Tag: kimi raikkonen

F1 2016: Russian GP Review – Rosberg Wraps Up Win Number Four

If you were a neutral there wasn’t much to enthuse about in the Russian grand prix. But these days’ neutrals are few and far between. And even a true neutral would have to be impressed with the spellbinding way in which Nico Rosberg has won the Russian grand prix.

While Nico Rosberg led serenely away from pole position and Kimi Raikkonen snatched second from Valtteri Bottas the carnage behind started to unfold. Sebastian Vettel, recovering from a five-place grid penalty, was attempting to pass Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull for fifth when Daniil Kvyat rammed into the back of him. As if to compound matters Kvyat rammed into the back of Vettel a second time in turn three. The Ferrari speared off into a wall prompting a colourful tirade over the German’s radio.

Kvyat’s catastrophic exuberance resulted in damage for both Red Bulls and the Force India of Sergio Perez and prompted the deployment of the safety car. Through the shower of carbon fibre and expletives Lewis Hamilton emerged in fifth. The Brit was forced to start tenth after another power unit issue in Saturday qualifying.

At the restart Bottas was able to get the better of Raikkonen and snatched second as Hamilton made his way past the second Williams for fourth. He took advantage of Raikkonen’s poor exit off turn three and quickly made it third place on the track. Bottas held off Hamilton until the first round of stops but was unable to resist as Hamilton took second place with a move up the inside of turn two.

By now Rosberg, untroubled in the lead, had built a near fourteen-second gap. Once in clear air Hamilton reduced the gap to 7.5 seconds before being warned of a water pressure issue. In the end Rosberg’s domination ended in a fourth consecutive victory by 25 seconds over Hamilton. Roughly six seconds down the road Raikkonen completed the top three and rather sedately scored Ferrari’s 700^th podium.

Bottas finished a distant fourth ahead of Williams teammate Felipe Massa in sixth. Fernando Alonso scored his first points of the season with a fine sixth place ahead of Renault’s Kevin Magnussen in seventh. Romain Grosjean salvaged an eighth place finish for Haas ahead of Sergio Perez in ninth. Jenson Button made it a double points score for McLaren by taking the final point in tenth.

It’s difficult to say that the Russian grand prix revealed everyone’s true form. Yes, Mercedes are still clearly the leaders of the pack but in modern Formula 1 several factors conspire to control the pace of a driver. For Kimi Raikkonen it was the necessity to save fuel that stopped him from pushing the Ferrari to its full potential. For Hamilton yet another power unit issue halted his assault on victory. “There wasn’t a doubt in my mind” Hamilton responded when asked if he could’ve won the race.

As it were Hamilton, in the unfamiliar bridesmaid role, sulkily made his way through the podium ceremony without bothering to spray the champagne. While Hamilton’s mood was understandable given his issues so far in 2016 it was unbecoming of F1’s “best ambassador” as he has dubbed himself.

The 1^st of May commemorated the death of the great Ayrton Senna 22 years ago. A driver who when truly tested delivered the very best of himself and his abilities. A driver who typified what a champion ought to be.

The character of a true champion isn’t revealed as he basks in the glory of win after win. True champion character is revealed in how a driver responds in the difficult moments. For two years Nico Rosberg deferred to Hamilton but now he has responded with the sort of tenacity that, if maintained, could carry him all the way to championship glory.

(All images courtesy of Pirelli)

May 2, 2016
2016 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

DRIVERS
1st Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2nd Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3rd Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Martin Brundle)

Congratulations Nico. Wow, a man who can’t stop winning – seven in a row. Only three other drivers in the history of Formula One have done that: Alberto Ascari, the great Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and now you. Well done.
Nico ROSBERG: Thanks very much. It’s been an awesome weekend. The car has been fantastic all weekend, really even in qualifying and in the race today. It felt very special out there. So, very, very happy. Thanks to everybody. Thanks to all of you in Russia who have come here. The sport is growing; 60,000 of you – amazing, great atmosphere, it’s been a great weekend.

Full house for you today: pole position, led every lap, fastest lap, and you won the grand prix. You were putting in some spectacular times at the end, just to make a point I guess?
NR: I just like to it for concentration; just keep going, because if I slow down otherwise, you start making some mistakes and I was enjoying it out there, just flat out until the end.

