finish fifth, although he appeared to be heading for a podium spot until the very end, but his two stop strategy in the end was a few laps to far for the Pirelli tyres and what looked like second became fifth in a matter of a couple of laps at the very end.

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Possible the most relieved man in the Shanghai paddock after the race was Romain Grosjean who at last finished a grand prix for his Lotus team, having crashed out early in both previous races. Sixth place was a just reward for the Frenchman who had a subdued early stanza of the race, but around mid-distance started making all the right moves and became embroiled in the dozen car battle for podium spots. He was not shy to go wheel to wheel and eventually muscled his way to his ever F1 points finish.

On the other end of the spectrum was Grosjean’s team mate Kimi Raikkonen

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who was looking his old feisty self throughout the race and looking set for a podium until lap 48 when his two stop strategy took its toll – the Pirelli mediums he had bolted on simply ‘went off the cliff ’ – with virtually no traction the 2007 world champion dropped from second to 12th in the space of a couple of laps and eventually taking the flag in 14th.

Raikkonen explained, “We tried to run two stops but we ran out of the tyres in the end. We tried but it didn’t pay off today. There are two choices and we took another one, we thought it was going to work out but it didn’t.”

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The Williams revival continued in China with Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado finishing seventh and eighth respectively. Senna staying out of trouble to bag a useful haul of points for his team, while Maldonado who simply could not stay out of trouble, surviving some hair raising moments to ensure a double points score on the day for the former world champion squad.

In fact one of the highlights of the day must be the Maldonado versus Fernando Alonso battle – make that slug fest – as the pair slugged it out in good old fashioned style. Both going off track as they tried to out-manoeuvre one another in a most entertaining duel during the last half of the race. The Ferrari simply did not have enough and Alonso crossed the line in in ninth – the Spaniard enduring a day which saw him in the wars with just about everyone and again out classing his team mate Felipe Massa who finished 13th.

The final point went to Kamui Kobayashi, who along with his team mate Sergio Perez, were another pair who were constantly in the thick of the action. Perez running as high as second at one stage. Thus 10 and 11th will be something of a disappointment for the Swiss squad whose Japanese driver started from third on the grid. They would have expected been expecting more on the day.

There is not much time to pause and reflect for the Formula 1 world as they depart China for Bahrain, where engines will be fired up for first free practice in a mere five days time. But for Formula 1 fans, the next race cannot come soon enough, as now Mercedes appear to be real contenders which only makes the championship prospects all the more intriguing.

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15 April 2012 - Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai International Circuit Race Result

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pos No Driver Team Laps Grid pts1 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 56 1 252 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 56 5 183 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 7 154 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 56 6 125 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 56 11 106 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 56 10 87 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 56 14 68 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 56 13 49 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 56 9 210 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 56 3 111 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 56 812 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 56 1513 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 1214 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 56 415 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 56 1616 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 56 2417 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 56 1718 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 55 1919 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 55 2020 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 55 2121 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 55 2222 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 54 2323 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 53 18Ret 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 12 2

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15 April 2012 - Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai International Circuit Race Result

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NICO ROSBERG: IT’S AN UNBELIEVABLE FEELING AND VERY, VERY COOL

NICO ROSbeRG INTeRVIeW

Nico Rosberg will never forget his 111th grand prix race, as he finally broke into the exclusive and prestigious ‘club’ of Formula 1 winners. His Chinese Grand Prix victory was historic in more ways than one, and here the

Mercedes driver reflects on his great afternoon in Shanghai.

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NICO ROSBERG: IT’S AN UNBELIEVABLE FEELING AND VERY, VERY COOL


Nico Rosberg will never forget his 111th grand prix race, as he finally broke into the exclusive and prestigious ‘club’ of Formula 1 winners. His Chinese Grand Prix victory was historic in more ways than one, and here the

Mercedes driver reflects on his great afternoon in Shanghai.

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You join an exclusive club of drivers who’ve turned their maiden pole into their maiden win. How do you feel?Nico Rosberg: Thank you very much. Well, it’s an unbelievable feeling: very, very cool. I’m very happy, very excited. It’s been a long time coming for me, and for the team as well over the past two years and a bit. Now, it’s finally here. It’s just amazing and it’s just nice to see how quickly we are now progressing. I didn’t expect to be that fast today. I expected that we had a good chance to be in front, but I was very happy today with the pace I awas able to go in the race.

There were a lot of questions marks about Mercedes’ race pace going into this race. What have you done to the car to improve it so much?NR: Big thanks to the whole team, because all the engineers especially in the past few weeks have been working very, very hard also, as everybody else has also, just improving the set-up, because we really struggled in the first two races with race pace. Today it all came good. It’s great to see just how quickly we managed to progress. It’s just fantastic.

A packed weekend for you, what with setting records with Mercedes, your first pole, your first win etc. It’s all come at once!NR: Yeah, I know. It’s been the perfect weekend. Everything’s gone [well]. It couldn’t be better. Very happy. It was a great race. It was impressive to see really how we’ve managed to progress so quickly. We’ve really had some difficult times in the races, the first two, but we’ve made a lot of changes, worked hard at it and all of a sudden it’s come good. That’s been fantastic to see today. I’m just so happy for all of us and I really look forward now to spending some time with the team later on.

Was everything perfect in the car as well, throughout the race?NR: Perfect? Well, it’s never perfect but it definitely felt very good out there.


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You didn’t seem to have any problems. It seemed to be a trouble-free race for you.NR: It’s never easy, especially taking care of the tyres was a big difficulty and a big challenger today because there was a lot of tyre wear, but it worked out well.The day before the race you gave the impression that, OK, you’re on pole but it was going to be a lot more difficult to win the race – but you won it, it didn’t seem to be that much more difficult.NR: Of course I was a bit careful yesterday because yes, we were on pole but we’ve seen good qualifying performances all along this year and we’ve had more difficulties on high fuel in the race, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect – but fantastic outcome.

And the tyre strategy, you were happy with that as well, rather than a three-stop?


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NR: I think we got it all right today, even tyre strategy. Everybody in the team did a great job, all the different people, my engineers at the start, the strategy, this and that – everything came together.What you did miss was an incredible battle going on behind you…NR: I was aware of a bit of that because every lap the name changed of the person behind me – I said ‘what’s going on back there?’

You said you wanted to win with Mercedes, now you have done so, just like Fangio and Stirling Moss. What does that mean to you?NR: Ah, it’s definitely very special, the whole thing, firstly just to win the race, to win my first race is special and everything that comes with it, with the Silver Arrows, with the team that I have, with everybody who has been working together for more than two years now. Yeah, it’s a very happy moment.


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It’s your seventh year in Formula One; do you think that the champagne has come to you too late?NR: No, I’m not going to say that, no. But I look forward to many more in the future, definitely.

You said that you have had incredible car development from the last race to this one. Can you give us some details? Is it mechanical, set-up? What exactly explains this?NR: Well, it’s set-up really, really thinking about what’s going on in the race and why are we struggling and trying to improve that situation. Surely the conditions helped us today, I think, but even so, we’re just moving forward and that’s very nice to see. Already from the beginning of the year we’ve been very strong in qualifying, perhaps more difficult in the race. Now we’re still strong in qualifying – very strong, maybe even stronger – and also improving the race, so it’s good progress forward and I’m sure that we will continue this ongoing development. It was mainly set-up.

When did you make the decision to stop only twice, and when were you sure it was the right strategy?NR: Well, I think we’re very strong on strategy – just great people involved with that as well. We have a lot of competence in the team which is fantastic. Before the race, that was our plan. Of course you have Plan B if things don’t go well but things progressed exactly as we had hoped for. The tyres lasted for exactly the amount of laps that we were hoping for so it just all went to plan.


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JENSON BUTTON: IT WAS A GOOD RACE, NICE TO COME AWAY WITH SOME GOOD POINTS

jeNSON bUTTON INTeRVIeW

Jenson Button finished second in the Chinese Grand Prix in the kind of conditions that he relishes and although he had no answer for race winner Nico Rosberg’s pace, he was the best of the rest maximising his

race craft to carve his way through the field and recover from a botched pit stop which saw him stationary for nearly ten seconds. After the race he spoke of his afternoon in Shanghai.

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JENSON BUTTON: IT WAS A GOOD RACE, NICE TO COME AWAY WITH SOME GOOD POINTS


Jenson Button finished second in the Chinese Grand Prix in the kind of conditions that he relishes and although he had no answer for race winner Nico Rosberg’s pace, he was the best of the rest maximising his

race craft to carve his way through the field and recover from a botched pit stop which saw him stationary for nearly ten seconds. After the race he spoke of his afternoon in Shanghai.

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A three-stop strategy for you in the race, but the third stop really cost you big time didn’t it?Jenson Button: Yeah, it did. But before that our race pace was good, especially on the harder of the two tyres. I had some really good battles out there. And then in my last stop, I stopped on the marks and we had a problem with the rear of the car, so I was stuck there for nine or ten seconds I think it was. It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me; cars that I wouldn’t have been racing, and I would have had a nice clear track to hopefully hunt down Nico. It was a big gap but you’ve got to give it a go. But, all in all, a fun day. I really enjoyed today. It was a good race, some good overtaking out there and nice to eventually come away with some good points and second place.

You must love that little DRS thing, that was great, picking them off one after the other.JB: Yeah, but we made it a little bit harder for ourselves in the last stint with a long pit stop,but hey, these things happen, and the first two were very good. A great race, we went for a three-stop strategy, which was different to a lot of people, it was good fun, even with the problem we had, and the possibility that we could maybe have chased down this guy [Nico]. Even though we didn’t have that possibility it was still a great race. I’m very happy to come away with second. I can’t remember how many cars I overtook


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during the race but it was a good fight and most of it was very, very clean, which is good to see. I think we put on a great show for all the viewers and especially all the fans here in Shanghai.

