2010 CHINESE GP

Official Press Releases, Communications and Classification of the 2010 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX

 

Chinese GP – Race – April 18, 2010

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Points
1	1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	25
2	2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	18
3	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP Petronas	15
4	8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	12
5	11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team	10
6	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	8
7	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team	6
8	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	4
9	7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	2
10	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP Petronas	1
11	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	0
12	9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams	0
13	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	0
14	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Racing	0
15	10	Nico Hulkenberg	AT&T Williams	0
16	21	Bruno Senna	HRT F1 Team	0
17	20	Karun Chandhok	HRT F1 Team	0
18	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Racing	0
19	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	0
20	22	Pedro De la Rosa	BMW Sauber F1 Team	0
21	16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	0
22	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team	0
23	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team	0
24	24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	0

 

Chinese GP – Race – April 18, 2010

 

BMW Sauber F1

In China both the BMW Sauber F1 Team’s cars retired. Kamui Kobayashi was out of the race on lap one when he was an innocent victim of someone else’s accident. Pedro de la Rosa had managed to climb up to fourth in difficult track conditions when he stopped with a technical failure on lap eight. The cause of this failure still needs to be analysed.

Weather: Mostly light rain, 19-21°C air, 18-22°C track

Pedro de la Rosa: DNF on lap 8 (position 4)
C29.04 / Ferrari 056
“Of course I am deeply disappointed. We made all the right tyre decisions. I started on slicks and managed to stay out in the drizzle. I enjoyed overtaking and then I was in fourth. When you are in a situation like this you really have to finish. We missed a great chance today. I don’t know what exactly happened. I felt there was something wrong with the engine and then stopped in turn nine.”

Kamui Kobayashi: DNF on lap 1
C29.01 / Ferrari 056
“It is such a shame. The track conditions were difficult today and this always opens up chances, even if you are not high up on the grid. I’m sure we would have scored points today. My start was good, but after a few corners Vitantonio Liuzzi’s car just flew into mine and I was out.”

James Key, Technical Director:
“Obviously it was a very exciting race today for watching, but frustrating for us. Kamui was unfortunately the victim of an accident that was happening behind him, and was caught out by a car coming across the track. It was not his fault. Pedro was driving an excellent race, he made a great call on the tyres and the team went with that decision. He stayed on the dry option tyres while others changed to wets, which was a very good call by the driver and the team. He ended up fourth – looked fairly strong, was battling with Vitaly Petrov and the lap times were good. Sadly there was a problem with the car. It is engine related but we can’t say whether it’s a specific engine problem or a problem related to the chassis. We still need to analyse that when the car comes back. It was a points’ opportunity today, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.”

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Force India F1

2010 Chinese Grand Prix Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03): 11th

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01): DNF (Accident – lap 1)

18 April 2010 – A thrilling Chinese Grand Prix for the Force India F1 Team’s Adrian Sutil today, with the German racing strongly in the top ten as the changeable rainy conditions created a lottery for tyres and position. Unfortunately, Adrian just missed a points’ scoring position by seven tenths of a second and crossed the line in 11th place.

Tonio Liuzzi’s race ended extremely prematurely after he retired from the race on lap one in an incident in the fourth corner.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
It was a real strategy race this time. At times it was difficult to know which was the best tyre to be on, as it would rain and then dry and then rain again. We started on the dry tyre and then pitted for inters under the safety car on lap one. At this point it was the right decision as it was raining quite a bit and it was easy for me to overtake a lot of cars. Then it eased and we switched to the dries for a few laps but then there was more rain.On the second set of inters we put on on lap 19 I was able to fight with the top guys, including Lewis, Sebastian and Felipe for quite a few laps, but then the tyres grained up and I had to pit again. I lost a couple of positions in this final stop and that was what dropped me back to 13th. Although we could close to within a second of Michael I just ran out of laps to get past. But that’s how it is, sometimes you win in this type of race and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
Unfortunately I had a problem warming up the brakes on the formation lap due to the cold and the rain and then when I went into corner four on the first lap and braked, the rear completely locked and I lost control of the car and went off. It was a shame as we had had a really good start and gained three positions in just the first corner and it could have been a very interesting race, particularly with how the conditions panned out. But that’s how it is, it didn’t go our way this time, but we will keep pushing for the next races.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
It is disappointing to see our run of points end and not to have been able to make more of these conditions, but that’s sometimes what happens in this type of conditions: it can become a bit of a lottery. There are still some positives from the weekend – Adrian again proved his wet weather prowess and also that we are genuine top ten. We’ve got some work to do now that Renault has opened up a sizeable advantage but we have some developments in the pipeline and the season has a long way to run. We’ll regroup and come back strongly in Spain I’m sure.

