Video: Especial Interview with 6 WDC CCTV 5 at Chinese GP 2012

Interview with Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel from CCTV 5



Source: AnneCarvalho78

Räikkönen: We ran out of tyres

Kimi Räikkönen went from a podium to a point-less finish in the space of 10 laps as his tyre strategy proved to be the wrong one

Räikkönen was running as high as second as Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix entered its final stint, albeit over 20 seconds down on Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.

However, the Lotus driver had opted for a two-stop strategy, which may have worked in getting up to second, but it didn't work in allowing him to keep it as those on three-stoppers came storming by.

Räikkönen, who had been one of the first of the two-stoppers to pit, could do absolutely nothing to keep those with fresher tyres at bay.

The 2007 World Champ finished the grand prix down in 14th place, over 50s behind race winner Rosberg.

"We tried to run two stops but we ran out of the tyres in the end," said the Finn.

"We tried but it didn't pay off today.

"There are two choices and we took another one, we thought it was going to work out but it didn't."

But while the two stops did not work for Räikkönen, they did for his team-mate Romain Grosjean who finished in sixth place after winning an exciting battle with Bruno Senna, Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso.

"It was pretty good, I am very pleased for myself and the team. It looked like Formula Three at times but it was tough out there."

Source: Planet-F1

Rosberg wins in China for first F1 victory

Germany's Nico Rosberg celebrated the first victory of his Formula One career with a commanding pole-to-flag win for Mercedes in China on Sunday

While the son of 1982 champion Keke sprayed the champagne to mark the end of an 111-race wait, the German manufacturer rolled back the decades to savour their first grand prix success as a works team since 1955.

"Brilliant race, Nico. Just brilliant," yelled team principal Ross Brawn over the radio as the 26-year-old let out a long and loud whoop of delight after taking the chequered flag.

Britain's Jenson Button finished a distant second for Mercedes-powered McLaren, 20.6 seconds behind, with team mate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton third for the third race in a row to take the championship lead.

Hamilton now has 45 points after three races to Button's 43. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who had led before Shanghai, finished ninth and dropped to third overall with 37.

Rosberg's victory was the first by Mercedes, as a works team, since 1955, when Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio won that year's season-ending Italian Grand Prix from pole.

Mercedes pulled out of Formula One as a works team in 1955 and did not return, other than as an engine partner, until 2010 after buying the title-winning Brawn team.

While Rosberg celebrated, drenching Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug in champagne on the podium with the eager assistance of Button and Hamilton, there was disappointment for team mate Michael Schumacher.

The seven times world champion, winner of a record 91 races, had started alongside Rosberg on the front row but the 43-year-old's hopes of a first podium appearance since he was at Ferrari in 2006, disappeared on lap 13 after a pitstop.

To the despair of the mechanic on the front right wheel, Schumacher was given the signal to go before the nut was attached properly. He rejoined the race before having to pull off and retire.

"The front wheel got a bit loose, but I don't know what happened. I feel a bit sorry for one of my boys, but that's part of the game," said Schumacher philosophically.

Button's hopes of a second win in three races were also dashed in the pits when the crew struggled with the rear left, losing vital seconds, at his third and final stop.

Australian Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull with double world champion team mate Sebastian Vettel fifth after starting 11th, his lowest grid placing since 2009.

Frenchman Romain Grosjean took his first points for Lotus with sixth place, ahead of the Williams cars of Brazilian Bruno Senna and Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado.

Sauber's Japanese Kamui Kobayashi took the final point for Sauber in 10th.

FH
1. Rosberg Mercedes 1h36:26.929
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 20.6
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 26.0
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 27.9
5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 30.4
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 31.4
7. Senna Williams-Renault + 34.5
8. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 35.6
9. Alonso Ferrari + 37.2
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 38.7
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 41.0
12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 42.2
13. Massa Ferrari + 42.7
14. Räikkönen Lotus-Renault + 50.5
15. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 51.2
16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 51.7
17. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:03.1
18. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
23. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 3 laps

Source: Reuters Sports

Interview with Kimi Räikkönen for the Motorsport-total

Question: "Kimi, are you satisfied with your fourth place?"
Kimi Räikkönen: "In a way yes, because it was not too bad, but because of the gap to the top I'm a bit disappointed. Overall I think we were stronger in the last race. However, the position is quite okay. "

Question: "How do you explain the gap? Was there a problem with the car?"
Räikkönen: "We are just improving in some areas but in others not, we are in a learning process."