Your race was a little bit easier than Lewis’. Lewis had a little bit of a tougher time I think.JB: Ah, I don’t know. I think when you’re in front for the first few laps it always makes it easier. You’re dropping the traffic better. Everything was going to plan, I knew I’d have traffic and we were picking them off nicely up to the second pit stop. But after the last stop it was a lot more difficult. Kimi was leading a train of about eight cars and everyone was DRS-ing at the same time, so, until Sebastian had a go at Kimi, I couldn’t have a go at Sebastian. It was good fun. Overtaking Sebastian was probably the most fun move of the race, down into the hairpin. Or maybe Grosjean, when I took him before the actual back straight, through the right-hander, that was quite nice as well.

You had to wait some time to win for the first time; do you think that Nico can take the same path as you?JB: We were talking on the podium and yeah, he beat me by two races. I took 113 and he’s on 111. It’s amazing how, with some people, it can happen very quickly if you can find yourself in the right situation. For others it takes a little bit more time. Which way would you chose? We’d all chose to win immediately, I think. I wouldn’t chose my career path and the mistakes that I’ve made and obviously the good things that have happened in my career – it’s just different for all of us. I’m sure that this won’t be Nico’s first and last win. They – the team – seem very competitive this year and Nico obviously didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend. So I think we’re going to have a battle on our hands this year which is good to see.


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If you had come out in front of the train without the problem at the last pit stop, do you think you could have caught Nico? Your tyres were five laps younger.JB: That was obviously the aim but you never know if that’s going to be possible. It was a big gap to chase down but before the stop, we had very good pace on new and old tyres so I don’t know. That was our aim but it didn’t go to plan, but we had a

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problem at the pit stop which cost us a lot of time – it didn’t just cost us time, it cost us places as well, so it made it very difficult to have the possibility to chase down Nico. But that’s the way it is. Sometimes it doesn’t quite go your way but I must say that most of the pit stops that we’ve had this weekend have been fantastic. We’ve just got to get rid of that bad one.


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LEWIS HAMILTON: IT WAS A FANTASTIC RACE LeWIS HamILTON INTeRVIeW

Lewis Hamilton made it three third places out of three starts so far this season, but surely it is a matter of time before the McLaren driver opens his 2012 victory account as he has been constantly at the very sharp end of proceedings in all sessions - including practice and qualifying - he reflects on his Chinese Grand Prix afternoon in Shanghai.

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LEWIS HAMILTON: IT WAS A FANTASTIC RACE LeWIS HamILTON INTeRVIeW

Lewis Hamilton made it three third places out of three starts so far this season, but surely it is a matter of time before the McLaren driver opens his 2012 victory account as he has been constantly at the very sharp end of proceedings in all sessions - including practice and qualifying - he reflects on his Chinese Grand Prix afternoon in Shanghai.

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You started seventh and finished third. Were you surprised by Nico’s pace today?Lewis Hamilton: We knew that all weekend they had been quick and if we let these people get away it would be hard to catch him, so fantastic for him, congratulations. Your first pole and your first win is an incredible feeling. But I’m very happy to have made it up to the podium. As I said, I wanted to just go forwards and the team did a great job with the pit stops and with strategy. I think it was one of the best races so far this season, just because there was a lot of overtaking and there was a train of us – I think seven cars or something – it was incredible. Yeah, fantastic day.

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A lot of battles throughout the race but a very exciting one at the end with Sebastian Vettel. Tell us about it?LH: It wasn’t just with him. It was with everyone really. They [Red Bull] were massively quick on the straight, even when we had the DRS engaged. You had to use all your KERS to get right up behind and obviously you get to the DRS zone and try to use the DRS to catapult past. Finally, I got close enough to do so. I guess he was out a bit longer on his tyres. Nonetheless, he put up a good fight. So did all of them really. I think we lost a little bit of time behind, I think, maybe Pérez. But nevertheless it was still exciting racing.

Another third place, but you had a great race out there, a lot of people to overtake.LH: Yeah, I had my work cut out today. It was a fantastic race, I really enjoyed it. As I said yesterday, I just wanted to see if I could move forwards: a good start, good pit stops, good strategy, but what an incredible race with so many World Champions


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and so many of the great drivers all in a train, just fighting each other. It’s great to see racing like that and to see cars so close in pace. It was a little bit unfortunate that there was quite a lot of traffic throughout the race but I’m sure that if we started a little bit higher up it would have been a little bit of a different result for us, but nonetheless, Nico did a fantastic job so congratulations to him. I’m glad we were able to get some good team points today.

How much downforce were you losing in that train, for instance through the corner onto the straight?LH: You try to stay out of the wake of the car in front, so you take a slightly tighter line which enables you to remain as close as possible. As I said, it just provides great racing. I don’t remember being in a race like that for some time so we’re doing something right.


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MCLAREN LEAVE CHINA ON TOP OF THE WORLD FeaTURe

Jenson Button rued a missed opportunity but McLaren had a good day at the Chinese Grand Prix and leave Shanghai with the lead

in both Championships.

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MCLAREN LEAVE CHINA ON TOP OF THE WORLD FeaTURe

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Starting from fifth and seventh respectively, Button and Lewis Hamilton were both able to put the excellent long run pace of the McLaren MP4-27 to good use as they took the lower spots on the on the podium. Hamilton’s third successive third place lifts him into the lead of the Drivers’ Championship on 45 points, two points clear of Button who has a second to add to his victory in Australia. Their combination of 88 points lifts the team well clear of Red Bull Racing who are now second in the Constructors’ Championship.

While Button pronounced himself pleased with his podium finish he was left to regret a fumbled final pitstop which destroyed any chance of him chasing down Nico Rosberg and challenging for the victory. Instead he came out in the middle of a battle for the lower places and had to thread his way through the crowd to regain his position.

“Our race pace was good, especially on the harder of the two tyres, I had some really good battles out there,” said Button in the FIA post-race press conference. “And then in my last stop, we had a problem with the rear of the car, so I was stuck there for nine or ten seconds I think it was. It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me; cars that I wouldn’t have been racing, and I would have had a nice clear track to hopefully hunt down Nico. It was a big gap but

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you’ve got to give it a go. But, all in all, a fun day. I really enjoyed today. It was a good race, some good overtaking out there and nice to eventually come away with some good points and second place.”

Hamilton had the more difficult challenge. Having qualified second but started seventh after taking a five-place penalty for changing a suspect gearbox, he needed to make a good start and then rely on the pace of the McLaren to pull himself forward in each successive stint. “I’m very happy to have made it up to the podium,” he said. “I wanted to just go forwards and the

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team did a great job with the pit stops and with strategy. I think it was one of the best races so far this season, just because there was a lot of overtaking. It was incredible.”

Hamilton also paid tribute to Mercedes and his former team-mate Rosberg, the pair having driven together in junior categories. “We knew that all weekend they had been quick and if we let these people get away it would be hard to catch him, so fantastic for him, congratulations. Your first pole and your first win is an incredible feeling.”

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DAMAGE LIMITATION FOR RED BULL

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel claimed they were satisfied with the 22 points earned with the fourth and fifth places they respectively earned after

battling back from bad starts in the Chinese Grand Prix.

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DAMAGE LIMITATION FOR RED BULL FeaTURe

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FeaTURe

Webber, starting from sixth, made a poor getaway and dropped back to into the midfield but after an early stop to take on a fresh of medium tyres, the Australian began to make up ground. In the closing stages, Webber found himself in a train of cars stuck behind second-placed Kimi Raikkonen, who was struggling on worn tyres

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after a two-stop race. After being passed by Vettel, also on a two-stop, Raikkonen went offline onto the marbles under pressure and was passed in quick succession by the three-stopping trio of Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Webber. They then set off in pursuit of Vettel, who was by now struggling badly as well.

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FeaTUReWebber was the last to pass the defending champion and claimed his third fourth place in a row behind maiden winner Nico Rosberg and the twin McLarens of Button and Hamilton. “It was a pretty difficult race to be honest,” said Webber. “I was struggling a lot with the warm-up on the first few laps, particularly with the fronts, so we lost some positions there. I had a poor start as well, which was very frustrating.

“In the end, fourth is probably not the maximum, but I made a couple of mistakes as well, trying to push, running wide onto that back straight. It was easy to get into the marbles there. “It was just tricky to keep the balance of the car together and keep pushing as hard as possible,” he added. “But in the end we got a handful of points. I think it’s three fourths on the bounce now. So we leave here reasonably satisfied I’d say. At the start of the race it looked like we were going to get a loss less but we got something at the end. Any position you can get towards the end is good. I was seeing P13 and P14 on my board sometimes, so fourth is not bad at all.”

After being passed by Webber in the final laps, Vettel was forced to settle for fifth but after starting 11th and dropping as far back as 15th following a bad start, the defending champion said he was pleased with the result. “I think I missed out a little on the start. I was a bit too late. I wasn’t entirely happy finding the revs and I was a bit confused,” he said.

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“Usually I’m pretty quick but today I think I was one of the last ones. I didn’t wake up early enough. “Then I lost two positions to the Williams and then in turn one they nearly crashed, I think they did a little bit, and I had to hit the brakes and I didn’t know what was going to happen. Then I lost another couple of positions, so it was a pretty bad stage after the first lap but with the strategy we managed to kind of come back.”

The German added that he wasn’t disappointed to have lost fourth to his team-mate at the end. “Disappointed? No,” he said. “You could ask the same question about whether I was disappointed to lose the position to Jenson and one or two laps later to Lewis. It was getting more and more difficult. I had nothing left in the tyres. I knew that the only chance was to try to escape from Kimi, I think he ran into the same kind of problems really. I had no tyres left. You try to them back to life, get a little bit more out of them but they were pretty dead. I had to react with brake balance, diff, everything I had, so yeah, there was nothing I could have done. Shame, because the podium was so close but yet so far. Nevertheless, as I said, some good points, and a good recovery from 15th.