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HRT F1

HRT F1 Team: Another double race finish

Shanghai Sunday, April 18, 2010

Weather:­ overcast and wet – air 21°C, track 20°C

Bruno Senna        F110-02  #21  16^th position

Karun Chandhok  F110-01 #20  17^th position

Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna both achieved race finishes for the HRT F1 Team in today’s Chinese Grand Prix with the Brazilian finishing in 16^th and the Indian in 17^th position.

It was a wet race where many drivers came unstuck and retired in the rain, but both HRT F1 drivers kept control to bring their cars home in competitive positions.

Dr. Colin Kolles, Team Principal, commented: “A good day for the team completing our second two-car finish in the rain in our fourth race. Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna drove their second wet race after Australia. Again we reached our goal with two cars finishing the race and we gathered quite a lot of data on this track that can be used for the European season. Congratulations to the team. Now in the three weeks to come, we must work on more developments for the team’s home Grand Prix in Barcelona.”

Karun Chandhok commented: “I am fantastically happy to have finished this race again today after our difficult debut in Bahrain and it was not easy today with the rain. Because of a necessary change of hydraulic components on the car, I had to start from the pit lane. This change was profitable as the car was fully operational until the end of the race. It was a bit difficult as we had less front grip and I was struggling with it. Because of the rain I went off a couple of times but I made it to the finish. For the team it is encouraging to finish with both cars again. A great thank to the team. To finish was very difficult today but I am happy I have done it.”

Bruno Senna commented: “I am very happy to finish the race again. We had no experience in really wet conditions like today and the car was a bit difficult to drive. The ceiling was low and it got a bit dark. Overall, my visor was a bit too dark for those conditions. I enjoyed racing on the wet track. I’m happy for the team who did a great job again to have another two cars finishing the race.”
Follow the team on www.hispaniaf1team.com.

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Lotus Racing F1

Shanghai, China 18th April 2010

Lotus Racing’s first four races came to an end in China with another solid performance as the head of the new teams and for the first time coming out in front of one of their established rivals. Heikki Kovalainen dealt with the tricky conditions superbly, making a bold call early on to stay out on dry tyres when most of the pack opted for wets, and finished the race in 14th place after a tight battle with Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams. Jarno Trulli’s race came to a premature end on lap 34 after his run of bad luck continued in Shanghai in a race dominated by the damp conditions.

Heikki Kovalainen (T127-01, car no. 19, fastest lap 1.47.141): “This was a great way to round off our first four races. I think we had the correct strategy today in what were pretty tricky conditions. The pace was good – we were again ahead of the other new teams, and this time had a good battle with Williams. The decision to stay out early on dry tyres was made by me and the team together – it wasn’t wet enough to come in and as soon as the race started I could see the rain had calmed down so we agreed it was the right call to stick with the plan. The other cars on wet tyres were obviously struggling so that worked out very well. It might not always work out like this for us, but today it showed we’re a good team who make the right decisions, so I’m really pleased, for everyone in Lotus Racing, and all our fans.

Jarno Trulli (T127-03, car no.19, fastest lap 1.49.675): “It was a tough day out there from the start, which is a shame because we’d had a trouble free weekend and I was able to push for quite a few laps. The conditions weren’t too bad and I was enjoying myself , but I had more hydraulics issues which brought me in on lap 18. The team did a good job to get me back out again but unfortunately the problems struck again and I had to retire. We’ve got a bit of time now before Spain to work on the new upgrades, so let’s see what happens when we reach Barcelona.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Whilst I’m obviously pleased I want to say first how disappointed I am for Jarno. He’s had a lot of bad luck so far – it seems all our bad luck has been on his car, so apologies to him, but it was a fantastic race from Heikki. We judged all the calls correctly and were on the right tyres all the way through, so congratulations to the whole team for that. I’m also very pleased to see our race pace was very good, especially at the end on the wet conditions. These first four races were always going to be tough, but we’ve achieved what we set out to and now we’re looking ahead to Barcelona and seeing how the updates we’ve been working on help us move forward.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I’m really happy today as we’ve accomplished what we said we’d do. We wanted to see at least one car cross the line for the first four races, and we’ve done that, but it’s kind of bitter sweet today. It’s obviously a great result for Heikki but a real shame for Jarno as he seems to take the brunt of the issues – it’s a bit odd as it does seem to be just his car. The conditions today made it very tense out there and it’s very satisfying, and shows how we’re progressing, that today we were racing Williams, who we beat on track.”

“Another great thing for me was to see how the Lotus Racing dream is spreading, in China, Asia and across the world. We saw a load of Lotus Racing flags in the stands, and this time next year let’s hope we see even more fans out there cheering for us – we’ll do our best to give them something to be very proud of!”