Question: "So on your lap no problems occurred?"
Räikkönen: "The car could not have been much faster. We have tried everything, but it has not worked."

Question: "Were there more problems in the slow or the fast corners?"
Räikkönen: "More in the slow corners. Otherwise the handling of the car was right except in the final qualifying when it was cooler, it got worse a bit."

Question: "Are you generally satisfied with the handling of the car?"
Räikkönen: "Overall I was more satisfied with the car at the last race. There are a few areas where we have problems and the gap to the top is slightly larger than expected. But one must say that the times are very close. I think we could have even further ahead. "

Question: "How do you rate your chances for the race starting fourth?"
Räikkönen: "I don't know. Usually our car is good in the race. Tomorrow it will be hotter than today, which is better for us. Hopefully the other teams then have problems. We have to wait and see what happens."

Question: "If you compare the soft with the hard tires - you realize there is a big difference?"
Räikkönen: "No. On one lap maybe, but then it depends on the temperature."

Question: "What areas do you think you can improve your car?"
Räikkönen: "We could further improve the downforce. Then the tire would work even better."

Question: "Regarding the updates on your car: Is it true that you still drive with the old rear end here?"
Räikkönen: "No, that one didn'T work. We use the one we have used the last race. We had tried the old again, but then changed back to the new one."

Question: "Are you surprised of Kamui (Kobayashi, editor's note) performance?"
Räikkönen: "No. The Sauber were fast all season so far. Both drivers were quick, so I'm not surprised that he is in front of me.."

Question: "How do you assess the durability of your tires in the race?"
Räikkönen: "I don't know. We were not able to simulate a race distance. Like I said, it depends much on how hot it is. If it is really hot, we will make advantage. If it is cooler it will be difficult for us to get temperature into the tires. Then the others may have an advantage. "

Question: "How do you assess the situation when it rains, there is little chance that it will rain tomorrow?".
Räikkönen: "No matter what happens, we are simply trying to achieve the best possible. The situation will be the same for all. It makes no difference for us. But it would be nicer to drive a race in dry conditions. But we can't change the weather. "

Question: "IYou were the fastest in sector 1. Because of the car and you like the sector specifically?"
Räikkönen: "Actually I was not so happy with the first sector, so I'm surprised that I was the fastest there, the car does not feel so good there.."

Question: "Do you think that Mercedes will not be as fast tomorrow as it was today?"
Räikkönen: "Usually not, but if it should be cooler, it could be advantageous for them. They seem to have a greater tire wear than others in the race, so cooler temperatures should be better for their tires."

Question: "You've already used all the soft tires, do you?"
Räikkönen: "I have not driven my fastest lap on my last set of tires, so I have another one."

Question: "In Malaysia, you were at the end of the race very fast. Do you think that here in China it will be the same?"
Räikkönen: "We are always fast Usually at race end the times are faster overall. We will see how it will be tomorrow."

Question: "Are you surprised from Sebastian's (Vettel, editor's note) performance?"
Räikkönen: "I don't know what happened. Maybe he had a lot of traffic. Such things can."

Question: "Do you expect the two McLarens of Button and Hamilton at the start?"
Räikkönen: "Yes, because they have always been very fast."

Source: Motorsport-total
Courtesy: Miezicat

Kimi Räikkönen – “Hopefully We Can Move Forward in the Race”

Despite achieving his best qualifying result of the season so far, Kimi feels that the E20 could be further up the order here in China; the Finn gives us his thoughts on qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit this afternoon

Kimi, today saw your strongest qualifying result of the season to date; how are you feeling after that performance?
Qualifying in P5 is ok but overall our pace is not as good as we had hoped. We’ll start in P4 after Lewis (Hamilton) takes his penalty so the result isn’t bad, but the time could have been better. I tried to improve after my first lap but got a bit wide through one corner, so maybe we could have been a bit closer to the front but really I think we got the maximum from the car today. In a way it’s not too bad, but we’re disappointed with the gap to Nico (Rosberg). Anyway that’s how it goes sometimes; hopefully we can at least keep our position at the start and try to move forward in the race.