“We were generally too slow on the straights,” Vettel concluded. “We were losing out a lot of time there. That made it extremely difficult to pass other people to be honest, so I’m pretty happy with fifth, given the poor start and the poor first lap we had.”

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BITTERSWEET DAY FOR LOTUS AS GROSJEAN SCORES BUT RAIKKONEN BOMBS

France’s Romain Grosjean finally scored his first points in Formula One on Sunday in a sweet and sour Chinese Grand Prix for Lotus, but team mate Kimi Raikkonen failed to score any despite lying

in second with a handful of laps to go in the race.

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BITTERSWEET DAY FOR LOTUS AS GROSJEAN SCORES BUT RAIKKONEN BOMBS

France’s Romain Grosjean finally scored his first points in Formula One on Sunday in a sweet and sour Chinese Grand Prix for Lotus, but team mate Kimi Raikkonen failed to score any despite lying

in second with a handful of laps to go in the race.

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After two retirements in a row, and only a handful of laps under his belt due to a combination of errors and bad luck, Grosjean made it all the way to the chequered flag in sixth place.

While the happy the 25-year-old could celebrate at last, his 2007 world champion team mate Kimi Raikkonen saw fistfuls of points slip from his grasp after going from second to 14th in the closing nine laps.

“It is getting more frustrating for us as we are clearly very close to achieving a very good result,” said team principal Eric Boullier.

“Twelve laps before the end of today’s race we had one car in P2 (second) and one car in P5 (fifth) with no more pit stops to go. Unfortunately we were a little bit too aggressive with our strategy.”

Raikkonen, a former Ferrari driver making his comeback this season after

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two years in rallying, could do nothing to hold off the field behind as his tyres lost performance.

The Finn had taken a bold two-stop strategy, the same as Mercedes’ winner Nico Rosberg, but - in only his third race on Pirelli tyres - may have been too rough on the unfamiliar rubber to make it work.

“Eight laps before the end of the race, Kimi’s tyres were nearing the end of their life and, unfortunately, he got on the marbles (tyre debris) when (Sebastian) Vettel passed,” said Alan Permane, the team’s director of trackside operations.

“That was the end of his race effectively as he lost 10 places over the course of a lap.”

The points enabled Lotus to stay sixth overall on 24 points to Williams’s 18.

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WILLIAMS REVIVAL CONTINUES WITH DOUBLE POINTS FINISH

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WILLIAMS REVIVAL CONTINUES WITH DOUBLE POINTS FINISH

With Bruno Senna seventh and Pastor Maldonado eighth, Williams recorded its first finish with both cars in the

points since the Korean Grand Prix of 2010.

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FeaTUReHaving started 13th and 14th on the grid the Williams cars both opted for a two-stop strategy, though the South American pair approached it with differing tyre strategies: Maldonado from 13th choosing to go soft, medium, medium and Senna being one of four drivers choosing to start on the medium tyre, which he followed with a short stint on the soft before reverting to the medium compound. “It was a great result for the team to finish with two cars in the points today,” commented Senna. “It was a tough race and tyre wear was high. Our strategy worked for us today but we’re still learning and improving together. We aim to continue to get better throughout the next few races.”

Maldonado had perhaps a more eventful race than his team-mate and was involved in several thrilling tussles for position as he worked his way back up the field having had a poor start. “It was very tough today,” said the Venezuelan. “I lost places at the start and it was difficult to overtake but we had good pace. We were able to fight all the way to the end so I’m happy to get some points. It was a great result for the team.”

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FeaTURe

The result confirmed the suggestion of the first two races in which Williams demonstrated they were capable of running well up in the top ten. While failing to score in Australia after a late race crash for Maldonado and a first lap collision

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FeaTURe

for Senna, their points today added to Senna’s haul for sixth place in Malaysia means the team has already scored more than three times as many points as it accumulated in the entire 2011 season.

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FERNANDO ALONSO: I HAVE NOT LOST HOPE, QUITE THE CONTRARY

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FERNANDO ALONSO: I HAVE NOT LOST HOPE, QUITE THE CONTRARY

Everyone at Ferrari knew that Malaysia was a miracle and only a driver

of Fernando Alonso’s calibre and determination could have concocted that victory, but try as he might the gutsy Spaniard could do nothing about the woeful pace of the F2012 in relatively normal (as opposed to Sepang style freak) conditions in Shanghai – ninth was the best he could muster on a day where he battled with everyone but at the end had very little to show for his efforts.

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Alonso said after the Chinese Grand Prix, in the Shanghai paddock, “We knew this would be a difficult race and that’s how it turned out. We were always in traffic, without an opportunity to exploit the car’s potential and when you are behind other cars, the tyres get worn much more easily. Choosing to do three stops clearly meant we would be forced to do some overtaking, but with the top speed we had, it turned out to be almost impossible on the main straight, so I had to invent some overtaking moves at other points on the track, where I could make better use of the car.”

Team principal Stefano Domenicali summed up, “There’s no point denying we are disappointed. We had the potential to get a better result than this, but we did not manage it. The lack of top speed, one of the weak points of this F2012, prevented Fernando especially of making the most of a strategy, which at one point, had put him in a situation where he could fight for a place in the top five.”

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Alonso said after the Chinese Grand Prix, in the Shanghai paddock, “We knew this would be a difficult race and that’s how it turned out. We were always in traffic, without an opportunity to exploit the car’s potential and when you are behind other cars, the tyres get worn much more easily. Choosing to do three stops clearly meant we would be forced to do some overtaking, but with the top speed we had, it turned out to be almost impossible on the main straight, so I had to invent some overtaking moves at other points on the track, where I could make better use of the car.”

Team principal Stefano Domenicali summed up, “There’s no point denying we are disappointed. We had the potential to get a better result than this, but we did not manage it. The lack of top speed, one of the weak points of this F2012, prevented Fernando especially of making the most of a strategy, which at one point, had put him in a situation where he could fight for a place in the top five.”

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FeaTUReThe Spaniard was involved in most of the battles, in an epic grand prix, of which his wheel to wheel tussle with a Pastor Maldonado will go down as one of the highlights of the race, in an afternoon packed with thrilling action throughout the field.

But with the adrenalin no longer rushing, Alonso spelt out the depressing reality which the Maranello team find themselves in with three races run, “Obviously, this does not leave me very optimistic for Bahrain, on a track where traction and speed are vital, exactly the areas where we are weakest. Once again next week it will be mainly a case of damage limitation. I don’t want to think of the classification because the priority is to improve the performance of the F2012.”

As has become his custom, and despite the diabolical situation his team finds themselves in, Alonso continued to rally the troops, “This does not mean however, that I have lost hope, quite the contrary. Last year, we believed all the way to Spa and there’s no reason not to at the moment, when we are third in the classification, just eight points off the leader. Sure, we definitely need to make a good step forward to make the car quicker.”

“In Spain we will have major updates but so will the others and so it’s not that I’m expecting a miracle of going one second quicker than the others,” concluded the double world champion.

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FAILURE OF THE FERRARI F2012 SPARKS A REVOLUTION AT MARANELLO

Speaking on the opening day of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend in Shanghai, Ferrari technical director Pat Fry said that an overhaul at Maranello is currently

underway and targeting more than simply fixing early season problems with the F2012.

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FAILURE OF THE FERRARI F2012 SPARKS A REVOLUTION AT MARANELLO

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FeaTUReIn a characteristically honest appraisal of his teams’ pace, Fry, speaking in the FIA Friday press conference, said he expected his team to be qualifying between seventh and eleventh and that while many of their problems with the current car are now understood, the gap between understanding and rectifying a problem can be a large one. The former McLaren engineer also explained that his new team were less interested in quick fixes than they were in changing the way Maranello functions in the long term.

“It’s not just a case of us trying to build a quicker car, we need to fundamentally be changing the methodologies that we use to select, design and manufacture so that we are competitive long term,” he said. “There’s work on all fronts, not just work going into what we’re taking to Barcelona (where Ferrari are expected to bring a big upgrade) there’s also a huge amount of work in just trying to change the fundamentals of what we do so we can actually take a step forward and be competing with everyone else.”

Fry unsurprisingly identified aerodynamics as the area most in need of attention. “We’ve got some issues there that we’re trying to resolve,” he confirmed.

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FeaTURe“The areas you need to be working on is everything from the way you run the wind tunnel, the accuracy of your wind tunnel, the simulation that you use to decide what components to take forward, so we’re not leaving any stone unturned.

“We’re actually trying to review and revise our methodologies through the

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FeaTURewhole process and that carries on into the design office for trying to get weight out of various parts, make other bits more durable, so there’s work going on absolutely everywhere within the company, on the basic fundamental methodology as well as just trying to upgrade the car.” Ferrari occupied 11th and 12th positions in FP1, and 10th and 17th in FP2.

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FERRARI PIT CREW FASTEST OF ALL SO FAR

Ferrari may not have a leading car so far in 2012, but when it comes to pitstops, the Maranello team is setting the pace, according to the finding of sports

daily Marca, reporting that Fernando Alonso’s 2.4 second pitstop in Shanghai was the fastest of all.

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FeaTUReThe report said Ferrari’s pitstops were on average six tenths better than those performed by rival top teams Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull in China.

Marca also said Ferrari has managed to speed up its pitstops compared with the 2011 season, despite the FIA’s ban on helium-powered air-guns that has cost every team at least two tenths of a second.

“On a grid as tight as this one (in 2012), it is very important to take care of these sorts of details,” Fernando Alonso is quoted as saying.

“They can gain you positions and points, which could be decisive at the end of the season.”

Ferrari test driver Marc Gene agreed that the only missing element at the Maranello team at present is a good car.

“On the other hand,” he told Diario Sport newspaper, “it is noteworthy that we have done the best pitstops, the strategies have generally been good, and the car is reliable.

“What we lack is the pure speed, both in qualifying and the race,” added Gene.