And you were aware obviously that Lewis was up into second place, so you and to keep an eye on his pace?
NR: Yeah, of course. Great job from Lewis to come up through to second so quickly from down in tenth and I was always aware of what he was doing and trying to keep the gap as big as possible.

Lewis, you stayed out of trouble on the first lap and there was plenty of that going on in front of you?
Lewis HAMILTON: Absolutely. It was not the easiest first corner but all races have been the same so far.

So are you pretty happy? Yeah, you’ve had a difficult weekend, but you must be pretty satisfied to be up here, even though it’s only second place?
LH: Yeah, absolutely. I’m really happy for the team and you know, I got the points.

Some critical overtakes you made that really made your afternoon – one on Kimi and the other on Valtteri Bottas.
LH: Yeah, I mean with Kimi I don’t know if he was expecting me to overtake there, which was great and with Valtteri it was from quite far back but he didn’t seem to defend, so it was quite easy.

You got the gap down to 7.7s; you must have just have seen down the pit straight. Was there a moment. Was there a moment where you thought ‘I could still win this’?
LH: There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I could win it. I had the pace but then I problem with the engine again, so I had to back off.

That was the water pressure situation we hard about? So you had to get out of it a little bit to protect the engine?
LH: Yeah, I wasn’t at full throttle down the straights, so just trying to look after it.

Thank you. Over to Kimi. Kimi Raikkonen your third place man today. Very popular man out there, Kimi, and you have the honour today… this is the 700th podium for the Ferrari team. How are you feeling about third place in particular today?
Kimi RAIKKONEN: Of course it’s not exactly what we want. We want to win races and put the two cars as far up as we can. We tried to today. I had a pretty OK start, managed to get Valtteri on the first lap but again after the restart, same like last time here, we just don’t have the speed. He managed to get me and then when I tried to get past him obviously Lewis got past me, but we just had to try to run a bit longer and pass them and we managed to do the Williams but not fast enough for Mercedes. Then we had a good speed but with the fuel saving we had to take some measures, so obviously you cannot push as fast as the car can go.

Lewis says he’s not sure you knew he was coming through. Did you know?
KR: yeah, I could see him. When I tried to pass Bottas then I was obviously close to him in there and got some understeer and ran wide, so he got a good run on me. I tried to block a little bit but it was too late, so I had to let him go.

OK, good stuff. Back to you, Nico. We head off to Spain of course. You have a 43-point in the World Championship. A long way to go, but that’s pretty healthy.
NR: Yeah, but it’s four races from 21. Lewis is going to come back of course. He’s on it and as motivated as ever. So, early days, just taking it race by race, looking forward to Spain now. We have such an incredible car, which is really a pleasure to drive, so just want to try to win races.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Nico, many congratulations, four from four, seven in a row. It was a superbly-controlled drive right from the start. There was a moment when Lewis was catching you midway through the middle of the second stint. Was that still under control? Were you fuel-saving and tyre-managing at that stage or he genuinely catching you, was there an issue?
NR: No, for sure, I mean I knew the gap to Lewis and it was just through the traffic. If I get the traffic first I lose a couple of seconds, then he gets it and it opens up again. No, I was feeling really comfortable today, especially at the end of the race, in the last 15 I opened the gas and pushed a little bit more because I knew it was safe to push and definitely get to the end of the race with that set of tyres. It was working really well. The whole weekend. Even in qualifying. Seldom had such an awesome car. So, special weekend.

Q: Lewis, you were probably one of the only drivers up here to see what happened at the start, to make your way through the chaos. How was it from your point of view, how difficult to get through? Then your problem with the water pressure late in the race. How serious was that?
LH: I just caught a small glimpse of some drama happening, in the corner of my eye. I knew someone looked like they were spinning so I drove wide to avoid that. Then when I got to Turn Three, one of the Ferraris was right next to me and all of a sudden I heard a big bang almost and he was gone – so I don’t know really what happened. After that, I don’t know how criticial the engine was. There was no indication for me in the car but I did have to slow down.