You’ve mentioned that the car hasn’t quite lived up to expectations so far this weekend; where do you think improvements need to be made?
We seem to be losing time on the straights and through the corners, but the main thing we’re lacking is downforce. More downforce means more grip, and although the handling is fine we can’t push as hard as we’d like. The colder weather didn’t help us, and the temperature dropped quite a lot in Q3 which made a difference to our speed. It should be warmer tomorrow which will help, but then again it will help some of the other teams too. So far our car has had good race pace, so hopefully we’ll see that again tomorrow. Of course, if it rains then we have a level playing field as everyone will need to start from scratch.

How much of an effect do you think the upgrade package brought in for this weekend has had on the car’s performance?
We’ve tried some new parts which unfortunately haven’t worked as we expected, so the car is now more or less back to the set-up we ran in Malaysia. Hopefully we’ll get the updates working soon so we can keep moving forwards; we don’t want to get into a situation where the others are improving and we’re staying where we are. Our pace is not as good as it was in the last race, but I’m sure we’ll get there once we find how to get the new parts working.

Tyres seem to have been the big topic of the weekend, with high wear at the front and difficulties getting the rubber up to temperature being a common complaint in the paddock; what are your thoughts?
I didn’t have any major issues with the tyres. There is clearly a difference between the compounds, but it’s the same for everybody and again the weather will affect this. It’s hard to say how the tyres will perform during the race as we haven’t done any particularly long runs. Again it depends on how hot it is; when it’s cooler we can’t quite get them working how we would like, but once the track warms up we’re fine. A positive from qualifying is that we didn’t set a timed lap on the last set of tyres so, while they’re not brand new, they have very little wear which should help us at the start.

You set the fastest time in the first sector today; despite not being entirely happy with the car, does this give you some optimism for the race?
I’m surprised we were fastest in the first sector as it didn’t feel particularly quick. In a way we can look at today in a positive light; the fact that we qualified in P5 even though the car isn’t performing as we’d like is actually quite encouraging, especially as we’re not as strong around this track as we were at the previous circuits. Not counting the pole time, we’re not far behind the cars in front of us either so we can be pleased with that. I’m not sure we’re in such a strong position as in the first two Grand Prix – which is strange to say when we have our highest grid slot so far – but we’ll see what we can do.

Source: LotusF1

Räikkönen: I'm disappointed with the pace

Kimi Räikkönen: We go into the race less confident in the car than in the last two races, but knowing that we start from a higher position on the grid. Let's see what we can do tomorrow, we'll try to do the best we can...

Kimi Räikkönen was disappointed following qualifying for the F1 2012 Chinese Grand Prix today, even though he set the fifth fastest time.

Räikkönen, who will actually start from the second row of the grid in fourth, benefiting from the gearbox penalty that has been handed to Lewis Hamilton, felt the speed of his Lotus E20 just wasn't 'where it should have been' and he finished Q3 over eight tenths off pole position.

The Finn also revealed that the updates the team have brought to Shanghai haven't work as they had hoped and as a result the squad has reverted 'almost entirely' to the Malaysia car specification.

“The grid position is okay but when you look at the times, I'm disappointed with the pace of the car today,” Räikkönen confirmed. “We've gained a position after Lewis's penalty but the speed wasn't where it should have been, especially when you look at the pole time.

“We've tried some updates this weekend, but they haven't worked as we wanted so we've gone back to how the car was before. We go into the race less confident in the car than in the last two races, but knowing that we start from a higher position on the grid. Let's see what we can do tomorrow, we'll try to do the best we can and hopefully we can be higher up than we are on the grid, and that means a podium.”