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Mercedes GP Petronas

An exciting Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit today saw Nico Rosberg drive an excellent race in the challenging and constantly changing weather conditions to achieve third place and his second consecutive podium finish.

Intermittent showers throughout the race put the emphasis on making the right strategic calls as Nico stayed on slick tyres for the first phase, leading the race from lap 3 for 16 laps, before switching to intermediates as the conditions steadily worsened.

Michael Schumacher had an eventful race, coming into the pits a total of four times on his way to a tenth placed finish for the final points scoring position, as he managed his worn intermediate tyres.

After four races as the Formula One calendar returns to Europe, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS are in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship with Nico in second position in the Drivers’ Championship.

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Race Result / Fastest Lap
Nico Rosberg 4 MGP W01 / 02 P2 1:43.245
Michael Schumacher 3 MGP W01 / 03 P10 1:44.298

Weather Intermittent showers
Temperatures Air: 18-21°C Track: 16-22°C

NICO ROSBERG
“It’s fantastic to be on the podium for the second race in succession. It was an eventful race and we made very good choices which put us in contention for the result today. Following advice from Jock and the team, I decided to stay out on slicks and give it a go when the first showers hit. I was out there just thinking please stop raining! But it was the right call and it was a nice feeling to be leading the race for a while. When it started raining again, I suffered quite badly from tyre degradation on the intermediates and Jenson was able to get past. We didn’t seem to quite have the pace on inters but third place is great and we’ve made a step in the right direction this weekend. There’s more to come from the team so it’s really good to be heading into the European season with some strong results and second place in the Drivers’ Championship.”

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
“Today was one of those races that you do not want to remember, just like the whole weekend really. It was not good for me and not good from me. You have to take it as another experience and accept it even if it is frustrating that I was not able to get my tyres together better. My strategy in that respect was not very impressive as in the last 10 laps my tyres were just gone and seemed to be more slicks than intermediates. I was one of those drivers who had gone onto the last set quite early and we should have done that differently and positioned the tyres better. In general I had some good and tight fights which was fun but with my last stop being probably too early, in the end I just couldn’t do anything and my fights were quite hopeless then. Congratulations to Nico who made it to the podium and at least one of us scored good points. I am looking forward to going home now but let’s see if we manage to!”

ROSS BRAWN
“We had a very good race with Nico today. He drove extremely well in difficult conditions and the team did everything right on the tyre stops, making good strategic decisions. We lost some of our advantage with the safety car which was a shame but overall an excellent day and a great drive from Nico. With Michael, we clearly had a more difficult time but at least we got a point out of it. We have some issues that we need to understand as the deterioration of his tyres and therefore his pace is a problem that we need to resolve before the next race. We haven’t quite got the car at the moment but when we do, we know that we can get the job done.”

NORBERT HAUG
“A great result for Nico and everybody at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS today. Well done to all of our team members on the second podium in a row with two third places for Nico and our team. Nico is now second in the points standings after four races and certainly one of the most remarkable drivers of this young season. Congratulations to our friends at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and to Jenson and Lewis for their one-two result. This was the 70th victory for a car with Mercedes power since Melbourne 1997 here in this important Chinese market for Mercedes-Benz. A special thank you from my side and on behalf of our Board to all of the hard-working guys at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth and Stuttgart. A great job from you all! It was not a good race weekend for Michael unfortunately. We will investigate what the problems were and I am convinced we will all see much stronger results from him rather sooner than later.”

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Red Bull F1

 

Car 5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Finish Position: 6th, Start Position: 1st

“It was a difficult race – on nearly every second lap there was a car to pass or I got passed. I lost quite a bit of time with the first pit-stop, but we fought our way back and ended the race in sixth. We started on pole, with a one/two actually, but we didn’t finish there. I think today it was very chaotic and to take sixth can be quite important. Obviously our main competitors finished ahead, so that’s not nice. We struggled quite a lot in some of the conditions with the car, it was okay when we were in clean air, our pace was decent, but it’s very on and off in these conditions. It’s a lot just to maintain your track position. I had battle with Lewis (Hamilton) in the pit lane. At the stop I was ahead; I don’t know why he pulled to the left and was keen to touch me. I hoped I didn’t get a puncture from that – I don’t really understand why he did that as I was a bit ahead of him and had the advantage anyway.”