Q: Kimi, you obviously had a good battle with Valtteri at the beginning and then you were slightly ambushed by Lewis after the restart. Beyond that it seemed to be a pretty regulation race for you. Was it a lonely experience to some degree?
KR: I think a little bit yes – but the start is so important here because it’s such a long straight to the first corner, so I got a very good – well not very good but as good as the other two in front of me – start and then you get the big tow effect and I managed to get past Valtteri. I was surprised how little Nico pushed, or went fast in the first lap and obviously it was a Safety Car and after the Safety Car the same happened as last year, that Williams with the long straight just towed past me and nothing that I could do on that. Then I was able… speed-wise the lap time was good. I was able to follow and then I tried once to overtake in the first corner and was a bit unsure. I lost some speed a few corners later and made some small mistakes, so Lewis got next to me. I tried to squeeze him a little bit but then he was there and I had to let him go and the only chance was to follow them and run a little bit longer and push when we had free traffic. We managed to get Williams. Think the car behaved pretty nicely but there was quite a bit of fuel saving to do, limiting us on the lap time. But it was a fine race. Definitely want to be more higher up with two cars – not ideal on that side. I had quite a big struggle the whole weekend so I’ll take third place but in the race the car was good, like I wanted, but qualifying we struggled, and in the practice. OK, fine but not what we want.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Lewis, you said you didn’t have any indication on the dash that you had a problem with the power unit, right? So it was the team that signalled it for you. Without this problem, do you think it would have been possible to fight with Nico? At one moment you were 7.7s behind him.
LH: I think it’s impossible to really say right now but the car felt good. At that time I was lapping a little bit quicker than Nico so I was chewing away… there was quite a big gap but it did come down from 13s to 7.5s or something like that. At that point it was when I had to back off and drive a second slower through the laps, just to try and hope that the car was going to make it. Because I had no indication or didn’t really know what the biggest issue was or whether the engine was going to make it so I just tried to nurse it home.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Were you surprised?
LH: I’ve been surprised every weekend… the last two weekends.

Q: (Kirill Zaytsev – 66.RU) Kimi, will we see you here next year?
KR: I don’t know.
Q: (Kirill Zaytsev – 66.RU) What about your contract, I mean?
KR: I have a contract until the end of this year so who knows what will happen next year but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t enjoy what I do. Obviously I have a passion for racing but many things are not in our hands. We can only try to do our best and then see what the future will bring. We go race by race. I’m sure at some point this year, latest next year we will know.

Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) So before the season began, there was some expectation that Ferrari’s performances which were announced and now after a few races we see that it’s not really achieved so my question is for you Kimi, I’m asking for your point of view, what Ferrari is missing to be a real threat to Mercedes?
KR: I think it’s not very easy to pinpoint what we need but I’m sure we know quite a few small things that we want to improve and we know that there’s some improvements coming but Mercedes were very fast for the last few years and they are fast this year. I don’t think that so far this year we have ever really put together a really clean weekend either so that doesn’t help. You cannot give anything away and expect to beat a team like them. We definitely have it to be done but I am quite confident that once we get everything as we want that we can be very strong as a team. We’ve been failing to finish with two cars in the position that we probably deserve so yes, it’s been disappointing but now we have a good way of doing things. We are behind where we want to be but I’m sure as a team we will get there.

May 1, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg On Top

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time for Mercedes in the first free practice session for the 2016 Russian grand prix.

All eyes focused on Red Bull Racing as it trialed the aeroscreen for the first time. The aeroscreen is Red Bull’s offering for head protection to be introduced in 2017. The aeroscreen was run for only one installation lap as team principal admitted that it has a “huge impact” on the car’s cooling.

The two Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the session. With Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top four early on. Williams teammate Felipe Massa was unable to set a time due to a gearbox issue. The Brazilian did make his way out for an install lap in the second half of the session. Mass eventually ended the session with the fifth quickest time.

Nico Rosberg set the quickest time overall, a 1:38:127 followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton on a 1:38:849. Both drivers used the red-walled supersoft tyre to set their fastest times.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the third quickest time, a 1:39:175 ahead of the sister Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen who set a 1:39:332. The Ferrari’s quickest times were set on the yellow-walled soft tyre.

Mexican driver Alfonso Celis took control of Nico Huldenberg’s Force India for the practice session. Elsewhere Sergey Sirotkin ran the first free practice session for Renault in place on Kevin Magnussen.