Team-mate Romain Grosjean meanwhile also made it through to the shootout, however, he did not set a time, as unlike the other nine runners in Q3, he didn't have a new set of soft tyres left. He will start in P10.

“I have mixed feelings after today's session. After struggling a bit yesterday it's great to have both cars in Q3, but unfortunately after a terrible first run in Q2 we were forced to use up all our new sets of soft tyres before the final session. This meant there was no point trying to set a competitive time in the pole position shoot out which is a real shame, as our pace in Q2 was good,” Grosjean commented.

“I feel much more comfortable with the car and I think that shows in the lap times today. The team did a great job to turn things around and get us back towards the top where we should be. I still have some fine tuning to do but 56 laps in tomorrow's race will certainly help that!”

Source: Crash.net

Hamilton: We can still make it...

Lewis Hamilton: I've set my car up to be at its strongest in the race...

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton believes he is in a 'good position' for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, even though an unscheduled gearbox change has landed him with a five-place grid penalty.

Hamilton led the way this morning in final practice at the Shanghai International Circuit. However, in the top-ten shootout he was unable to replicate that and finished up just over half a second off Mercedes men Nico Rosberg, who managed to secure his first-ever F1 pole position. Following his penalty, Hamilton will line-up seventh.

“Very big congratulations to Nico today,” Hamilton said. “We first met back in 1997 and were team-mates in 2000. We've been good friends ever since. When we were team-mates, we always dreamed of qualifying first and second together in F1 – and it's crazy that we did that today.

“Looking at the race, we've got a good car but I'm going to have to work my way up through the field tomorrow. But as long as I move forward in the race, I'll be happy.

“We're in a good position, I think. I've set my car up to be at its strongest in the race. So, although Jenson [Button – my team-mate] and I are a little bit further back than we'd like, and we've got a bit of work to do, we can still make it.

“There's a good group of drivers ahead of us on the grid, but we're right with them in terms of race pace. This is a track where you can overtake, and we've got DRS too – so I'm massively excited about tomorrow.”

McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh meanwhile was philosophical after what was undoubtedly a disappointing qualifying session for the Woking-based outfit, especially given the squad's form in practice. He is hopeful, though, that race day will be different.

“First of all, I'd like to offer our congratulations to Mercedes AMG, for whom Nico took his first ever Grand Prix pole position this afternoon,” Whitmarsh added. “It was a peculiar qualifying session, in which the to-ing and fro-ing of grip levels was abnormally unpredictable. During Q3, the air and track temperatures cooled rapidly as the sky overhead became suddenly overcast, and the circuit became appreciably slower as a result. Nico, who had already cut a very good lap early in the session, was therefore unassailable. Jenson, who went out later, found that the track surface had become much less grippy than it had been beforehand, and the inevitable result was a slower-than-expected lap time from him.

“But that wasn't his fault; pretty much everyone who was on track at the end of Q3 either recorded a slower lap-time than they'd hoped for, or indeed aborted it, as Lewis did.

“Tomorrow, though, we're confident that we'll have two competitive race cars, and, from fifth and seventh on the grid respectively, Jenson and Lewis will be approaching the race with their customary controlled combativeness,” Whitmarsh summed-up.

Source: Crash.net

'I'm happy' insists Vettel

Sebastian Vettel insisted he is happy with his RB8 despite failing to reach the final qualifying session for the first time in three seasons at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday

The defending World Champion, who has not started a race outside the top 10 since the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix, will line up 11th on the grid four places behind team-mate Mark Webber.

Vettel seemed relaxed despite his poor performance and even suggested his car handled better than it had during the third practice session held earlier in the day.

"I was pretty happy with the car in qualifying. I think we did a step forward compared to the morning. Whereas in the morning the balance was pretty open and it had a lot of oversteer, in the afternoon I was happier," he said.

"I think doing the same lap time three times in qualifying showed this was more or less it. So it was not as if there was a tenth or another couple of tenths on the table. So I don't think we missed out, it was just not quick enough at the time."

No blame
Vettel's time in session two was around three tenths slower than that of Webber, who went quickest overall after both drivers had made two runs.

