2013 Chinese Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of China 2013 ( officially 2013 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix) was held on 14 April at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai and was the third race of the Formula 1 season 2013. Fernando Alonso ( Ferrari) won the race before Kimi Raikkonen ( Lotus - Renault) and Lewis Hamilton ( Mercedes).
- 3.1 qualifying
- 3.2 race
- 4.1 Drivers' Championship
- 4.2 Constructors' Championship
Reports
Background
After the Malaysian Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel led the drivers' standings with nine points in front of Kimi Räikkönen and 14 points ahead of Mark Webber. Red Bull -Renault resulted in the constructors' championship with 26 points, ahead of Lotus -Renault and Ferrari.
At the Grand Prix of China put Pirelli riders the tire compounds P Zero medium ( white) and P Zero soft (yellow), as well as for wet Cinturato Intermediates (green) and Cinturato Full Wets (blue ) are available.
Fernando Alonso started at this Grand Prix for the 200th time in Formula 1
With Lewis Hamilton (twice), Alonso, Raikkonen, Vettel, Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg ( once each ) were six former winners of this Grand Prix.
As race stewards acted Mark Blundell (GBR ), Garry Connelly (AUS), Steven Chopping (AUS) and Wang Feng (CHN ).
Training
In the first free practice session Rosberg set the fastest time ahead of team- mate Hamilton and Webber. Sergio Pérez lost at the end of training, the control of his vehicle and slid at the entrance to the pit lane in a stack of tires. Qing Hua Ma replaced in this training Charles Pic at Caterham. He was the only driver on the 107- percent - time. In the second free practice Felipe Massa set the fastest lap in front of Raikkonen and Alonso. In training, it was found that the tires faded especially strong in the full tank tests. Pérez fell again with a slip-up. Both Marussia pilots dropped out with a technical problem. The team suspected a crack in the oil tank as a trigger.
In the third free practice Alonso took the lead ahead of Massa and Hamilton. Ferrari used a new front wing on both vehicles.
Qualifying
In the first part of qualifying the pilots tried to drive only one fast lap to save tires. All drivers opted for the softer tire compound. Hamilton posted the fastest time. The Caterham and Marussia pilots and Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas dropped out. In the second segment, the pilots continued to use only the softer compound. Hamilton remained in the lead. Webber remained in this training are with a lack of fuel pressure. The Force India pilots and Jean- Éric Vergne, Pastor Maldonado, Webber and Pérez resigned from.
In the third segment Hamilton was the fastest, the thus achieved the first pole position for his new team Mercedes. At positions two and three followed Alonso and Raikkonen. In the final section only eight drivers set a timed lap. The first seven of these went with the softer tire compound. Button started on the harder compound for a time that was more than half a minute slower than the fastest lap in order to start eighth before the drivers who drove no timed lap. Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg drove no timed lap, and thus had a free choice of tires for the Grand Prix.
Since it was established after qualifying that Webber's car had enough fuel on board due to an error in the tank system, he was excluded from the classification of qualifying. He was allowed to start from last place. The team decided on changes to the vehicle, so Webber started from the pit lane.
Race
The Grand Prix of China was determined by the strategic approach of the teams and drivers.
Räikkönen started badly in the Grand Prix, so that both Ferrari drivers passed him. Hamilton kept the lead. In midfield, the Force India touched, but did not damage it. Already after the first round went Webber, who had started out of the box, to the box and moved from the softer to the harder tire compound.
While Hulkenberg was in the middle of Vettel, who followed the same strategy as Hulkenberg, pulled past Alonso and Massa overtook Hamilton in the fifth round together on the start -finish straight with the help of the Drag Reduction System ( DRS). Hamilton went at the end of the round, just like his team-mate Rosberg on the box. Both moved from the softer to the harder tire compound. In the meantime there was a collision between Gutiérrez Sutil. Gutierrez missed at the end of the long straight the braking point and ran into the back of Sutil, so that both failed. The race stewards investigated the incident after the race and imposed a disciplinary transfer of five positions for the next race against Gutierrez.
One lap after Hamilton went even Alonso and Raikkonen at the box, again a lap later Massa, who was in the meantime for a round in the lead. All changed from the softer to the harder compound. After the top group had completed their pit stop, led Hulkenberg ahead of Vettel, Button, Perez, di Resta and Alonso. The first five finishers were all started on the harder tire and stayed out longer. Massa fell back through his stop behind Webber, but passed him a little later.
Alonso went into the next rounds past di Resta and Perez and eventually was in second place behind Button as Vettel and Hulkenberg went to the box. Because there were problems with stop at Hulkenberg, Vettel passed him in the pits. Vettel was not previously managed to drive past on the track at Hulkenberg, so he could not drive out the planned lead.