Final Standings for Free Practice 1:

April 29, 2016
Red Bull to run canopy in Russian GP practice

The Red Bull Racing F1 team is set to debut its canopy protection system during the first free practice session ahead of the Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom.

The sport has been making attempts to increase driver head protection in recent months, with the ‘halo’ device which was recently trialled by Ferrari, currently being favoured by the FIA.

The halo was trialled by Kimi Raikkonen on Ferrari’s SF16-H during pre-season testing and was met with divided opinions.

Red Bull will run the canopy, which it has labelled the ‘aeroscreen’, on one of its RB12s during today’s first practice session. The system was fitted to the car on Thursday afternoon.

Photo Credits: Red Bull Racing / Getty

April 29, 2016
F1 2016: Russian GP Preview – Russian Showdown

When you think of motorsport Russia isn’t the first place that comes to mind. In fact, it’s probably not even in your top five. However, this weekend the Formula 1 paddock puts Russia front and center as it heads to the Sochi Autodrom for the fourth round of the 2016 season.

The Sochi circuit hosted its first grand prix race in 2014 and is the first purpose-built Formula 1 site in Russia. The 5.8 kilometer track was built under the watchful eye of F1’s favoured designer Herman Tilke and has a capacity of 55 000. The most striking feature of the circuit is its integration to the Olympic Park that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The circuit, second in length only to Spa and Silverstone, requires compromise in terms of car setup. The start and end of the lap demands good traction and braking performance while the middle sector requires a more technical approach to master the flow of the corners.

“It’s a very modern track with a few corners that look quite similar by they are never as easy as they might look, because you have to try and driver the car in the limit each time you turn,” says Russian driver Daniil Kvyat.

In the two races it’s put on the Sochi Autodrom has shown little tyre wear. So little in fact that in 2014 Nico Rosberg was able to complete a stint of 52 laps on one set of tyres. But the introduction of a third compound choice in 2016 means that we’re unlikely to see a repeat of what happened here two years ago.

The Red Bull and Haas F1 Team have opted for an aggressive tyre strategy by selecting ten sets of supersofts, two sets of softs, and one set of the medium compound tyre. It’s an expected choice for these two teams who have been able to make the supersoft tyre last longer than their closest rivals. The Red Bull drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, may not have a straight forward shot at the podium but will be ready to pounce should either of the Merc or Ferrari drivers have an issue during the Russian GP on Sunday.

There is a marked difference between Mercedes and Ferrari’s Russian GP tyre choices too. While all four drivers have only one set of mediums on the shelf Hamilton and Rosberg have opted for eight sets of supersofts, and four sets of the yellow-walled soft tyres. In contrast, Raikkonen and Vettel have chosen six sets each of the soft and supersoft compound.

The thinking behind Ferrari’s tyre choice could be to do one less stop than Mercedes in the race by running the more durable soft tyre for a longer stint. As the supersoft is generally the quicker tyre to run on much will depend on how big a time deficit there is between it and the more durable soft tyre.

The run down to the first corner is a long one, which dramatically tightens into turn one. Ferrari will be extra vigilant after Sebastian Vettel got into the side of Kimi Raikkonen in China. In every round so far Ferrari has faced some issues whether through their own making or uncontrollable reliability problems. If the Italian team is to mount a serious challenge for the top step of the Russian GP podium, which it seems likely they can, the first order of business will be to have a clean race.

The last time we visited Russia, Mercedes were on the brink on clinching a constructor’s title and Lewis Hamilton had been outperforming teammate Nico Rosberg by a considerable margin. In 2016, the story so far reads much differently. Now it’s up to Lewis Hamilton to show what being a three time world champion really means.

April 28, 2016
WATCH: Vettel and Kvyat argue in the Chinese GP Room of Awkward

Sebastian Vettel has a little go at Daniil Kvyat in the #RoomofAwkard before heading on to the Chinese GP podium. Vettel was voicing his disapproval of Kvyat’s very brave move on him at the start of the Chinese GP. Kvyat took a massive chance and came at Vettel “like a torpedo” forcing the German into his Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen, causing damage to both cars.