Each driver has opted to use a different exhaust configuration this weekend, with Vettel reverting back to the version which the team used on their RB8 chassis when it was launched.

Webber, in contrast, is sticking with the newer version which features an exhaust pointing outboard as Red Bull attempt to harness as much of the blown diffuser effect as they can under this season's tighter rules.

Vettel prefers the balance of the older version and insisted he remains happy with it, despite qualifying behind his team-mate.

"Don't get me wrong but I don't want to blame today's result on any sort of packaging or not. Mark was fast in qualifying. I was happy with the car yesterday, that's why I decided to keep that package," he said.

"If I would have been convinced yesterday then we would have changed it. But I was convinced of the current package, so it doesn't feel right now to sit here and blame the car or the packaging.

"At this stage I don't think there is any individual one to blame. I had a good session, I was happy with my lap. It was maybe not the best lap of my life but a good lap - I was happy with it for qualifying, it was just not quick enough.

"The car felt pretty good, so we were just not able to find the last couple of tenths."

Good job
As for the race itself, Vettel said he his car's pace over longer runs still placed him in "good shape".

However, despite Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher lining up first and second on the grid, he reckoned McLaren are best of all.

"Surely today the pace of Mercedes was a surprise: Nico had a very, very strong lap at the end and outqualified everyone by half a second. So we'll see how they will do in the race. I think McLaren is still the favourite for race pace," Vettel said.

He added: "I think, being completely honest, we can look at ourselves and be happy with the work that we have done. As in, I think we got everything out of the car that there was today. I think we did a good job in qualifying.

"Surely the result isn't good enough - we need to improve and work on that. But for now I think you need to be honest with yourself.

"It's not as if we've been lazy and we didn't care really."

Source: SkySports

Alonso: Melbourne not Malaysia

Fernando Alonso has predicted his Chinese Grand Prix will be more Melbourne than Malaysia as Ferrari's flat start to the season continued on Saturday

The double World Champion, who leads in the Drivers' Championship after his surprise victory last time out at Sepang, qualified ninth at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Alonso once again wrung all he could from Ferrari's troublesome F2012 but on a day of surprises, the Spaniard's place in the pecking order was pretty much as expected.

Despite lining up behind both Sauber drivers, Alonso said he believed the Swiss team were "definitely" better than Ferrari this weekend.

Furthermore, he reckoned he might also struggle to defend his position against the likes of Lotus's Romain Grosjean and World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who qualified 10th and 11th respectively.

"Definitely a Melbourne race," said Alonso, who finished fifth in Australia last month. "I hope Malaysia but I don't think we can have maybe the wet conditions or the pace we had with inters. The (qualifying) position was similar to Malaysia; in Australia it was P12 and it's more or less where we are in qualifying.

"In the race normally we improve on Sunday - the race pace - but it's true also that behind us on this grid of today, there are people quicker than us like Grosjean and Vettel. So even if we will try to overtake people at the front, we know that people from behind will be quicker than us."

Source: SkySports

Video: Kimi Räikkönen interview after practices at Chinese GP 2012

Source: F1ARAB

Why don't we see Kimi's wife in F1-races? - "There's nothing here to see".

The reason is obvious, at least according to Kimi.

- There's nothing to see here. She would sit all day, read magazines and drink coffee. It would be pretty boring, Räikkönen told Motorsport-Total.

- I wouldn't like it at least - I wouldn't have anything to do all day. I'm sure there are better things to do at that time.

Source: SuomiF1
Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi Räikkönen – “The Race is Where it Really Counts”

After a mixed day for the team in China, Kimi remains philosophical about the weekend ahead at the Shanghai International Circuit, and looks forward to the all-important event on Sunday – race day

Kimi, it seemed like the car was not quite how you wanted it today; can you tell us a bit more?

It’s not often you have a perfect car on Friday and there are certain things we need to improve which is perfectly normal. It doesn’t really matter if you are first or last in testing because that’s exactly what it is; testing. We’ve been trying a few upgrades and some different set-ups to see how the car behaves which was the main purpose of today, so I wouldn’t read too much into it.

