He won in Australia. He won in Bahrain. He has won again. Nico Rosberg has won the Chinese Grand Prix for the second time following a chaotic race around the Shanghai International Circuit. The Mercedes driver finished way ahead of the rest of the field, crossing the line with a 30 second gap to the next car in the form of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who secured his second podium of the year. Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat rounded out the podium positions, securing third place and his team’s first podium of the season.
Finishing fourth again was Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull, securing his third fourth place finish this season despite starting on the front row of the grid. The Australian faced difficulty in the early stages of the Grand Prix, gaining a fantastic start and securing first place in the first lap. This however was removed from Ricciardo after the driver experienced an unexpected tyre blow out caused by debris on the back straight. Kimi Raikkonen followed Ricciardo home in fifth place, securing 10 points, beating his past Ferrari team mate, Felipe Massa who finished in sixth place. Britain’s Lewis Hamilton finished in seventh place after a very difficult afternoon after sustaining damage at the start of the race, starting in 22nd place after engine issues in qualifying.
Finishing in 8th and 9th were the two Toro Rosso’s of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr, bringing another six points to the constructors championship. Rounding out the top 10 was Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, securing a single point.
Lap one of the Chinese Grand Prix saw absolute carnage, particularly in the first turn after the two Ferrari’s made contact. This was however, classed as a simple racing incident with Vettel taking evasive action from a very fast and aggressive overtaking maneuver by Daniil Kvyat, causing the German to clip the right rear of his team mate, Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn ended up spinning into the pack and losing his front wing, running off the racing surface into the astro turf. Raikkonen’s re-entry onto the circuit caused more damage, particularly for reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton, who collected Felipe Nasr as the Brazilian attempted to avoid Raikkonen. This caused Hamilton to lose his front wing and gain substantial damage to the floor of his Mercedes, slowing the Brit down.
Following three races and three wins, Rosberg remains at the top of the driver’s standings with 75 and his team mate in second with 39 points, giving the German a 36 point lead at the top.
Now, it’s time for that all important driver of the day award and for the Chinese Grand Prix, my praise simply has to go to Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. The German was completely unstoppable today and didn’t put a foot wrong.
Race results from the Chinese GP:
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 25 points
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 18 points
- Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Racing, 15 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 12 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 10 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 8 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 6 points
- Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 4 points
- Carlos Sainz. Jr, Toro Rosso, 2 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1 point
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 0 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 0 points
- Jenson Button, McLaren, 0 points
- Esteban Guttierez, Haas, 0 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 0 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 0 points
- Romain Grosjean. Haas, 0 points
- Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 0 points
- Rio Haryanto, Manor, 0 points
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
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