Car 6 MARK WEBBER, Finish Position: 8th, Start Position: 2nd

“It was a difficult race for us and we got a bit blown away – we weren’t quick enough, simple as that. There were very changeable conditions during the race, I know it’s the same for everyone, but the cars are very sensitive when it’s not going one way or the other. So, an interesting grand prix. We know where we lose out in these difficult conditions and we will improve it. I went for another set of intermediates towards the end of the race to try and make up some places. I thought it might work, it did, but then we weren’t quick at the end.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal: “It was a very chaotic race today. Both drivers

elected to stop early on when the rain came. Unfortunately Mark hit the front jack and damaged his front wing, which ultimately cost both drivers a bit of time. Then, a few laps later as the circuit dried, they ended up coming back in for slicks. Seb got out ahead of Lewis and then they rapidly caught Sutil but, as Seb was passing Sutil, Hamilton got back past him. He lost quite a lot of time at that stage during the race. After the restart, Mark got pushed wide a lost quite a few positions. We took a gamble and opted to put him onto another set of intermediates early.

By doing that he was able to leapfrog the cars ahead of him. Unfortunately the tyres were very worn by the end of the race, but it elevated him from twelfth at the time to eighth. Sixth and eighth isn’t the result that we were looking for from first and second, but it is such a lottery in chaotic conditions and they are still valuable points. It’s not often you get a race like that and when you’re first and second you’ve got everything to lose, rather than everything to gain.

Things went right for McLaren today, with Lewis on an identical strategy to our guys. So, well done to them and we’ll fight back at the next race.”

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “I hope people enjoyed the show. I’m sure it was a very good race to watch from the outside, but for us it was bad. We recovered a small amount of points, but it was much less than we expected to get here. The good thing is that the engine behaved correctly in these difficult situations, which is always good. We now just have to focus on the next race; we have three weeks to find more pace and be stronger.”

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Renault F1 Team

2010 Chinese Grand Prix, Sunday

Robert Kubica, P5
Fastest lap: 1:43.630
Started race on option tyres
Pit stop 1: Lap 20, time in pits: 23.0s, (intermediates)
Pit stop 2: Lap 37, time in pits: 24.0s (intermediates)

Robert: “It was an exciting race today and it’s good to have scored some more points. At the start of the race I made a bad start and lost a lot of positions, but we made the right decision to stay out on slicks when it started to rain and I was able to move up through the field into third place. However, the critical moment of my race was when the safety car came out, which ended my hopes of a podium because I lost the big lead I had to the cars behind me. So although I’m happy to finish fifth, I still feel a bit frustrated to have missed a podium.”

Vitaly Petrov, P7
Fastest lap: 1.43.801
Started race on option tyres
Pit stop 1: Lap 20, time in pits: 24.2s (intermediates)
Pit stop 2: Lap 38, time in pits: 27.3s (intermediates)

Vitaly: “I’m happy to finish my first race in Formula 1 and to score my first points. It was a difficult race and it wasn’t easy to make the right decisions today. In the beginning, when it started to rain, some drivers came in for intermediates, but we decided to stay out on slicks, which was the right decision. Then I kept talking on the radio with the team to decide when we would change to intermediates, and again we got the timing right. When I changed to my second set of intermediates, I knew it would be important to look after the tyres, but we didn’t know if it would continue raining or if the track would dry out. But I kept pushing, the engineers told me that I had good pace, and in the final laps I had some good overtaking moves, especially with Schumacher and Webber, to gain some more places.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
“To get two cars in the points today is a great result for the team and I’m very pleased with our performance. To see Vitaly score his first points is fantastic, especially in such spectacular style with a fighting drive where he showed great pace. It’s good for him to have a race distance under his belt and I’m sure he will take a lot of confidence from this excellent result. Robert, too, had another brilliant race, and didn’t make a single mistake all weekend. I also want to pay tribute to the team who have worked so hard recently, both here at the track and back at the factory in Enstone. They have not made any mistakes all season and have made great calls with the strategy: today’s result is a great reward for all their efforts.”

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
“What an exciting race and another strong performance from the entire team. Robert drove an excellent race and we can be happy to have picked up some more good points with a strong fifth place finish. It’s great to see Vitaly score points today and deliver such a mature drive. In the closing stages he did an excellent job to look after his intermediate tyres and it was very rewarding to see him overtaking much more experienced drivers. However, we’re a little disappointed because we were in third and fourth places before the second safety car period. Without that, we could probably have finished on the podium.”

Rémi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations
“Two cars in the points today and a superb performance from both drivers, especially Vitaly who showed good, consistent pace in very difficult conditions. He also overtook lots of drivers today, including a certain former world champion. Robert drove another faultless race and has scored some more important points. As a team there were no problems during the race, which went very smoothly, and we can be pleased to have maximised our potential to come away with fifth and seventh places.”