How would you summarise the two sessions?

We managed to put in a good number of laps, not so much this morning but this afternoon. Of course, we’d ideally like to be nearer the front but like I said it’s just testing. The changing conditions held us back a bit in FP1 and unfortunately we lost a bit of time making set-up changes in FP2, but towards the end we decided to stick with what we were running which gave us some good track time. We have a lot of work to do for sure, but it’s been the same at each race weekend this season so it’s not unexpected.

Do you think the weather today has had a real impact on the set-up of the car? A few drivers were complaining of the front tyres fading quickly…

Maybe, but the weather is the same for everyone – if it rains it rains, if it’s dry it’s dry. There were a few cold days during testing and we had no problems there. It’s just a matter of finding the best setup. The tyres felt ok, but we didn’t do any particularly long stints so it’s hard to tell.

How did you find the upgrade package for the car?

The conditions in FP1 made it hard to see where we are with the new upgrades which was a bit of a setback. When you make a few changes to the car it’s not as easy to go out and push straight away like other teams are able to, but this will improve over the weekend. The car didn’t feel too different from where we’ve been at previous circuits, but obviously the lap times are not as competitive yet. We’ll be looking at the data overnight and hopefully we can find some more speed tomorrow.

As you’ve said it would be nice to sit further up the order even at this early stage in proceedings; what are your ambitions for this weekend?

If you just go by the lap times and nothing else then we haven’t looked so fast today, but the race is where it really counts. For sure we have some work to do and changes to make, but this is normal. For the race I think we need to be aiming at improving on the results we’ve had so far, as we’ve been strong all year but not managed to get the points we deserved.

Free Practice 3 is next up from the Shanghai International Circuit at 11:00 local time tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to our website Twitter feed and Facebook page for updates throughout the session.

Source: LotusF1

Video: 2011 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix Race Edit

Source: LewisWDC11

Massa's Blog: I hope I continue to fight at a higher level

A couple of days have passed since the Chinese Grand Prix and I am still in Shanghai attending various events in a city which I find I enjoy more every time I come here. I had a very good race on Sunday, running strongly and getting involved in a lot of fights. The result should have been a bit better than my eventual sixth place, but I was very happy with how it went and I hope I can continue to fight at a higher level for the coming races.

For sure, we need to qualify better so we can start further forward on the grid which helps in the race, even with the talk of grid position being less important this year. In China actually my grid position, sixth, was not too bad and then I gained one place immediately after the start which moved me up to fifth. Most importantly though, if you look at the pace of the car, it was good enough to allow us to fight with the leaders. That meant I had a very interesting race, being able to make up several places because effectively, the car we had in the race was completely different to the one we had the day before in qualifying. It definitely worked well, because I even led the race for a short while at one point and I held a genuine second place for quite some time. Unfortunately, those who were three stopping for tyre changes caught us up much faster than we had expected in the closing stages and, on tyres that were in much better shape than mine, they were able to get past.

It’s easy to say, having seen how the race evolved, that I should have been on a three stop rather than a two stop strategy, but in fact, I am not completely sure this would have been correct, because the main problem I had was much poorer performance than the other cars experienced on the hard Pirellis, which meant that, when these tyres were fitted, the car had a pace more similar to what we had seen in qualifying and we definitely had more problems than the others. Up until then, the car was quite competitive. People have pointed out that Webber drove a fantastic race, which involved three pit stops, but you have to accept that, because he failed to get further than Q1 on Saturday, he had plenty of new tyres: everyone would want to be in that position, but you must remember he has a very good car, the quickest of the year so far. Nevertheless, we are always learning at this stage of the season and we should analyse everything very carefully to see if we should adopt a different approach, maybe modify our qualifying strategy to have some fresher tyres for the race. But after three Grands Prix it is still too early to say what is the best way to work with all these new rules, because in China at the weekend, you saw many different combinations of strategies and tyre useage and many of them seemed to work well. Nothing is one hundred percent clear yet and at Ferrari, we have to work out what is best for our car. It is possible that we could see very different strategies in the next few races, depending on the characteristics of the circuits.