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SEBASTIAN VETTEL - 5th “I had no tyres left at the end of the race. Sitting in the car, I was reacting with brake balance, diff, everything to try and keep the tyres, but by the last few laps, I knew the only chance was trying to keep ahead of Kimi; I think he ran into the same sort of problem. We got some good points and it was a good recovery from 15th. Mercedes won pretty comfortably today, so well done to them. We were generally too slow on the straights, and we’re losing time there; it made it difficult to pass other people. But overall, I’m pretty happy with fifth given the poor first lap. I missed out on the start, I wasn’t entirely happy finding the revs and I lost the initial bit when the lights went off. Usually I’m pretty quick with that, but today I was one of the last ones. The first lap wasn’t great, but with the strategy we managed to come back. I think the weekend was good for us, we learned a lot and hopefully we will take these lessons on board and go in the right direction for next week.”

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SEBASTIAN VETTEL - 5th “I had no tyres left at the end of the race. Sitting in the car, I was reacting with brake balance, diff, everything to try and keep the tyres, but by the last few laps, I knew the only chance was trying to keep ahead of Kimi; I think he ran into the same sort of problem. We got some good points and it was a good recovery from 15th. Mercedes won pretty comfortably today, so well done to them. We were generally too slow on the straights, and we’re losing time there; it made it difficult to pass other people. But overall, I’m pretty happy with fifth given the poor first lap. I missed out on the start, I wasn’t entirely happy finding the revs and I lost the initial bit when the lights went off. Usually I’m pretty quick with that, but today I was one of the last ones. The first lap wasn’t great, but with the strategy we managed to come back. I think the weekend was good for us, we learned a lot and hopefully we will take these lessons on board and go in the right direction for next week.”

DRIVeR ReaCTION

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MARK WEBBER - 4th “Trying to get the balance right for the whole race was very tricky. In the end, fourth was not too bad; it wasn’t the maximum, but it’s very tight between the teams at the front. At some points of the race, I saw P13/ P14 on the board, so I have to be satisfied with fourth place. I made a few mistakes running wide trying to push onto the back straight, it’s hard there as you can get onto the marbles. I think the strategy was good, but it’s always a gamble with the three stop, as to what traffic there might be. Congratulations to Nico, he deserves the victory, and also to Mercedes. For me it’s three fourths on the bounce now, it’s good

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MARK WEBBER - 4th DRIVeR ReaCTION

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JENSON BUTTON - 2nd “Congratulations to Nico [Rosberg] today – he drove a faultless race. But who knows what we could have achieved if we’d had a clear run at him in the final stint? Our pace was very good and the aim was to come out ahead of that following pack of cars – which we would have done if we hadn’t lost time in the pitstop – and chase him down and put him under pressure. The delay in the final stop was just one of those things though – all the other stops had been very strong this weekend, but that one in particular wasn’t. The delay pushed me back into the traffic, which was a little bit of a shock, but the pace and consistency are there in the car and I was able to get back into second position, after a good battle and a satisfying pass on Sebastian [Vettel]. It’s disappointing not to have been able to challenge for the win, but it was a fun race with tons of overtaking and lots of battling. More important, it’s been a great day for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes because we’re now leading both world championships. It’s very important to be consistent, and it’s nice to be back on the podium, but there are just a couple of little things we need to improve upon to make life even better for ourselves.”

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JENSON BUTTON - 2nd DRIVeR ReaCTION

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LEWIS HAMILTON - 3rd “I had a great race! And, although neither Jenson nor I was sadly able to win, I’m really happy that Nico took his first win today, but I’m also really pleased for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team: both Jenson and I were able to get back on the podium and score some more good points. It was a tough race, though: I’d love to have been able to challenge Nico, and I think maybe I’d have been able to if I’d started on the front row, but we still managed to move forwards from the start I had a lot of fun overtaking people too. I reckon I got everything out of the car that I possibly could. It’s also a major positive to know that we’ve got a very consistent car. We just have to make sure we keep moving forwards, that’s all. Mercedes AMG, Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Sauber are all up there – that’s a serious championship and it’s going to make for great racing for the fans to watch. It’s been a while since I was at the top of the drivers’ world championship – but we’ve got to remain focused. I think if I just continue to work as I am then the wins will surely come, and I’ll keep pushing for some better results in the future.”

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LEWIS HAMILTON - 3rd “I had a great race! And, although neither Jenson nor I was sadly able to win, I’m really happy that Nico took his first win today, but I’m also really pleased for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team: both Jenson and I were able to get back on the podium and score some more good points. It was a tough race, though: I’d love to have been able to challenge Nico, and I think maybe I’d have been able to if I’d started on the front row, but we still managed to move forwards from the start I had a lot of fun overtaking people too. I reckon I got everything out of the car that I possibly could. It’s also a major positive to know that we’ve got a very consistent car. We just have to make sure we keep moving forwards, that’s all. Mercedes AMG, Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Sauber are all up there – that’s a serious championship and it’s going to make for great racing for the fans to watch. It’s been a while since I was at the top of the drivers’ world championship – but we’ve got to remain focused. I think if I just continue to work as I am then the wins will surely come, and I’ll keep pushing for some better results in the future.”

DRIVeR ReaCTION

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FERNANDO ALONSO - 9th “We knew this would be a difficult race and that’s how it turned out. We were always in traffic, without an opportunity to exploit the car’s potential and when you are behind other cars, the tyres get worn much more easily. Choosing to do three stops clearly meant we would be forced to do some overtaking, but with the top speed we had, it turned out to be almost impossible on the main straight, so I had to invent some overtaking moves at other points on the track, where I could make better use of the car. Obviously, this does not leave me very optimistic for Bahrain, on a track where traction and speed are vital, exactly the areas where we are weakest. Once again next week it will be mainly a case of damage limitation. I don’t want to think of the classification because the priority is to improve the performance of the F2012. This does not mean however, that I have lost hope, quite the contrary. Last year, we believed all the way to Spa and there’s no reason not to at the moment, when we are third in the classification, just eight points off the leader. Sure, we definitely need to make a good step forward to make the car quicker. In Spain we will have major updates but so will the others and so it’s not that I’m expecting a miracle of going one second quicker than the others.”

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FERNANDO ALONSO - 9th “We knew this would be a difficult race and that’s how it turned out. We were always in traffic, without an opportunity to exploit the car’s potential and when you are behind other cars, the tyres get worn much more easily. Choosing to do three stops clearly meant we would be forced to do some overtaking, but with the top speed we had, it turned out to be almost impossible on the main straight, so I had to invent some overtaking moves at other points on the track, where I could make better use of the car. Obviously, this does not leave me very optimistic for Bahrain, on a track where traction and speed are vital, exactly the areas where we are weakest. Once again next week it will be mainly a case of damage limitation. I don’t want to think of the classification because the priority is to improve the performance of the F2012. This does not mean however, that I have lost hope, quite the contrary. Last year, we believed all the way to Spa and there’s no reason not to at the moment, when we are third in the classification, just eight points off the leader. Sure, we definitely need to make a good step forward to make the car quicker. In Spain we will have major updates but so will the others and so it’s not that I’m expecting a miracle of going one second quicker than the others.”

DRIVeR ReaCTION

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FELIPE MASSA - 13th

“I tried to do my best in a very close fought race. Sure, thirteenth place is not something I can be happy about, but I think that as far as my race was concerned, this was a step forward compared to the first two races of the season. At least I managed to run a normal race and I know I did everything that I could. The decision to make two stops was the right one, given my position, but maybe, in the light of how the race went, it would have been better to stop at different times: however, that’s easy to say now, after the chequered flag. Each and every time I found myself in traffic and paid for the lack of top speed, one of the major problems with our car at the moment. The Sakhir circuit, for the next round of the championship, does not look like being very favourable for us, given how things have gone so far. For me, it is a race where I have always done well, but I’m not under any illusions. As always, we will try and give it our best shot.”

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NICO ROSBERG - 1st DRIVeR ReaCTION

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NICO ROSBERG - 1st “This is a very special moment for me. The whole weekend went perfectly. My first pole position, now my first win in Formula One - it really is fantastic. But it’s not only this; it’s the first win for the new Silver Arrow and for this great team. That is really special for me. Thanks to everybody in the team, here in China and in our factories in Brackley and Brixworth. It makes me very proud that we have improved the car so quickly. I will never forget this race, and the last 20 laps felt as long as if I was racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours! But then crossing the line was so intense. We will enjoy this success, but our feet are still on the ground. We are still not where we want to be, we are still working hard to understand the car and the tyres in all conditions, and we will keep pushing to improve our race pace even further. We will see how that works out in Bahrain.”

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MICHAEL SCHUMACHER - DNF “First of all, congratulations to the whole team, to Mercedes-Benz and of course to Nico who achieved a perfect victory from start to finish. He did a great job today and yesterday, and I am happy for him. As for my race, my right front tyre got loose following my first pit stop. As I did not want to cause any bigger damage to the car, I stopped on the grass. I felt there was something wrong immediately and especially in turn three, when I put pressure on the right side of the car. Up until then I had a controlled race I’d say, keeping the others behind me and the tyres together. Of course, this was an unfortunate ending to what could have been a nice race, and I feel sorry for the guys, who always work so hard and give their best. But we all know that’s part of the game.”

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MICHAEL SCHUMACHER - DNF “First of all, congratulations to the whole team, to Mercedes-Benz and of course to Nico who achieved a perfect victory from start to finish. He did a great job today and yesterday, and I am happy for him. As for my race, my right front tyre got loose following my first pit stop. As I did not want to cause any bigger damage to the car, I stopped on the grass. I felt there was something wrong immediately and especially in turn three, when I put pressure on the right side of the car. Up until then I had a controlled race I’d say, keeping the others behind me and the tyres together. Of course, this was an unfortunate ending to what could have been a nice race, and I feel sorry for the guys, who always work so hard and give their best. But we all know that’s part of the game.”