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Scuderia Toro Rosso

Jaime Alguersuari (STR5-03) Pos. 13^th
“I tried to get points today, but in the end it wasn’t possible as I made a mistake lapping a Hispania, who was slower than me and was shown the blue flag, but he moved from side to side. I tried to get past on the right, but he came back on me and touched my wing, which is how I lost it. We tried to switch to Intermediates before everyone, but in the end I had to pit for an additional set. I did what I could in what was a crazy race. On the slick tyres, we were really fast and I got past Sutil and there were some good passing moves, but I’m disappointed with the result. Now we go to my home race in Barcelona where I hope to challenge for points again.”

Sebastien Buemi (STR5-01) Retired
“Not running on Friday was my first problem, because that means you don’t qualify so well and once you have to start the race from the middle of the pack, the risk of this type of accident is always greater. I don’t want to blame anyone for the crash, but Liuzzi lost his car and crashed into me. It has been a very difficult weekend and now we need to work and see what we can do in Barcelona. I also need a bit more luck.”

Franz Tost: “Sebastien made a good start, but unfortunately, he was hit by Liuzzi, who spun under braking. This was the second time this season that Sebastien has been involved in an accident not of his own making. Overall, he performed well this weekend up to that point, recovering from his lack of running on Friday. I’m sure a good result will come his way soon. Jaime drove another good race, even if the changing weather conditions were not so easy for him to deal with. He had to make two extra stops, once after the first lap when he thought he had damaged his front wing, after touching Kobayashi. But when he came in, we did not see any damage, so did not change it. The second stop came when he lost the front wing after a coming together with a backmarker and, but for these two extra stops, I’m convinced he could have finished in the points once again. Our car performance was good here and the team worked well in this afternoon’s complicated conditions, so we are looking forward to Spain.”

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AT&T Williams F1

A rain-affected Chinese Grand Prix delivered an unsatisfactory result for the AT&T Williams team at the Shanghai International Circuit this afternoon. Light drizzle at the start of the race quickly turned into continuous rain, which ultimately compromised the team’s strategy and led to a series of pitstops for both drivers to counter the conditions. At the conclusion of the 56 lap race, neither driver had made it into the points, with Rubens Barrichello finishing in 12th and Nico Hulkenberg in P15.

Rubens Barrichello:
The race didn’t go as planned. I was called into the pits for the intermediate tyres early on, it was a hard call and the race developed from there. I think we made good calls after that but by that time it was too late to recover.

Nico Hulkenberg:
It was a tough race and obviously not very satisfying for the team. Looking at the positives, it was good experience for me to complete the full race distance and experience all of the different conditions that we faced today. In particular, it was helpful to see how the car and tyres handled and we now have some good data for any races which might be similar in the future. Results-wise, though, this is nowhere near close enough to where we want to be.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was disappointing not to score points today with either car. Some of the calls on our pitstops were wrong, some were right, but overall we weren’t fast enough and didn’t make the right decisions. Rubens made a good start so we have improved in that area since Malaysia. We’re now looking ahead to Barcelona to take a step forward with our performance.

Race Result

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Fastest Lap	Grid Position
1	J Button	McLaren	1:46:42.886	1:42.886 (4th)	5
2	L Hamilton	McLaren	1+1.530	1:42.061 (1st)	6
3	N Rosberg	Mercedes	+9.484	1:43.245 (5th)	4
12	R Barrichello	AT&T Williams	+63.665	1:45.559 (14th)	11
15	N Hulkenberg	AT&T Williams	+ 1 lap	1:44.549 (12th)	16

 

Track Conditions

Weather	Rain
Track Temp	16 – 22C
Air Temp	18 – 21C

 

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Bridgestone Motorsport

Bridgestone Motorsport’s Chinese Grand Prix Report

Reigning Formula One world champion Jenson Button (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) used Bridgestone’s soft compound and intermediate tyres to win a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix in mixed weather conditions at Shanghai International Circuit.

Button led his team-mate Lewis Hamilton across the line by 1.5 seconds. He started on the soft dry compound, before using two sets of intermediates to take him to the chequered flag. Hamilton made four stops, using a soft-intermediate-hard-intermediate-intermediate tyre strategy. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team driver Nico Rosberg finished third.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, says

“Congratulations to Jenson Button for his second win this season and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for their 1-2. This race was very well supported by Bridgestone China who had many guests present. We were all rewarded with a fantastic battle on track which was enjoyed by all of our guests. Today highlighted the qualities of our dry and intermediate tyres. We are pleased to support such an exciting race.”

Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says

“Today was a fascinating and thrilling race. Fascinating, because conditions were right on the cross- over between the dry and intermediate tyre for so many laps, and thrilling for the action this caused on track. Jenson Button drove very intelligently to take his second win of the season by remaining on the soft tyre when many changed to intermediates, and making good use of his track position from there. There were many different approaches today. The soft compound worked very well in the damp conditions and we are happy with the performance of the intermediate. Both tyres required careful management and Formula One was gifted with a superb spectacle in Shanghai. Now the next challenge for many of our staff is finding a way back to Europe.”