Meanwhile, there were two collisions in the midfield. Webber drove alongside Vergne and collided with him. Vettel overtook by both. Webber had to a repair pit stop while Vergne remained on the track. In the front wing change the tires also were changed to Webber's car. Yet his right rear wheel was not attached properly. Webber drove slowly around the course, until the wheel broke just before the pit entry. Webber was eliminated. The stewards investigated the collision between him and Vergne after the race and imposed a grid position penalty of three positions against Webber. For the Continue with the loose tire Red Bull was punished with a fine of € 5,000. The other collision occurred between Raikkonen and Pérez. Here, Räikkönen damaged the tip of the front wing, which was open from now on, at a contact with the rear of Pérez. The damage did not require repair and the impact on the race pace Raikkonen were marginal. For this collision neither of the drivers involved was sanctioned.
Shortly before the second pit stops Alonso went to Button, who had not yet stopped by and took the lead of the race. Alonso had at this time in about 13 seconds ahead of the driver based on the same strategy as it were. Alonso and Button drove a little later to the box, which Vettel took the lead. It did not take long before Alonso had the backlog caught up to Vettel and overtook him. Vettel had previously been asked by his team to pay attention to his lap times and not to duel with Alonso, as both pursued different strategies. In their second pit stops Vettel and Hulkenberg opted for different tires. Hulkenberg switched to the softer compound, so that he could use the harder the end of the race. Vettel stayed on the harder tire, so he still had to complete an additional stop. Meanwhile, Rosberg had given up with a defect on the rear stabilizer.
Alonso extended his lead over Raikkonen and Hamilton, on the third and fourth places were, but Deten apply the same strategy as Alonso, in this phase of the race, he stayed out longer on the track. After his third and final pit stop Alonso lost the lead for a lap Vettel. Vettel, who had, in contrast to Alonso come to change tires again, Alonso was therefore happen shortly afterwards without any problems, so both lost no time. For similar reasons, left button Raikkonen and Hamilton passed without opposition.
While Alonso with about ten seconds ahead leading the race in the closing stages on Raikkonen and was asked by the team to protect the material, Vettel drove a late final pit stop with the softer tires, the fastest lap and the residue was shortened on the front of him Hamilton, taking down the tires in the race stronger and had to save fuel in the first corner. Although Vettel closed on Hamilton, but for a passing maneuver it was not enough, as the race was over when Vettel was in direct striking distance.
Alonso won the race ahead of Raikkonen, Hamilton and Vettel. Some distance behind followed the other top 10 places Button, Massa, Ricciardo, di Resta, Grosjean and Hulkenberg. Ricciardo scored with seventh place his best result so far in Formula 1 Button was the only driver in the top 10, which takes to put on a three-stop strategy, led by a two-stop strategy.
With his 31 Formula 1 Alonso took victory in the all-time best list of Formula 1 winner with Nigel Mansell at the fourth position the same.
In the world championship Vettel kept his lead from Raikkonen. Alonso took over the third position. In the constructors Red Bull remained in the lead. Ferrari went to Lotus into second place.
Comments of the first three riders
" That could not have gone better today! I have not won since Germany, and this is a special feeling, because it was a difficult race full of incidents. Together with the second place I took in Australia, shows this conclusion that this car is competitive, and that we are working in the right direction to always fight for the podium. But I have to the team for their tremendous efforts to thank who have been here as well as home made in the factory. You have worked so hard to bring me into this situation in which I can fight on the same level with the others. We had the whole weekend feel good, and the third place in qualifying gave us the opportunity to fight for top rankings. In addition, we may have gained some luck. Along with all of these important factors such as the setup, the strategy, the decision to pit stops and pit stops, everything worked perfectly. All this has brought together a victory that was ultimately not easy. We made the most of our speed and made the households with the tires good work. This was definitely the most dangerous aspect. Since no one dominated the championship, it is extremely interesting, even if we are of course aware that this is only the third race. We are under no illusions and still need to focus, give it all to us to improve. "
" The second ranking was not exactly what we wanted. But under these circumstances, what is the best that we could achieve today. I'm not one hundred percent happy because we did not win, but it is, after all, and the second rank after a poor start and the incident with Sergio Pérez a good result. It was quite difficult out there because the car is obviously not as designed, otherwise we would of course use it so all the time. However, I was surprised how good it was. Of course there were a few problems with the driving behavior, which was not ideal, but we just had to try to live with it, and we possessed astonishingly, is a good speed. "
"That was a good race for me. Of course, I would much rather have won, but I am very satisfied with this third place and my second podium finish in a row. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were now in the race just a little faster than us. At the end of my tires built from strong, when I tried to stay ahead of Sebastian Vettel. I saw him to be getting bigger and bigger in the rearview mirror, the more beautiful it is to defend the third place against him was. The guys did a great job this weekend to bring us to this position. Today, we have absolutely everything taken out of the car - that's a very nice feeling. Looking at the overall pace we are not quite where we want to be. But all work as a team very hard and I am convinced that we can do it. "
Message list
Classifications
Qualifying
Race
WM stands after the race
, The first ten of the race were 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s).