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KIMI RAIKKONEN - 14th

“We tried to run two stops as it looked to be the fastest strategy and up until the last ten laps it was looking good, but we ran out of tyre performance at the end. I was stuck behind Felipe (Massa) for quite a while and couldn’t get past as I wasn’t fast enough in the right parts of the track to make a move. Even if I’d got past I don’t think it would have made the greatest amount of difference to the final result. We had good pace in the race, we tried a different strategy and it didn’t pay off today; it’s as simple as that.”

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KIMI RAIKKONEN - 14th

“We tried to run two stops as it looked to be the fastest strategy and up until the last ten laps it was looking good, but we ran out of tyre performance at the end. I was stuck behind Felipe (Massa) for quite a while and couldn’t get past as I wasn’t fast enough in the right parts of the track to make a move. Even if I’d got past I don’t think it would have made the greatest amount of difference to the final result. We had good pace in the race, we tried a different strategy and it didn’t pay off today; it’s as simple as that.”

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ROUND 1, AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX DRIVeR ReaCTION

“It was a very good race, I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately I made a little mistake fighting with Mark (Webber) but overall it was a good performance. The car felt great and the team did an amazing job to give us such a big improvement from Friday, so I’m especially happy for the guys to be able to finish the race and get some good points on the board. To be up there fighting with McLaren and Red Bull is a great feeling and I’m happy to have got my season started properly. We’ve had high hopes since P3 on the grid in Melbourne, and now after a few setbacks it’s time to aim higher. There’s always room to improve and hopefully from here we can aim for the top five and eventually podiums. We’ll take things step by step but I’m feeling confident for the rest of the season ahead.”

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ROMAIN GROSJEAN - 6th DRIVeR ReaCTION

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ROMAIN GROSJEAN - DNF ROUND 1, AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX DRIVeR ReaCTION

PASTOR MALDONADO - 8th

“It was very tough today. I lost places at the start and it was difficult to overtake but we had good pace. We were able to fight all the way to the end so I’m happy to get some points. It was a great result for the team.”

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ROMAIN GROSJEAN - DNF PASTOR MALDONADO - 8th DRIVeR ReaCTION

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BRUNO SENNA - 7th “It was a great result for the team to finish with two cars in the points today. It was a tough race and tyre wear was high. Our strategy worked for us today but we’re still learning and improving together. We aim to continue to get better throughout the next few races.”

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PAUL DI RESTA - 12th “It was an extremely close race today and although we were able to keep ourselves in the hunt, we were just missing the pace to catch people and make up any more ground. So it was a bit like the race in Australia where there were lots of cars running very close to each other and a lot of guys nursing their tyres. I think we made some good calls with the tyres and there were lots of different strategies playing out around us. It was also incredibly slippery offline with the marbles making things very tricky. So we go away from here knowing that we are not too far away from the other teams and determined to get the car dialled in nicely for Bahrain next week.”

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PAUL DI RESTA - 12th “It was an extremely close race today and although we were able to keep ourselves in the hunt, we were just missing the pace to catch people and make up any more ground. So it was a bit like the race in Australia where there were lots of cars running very close to each other and a lot of guys nursing their tyres. I think we made some good calls with the tyres and there were lots of different strategies playing out around us. It was also incredibly slippery offline with the marbles making things very tricky. So we go away from here knowing that we are not too far away from the other teams and determined to get the car dialled in nicely for Bahrain next week.”

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NICO HULKENBERG - 15th DRIVeR ReaCTION

“I didn’t get a great start because there was a lot of wheelspin and I lost a few places straight away. Then I picked up some damage to my front wing on the first lap. I don’t think I hit anybody, but there was a lot of debris flying around going into turn one so maybe that’s when it happened. That made the first stint very difficult because there was massive understeer and I had to change the nose at my first stop. We targeted a two-stop strategy, which I think was the right choice because our pace was strong towards the end of the race and I closed up on the main pack, but I think we lost too much at the start to make a real impact in the race.”

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ROMAIN GROSJEAN - DNF NICO HULKENBERG - 15th DRIVeR ReaCTION

“I didn’t get a great start because there was a lot of wheelspin and I lost a few places straight away. Then I picked up some damage to my front wing on the first lap. I don’t think I hit anybody, but there was a lot of debris flying around going into turn one so maybe that’s when it happened. That made the first stint very difficult because there was massive understeer and I had to change the nose at my first stop. We targeted a two-stop strategy, which I think was the right choice because our pace was strong towards the end of the race and I closed up on the main pack, but I think we lost too much at the start to make a real impact in the race.”

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KAMUI KOBAYASHI - 10th “Of course after what we did in qualifying the race result is disappointing. I’m not really sure what happened at the start, my car just didn’t move, it was a bit strange and I lost positions immediately. Then I was stuck in traffic for most of the time, also we made the second pit stop a bit late and the tyres had gone. Quite often we have recovered in the race from a bad qualifying, but today it was the other way round. So we have proven we can be strong in both qualifying and race, and next time we will put this all together.”

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KAMUI KOBAYASHI - 10th DRIVeR ReaCTION

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SERGIO PEREZ - 11th

“I must say I am very disappointed. I had a very good start, and for the entire first stint it really looked to be going very well for me. But then when I picked up the medium compound tyres I lost a lot of performance from lap 17 onwards. Actually I feel I would have been better off with a three stop strategy, but you never know. The pit stops as such were good, but at both I lost time at the launch because we had a problem with the clutch. However, this is racing and we will do better next time.“

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DANIEL RICCIARDO - 17th

“My start off the line was okay, but I got a bit squeezed around the outside at Turn 1 and lost what I had gained earlier. Then, on the same lap, I went round some debris on the track at Turn 6 and lost another place. In fact, my whole first stint was not very good and we were struggling to overtake. In the second stint, it went slightly better and the last one better still, but the pace today was not good enough to deliver anything better.”

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DANIEL RICCIARDO - 17th

“My start off the line was okay, but I got a bit squeezed around the outside at Turn 1 and lost what I had gained earlier. Then, on the same lap, I went round some debris on the track at Turn 6 and lost another place. In fact, my whole first stint was not very good and we were struggling to overtake. In the second stint, it went slightly better and the last one better still, but the pace today was not good enough to deliver anything better.”

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JEAN ERIC VERGNE - 16th “We decided to change some elements on the car that had not worked well up to qualifying, which is why I started from pit lane, so my set-up for the race was more similar to what we had in Melbourne and Sepang. I did not have high hopes of doing much, starting from the back, but the important thing was to see how the car performed. It was pretty good, so I expect we will start with it like that in Bahrain and hopefully be able to have a better race result. Today’s race had some enjoyable moments as I passed a few cars, but it was a bit short for me, as a few more laps and I think I could have got ahead of the two guys in front of me.”

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ROMAIN GROSJEAN - DNF JEAN ERIC VERGNE - 16th “We decided to change some elements on the car that had not worked well up to qualifying, which is why I started from pit lane, so my set-up for the race was more similar to what we had in Melbourne and Sepang. I did not have high hopes of doing much, starting from the back, but the important thing was to see how the car performed. It was pretty good, so I expect we will start with it like that in Bahrain and hopefully be able to have a better race result. Today’s race had some enjoyable moments as I passed a few cars, but it was a bit short for me, as a few more laps and I think I could have got ahead of the two guys in front of me.”

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HEIKKI KOVALAINEN - 23rd “I had a good start, getting up to 16th off the line and then was running pretty well for the first stint on the options. We pitted on lap 13 and went to the primes which held up well until lap 30 but then as soon as we made the second stop I could feel an issue with the right rear so we had to stop again immediately which was basically the end of my race. This hasn’t been our strongest weekend but with the next race back-to-back with China we can look to bounce back straight away, so we’ll regroup in Bahrain and look to put in a stronger weekend there.”

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ROMAIN GROSJEAN - DNF HEIKKI KOVALAINEN - 23rd DRIVeR ReaCTION

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VITALY PETROV - 18th “I am really pleased with my performance today. I think we got as much out of the car as we could and the fact we were on the same lap as the leaders right up until the final lap is a very positive sign. We brought some updates here and they’ve worked out pretty well - the key for us is to keep pushing, keep bringing new parts to the car and make sure we maintain the momentum we are building up.”

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TIMO GLOCK - 14th “It wasn’t a straightforward race for me. The start was good and I could get in front of a couple of other cars, but they got by again with the DRS and KERS. Then I was racing with my team-mate and I was able to pull out a bit of a gap from him. For some reason though, my front left tyre just dropped away too early each time. Charles seemed to have the better car over the race and he was able to close the gap. I had to come in early, but I had some good in and out laps and could use the tyre well. In the second stint I just managed the gap to him and helped the tyre

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over the distance, but it dropped again and I had a lot of understeer. From the second stop I had good pace and could open the gap again until the blue flags started to come out. Suddenly the engine dropped as I was low on fuel, so I had to cruise in 6th and 7th gears and my focus then was getting the car home. Some things to look at and learn from the race because they held us back quite a bit. On the positive side, this means there is a lot more to come from the car. Well done to the team. A good job again, especially in the pits today.”

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CHARLES PIC - 15th “It was a good race for me I think. We have reduced the gap to the Caterham cars yet again, so this is very good. I was also lapping round the same pace as Timo today, so again this is another step forward for me. We have to keep this up now and continue pushing because the potential is there in the car for sure. I think we can do some good work with the strategy because, now we have reduced the gap, maybe we can try some other things to get ahead on the track. It has been another good weekend for me so thanks to the team and my crew, who have all done a great job. I hope to see another improvement in Bahrain next weekend where I will be racing on a circuit that I know for the first time this season.”

