The German cruised to finish line with a twenty second lead. But this time it wasn’t Sebastian Vettel or even Michael Schumacher on the top step
of the podium but Nico Rosberg who converted his first pole position in to his
maiden F1 victory on a great day’s racing at the Chinese Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Jenson Button finished a distant second, but
things could have been much different him. When a costly team mistake on his
final pit stop released him into the oncoming pack rather than a chance to hunt
down the leader Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton scrambled to third place after battling
past the Red Bull’s of Mark Webber and Vettel in the closing laps. While Roman
Grosjean secured his first points in F1 bringing his Lotus through in sixth
place.
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| Rosberg enjoys the top step for the first time in F1 |
Saturday’s qualifying saw an almost perfect lap from Rosberg
result in his first ever pole and after a five place grid drop for Hamilton
Schumacher joined his teammate on the front row. As Mercedes hoped for their
first win since they changed from Brawn three sessions ago. Rosberg left the
others chasing from the start as he was unharmed from the opposition behind.
Schumacher remained in second place while Button worked his way up to third
closely followed by Kimi Raikkonen, teammate Hamilton and Webber.
Australian Webber was first of the front runners to pit on
lap six, forcing a reaction from both Hamilton and Raikkonen to cover his move.
After nearly colliding with Raikkonen at the stop it was Hamilton who now led
the trio on a charge after his grid penalty from qualifying.
At the front Mercedes’s faultless weekend took a significant
blow when Schumacher was the unfortunate victim of a decisive pit stop error. When the team failed to secure the nut on his
right front wheel forcing him to retire on lap fourteen.
As the race went on different strategies played their part
but it seemingly became a two horse race between the two stopping Rosberg against
three stopping Button. But Rosberg got his lucky break when the McLaren driver
looked safe to clear the oncoming pack on his final stop to have a clear run at
the lead on fresher tyres. However another pits error this time from McLaren
cost the Brit valuable time as he re-joined behind a line of several other cars
in what turn out to be an exciting battle between drivers at different tyre stages.
The two McLaren’s managed to fight their way back up to the
remaining podium spots while the two stop strategy proved effective for Vettel
and Williams drivers Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado as they also finished in
the points. Meanwhile Raikkonen was the big loser after his tyres suddenly let go
causing him to drop from second to tenth in a single lap after wrongly choosing
to two stop.
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 25 points
2 Jenson Button McLaren 18
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 15
4 Mark Webber Red
Bull 12
5 Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull 10
6 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 8
7 Bruno Senna Williams 6
8 Pastor Maldonado
Williams 4
9 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2
10 Kamui Kobayashi
Sauber 1
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