Chinese GP – Qualifying – April 17, 2010

Pos	No	Driver	Team
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing
2	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing
3	8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
4	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP Petronas
5	1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
6	2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
7	7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
8	11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team
9	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP Petronas
10	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team
11	9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams
12	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso
13	16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso
14	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team
15	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team
16	10	Nico Hulkenberg	AT&T Williams
17	22	Pedro De la Rosa	BMW Sauber F1 Team
18	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team
19	24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing
20	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Racing
21	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Racing
22	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing
23	21	Bruno Senna	HRT F1 Team
24	20	Karun Chandhok	HRT F1 Team

 

Chinese GP – Qualifying Session – April 17, 2010

 

BMW Sauber F1

BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa qualified 15th and 17th respectively for the Chinese Grand Prix where there is a chance of a wet race tomorrow.

Weather: Sunny and dry , 17-20°C air, 28-31°C track

Kamui Kobayashi:
C29.01 / Ferrari 056
Qualifying: 15th / 1.36.422 min (in Q2) / 3rd Practice: 10th / 1:36.634 min (16 laps) “Personally I’m happy with the lap I put in. I had no traffic, did the best I could and think I achieved what was possible. We do have areas where we need to improve and we will improve. Overall we don’t have enough grip yet, braking stability is not perfect and my car tends to understeer. I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow’s race and I’m really hungry for a grand prix finish again. The weather prediction says there is a good chance of rain. This would make for an exciting race. I generally like driving in the wet although visibility is always a problem.”

Pedro de la Rosa:
C29.04 / Ferrari 056
Qualifying: 17th / 1.37.020 min (in Q2) / 3rd Practice: 17th / 1:37.664 min (19 laps)
“My first attempt on the soft tyres in Q2 wasn’t good from my side, but the last lap was very good until I made a mistake before turn 14. I locked the rear and it cost me almost half a second. Finishing two places higher up would have been realistic, but not a lot more. The car felt well balanced, so there is nothing to complain about. We did not use our new rear wing system in qualifying because we want to continue testing it.”

James Key, Technical Director:
“It was a tough and very close qualifying. Both drivers pushed as hard as they could. We knew we had to get a good lap out of the new tyres. It was also essential to get it all together in the traffic, which we managed to do. At the end there were probably a few more tenths possible. Unfortunately Pedro was putting in a very good lap and just missed out in the hairpin with a little bit of wheel locking, and Kamui maybe had a couple of tenths more to exploit as well. There was potential there to move up a few places, but we are still not in a position to get to Q3. It’s very close, and let’s see what the weather brings tomorrow. We are mid-grid and anything can happen.”

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Force India F1

2010 Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying and Final Free Practice Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
FP3: 14th 1:37.240 (18 laps)
Q1: 12th 1:36.671 (10 laps)
Q2: 9th 1:35.665 (7 laps)
Q3: 10th 1:35.963 (6 laps)

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
FP3: 12th 1:37.031 (16 laps)
Q1: 18th 1:37.161 (9 laps)

17 April 2010 – The Force India F1 Team experienced a mixed qualifying session ahead of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. Adrian Sutil will start the race from 10th position, however there was disappointment for Tonio Liuzzi as he will start from 18th position after getting caught in traffic.

Adrian progressed through to the second segment of qualifying with the 12th quickest lap and then, on his very final lap of Q2, posted the ninth fastest time to enter Q3 for the fourth time this season. In Q3 Adrian used the softer tyre compound to post a time that was only just bettered by the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher in the dying seconds of the session.

 

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Another Q3 qualifying performance for us, I think we can be very pleased with that. Again, it’s P10 – I know this position very well from the last races in Australia and Bahrain! The car is behaving very well and we can be happy about the balance we have. It’s a bit difficult in the mid sector though as the grip is missing a little bit so we have a touch of oversteer and it’s hard to drive on the limit. However from the team’s point of view we can look forward to the race tomorrow: I think our long runs were quite good on Friday.

 

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
We were fast in the morning and the car was reacting well to changes and seemed to have a good pace. Again, though, for the third time in four races I got caught in traffic, again with a Williams and an HRT. But that’s how it is, it happens, we have to look at why and then work on this. Tomorrow I think we are in great shape for the race as the speed has been there when we were on the longer runs but when you start in 18th place it makes life much more difficult. We are still optimistic though and we keep pushing whatever happens.

 

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
We’re very pleased to have another top ten qualifying with Adrian here, with some very good laps. It was still tricky with quite low grip and ultimately we felt that another position or two could have been within reach in Q3. Tonio was very unfortunate with traffic today in Qualifying, so couldn’t actually put together a representative lap. It does seem to be a lottery sometimes early in the session given the pace difference between some of the cars. With the possibility of another change in the weather conditions tomorrow, we’re confident of a very exciting race and we’ll be looking to add to our points total.