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CHARLES PIC - 15th DRIVeR ReaCTION

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PEDRO DE LA ROSA - 21st “I’m happy with the race we did. It’s true that the start wasn’t great but I was able to maintain a good rhythm afterwards, especially with the medium tyres. We had an interesting fight with Kovalainen, which is always stimulating, and at the start we had the Marussias in our sights during various laps. Although I wasn’t able to catch them in the race, we’ve got them right there and with a little bit of progress I’m confident we can get ahead of them. We leave here with a feeling that we’ve taken an important stride and that we’re right in the fight. The overall assessment is that we’ve progressed in every aspect, the pit stops are better every time, our rhythm is improving and the team is more of a unit. It will be difficult to see much of a difference in Bahrain because there is no time to introduce upgrades but we can progress in terms of teamwork and set-up”.

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PEDRO DE LA ROSA - 21st “I’m happy with the race we did. It’s true that the start wasn’t great but I was able to maintain a good rhythm afterwards, especially with the medium tyres. We had an interesting fight with Kovalainen, which is always stimulating, and at the start we had the Marussias in our sights during various laps. Although I wasn’t able to catch them in the race, we’ve got them right there and with a little bit of progress I’m confident we can get ahead of them. We leave here with a feeling that we’ve taken an important stride and that we’re right in the fight. The overall assessment is that we’ve progressed in every aspect, the pit stops are better every time, our rhythm is improving and the team is more of a unit. It will be difficult to see much of a difference in Bahrain because there is no time to introduce upgrades but we can progress in terms of teamwork and set-up”.

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“My start was quite poor, so we still have to do some work on the start system because it’s still new. It was quite difficult to drive on the option tyres because we had a problem and the car was moving a lot on the straight, we are yet to identify what the reason was for that so we’ll have to look into it and make sure we overcome it. But on the primes the car balance was much better and it was easy to drive. We set out to finish the race this weekend in China and we’ve achieved it, so we have to be pleased about that. Now we hope to progress a little bit more in Bahrain next week”.

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN - 22nd DRIVeR ReaCTION

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“My start was quite poor, so we still have to do some work on the start system because it’s still new. It was quite difficult to drive on the option tyres because we had a problem and the car was moving a lot on the straight, we are yet to identify what the reason was for that so we’ll have to look into it and make sure we overcome it. But on the primes the car balance was much better and it was easy to drive. We set out to finish the race this weekend in China and we’ve achieved it, so we have to be pleased about that. Now we hope to progress a little bit more in Bahrain next week”.

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN - 22nd DRIVeR ReaCTION


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pROTeST

STEWARDS DISMISS LOTUS PROTEST OVER MERCEDES DOUBLE DRS WING

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Race stewards dismissed a protest by the Lotus Formula One team at the Chinese Grand Prix on Thursday against the rear wing system used by rivals Mercedes.

pROTeST

STEWARDS DISMISS LOTUS PROTEST OVER MERCEDES DOUBLE DRS WING


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“The stewards decided unanimously that the protest is dismissed,” the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement.

The formal protest had been issued earlier with the signature of Alan Permane, the trackside operations director of the former Renault team.

The protest related to the controversial rear wing which was declared legal for the first two races of the season and was passed again by scrutineers in Shanghai on Thursday. Lotus had asserted that the wing broke article 3.15 of the technical regulations that says “any car system, device or procedure which uses driver movement as a means of altering the aerodynamic characteristics of the car is prohibited”.

Mercedes, with seven-times champion Michael Schumacher and fellow German Nico Rosberg, scored just one point in the first two races but have

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sounded more confident about China.The rear wing contains slots on the inside of the endplates that are

revealed when the driver-activated drag reduction system (DRS) is used for overtaking, increasing aerodynamic downforce. The open slots channel air through internal pipes to the front of the car.

“It’s disappointing after three races we’re still in this situation,” Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said of the protest.“The system hasn’t changed, the FIA’s position hasn’t changed, and as far as I understand their argument hasn’t changed.”

Champions Red Bull have also been unhappy about the wing, seeking clarity from the FIA on its legality before deciding whether to incorporate it in their own design.

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FRee pRaCTICe 1

PRACTICE 1: HAMILTON SHOWS HIS INTENT

No doubt stung by the knowledge that he will not be starting Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix from pole position, Lewis Hamilton nevertheless showed his

intent by topping the timing screens in the opening free practice session of the Shanghai weekend.

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PRACTICE 1: HAMILTON SHOWS HIS INTENT

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Hamilton, a two time winner in China, lit up a gloomy morning by scorching around the Shanghai International Circuit in 1 minute 37.106 seconds which was over a second faster than his closest rival. Again, as in Australia and Malaysia, the McLaren MP4-27 proved to be a fast car and pretty much plug-and-play wherever it is unleashed.

The fact that Hamilton can only hope to start from sixth on the grid, thanks to the fact that a faulty gearbox needed changing and with that comes a five-place grid penalty, has inspired the 2008 world champion to send an early message to the paddock. He said of the penalty: “It doesn’t alter my approach. I still have to qualify as high as possible.” Game on!

Green light for the 90 minutes session was given under misty skies over Shanghai, with the track littered with wet patches. The tricky conditions

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prevented any early meaningful runs, and in fact most chose to sit it out until the track dried up well into the session. The fast laps were set in the final minutes of the ninety as a solid dry racing line emerged.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh did point out that Hamilton was still running the faulty gearbox in the first practice, but conceded to BBC that they were 99% certain that it would be replaced before the race.

On the timing screens below Hamilton’s best, were the Mercedes AMG pair with Nico Rosberg faster than team mate Michael Schumacher. The Silver Arrows team bolstered by the fact that the FIA has deemed their innovative ‘double DRS’ wing to be legal after Lotus lodged an official protest a day earlier.

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Again showing considerable pace were the Sauber duo with Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, fastest of the Ferrari powered brigade, fourth and fifth quickest.

The Red Bull pair were next up with Mark Webber 0.001 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel, the energy drinks boys sixth and seventh respectively. During his fastest lap Vettel radioed his team that the DRS on his RB8 was not working.

Two seconds down on his pace setting teammate was Jenson Button, ending the session eighth fastest.

Ninth and tenth were the Toro Rosso youngsters, Daniel Ricciardo and rookie Jean Eric Vergne. The Ferrari powered team from Faenza keeping the both Ferrari drivers (of Maranello origin)

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out of the top ten. Fernando Alonso was 11th and Felipe Massa 12thNotably both Lotus drivers were out of the top ten, with Romain

Grosjean 17th on the timing sheets and Kimi Raikkonen, 24th, slowest of all in the E20. Apparently no issues with either car, simply calling it quits, as the team explained: “With 10 minutes left to run both cars returned to the garage and parked up for the morning; the team having decided that there was little more to be gained from running on a frustratingly variable surface.”

Reserve drivers in action were: Valterri Bottas in place of Bruno Senna for Williams (13th), Giedo van der Garde in Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham cockpit (19th) and Jules Bianchi taking Paul Di Resta’s place in the Force India (20th).

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13 April 2012 - Shanghai International Circuit Free Practice 1 Result

FRee pRaCTICe 1

Pos No Driver Team Time Gap Laps1 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.021 192 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:38.535 0.514 213 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.813 0.792 214 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:38.826 0.805 195 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:38.919 0.898 176 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:39.092 1.071 207 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:39.128 1.107 228 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:39.298 1.277 239 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.323 1.302 1510 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:39.440 1.419 1911 19 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:39.724 1.703 2312 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:39.783 1.762 2313 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:39.896 1.875 1614 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.910 1.889 2115 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:39.980 1.959 2316 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:40.099 2.078 2317 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:40.247 2.226 1918 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:40.469 2.448 2319 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:40.857 2.836 2520 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:41.085 3.064 2321 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:43.170 5.149 1822 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:44.580 6.559 1423 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:45.360 7.339 824 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:45.528 7.507 18

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PRACTICE 2: SCHUMACHER FASTEST OF ALL AT THE END OF THE FIRST DAY

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PRACTICE 2: SCHUMACHER FASTEST OF ALL AT THE END OF THE FIRST DAY

Michael Schumacher ended day one of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend fastest of all in the

controversial Mercedes AMG W03, which 24 hours early was subject of a protest by Lotus regarding the legality of the rear wing ‘double DRS’ system.

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With the FIA dismissing the protest, Schumacher went on to set his best time just short of the hour mark. He was the only driver to dip into the 95 second zone with his best time of 1 minute 35.973 seconds.

Next quickest was Lewis Hamilton, 0.172 seconds down, in the McLaren MP4-27. Hamilton was constantly at the sharp end of the times all day, ending the morning session on top, but on his final flying lap late in the afternoon session he locked up going into Turn 14.

Third and fourth fastest were the Red Bull pair with Sebastian Vettel 0.015 seconds off Hamilton and third quickest, with Mark Webber fourth on the timing sheets.

Nico Rosberg’s fifth on the timing screens was 0.644 seconds down on Mercedes teammate Schumacher with Jenson Button sixth best in the other McLaren with a similar gap to Hamilton.

A Sauber was again fastest of the Ferrari powered cars, this time Kamui Kobayashi setting the seventh best time.

After sitting out the morning – for Jules Bianchi, Paul di Resta was on duty again in the Force India VJM05 and set the eighth best time and the only other driver with a second off Schumacher’s best lap time. Nico Hulkenberg in the sister car was ninth fastest.

Rounding out the top ten was Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari F2012, 1.343 seconds down on the top pace. Teammate Felipe Massa was down in 17th and 2.320 seconds off Schumacher.

After impressing massively in the first two races of the season, Lotus were inexplicably down the order in both sessions on the day. In the afternoon session Kimi Raikkonen was 13th and Romain Grosjean 15th

Around the halfway mark in the session Timo Glock suffered what appeared to be a front wing failure on the Marussia MR01 which ended in a nasty trip through the gravel.

Glock reported, “I’m feeling OK now – there’s no problem. First it felt like I had pain in my left hand. I have no idea what happened – I just came to Turn 1 and the car went straight [on]. We had some new bits on the car so I hope they are still in one piece.”

