Drivers gathered at the demanding Shanghai International Circuit for the Chinese Grand Prix. With Nico Rosberg leading the World Drivers’ Championship, Ferrari needed to get a race victory in order to close the gap. With Lewis Hamilton thrown to the back of the pack for the race start, all eyes were on Ferrari to see if they can get it done with one of their main competitors out of the way.
The first day of running got off to a bit of a rocky start, as the opening session was plagued with tyre failures that led to multiple stoppages and limited the amount of running that the teams were able to do. Felipe Massa suffered two tyre failures and Kevin Magnussen suffered a suspension failure. As a result, neither driver managed to set a time lap, along with Esteban Gutiérrez, who suffered a mechanical failure. Both Mercedes cars were at the top of the time charts in free practice one, with Nico Rosberg on top. The second free practice session was busy, as teams rushed to get some race strategy testing done before the rain scheduled on Saturday. The Ferrari drivers topped the time charts, with the Mercedes drivers right behind. Kimi Räikkönen topped the chart.
Rain hit the circuit as expected on Saturday. The third free practice was run in the wet conditions, which hindered what valuable data the teams were able to collect from the session. Sebastian Vettel topped the mixed up time sheet of the session, as a total of eight drivers failed to set a lap time. The track managed to dry in time for qualifying, with only a few damp areas remaining. Both Ferrari drivers topped the first two qualifying sessions, but they lost out to Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo in the final qualifying session. Lewis Hamilton didn’t manage to complete a lap time, as he suffered a mechanical failure. It was a similar story of Pascal Wehrlein, as he suffered an accident on the main straight. Both drivers were forced to start from the rear of the grid.
With Rosberg on pole, the race started in a chaotic fashion. The Ferrari drivers make contact in the first turn, with Räikkönen suffering the most. Hamilton didn’t escaped without issue, as he lost his front wing when he stuck Felipe Nasr’s Sauber in the first turn, as the Brazilian worked to avoid the carnage. Daniel Ricciardo took the lead for a few laps until he suffered a tyre blowout on the back straight, allowing Rosberg to retake the lead. A few laps into the race, the safety car was deployed to allow marshals to clear up the debris from the carnage that had occurred just minutes prior. The rest of the race was much less chaotic, but by no means uneventful. There were many battles throughout the field and it was interesting to watch both Ferrari drivers and Hamilton fight their way through the field. The pitlane was almost as chaotic as the first lap, as teams tried a ton of different tyre strategies. At the end of the day, Rosberg piloted the car to an easy victory with a massive gap in the lead, with Vettel and Kvyat completing the podium.
The fourth round of the 2016 season will be the Russian Grand Prix, moving up earlier on the calendar compared to last season. This year’s Russian Grand Prix will take place at the Sochi Autodrom on the weekend of May 1.
Vettel: Performance Wasn’t Worthy Of Top Three
Disaster For Hamilton In Qualifying
2016 Chinese Grand Prix Predictions
FP1 Tyre Failures Not Pirelli’s Fault
Pirelli Under Fire Following FP1 Failures
China Could Reveal More Manor Potential
Alonso Medically Cleared For China
Hamilton Slammed With Penalty
Sauber Optimistic That Car Will Improve
Qualifying Officially Restored For China
Plans To Revert Qualifying Back In Motion