—————–

HRT F1

Hispania Racing: “We do not know how competitive we can be in a wet race.”

 

 

Third Free Practice Session  

Karun Chandhok  F110-01 #20 – 1.41.141 (18 laps)

Bruno Senna       F110-02 #21 – 1.40.316 (19 laps)

Qualifying 

Bruno Senna        1.40.469 (10 laps)

Karun Chandhok   1.40.578 (7 laps)  

Saturday, April 17, 2010- HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing today competed in the fourth qualifying session of its short F1 history. The team’s two drivers will start from the back of the grid.

In the third free practice this morning, Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna  were 2º-4th in the speed trap, and posted laps in 1.41.141 for Karun Chandhok respectively and 1.40.316 for Bruno Senna, who made a good step forward.

Karun Chandhok will have a five place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race resulting of changed parts on the gearbox of his car.

Dr Colin Kolles commented: “The reliability of the HRT car will be a deciding factor in tomorrow’s battle and race.  Let’s see what the weather brings during the race tomorrow. All other teams had a winter with a lot of wet sessions. We do not know how competitive we can be in a wet race.”

Bruno Senna commented: “In the morning we found a good performance today and the car felt good. It was much more consistent and I felt more confidence.  We have a good improvement from yesterday and we could make a good step forward. I could do some long runs in preparation for the race tomorrow. I went a bit wide on my quick lap in qualifying and lost some time. It is okay, maybe a bit frustrating because I know I could have done much better than this. I went slower than in my fastest lap in free practice 3 because there were some changes to the throttle response which made it difficult to drive. We have to test as we go along. With more knowledge gained, I am confident of a strong run in the race tomorrow.“

Karun Chandhok commented: “We had some issues this morning which was a bit unfortunate. I left early in qualifying which was not bad for us as we could get closer to the other teams which is very encouraging for us. It will be a difficult race on a tricky circuit. The weather may be wet too and that will be our first race in rain. Whatever the conditions, we will make the best out of it.”

Shiv Kapur (India), the leading and most successful Golfer in India will visit the HRT F1 Team F1 Team, Hispania Racing garage at 13pm for a photoshoot.  
Follow the team on www.hispaniaf1team.com.

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Lotus Racing F1

Shanghai, China 17th April 2010

Lotus Racing Team Principal Tony Fernandes was one of the last people to make it out of Europe before most of the airspace was shut down, leaving Paris after being given the prestigious Officier of the Legion d’Honneur award in a ceremony on Wednesday, and arrived in China to see Jarno Trulli qualify 20th on 1.39.399 and Heikki Kovalainen 21st on 1.39.520 after a busy session at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Both Lotus Racing drivers were out early in the session and despite an early spin for Heikki, settled down well, staying best of the new teams until the dying seconds of the session. After a strong showing in all three practice sessions the team looks in good shape for tomorrow’s race and will be looking to put on a good show for the growing numbers of their local Chinese fans, and the fast expanding Lotus Racing army across Asia and around the world.

Jarno Trulli (T127-03): “It was a shame because I think I could have gone quicker, but the strong wind played a part and it wasn’t easy out there. It was a very gusty and I struggled a bit with that but having had three good practice sessions I’m expecting a better race tomorrow.”

Heikki Kovalainen (T127-01): “It was ok today but I couldn’t quite get the perfect lap. The first two sectors were ok but just before the back straight I couldn’t quite get the exit right and I think I lost about three tenths there. The wind has played its part today – in some braking zones at the back of the track there’s a tailwind which unbalances the car, but the second to last corner is into a headwind and it felt really good under braking into there but it’s no big deal – it’s just one of those things! The race tomorrow will be better for sure. The car has felt good all weekend on heavy fuel so let’s see what happens then.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was the classic mixed bag today. We’ve been strong in practice and if it wasn’t for Heikki’s final sector we would have finished best of the new teams, but sometimes it doesn’t go according to plan. We were satisfied with the setups on both cars and while it’s been a bit disappointing I’m confident the work we put in throughout practice, on long runs with heavy fuel, will pay off for us tomorrow.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “First of all I’m just really pleased to be here in China! It was a very close shave – I think I was about an hour ahead of the airspace shut down and this is one of the races I’ve been really looking forward to coming to with the team. The spectacular growth of China over recent years is an inspiration to me and the whole Lotus Racing team – it shows how high we should be setting our sights and how we can reach the top by working hard to achieve your dreams. Seeing the fans’ banners for us in the stands makes me very proud, and shows that Lotus Racing has a real significance for Chinese motorsport fans, who know a good thing when they see it!”