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FRee pRaCTICe 2

pos No Driver Team Time Gap Laps1 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:35.973 322 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.145 0.172 293 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.160 0.187 274 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.433 0.460 245 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.617 0.644 316 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.711 0.738 287 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.956 0.983 288 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:36.966 0.993 319 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:37.191 1.218 3110 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:37.316 1.343 3211 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.417 1.444 2212 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:37.616 1.643 3313 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:37.836 1.863 3014 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:37.930 1.957 3215 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:37.972 1.999 2616 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:38.176 2.203 3517 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:38.293 2.320 3118 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:38.783 2.810 3719 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:38.990 3.017 3620 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:39.346 3.373 2021 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.651 3.678 1522 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:40.343 4.370 2523 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:40.753 4.780 3024 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:41.125 5.152 26

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PRACTICE 3: HAMILTON FASTEST FROM BUTTON AS MCLAREN SET THE PACE

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PRACTICE 3: HAMILTON FASTEST FROM BUTTON AS MCLAREN SET THE PACE

With a new gearbox bolted to his McLaren MP4-27, Lewis Hamilton ended the final free practice session

of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend at the top of the timing screens and looking strong prospect for fastest lap in qualifying as top spot on the grid is out of the question thanks to a five-place grid penalty.

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The penalty appears to have Hamilton fired up, and his fastest lap in the session was typical of the 2008 world champion: controlled aggression, pushing the limits everywhere on the quicker softer Pirelli tyres. Some lock-up moments means he probably has another quarter second in hand, if he nails a hot lap without any mistakes.

The 2008 world champion is the only driver to have won the Chinese GP twice and even if he does start around sixth place on the grid, a third victory at the venue is not out of the question and a charge from the third row by Hamilton is a mouth watering prospect for F1 fans.

Second quickest was teammate Jenson Button, suggesting that the MP4-27 is pretty handy around the twists of Shanghai. Button is likely to be content with the improvement, as he appeared to struggle on the first day. With his teammate penalised before qualifying even starts, the top spot grid slot will be his to lose.

Next up were the Mercedes AMG pair with Nico Rosberg third quickest from Michael Schumacher fourth on the timing sheets – four Merc powered cars in the top four positions, although the Woking variety appear to have a quarter second edge heading into qualifying.

Fastest of the Red Bull pair was Mark Webber with the fifth fastest time, with team mate Sebastian Vettel ninth best.

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Pastor Maldonado again showed that the Williams FW34 is capable of sniffing among the front runners. He was sixth fastest.

Also enjoying strong form again this weekend are the Sauber duo with Sergio Perez seventh quickest, ahead of team mate Kamui Kobaysahi – the pair 0.099 seconds apart on the timing screens. Again the Faenza based minnows, with their Ferrari power plants, outpacing the Maranello giants.

Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus finally broke into the top ten, with the Finn rounding

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out the top ten, with teammate Romain Grosjean 12th fastest.Hard to believe that Ferrari actually won the last race, three weeks eralier

in Malaysia, as the pair language way down the order. Fernando Alonso ending the session down in 15th, 1.5 seconds down on Hamilton’s best and Massa 18th and almost two seconds off the best time, the Brazilian slower than the Ferrari powered Toro Rosso pair.

McLaren head to qualifying as the team to beat with Mercedes not far off...

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pos No Driver Team Time Gap Laps1 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.940 132 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.063 0.123 123 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.389 0.449 164 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:36.512 0.572 175 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.635 0.695 166 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:36.765 0.825 177 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.781 0.841 198 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.880 0.940 179 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:37.039 1.099 1510 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:37.061 1.121 1711 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:37.237 1.297 1612 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:37.274 1.334 1913 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:37.288 1.348 1614 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:37.425 1.485 1415 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:37.465 1.525 1216 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:37.493 1.553 1317 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:37.628 1.688 1418 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:37.831 1.891 1419 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:38.701 2.761 1920 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:39.198 3.258 1921 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.796 3.856 1822 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:40.048 4.108 1723 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:41.263 5.32324 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:41.499 5.559

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pos No Driver Team Time Gap Laps1 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.940 132 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.063 0.123 123 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.389 0.449 164 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:36.512 0.572 175 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.635 0.695 166 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:36.765 0.825 177 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.781 0.841 198 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.880 0.940 179 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:37.039 1.099 1510 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:37.061 1.121 1711 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:37.237 1.297 1612 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:37.274 1.334 1913 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:37.288 1.348 1614 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:37.425 1.485 1415 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:37.465 1.525 1216 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:37.493 1.553 1317 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:37.628 1.688 1418 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:37.831 1.891 1419 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:38.701 2.761 1920 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:39.198 3.258 1921 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.796 3.856 1822 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:40.048 4.108 1723 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:41.263 5.32324 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:41.499 5.559

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QUALIFYING: ROSBERG SCORES HIS MAIDEN POLE AS MERCEDES DOMINATE

It has taken Nico Rosberg 111 race weekends to finally score his first F1 career pole position, and when he did it the Mercedes driver delivered one of the finest qualifying laps in recent memory – a faultless attack of the tricky Shanghai International Circuit ensures

that Mercedes start from top slot on the grid for the first time since 1955.

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QUALIFYING: ROSBERG SCORES HIS MAIDEN POLE AS MERCEDES DOMINATE

It has taken Nico Rosberg 111 race weekends to finally score his first F1 career pole position, and when he did it the Mercedes driver delivered one of the finest qualifying laps in recent memory – a faultless attack of the tricky Shanghai International Circuit ensures

that Mercedes start from top slot on the grid for the first time since 1955.

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Rosberg set his best time of 1 minute 35,121 seconds with his first run in Q3, it was of such quality that the German didn’t bother to do another lap and parked it while his rivals chased. When the chequered flag dropped to end the session, Rosberg was half a second quicker than anyone else – an age in modern F1.

Rosberg was clearly delighted with the achievement, “It’s fantastic. It went really well, a special feeling. I’m now looking forward to starting first tomorrow. The track was cooling off. The temperatures started coming down slightly so the rear tyres started to work better. I changed the set-up of the car slightly before the last lap. I just got the perfect run. It worked out really well.”

Although Lewis Hamilton ended second quickest on the timing screens, his five pace grid penalty (for changing a gearbox) means he will start from seventh, thus Michael Schumacher will be bumped up to second on the grid.

The result makes it an all Silver Arrows front row for the first time since the fifties, the first pole for Mercedes with their own team since Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio took top spot at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. Mercedes left the sport that same year and returned under their own name in 2010 – a historic day in China for the team from Stuttgart.

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Hamilton was pleased for Rosberg, the two rivals throughout their junior karting years, and said afterwards, “A great job for Nico. There’s quite a big gap between us. We grew up together and raced together. It’s still it’s a good feeling, we’re in a good position. We made some good set-up changes. It’s going to be tough, but I’m going to push as hard as I can.”

Schumacher was quick to congratulate his teammate as the drivers did their mandatory weigh-in, “That was a phenomenal lap time for Nico. He’s known as a good qualifier and there’s no reason for me to be unhappy – in fact the opposite. It’s going to be the first time the Mercedes silver arrow have been on the front

row and it’s happening in China. I feel sorry for Lewis but it’s good for us. There’s certainly a question mark over whether we can keep our positions from qualifying but we’ll try our best.”

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn commented, “It’s very good, a fantastic achievement. At the back of our mind, we know we’ve got to put race the race together on Sunday. It was an exceptional lap from Nico. He’s not had a great first couple of races. We saw today what he can do. His middle sector was incredible. Michael’s lap was very good. We backed off when we realised his place was safe [for second] because of Lewis’ penalty. We wanted to save a set of tyres.”

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row and it’s happening in China. I feel sorry for Lewis but it’s good for us. There’s certainly a question mark over whether we can keep our positions from qualifying but we’ll try our best.”

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn commented, “It’s very good, a fantastic achievement. At the back of our mind, we know we’ve got to put race the race together on Sunday. It was an exceptional lap from Nico. He’s not had a great first couple of races. We saw today what he can do. His middle sector was incredible. Michael’s lap was very good. We backed off when we realised his place was safe [for second] because of Lewis’ penalty. We wanted to save a set of tyres.”

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With Mercedes powered cars dominating the top three spots on the qualifying sheets almost as expected, it was the Ferrari powered Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi that provided the biggest surprise as the Japanese driver set the fourth best time and will head up row three on the grid thanks to Hamilton’s penalty. Nevertheless a great lap by Kobayashi and another good showing by the Swiss team with two cars in the top ten as Sergio Perez ended the session eighth – career best starting positions for both drivers.

Kobayashi said, “It was great. The team have built a great car. I was happy with weekend. P3 is more than enough. We never expected this. I hope to be on the podium. We have to keep up with Mercedes and that’s my target. The start is the most dangerous point so I have to watch out.”

After a trio of subdued practice sessions, prior to qualifying, Kimi Raikkonen peaked when it mattered to set the fifth fastest time and claim a spot on the second row of the grid for the race. Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean will start from tenth, the Frenchman opting not to set a time and perhaps save a set of soft tyres for the race.

Sixth fastest (and fifth on the grid) was Jenson Button who has simply had no answer Hamilton’s pace, ending half a second down on his team mate.

Button reflected, “Q2 wasn’t that quick for me but I felt we could have been competitive in Q3. I only had one set in Q3 so we waited so I could have a clean circuit, but you could just feel the temperature dropping. The best time to be out was at the beginning. But it wasn’t too bad and we can race from fifth. Kamui [Kobayashi] is just in front so that’s going to be a lot of fun. Mercedes’ race pace is probably not as good as those behind so that’ll be interesting. I think that the weather will be interesting even if it doesn’t rain. When the temperature drops, it’s tough for me. When it’s hot, the car feels great.”

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Arguably the biggest surprise of the weekend, perhaps even of the season so far was the woeful performance of Red Bull in Shanghai. So at sea are the world champion team that Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are running completely different versions of the RB8 and in the end they endured their worst qualifying showing in years.

