After teasing fans with a potential championship battle between Mercedes and Ferrari, the Formula One season continued for the 2017 HEINEKEN CHINESE GRAND PRIX at the Shanghai International Circuit. The bar was set quite high by the shocking result in Australia.
Friday’s running was pretty light for the teams and drivers, as weather conditions halted most of the running. The first free practice was red flagged early on, as only ten drivers managed to venture out on the installation lap. Cloudy conditions grounded the helicopter, delaying the session for about 40 minutes. When the session was resumed, Max Verstappen set the lap to beat. The session was red flagged again when a local airport was closed due to cloudy conditions. Verstappen remained on top with only 14 drivers having set a lap time and no driver running more than 10 laps.
Hopes that the weather conditions would improve were shattered, as low hanging clouds grounded the medical helicopter again. Although track conditions were fair, the flying conditions near the hospital in Shanghai were poor, meaning it would be unsafe for the medical helicopter to fly in that area. The session was never started.
Following the lack of running on Friday, the drivers were able to complete more than 20 laps each during the final free practice session on the dry circuit. The teams rushed through the session to make up for lost time setting up the cars for qualifying. Both Ferrari drivers topped the session ahead of the Mercedes drivers. Lewis Hamilton nearly beat his teammate’s best lap time, but a lockup on his fastest lap prevented him from doing so.
Qualifying started poorly for Max Verstappen, as an engine software issue prevented him from setting a lap time worthy of a Q2 position. Romain Grosjean was also unlucky, spinning early in the session in the final corner. The first qualifying session ended with drama, as the Sauber of Antonio Giovinazzi spun into the barriers at the final corner approaching the checkered flag. As he had done in Q2, Sebastian Vettel ended Q2 with the fastest lap time. However, Hamilton was able to top it in the final qualifying session to earn pole position, as Vettel beat Valtteri Bottas by just 0.001s. Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean were dropped to the rear of the grid for failing to slow for the yellow flags at the scene of Giovinazzi’s crash, while the Sauber driver also took a penalty for a gearbox change.
The race was started in damp conditions on Sunday, as the drivers lined up on the grid with the intermediate tyres, not having much data about how the new compound will perform over the race distance. Carlos Sainz was the only driver brave enough to start the race on the slick tyres, with the rest of the grid lining up with the intermediate compounds. However, the gamble didn’t pay off, with a lot of wheel spin at the start sending him to the back and eventually leading to a spin. Palmer bolted into the pits after the formation lap for the slick tyres, but was the only driver to do so. Everyone got a clean start off of the grid, although Vettel was investigated for being out of his grid at the start. The stewards took no action. Vettel made Bottas take the outside line around the first corner, as Hamilton took a safe lead. Lance Stroll brought out the virtual safety car after colliding with Sergio Pérez on the first lap. The Canadian was unable to continue the race, although his virtual safety car triggered a pitting frenzy, as many pitted to take the slick tyres. Shortly after the race was resumed, the safety car was deployed for a heavy crash involving Giovinazzi on the main straight. This put an end to what has been a fairly expensive weekend for Sauber.
Further pit stops during the safety car period kept Hamilton at the front, but allowed both Red Bull cars to hop past the Ferrari drivers. The race restart brought a decent battle between Felipe Massa, Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Pérez, although it didn’t take long for Pérez to overtake both drivers. Less than 15 laps into the race, Verstappen had already advanced to second position, having started near the rear of the grid. Ricciardo was slowing the two Ferrari drivers, allowing the top two drivers to form a sizable gap. Nico Hülkenberg’s luck turned poor, as he was given a 15 second time penalty for overtaking both under the virtual safety car and the regular safety car period. Stoffel Vandoorne also got a dose of bad luck, as reliability issues struck the McLaren. Vettel made a bold overtake on teammate Kimi Räikkönen, allowing him to chase down Daniel Ricciardo. The chase turned into a wheel-to-wheel battle between the former teammates. Vettel locked up while overtaking the Red Bull on the outside of the corner. The duo touched wheels on the exit for the corner, although Vettel was able to successfully complete the overtake without any issues.
With all of the makings for a good battle between Vettel and Verstappen in the works, Verstappen locked the brakes in the hairpin. Vettel cruised past, while Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of tyres on the following lap. Verstappen came out behind the Mercedes of Bottas, who spun during the safety car period at the start of the race and lost many positions. Originally planning to make it to the end on the soft compound tyres, Hamilton pitted on lap 36 for another set of soft tyres, following the pit stop of other drivers at the front. Hamilton won the race, collecting his third career Grand Slam.
After just two rounds in the season, the teams will be heading to Bahrain for the first back-to-back race weekend on the calendar. The teams will travel to the Bahrain International Circuit for the 2017 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX on April 16.