April 17, 2016
2016 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull)
3 – Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

TV UNILATERAL
Q: Nico, it all looked fairly in control, a little bit of a glitch at the start of the session with Lewis, but how does that feel for you?
Nico ROSBERG: I’m pleased of course. The whole weekend has gone well. The car was handling well in qualifying, you know, so to get the lap done and to put it on pole, I’m happy about that of course. Not ecstatic, because of course Lewis had bad luck and his car broke down so the fight didn’t happen but anyways I’m pleased.

Q: Daniel, you pulled that one out of the bag at the last minute, your second time on the front row here. Where did that come from?
Daniel RICCIARDO: I’m not sure! To be honest the qualifying – I didn’t think we started in the best position in Q1 in terms of it being a disrupted session. Just with the balance we didn’t seem like we were really going to be in a fight with the front few rows today and then in Q3 we found a bit more speed. The option here, the supersoft, it’s a tricky tyre to manage. To get the one lap out of it is not exactly easy, it gets chewed up quite a bit as the lap goes on. I think just understanding that as the session goes on and obviously between me understanding a bit more what to do on track and the engineer making a few adjustments with pressures and front wing and I think we got a good package at the end and second is pretty awesome, we didn’t expect this.

Q: Thank you. Kimi, coming to you, Ferrari look good on the supersofts, but there was a maybe a mistake on your last run. Was there more to get out of it?
Kimi RAIKKONEN: Yeah, I mean even the previous run, same corner I ran really deep, too deep, and in the last one I was quite a bit up on that lap and I just ran wide on the hairpin and obviously I lost a lot of time. It’s a shame, I think we had a chance to be even on the top today, but that’s how it goes and we try to make the best out of it tomorrow.

Q: Thank you. Coming back to you Nico. Looking ahead to tomorrow, you obviously went on the soft tyre in Q2, so that’s the tyre you start on. Does that leave you with a significant advantage tomorrow do you think?
NR: I’m not sure, I haven’t dug into strategy stuff so much yet, but I would think that it’s going to a good thing, for sure, to start with that tyre and maybe it gives me a bit of an advantage over the others but as I say I’m not sure yet, we need to look into it tonight.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Nico, once again you seemed able to pull out another half second gap in that final run in Q3. Where’s that coming from. Where are you finding that?
NR: Well, I think the team is just doing a great job and we have the fastest car out there – and that’s it. We’re putting it together in qualifying and it’s great to see. But Kimi did a big mistake – apparently, I haven’t seen it – and lost quite a lot of time, so it would have been… my lap was very good, so it would have been very, very close. That’s what we were expecting actually. That’s why I needed to pull one out, to make sure that I can be on pole today. And I’m glad that it worked out.

Q: Daniel, you’ve been on the front row here before but it looks like you’ve definitely found something here. It bodes well for the future?
DR: Yeah. The start of the season, obviously we’ve only had a couple of races but up until now, this point, I think we’ve exceeded or maximised everything that we’ve got. We showed true dry pace today. I got a front row here a couple of years ago but that was in the wet. We always know we’re a bit stronger in the wet, at least the last few years, so to get a front row in dry conditions, it’s awesome – and yeah, it’s testament to how far we’ve come since the end of 2015. We’ll try to keep doing it. It feels good to be back up here. I know it’s only quali but the plan is to be back here tomorrow after the race We’re kicking goals at the moment. Really happy.

Q: Kimi, what’s likely to happen for you tomorrow in the race? What can you do? Especially with Nico starting on that soft tyre and being able to go a lot longer in that first stint.
KR: I don’t know! Not going to start guessing or anything. Quite disappointed about what happened in qualifying but third is not a bad place to start. On the better side still. We have to make a normal good start and go from there – obviously then see how it pans out. I’m sure the circuit is not in ideal conditions today after the rain. Hopefully tomorrow it is more close to what it was yesterday. But who knows? We’ll try to make the fastest race and see what it brings, if we can fight against the guys that are in front of us or not, we will see.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/Speedsport magazines) Daniel, as you say, great one lap pace, and you hope to be back here tomorrow but how do you see the race going over a whole race distance with the pace of the car?
DR: I think today’s encouraging. If we can have this on one lap, in the race we should still be pretty competitive. We’re normally a bit better off in the race. Let’s see. I think the race will be… hopefully we’ve got a race with Ferrari. I think Nico, starting on the softs, should be in good shape but let’s see. I hope to have a race with the Ferrari and if we can battle for the podium, that will be awesome. The track changed quite a lot today, this afternoon. Compared to yesterday I felt the balance was quite a long way different. Depends if it goes back towards yesterday track conditions or if it stays as today. That will probably dictate where we end up in the race, what the track temp does tomorrow and if it wears out the front tyres or wears out the rears. I think that’s going to be a determining factor. Hopefully we’re on the good end of that. I think we should be. Looking forward to it.