In Shanghai, it was good for the sport of Formula 1 that Lewis won the race, so we don’t have the same car winning every time. However, we must not forget that Sebastian still finished second which is a very good result, which still keeps him in a good position for the championship. We have three weeks now during which everyone at Ferrari has to push hard to try and arrive at the next race, or more specifically the next qualifying, in a stronger position, so we can continue to take the fight to these guys. After Shanghai, we must also consider Mercedes as being part of the fight for the top places. They definitely have a quicker car than us for qualifying, but it’s not yet a match for Red Bull. But it is also true that the Red Bulls suffer more than most in a performance drop off from qualifying to the race, so this could see Mercedes continuing to be very competitive now in the races.

I am now preparing to leave Shanghai for home in Monaco. On Monday, I attended an event for a personal sponsor, Richard Mille who manufacture watches and in the evening I was at a dinner for Ferrari owners. Then before flying home, on Tuesday morning I was at the Shanghai Motor Show, making an appearance on the Ferrari stand, doing some press interviews and unveiling the Ferrari FF, the recently launched four wheel drive car, seen for the first time now in China. I am looking forward to this slightly longer than usual break at home before heading for Istanbul and I will be following very carefully the work going on at Maranello during this period.

Source: Ferrari.com

Hamilton: That was one of the best

Lewis Hamilton has hailed the Chinese GP as "one of the best races I've experienced" after claiming his first victory of 2011

What maked the win sweeter for Hamilton and McLaren is the fact that it put an end to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull's early-season dominance after the German won in Australia and Malaysia.

Starting P3 on the grid, Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button both beat Vettel off the line.

The defending World Champion hit back in the first two rounds of pit stops to reclaim the lead, but Hamilton had the last laugh as the decision to pit for a third time paid dividends when his fresher rubber allowed him to pass Vettel with four laps to go.

Hamilton says everything fell into place once the race got underway.

"I am absolutely overwhelmed," said the McLaren driver. "It feels like a long time since I was sitting here. I am proud and grateful for all the hard work I have put in.

"I will continue to push and looking forward to many more like this."

He added: "I think today the strategy that we came up with definitely helped

"My new option tyres seemed to last longer. The pit stops were fantastic. The car felt great and I was trying to nurse my tyres while picking up pace.

"It was one of the best races I've experienced. It feels amazing to be able to bring home a victory for the guys in the factory."

The 26-year-old nearly failed to make it to his P3 slot on the grid after a fuel line came loose before the start of the race. That resulted in a mad scramble to fix the problem. Even though he was able to line up in position on the grid, his mechanics were still working on the car moments before the formation lap.

Hamilton, though, insists he was never worried.

"I don't think worried was coming into my thoughts," he said. "I'm not sure what went on, but we took a lot of bodywork off. We knew there was six minutes to go and then with two minutes fortunately everything came together very quickly.

"But of course for me it is important to stay as calm as possible as that reflects on the guys in the garage. They got the car out which is the most important thing."

Now that McLaren have managed to overhaul Red Bull during a race, the next target will be to catch up with Vettel in qualifying.

"I think obviously we still have a long road ahead of us," Hamilton said.

"We are working very hard to close the gap. In race pace we are quite similar, but in qualifying we still have a lot of work to do."

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso: Car is just too slow

Fernando Alonso insists he wasn't undone by his strategy in China. Rather, he was undone by his slow car

The Spaniard started the Chinese GP fifth on the grid but lost out to his team-mate Felipe Massa off the line. And by the end of the 56 laps, during which Ferrari deployed a two-stop strategy for both drivers, he was down in P7, one place behind his team-mate.

However, the Spaniard says it wasn't Ferrari's decision to go with a two-stopper, when a three-stop proved to be the better option, that cost him.

"We'll see now which one was the best," he told Autosport.

"It's very easy to choose the strategy when you have the fastest car and it's very hard when you are slow. (Mark) Webber today showed qualifying is not very important.

