Chinese F1 Grand Prix 2012: Sunday's Race Report - Lewis Hamilton on podium on P3 as Nico Rosberg retires

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Lewis Hamilton achieved his second successive podium for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS with a battling third placed finish at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today.

- Lewis started from pole and completed a three-stop option/prime/prime/prime strategy, stopping on laps 5, 21 and 37

- Nico was following the same strategy and had stopped on laps 5 and19, followed by a further stop on lap 20

- The team retired his car on lap 21 when a problem with the rear anti-roll bar was identified

Drivers ++ Car No. ++ Chassis No. ++ Race Result / Fastest Lap
Lewis Hamilton ++ 10 ++ F1 W04 / 04 ++ P3 / 1:39.981
Nico Rosberg ++ 9 ++ F1 W04 / 03 ++ DNF

Weather - Warm and sunny
Temperatures - Air: 16-26°C / Track: 25-35°C

Lewis Hamilton
“It was a good race for me today and whilst I would have loved the win, I´m really happy with third place and being on the podium for the second race in a row. Fernando and Kimi were just a little bit too fast for us during the race and my tyres were shot at the end trying to keep ahead of Sebastian. I could see his car getting bigger and bigger in my mirrors so it was nice to be able to hang on for the third place. The guys did a great job this weekend to get us where we were; on pole and finishing third. We got the absolute most out of the car we had and that´s very satisfying. We´re not quite there yet in terms of overall pace but everyone is working so hard and I know we can do it.”

Nico Rosberg
“The race was tough for me today and with my set-up I had an unexpected level of understeer which made it difficult to drive. After my second pit stop, the feeling got worse and I had one front wheel in the air during the corners. The rear anti-roll bar, which influences the balance of the car, had broken so unfortunately we had to retire the car. It´s a shame and I´ve had a difficult start to the season with two DNFs. But it´s good to have the next race in just seven days time so hopefully we can put this result behind us with a strong weekend in Bahrain. It was great for the team to get another podium today.”

Ross Brawn
“We didn´t quite enjoy the balance with the car today that we were expecting. Clearly the track had moved away from us and perhaps more towards one or two other teams. Certainly we didn´t have as good a balance in the race as we had on Friday. With Lewis, we did the best we could with the car we had today and he drove extremely well. We needed to keep the stints as evenly balanced as possible to make sure we had adequate tyre life, however, even with that, it became very close with Sebastian at the end. Nico was running with the same issues a few places back when a problem with the rear anti-roll bar meant we had to stop the car. Overall we can be confident that we´ve made another step forward this weekend, and the fact that we´re all a little disappointed with third is a measure of the ambition and expectations of the team.”

Toto Wolff
“Well done to Lewis for the second podium finish in the last two races. He drove a very good race, just fending off Sebastian who had reeled him in on his option tyres over the last five laps. Starting from pole obviously raises expectations, however we knew that tyre management would be very critical for us today. During practice and qualifying, the track conditions suited us better than in the race today and, as a result, the balance of the car changed and wasn´t as good for both drivers. Unfortunately Nico had to retire from the race on lap 21 with a broken anti-roll bar and we will analyse the reason for this. We will work hard to make sure that technical problems like the ones Nico experienced do not happen again so that both drivers can score points in the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2013, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Chinese F1 Grand Prix 2012: Sunday's Race Report - Jenson Button P5, Sergio Perez P11

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JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A/03
- Started: 8h
- Finished: 5th
- Fastest Lap: 1m38.058s (+1.250s, 2nd)
- Pitstops: Two: laps 23 (2.42s) and 49 (2.59s) [Pri-Pri-Opt]
- Points: 12 (8th)

“I’m very happy to have finished fifth today – and the team should be too. The race was always going to be tricky: we weren’t quick enough to adopt the same strategy as the others, so we had to run longer than the rest and make two pitstops, rather than three.

“For us, a two-stopper was the fastest way to the end of the race. It meant I had to let others past me and protect the tyres. If we couldn’t run to our target lap, it would’ve destroyed our race.

“I had to cruise when I’d normally fight the others. It’s not the most exciting way to go racing, but we got 10 points today because we did it.

“We know we still have a lot of work to do to challenge at the front, but we can take a lot of positives away from this weekend.”

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A/02
- Started: 12th
- Finished: 11th
- Fastest Lap: 1m41.281s (+4.473s, 14th)
- Pitstops: Two: laps 24 (2.81s) and 31 (3.14s) [Pri-Opt-Pri]
- Points: 2 (14th)

“This was a difficult afternoon for me – there’s a lot for us to analyse, and a lot to learn. It wasn’t my best weekend in terms of pace, so there’s some work to do.

“Congratulation to Jenson – he drove a fantastic race today. He found a better rhythm and really made the strategy work. I couldn’t find a flow throughout the whole race and was struggling with the car.