Vettel failed to make it into Q2, this the man who last year broke the record for the most poles in a season, while Webber’s best in Q3 was only good for seventh despite topping the timing screens at the end of Q2. Something is seriously amiss in the energy drinks camp and clearly their wings have been seriously clipped.

Vettel said, “I’m obviously not happy. I was pretty happy with my laps in Q2 but we now have to start the race from P11. It makes it harder but not impossible to win the race. Yesterday I was happy with the car and that’s why I started with the settings. But I’m not blaming the car for the position, I was driving.”

Webber reported, “The Q2 lap wasn’t too bad. Q3 didn’t work as well I’d like. It’s quite high maintenance to put it all together. I would have liked to have been at least a row further up. It’s a bit frustrating but hey, it’s competitive. We know we have a good race car. It’ll be interesting to see how the race unfolds.”

A day earlier Ferrari technical boss Pat Fry said he expected his team to qualify between seventh and 11th – he was off the mark on both counts with Malaysian GP winner Fernando Alonso set to start from ninth on the grid, and Felipe Massa 12th. Clearly the F2012 still has no qualifying pace.

No doubt bouyed by Sepang, Alonso was by no means downbeat, “It was more or less as we thought, it was a tough Q2 and then in Q3 I did the best lap we could which is ninth. On race day the car usually improves but it’s going to be tough. You start in ninth in a normal race and you finish in ninth you get one or two points so you can only improve – I’m ready for a crazy race.”

Under pressure Massa summed up his performance, “I’m disappointed, but I think this morning we were suffering a lot, it was not easy to be in the top 15. Maybe it’s related to the track I don’t know, so on Sunday we’re hoping that improves. I’m 12th, it’s not that bad so hopefully tomorrow that will improve too.”

Out of the top ten were the usual suspects with Pastor Maldonado 13th and Bruno Senna 14th making it an all Williams seventh row.

Followed by an all Force India eighth row, an all Toro Rosso ninth row, an all Caterham 10th row, an all Marussia 11th row and an all HRT 12th row.

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14 April 2012 - Shanghai International Circuit Qualifying Result

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pos No Driver Team q1 q2 q3 Laps1 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.875 1:35.725 1:35.121 112 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.763 1:35.902 1:35.626 143 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:36.797 1:35.794 1:35.691 134 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.863 1:35.853 1:35.784 135 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:36.850 1:35.921 1:35.898 156 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.746 1:35.942 1:36.191 167 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.682 1:35.700 1:36.290 148 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.198 1:35.831 1:36.524 179 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:36.292 1:35.982 1:36.622 1710 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:36.343 1:35.903 1511 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.911 1:36.031 1112 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:36.556 1:36.255 1413 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:36.528 1:36.283 1414 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:36.674 1:36.289 1415 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:36.639 1:36.317 1416 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:36.921 1:36.745 1417 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:36.933 1:36.956 1418 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:37.714 819 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:38.463 920 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:38.677 721 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.282 1022 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.717 1023 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:40.411 724 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:41.000 10

Q1 107% Time 1:42.931

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14 April 2012 - Shanghai International Circuit Qualifying Result

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pos No Driver Team q1 q2 q3 Laps1 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.875 1:35.725 1:35.121 112 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.763 1:35.902 1:35.626 143 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:36.797 1:35.794 1:35.691 134 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.863 1:35.853 1:35.784 135 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:36.850 1:35.921 1:35.898 156 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.746 1:35.942 1:36.191 167 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.682 1:35.700 1:36.290 148 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.198 1:35.831 1:36.524 179 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:36.292 1:35.982 1:36.622 1710 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:36.343 1:35.903 1511 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.911 1:36.031 1112 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:36.556 1:36.255 1413 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:36.528 1:36.283 1414 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:36.674 1:36.289 1415 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:36.639 1:36.317 1416 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:36.921 1:36.745 1417 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:36.933 1:36.956 1418 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:37.714 819 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:38.463 920 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:38.677 721 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.282 1022 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.717 1023 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:40.411 724 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:41.000 10

Q1 107% Time 1:42.931

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ROSBERG MAKES HISTORY WITH A MAGIC LAP

Nico Rosberg claimed a first pole position and will start the Chinese Grand Prix with Michael Schumacher

alongside him in the first pole for Mercedes with their own team since Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio took top spot at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

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Having looked strong in the practice sessions Mercedes were a good tip to take pole, though Rosberg’s half-second gap back to Lewis Hamilton who qualified in second place revealed a level of performance that was unexpected. Rosberg himself, having set the time early and then watched the final minutes of the session as a spectator having jumped out of the car, called it ‘a perfect lap.’

“It’s a great feeling. Fantastic,” he added. “It worked out well, qualifying, especially as we got it all right in the end. It was a good lap and it all came together. It’s the perfect start. It really shows that, as a team, we’re moving forward. In qualifying we’re very, very strong now.” With Hamilton taking a grid penalty for an out-of-sequence change of gearbox, Rosberg will be joined on the front row by team-mate Michael Schumacher. Somewhat more experienced in such things it will be Schumacher’s 116th front row start, though his first since the Japanese Grand Prix of 2006.

Even Schumacher, however, was surprised at Rosberg’s pole-lap pace. “I said actually ‘well done’, [over the radio to his engineer, after enquiring about Rosberg’s time] because that was a phenomenal lap time. For all of us, to see the gap that big is a bit of a surprise but there you go. He’s known as a good qualifier and [there is] no reason [for me] to be unhappy. The opposite: happy for him for his first pole.”

Despite the jubilation, Mercedes acknowledge their one-lap pace in superior to what they are capable of over a long-run and are sanguine about their chances of maintaining their positions in the race. “In the race we’re still not quite as strong and not where we want to be yet but also there, we’re learning a lot and progressing fast,” said Rosberg. “The thing is we can’t make huge jumps in a couple of weeks, it’s going to take a bit more time, but we’re getting there.”

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By James Rossi

There is no time to muse on last weekend’s Chinese antics before the F1 circus heads to a Middle East hot in more ways than one. The sport will be under the spotlight like seldom before this

weekend, for the fourth round of the world championship – the Bahrain Grand Prix.

BAHRAIN GP 2012: NO REST FOR FORMULA 1 AS BATTLE RESUMES IN THE DESERT

PREVIEW ROUND 4 - 2012 baHRaIN GRaND pRIx, SaKHIR

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By James Rossi

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This season is slowly turning into one of the most competitive on record. In three races thus far, we have had three different winners, including a maiden victory for Nico Rosberg after what felt like a lifetime of waiting. In China, the Mercedes was aided by cooler temperatures. In theory, this allowed for an easier operating window for tyres, yet the grand prix served up the highest tyre degradation of the season. All this points to a simply sublime performance by the young German, managing tyres, machinery and expectations to convincingly win his first grand prix.

Can Mercedes repeat their performance at the Sakhir circuit? It’s feasible; there are no new upgrades for the Silver Arrows but both drivers pointed to a different


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direction in set-up as the reason for their upturn in fortunes, race-pace wise. The higher temperatures of the Bahrain desert may in theory see them slip behind in the race once again, but the unpredictability revealed this season should keep F1 viewers on their toes.

McLaren will be as strong as ever over the weekend. In all conditions, the MP4-27 has maintained strong pace which points to a fundamentally well-designed car. With a knack for low tyre degradation, it would appear that the Woking outfit will increase their performance advantage in higher temperatures. The only question remaining will be which driver can claim top spot. Jenson Button leads the head-to-head with two higher finishing positions to Hamilton’s one, yet the 2008 world

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champion was hampered by a grid penalty in the last event. It really is fascinating to follow the British battle, one which is expected to become the focus of this year’s title fight.

Behind McLaren appears to be a scrabble for the third best team at the time of writing (such is the pace of development in F1). The Sakhir circuit contains a number of slower corners, which, going by the form guide of Melbourne, will aid Red Bull. There is less of a reliance on high-speed downforce with the exception of the sweeping turns 4, 6, 7 and 8. It remains to be seen whether or not Sebastian Vettel reverts to the original exhaust layout penned by Adrian Newey during the pre-season, or whether Webber’s ‘B’ spec exhaust will be the way forward for Christian Horner’s men.

With set-up difficulties on the RB8, and a necessity to strike a balance between good top speed down the main start/finish and back straights, good downforce for the fast corners in the middle of the lap and strong mechanical grip for the slower turns, it could be a difficult weekend for Red Bull.

Looking further down the midfield, it has become increasingly harder to predict race performance. Sauber had shown fantastic ability to nurse tyres whilst maintaining a good baseline race pace, yet this idea was shattered by their Chinese performance, where both cars went backwards from their qualifying positions through sheer loss of speed. It is therefore difficult to understand where the normally


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smooth-driving Perez and attacking Kamui Kobayashi will find themselves over the weekend. One thing is for sure, their long-term future appears to be secured as there are rumours that the Swiss team have signed a big title sponsor following their Malaysian success.

Weather is unlikely to play a part in terms of disrupting proceedings, as sunny skies and high temperatures are set to dominate the weekend – although sandstorms are not uncommon during this period. Tyre degradation will no doubt play a huge role in the outcome of the race, with a sandy surface adding to the already difficult adhesive conditions.

No DRS zone had been confirmed by the time of writing, but it is expected to be either on the medium-length back straight between turns 6 and 7, or on the start/finish straight. Expect to see McLaren pull away slightly in terms of performance, with Red Bull and Mercedes as the teams most likely to challenge them. Behind them, Lotus should find themselves comfortably ahead of the likes of Williams, Sauber and Force India. With traction being of utmost importance in the slower corners at Sakhir, Ferrari will suffer and could find themselves deeply entrenched in the mid-pack.

*It must be stressed that this preview is not intended to discuss the wisdom of holding a grand prix in the midst of apparent violence and protest. The Bahrain political situation is to be discussed outside of a sporting context, and as such, this preview focuses solely on sporting matters.

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YallaF1 Magazine 18 April 2012

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Transcript of YallaF1 Magazine 18 April 2012