Q: (Haoran Zhou – Top Driver) Question to all drivers. Because of the unique structure of the grandstand we have a wet patch just before the start line and another at the entry to Turn One. We would like to know, did that affect how you approached the start of your flying lap at all – especially in Q1?
NR: It was difficult initially, quite tricky, as we saw with Wehrlein also, and so even on the last lap, just to keep it safe, I didn’t use DRS over the patch, for example.

Kimi?
KR: Yeah, at the start it was slippery but at the end it was OK to go full speed DRS but it wasn’t completely dry. Not ideal but that’s how it is.

Daniel?
DR: It was the same, first Q1 and Q2 without the DRS, just to play it safe and then Q3 we managed to keep it open. It’s not so much the wet patch, it’s the bump, which then unloads the rear and then, on the wet it’s coincidence where the bump is and where the bridge, I guess… yes, it’s more the bump than the wet patch itself causing some issues. It was, yeah, a bit edgy the first few runs and then it was OK.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Kimi, did you consider like Sebastian to save a set of Supersofts for the race and, if not, why not? And can you say where you lost the time – I didn’t see your lap, unfortunately.
KR: Obviously we had different options what to do but we will not know what was the best for tomorrow. I decided to go out again and it was a good lap until, I think, Turn 14, the end of the back straight, the hairpin. I almost ran off the circuit there. Not idea but that’s how it is.

Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) One question for Nico. As Lewis has encountered some engine situation or power unit failure, have you encountered any similar situations today, so far?
NR: No, I haven’t. I had an issue yesterday. Need to have a look and try to understand that. Of course it’s bad luck for Lewis today, definitely.

April 16, 2016
Rosberg beats Ricciardo to Chinese GP pole, Hamilton last

Nico Rosberg resisted what seemed to be a mighty threat from Ferrari to claim the pole position in what turned out to be an action packed qualifying session ahead of the Chinese GP.

Kimi Raikkonen threatened to claim the pole with Rosberg trailing him after the initial Q3 runs but going too deep into the penultimate corner, and a perfect 1:35.402 lap from Rosberg handed the German the pole.

Team mate Lewis Hamilton, who already headed into qualifying with a five place grid drop for a gearbox change, will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

Mercedes are still trying to fix the problem with Hamilton’s ERS but seem confident that they will be able to solve the problem in time for the race. Hamilton has won the last four Chinese grands prix – he’ll have to really earn his pounds tomorrow if he wants to make it five in a row.

Rosberg cruised his way through Q2 on Pirelli’s soft tyres, meaning that he will be starting the race on the soft compound rather than the super softs which are expected to only last only a few laps.

Ricciardo stormed through his final lap to start on the front row for Red Bull, finishing second – just over half a second down on Rosberg’s Chinese GP pole time.

Raikkonen managed to salvage third – the Finn very disappointed in his result after making the mistake into the penultimate corner.

After having his fans at the edges of their seats with the hopes that the Iceman would claim his first pole position since 2008, the disappointment was more than obvious.

Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel opted to go for only a single run in Q3 in a likely effort to save an extra set of tyres for the race but rand deep at the hairpin and finished only fourth.

Valtteri Bottas finished 5th for Williams with Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Perez and the Toro Rosso drivers behind him.

Nico Hulkenberg had made it through to the Top 10 Chinese GP pole shootout but could take no part in it after his front left tyre simply slipped off at a thankfully low speed during the final minutes of Q2 which brought out the second red flag of the session.

Interestingly there was no word of any investigation from the stewards into the incident.

Felipe Massa only just missed out on a slot in Q3 after being caught out by the red flag.

McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button also felt they had a chance of getting through before the red flag came out, with Alonso repeating a good few ARGH’s over his team radio after being told he wouldn’t be able to have a go at it. Button, just as frustrated responded with a, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

The McLaren Honda team looks to have made some good progress. Both drivers never got to show their true pace but they will however have a free choice of tyres for the race start tomorrow which could help them make out the deficit suffered today.

Romain Grosjean was 14th for the Haas F1 team with Felipe Nasr behind him.

Renault drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer finished 17th and 19th with Esteban Gutierrez splitting the pair in 18th place. Rio Haryanto finished in 20th place.

Pascal Wehrlein took part in only five minutes of Q1 after he lost control on a bump along the main straight and brought out the first red flag of the session. The delay lasted for 20 minutes as marshalls spent time drying wet patches of water.

Many fans took to Twitter to voice their frustration that such action was being taken for what really amounted to puddles considering the fact that these – the best drivers in the world – do have wet and intermediate tyres available. Wehrlein was running on slicks at the time.

Will Lewis Hamilton be able to fight his way through the pack and pose any sort of a threat up front tomorrow? One thing is for sure – this is definitely going to hurt his title prospects. Rosberg has the Chinese GP pole in his pocket, but not the race victory just yet … Perhaps the Ferrari team could unsettle things at the top a little further with both Raikkonen and Vettel hungry for a win. And, with Daniel Ricciardo in the mix up front, we could just be in for a proper cracker of a race tomorrow. Join us for live commentary, banter and opinions on Twitter @F1_Madness before, throughout, and after the Chinese GP.

Photo Credits: Screengrabs as broadcast by FOM

April 16, 2016
F1 2016: Chinese GP Free Practice 2 Report – Raikkonen On Top

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen topped the second free practice session for the Chinese grand prix.

The Finnish driver sets a quickest time of 1:36:896 on the red-walled supersoft tyre. Teammate Sebastian Vettel was one tenth adrift in second. Nico Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes in third, two and a half tenths off Raikkonen’s session topping time. Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top four in the sister Mercedes with a time of 1:37:329.

The second free practice session of a grand prix weekend is customarily reserved for longer stints and evaluation of the different tyre compounds for Sunday’s race. As the softest tyre available this weekend the supersoft compound showed signs of degradation after a three lap quali sim and roughly eight laps on high fuel. The indications were that both Ferrari and Red Bull suffered less degradation on the supersoft than Mercedes. In particular, Nico Rosberg experienced a loss of three seconds in laptime over his stint on the supersoft tyres.

However, Hamilton’s stint on the medium tyre, the hardest compound available this weekend, showed a consistent and fast pace. Comparatively, Vettel’s stint on the medium, earlier on in the session, was evenly matched to Hamilton’s.

Although Friday practice sessions are difficult to decipher the signs point to what could be a very competitive Chinese grand prix between Ferrari and Mercedes.

April 15, 2016
F1 2016: Chinese GP Free Practice 1 Report – Rosberg Quickest

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg topped the first free practice session ahead of Sunday’s Chinese grand prix.

The session stumbled into life as cars trickled out onto the Shanghai International circuit which was holding a track temperature of 33 degrees Celcius. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg set the quickest time of the session, a 1:38:037, on the yellow walled soft tyre. Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton followed in second one and a half tenths adrift.

The Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, and sister Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top five positions. Fernando Alonso was back in the McLaren for the first free practice session and ended the session twelfth overall. Alonso has not yet been given the all clear to race for the remainder of the weekend and is expected to undergo his second medical check-up of the weekend fifteen minutes after the conclusion of the first practice session.

The one and a half hour session was marred by two red flag periods brought about first by the Williams of Felipe Massa and secondly by the Renault of Kevin Magnussen. The first red flag was shown as a result of gravel on the circuit caused by the left-rear tyre on Massa’s car letting go. Peculiarly, once the track re-opened Massa ventured back out only to experience the same delamination on the left-rear tyre. There is no word as yet to the cause of the delamination however.

The second red flag was a bit lengthier and required a bit more clean-up as the left-rear tyre on Kevin Magnussen’s Renault let go halfway down the back strait. On the face of it the two incidents for Massa and Magnussen don’t seem to be related. It was the McLaren teams opinion that Magnussen’s issue might have been caused by debris on the circuit.

The tyre compouds available this weekend are the medium (white), soft (yellow), and supersoft (red).

April 15, 2016