Chinese GP – UP & DOWN
The Chinese GP in Shanghai was featured by overtaking, battles, car collisions between drivers and several mistakes made especially by Red Bull. Ferrari and Fernando Alonso scored the first win of the season, recovering from the Malaysian weekend; Lotus and Mercedes finished on the podium thanks to Raikkonen and Hamilton.
FERRARI – Alonso: vote 10. The weekend was flawless in all respects. A concentrated Fernando Alonso delivered an excellent strategy and pit-stop performance, as usual. He was calm and didn’t give anything to anyone. He put pressure on Hamilton since the beginning and overtook the Englishman on the fourth lap, delivering an offensive strategy. Massa: grade 6. This is a consolation mark for the performance delivered during free practices. The Brazilian driver tries to imitate his team mate but he always finish behind him. He only managed to finish sixth on 40 seconds. He has to do more than he did.
MERCEDES – Vote 8: last season the German team scored its unique win at Shanghai Circuit. After finishing third in Malaysia, Hamilton scored a podium finish again. Vote 8 to the English driver who is in a very good shape. He started from the front row and delivered an excellent performance during the race. The car is extremely performing on a single qualifying lap, but has to improve in the long run and has to improve tyres’ handling, as well.
MCLAREN – Vote 7 to the team and Jenson Button. The Englishman said that the Chinese GP would have felt like something of a reboot of the start for the team. He finished fifth which is a good start of season. He couldn’t do anything more. He has to take on the responsibility of the Team’s development. Vote 4 to his team mate Perez. Besides being in troubles with the car, his on-track behaviour was extremely incorrect. Especially with regards to Kimi; the Mexican driver should have been penalized by FIA commissioners.
RED BULL – Vote 5 to the team: weekend full of mistakes maybe caused by the diatribe aroused after the Malaysian GP. Vettel made strategy mistakes in qualifying. Vote 6 to the German driver. Gasoline mistakes for Webber. This is the second time. This is totally unacceptable for a team who won 3 constructors’ championships. The Australian driver lost a wheel, so he was penalized at the pit-stop. Vote 7 to him because he managed to handle such a negative situation in a good way. Unfortunately I think hard times are not over and it will take so much time before harmony will be restored inside the team (if it will ever be restored).
LOTUS – Vote 8. After scoring a win in the first GP, the team scored a podium finish again thanks to Raikkonen. Vote 9 to the Finnish driver. He was stunning. Despite car issues caused by a car collision with Perez, the Finnish man was able to hold his ground against Fernando. He will be a troublesome driver for his rivals and an aspirant to the world title. Grosjean scored two points, vote 6 to the Frenchman who helped the team to preserve the third position in the overall standing. He although suffer a very fast Kimi.
TORO ROSSO – Vote 8: the Italian team is the Chinese weekend’s big surprise. Q3 in qualifying, Ricciardo finished 7th and the team classified 7th in the overall standing. Let’s go on like this. The team can also strive for the 7th place in the constructors’ championship which I think is the aim of the Team from Faenza.
FORCE INDIA – Vote 7. The Team has the same points of McLaren, but the budget available to the Indian team is lower than the one made available to the English Team…The season started in a good way. This bodes well for the future. Sutil was unlucky throughout the weekend, but Di Resta didn’t give up and managed to take home some points. Vote 6.5 to the Scotsman who was a bit too much aggressive towards his team mate.
SAUBER – Vote 6. The team managed to take home one point, but the team still has to work hard if they want to revert to the level of the past season. Hulkenberg is alone, as Gutierrez still has to work hard if he wants to help the team. Vote 4 to him.
WILLIAMS – Vote 5: the team is going lower and lower. It doesn’t work like this. Expectations were different at the beginning of the year. Drivers and team are not able to move up the standing. Three races, no points scored; they still have to work hard to improve performance and reliability. Vote 6 to drivers as a consolation mark.
As far as MARUSSIA and CATERHAM are concerned, they progressed, but they still have so much work to do. Jules Bianchi tries to perform miracles with the car. He‘s gaining experience for the future.