“I had a reasonably good first stint and thought we could achieve a good result with the strategy, but then we encountered degradation with the tyres and that compromised our pace.

“We still don’t have the speed in the car, but it’s been a useful learning weekend for the whole team, we got some useful points on the board, and we head to the next race with a clearer idea of just what we can do.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Jenson drove a brilliantly executed race. He was extremely controlled throughout, completely understood the requirements of the strategists, and withstood the temptation to push when the right thing to do was conserve the tyres.

“Obviously the team had decided to opt for a two-stop strategy – a call that gave both drivers some work to do in the race. They each had to drive in a very controlled way, look after their tyres, and be mindful that the result would be determined at flag-fall, not before. That requires a lot of discipline.

“The fact that we’re not yet in a position to realistically finish higher than fifth further highlighted the brilliance of Jenson’s drive.

“It was a long hard race for Sergio today. Starting from 12th, the strategy didn’t quite work as well for him, but he did a great job today. He’s still learning, and he’ll take a lot away from this weekend – all of which will make him come back stronger for the next race in a week’s time.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

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Chinese F1 Grand Prix 2012: Saturday's Qualifying Report - Maiden Pole for Lewis Hamilton at MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS

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Lewis Hamilton secured his first pole position for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS at the Shanghai International Circuit today. Team-mate Nico Rosberg qualified in fourth place and will start from the second row of the grid.

- Both drivers completed just one run on the soft compound option tyre in each of three qualifying sessions

- Lewis finished top of the timesheets in every session and secured pole by just over two and a half tenths

- Nico qualified in fourth place, despite losing time in P3 this morning with a hydraulics problem

Drivers ++ Car No. ++ Chassis No. ++ Practice 3 ++ Qualifying 1 ++ Qualifying 2 ++ Qualifying 3
Lewis Hamilton ++ 10 ++ F1 W04 / 04 ++ P3 ++ P1, 1:35.793 ++ P1, 1:35.078 ++ P1, 1:34.484
Nico Rosberg ++ 9 ++ F1 W04 / 03 ++ P14 ++ P2, 1:35.959 ++ P5, 1:35.537 ++ P4, 1:34.861

Weather - Warm & sunny
Temperatures - Air: 27-28°C / Track: 35-41°C

Lewis Hamilton
“Pole position is a great result for us today and to achieve it in my third race for the team is such a good feeling. I had to make sure the radio was off after my engineer told me I had pole because I was so excited! None of us expected this level of performance at this stage of the season and it’s a real bonus. The guys have just been working away, pushing really hard, and I’m so pleased for everyone back at the factories and here at the track that I’ve been able to deliver my first pole in a Silver Arrow. It would be great to convert the position in the race tomorrow but it’s going to be a challenge and we’re realistic about how tough the race will be. The soft tyres don’t last for very long, and with a couple of quick guys starting on the mediums, it’ll be interesting to see how the race plays out. I’m looking forward to it and will give it my all.”

Nico Rosberg
“A very good team result today and P4 is a decent grid position for me. I wasn’t able to do my qualifying simulation this morning due to the hydraulic problem which was a bit unfortunate. So I needed to catch up through the qualifying sessions and find my way. I took some settings from Lewis for the initial set-up which worked out well. I made a small mistake at the last corner on my lap in Q3 which cost maybe a tenth and a couple of places. But I’m in a good position for the race and we’ve worked a lot on the race performance this weekend so I hope we can gain some places tomorrow. It’s going to be an interesting race with some of the guys starting on the medium tyres so let’s see what happens.”

Ross Brawn
“A great qualifying session for us today and all credit to Lewis, Nico and the team for a strong performance. It’s a nice reward for all the hard work both here at the track and back at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth over the winter and in the last few weeks as we continue to develop the car. However there are no points gained on a Saturday as they say and there is a tough job ahead of us tomorrow to convert our qualifying positions. It’s going to be a fascinating race from a strategy and tyre perspective so we will wait and see how it plays out. Congratulations to Lewis today on his first pole position in a Silver Arrow, and to Nico for achieving fourth place and the second row despite losing his qualifying simulation this morning.”

Toto Wolff
“Congratulations to Lewis and Nico. We’re really happy about our pole position today at the Chinese Grand Prix, which the team achieved for the second year in a row. Lewis’s performance was excellent and Nico also did a great job to qualify in fourth place following a hydraulic problem which prevented him from completing his qualifying run in practice this morning. Today’s results are a nice reward for everybody at the team who have worked so hard during the winter to develop the F1 W04 into a competitive car. However we will not get ahead of ourselves with this result as we expect an interesting race which will be decided by the different tyre strategies. A few competitors have chosen to qualify on prime tyres to run a longer first stint instead of the options which we and most of the runners used in Q3.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

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