"The most important thing is to have a good tyre degradation and a good strategy, and this year we can overtake. As I say, the easiest thing is to have a quick car, like Red Bull, you pit three, two, one times and you end up on the podium.

"We need to improve the car above everything. I don't think it would have changed much. We were much slower than the cars we had in front so we would ended up with a similar result."

The double World Champ also denied that he had a problem with his car in the closing stages of the race, saying once again the only problem is that the car is too slow.

"No, we didn't have any particular problems. We just weren't fast at any point during the race and we kept on losing positions little by little.

"Then we opted to go for two stops so it looked like we were in a good position during some points of the race and others where they were flying like bullets from behind. We had to try to hold on and finish the race in whatever position."

Source: Planet-F1

Video: Mixed emotions for Sebastian Vettel after Chinese GP 2011

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel remains happy despite not winning for the first time in 2011 after finishing second in China and talks about his first pit stop when McLaren's Jenson Button stopped in his box



Source: FiftyBuckss

Photos: Lewis Hamilton the winner of Chinese GP 2011

Lewis Hamilton in his first victory in the 2011 season at Chinese Grand Prix














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Webber relishing Vettel's loss

Mark Webber may not have won the Chinese GP, however, he was one of the happiest guys around as his team-mate Sebastian Vettel also didn't win

Vettel claimed dominant wins in Australia and Malaysia prompting some to question whether F1 should just gift him the title right now.

After taking pole in China, it appeared as if it was going to be another Vettel victory.

However, the German lost out to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who used his fresher rubber to pass the reigning World Champ on lap 52, taking the win.

Surprisingly, the man who was happy to see Vettel lose was his own Red Bull team-mate.

"Congratulations to Lewis. It was good that someone finally... of course Seb is in the same team, but he's been on a phenomenal run and we're all here together fighting for victories," said the Aussie.

"Shame McLaren won in a way, but also we can't let Seb get too far away. It was a good day for the racing, I think, and a good day for us in terms of points for the team."

As for his own grand prix, Webber fought back from a dismal P18 in qualifying to finish on the podium, slicing past the Ferraris, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button in the final ten laps thanks to his newer tyres.

"It was an interesting GP, we decided to start on the prime hard tyre. We know it was not the more desired tyre. We got that out of the way, and it was quite tricky. It was not easy to come back with those guys.

"But I got the car back and we really started from there. To still see P17 on board after 15 laps [was hard], then I felt comfortable with car, and I had a few sets of tyres left after qualifying - so maybe the best bet is not to take part in qualifying and go from there!

"Jokes aside, great job this weekend, the guys haven't given up - it is a drive for everyone at the factory."

Source: Planet-F1

Vettel: Nothing I could do to stop Lewis

Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull must learn from the Chinese GP after they were out-strategised by McLaren for the victory

Having lost out to both McLarens off the start-line, Red Bull opted to run Vettel on a two-stop strategy, which, given that he was leading with ten laps remaining, appeared to be the right call.

However, with fresher tyres thanks to his three-stopper, Lewis Hamilton came charging towards Vettel and easily took first place and the race victory off the German.

"We probably tried too hard staying on two stops," Vettel later admitted.

"The middle stint should have been longer, but then you find yourself on the hard tyre and I saw Lewis coming closer and closer. There was no point, I tried to defend as much as I could without losing too much time.

"We made a couple of mistakes and we had some problems, but still we finished second so I am very happy for that.

"Congratulations to Lewis and McLaren - it shows that one race when you try something a bit different, you make mistakes. It is natural and there is someone else to beat you.

"We learned a lot today. I am the only one on two stops here (on the podium) so surely something to look into tonight."

Vettel was joined on the podium by his team-mate Mark Webber, who put his fresher tyres to good use to overtake the second McLaren of Jenson Button.

However, Button did offer the one comical moment of the grand prix when he mistakenly pulled into Vettel's pit box when he came in to change tyres.

"It was quite a surprise - Jenson in front of me went into my garage," Vettel said. "We had something similar with STR, I don't know what attracts people to stop in our garage... The guys kept their heads cool, we came out in the lead."

Source: Planet-F1