—————-

Mercedes GP Petronas

Nico Rosberg will start from the second row of the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix after achieving fourth place in qualifying today at the Shanghai International Circuit. Team-mate Michael Schumacher starts from ninth position.

Nico and Michael progressed easily through Q1 in second and ninth positions respectively after completing two runs each on the prime tyre. Nico needed just one run on the options in Q2 to secure second place with Michael completing two runs, also on options, to go through in tenth position.

A competitive final qualifying session saw Nico complete a further two runs on the softer compound with his quickest lap achieving a strong fourth position, just 0.010s away from Alonso in third place. Michael struggled more with the balance of his car throughout the hour and qualified in ninth position.

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3
Nico Rosberg 4 MGP W01 / 02 P6 P2 1:35.952 P2 1:35.134 P4 1:34.923
Michael Schumacher 3 MGP W01 / 03 P7 P9 1:36.484 P10 1:35.715 P9 1:35.646

Weather Cool and sunny
Temperatures Air: 20°C Track: 24-31°C

NICO ROSBERG
“Fourth place is quite a nice surprise and I’m very pleased that we seem to have made a step forward this weekend. We really got the most out of the car in qualifying and I’ve worked well with my engineer Jock and the team to improve the car and get the set-up right this weekend. We didn’t think we would be this far up the grid today as we were struggling in practice this morning compared to the McLarens but to be level with the quickest Ferrari and a bit closer to the Red Bulls is very satisfying. It’s a good step for us and we’re well placed to have a good race tomorrow.”

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
“I am obviously disappointed about my qualifying. It didn’t really come together today. In certain areas I was just not quick enough and at some corner exits, I struggled a bit with rear end grip. I haven’t really found the balance of the car all weekend. It will be tough to be too optimistic for tomorrow from my grid position but then I had some good starts lately and there is always room for lots of things to happen in Formula One races. We can still achieve some good points and I am definitely going to go for it.”

ROSS BRAWN
“Well done to Nico and the team for an excellent performance in qualifying today. Fourth position is certainly ahead of where we expected to be this weekend and Nico drove very well in all three qualifying sessions to put himself in contention for a strong race tomorrow. Michael has not achieved such a good balance on the car this weekend and had a less satisfying day. However he will give it everything in the race tomorrow and should have the opportunity to show the progress made since the start of the season.”

NORBERT HAUG
“A great job from Nico and the team on a very demanding track. Nico’s lap puts him in fourth place and less than one and a half tenths from the front row and closer to the pole time than in the previous races. Hopefully we can repeat a similar performance tomorrow. We were the third fastest team today, ten thousandths of a second down to the second fastest, so a good job from everybody. Michael was not so happy with his car but he is in a good position to score the points tomorrow that he could not achieve in the last two races through no fault of his own. There seems to be a chance of rain during the race so it will be interesting to see how it develops.”

—————

Red Bull F1

 

Car 5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: POLE POSITION

“It was tough today. I was not happy yesterday and this morning, as Mark was quite a bit quicker than me. We made some changes to the car in Mark’s direction, but it was still extremely difficult. I was struggling in the first sector, but then I got a purple (fastest) time in sector one on my last lap, so I think we made a good step forward! I found a better line that worked, remembering things from last year. I lost my way a little bit in free practice this morning, but I had two very good runs in Q3. I think the first would have already been a good time, but I was too wide in the last corner. The second run was better – it was a fantastic lap. We got a fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull. We’re proving that we have a very good car, no matter

what the circuit. I’m very pleased with today. Thanks to the mechanics, as they had zero lunch due to all the changes that were required between free practice and qualifying.”

Car 6 MARK WEBBER, Position: 2nd

“In P3, things came a little bit my way on some of the settings and it was a good battle again between me and Seb. He did a good job in Q3. I’m on the front row – which is not a bad position to start from. It’s a big credit to the team that we’ve locked out the front row again, after doing the same in Melbourne – it’s very positive. Thanks to the mechanics too. There was stuff coming out last night for our cars that should never have got here with the volcano exploding in Europe. It wasn’t easy for the team to arrange, so it was a great team effort. We’re set for an interesting Grand prix tomorrow – I’m looking forward to it.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER: “I have no idea where Sebastian produced that last lap from, it was quite phenomenal. Mark was in great shape throughout qualifying today and got pipped right at the end there. So, both cars at the front of the grid again for another Red Bull one two. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”

(Renault) FABRICE LOM: “I’m very, very happy – it’s the fourth pole in a row for Red Bull Renault at a very difficult track for the engine due to the long straight. We are ecstatic to be on the front row again – but its Sunday that counts, so we have to concentrate on tomorrow’s race and try to score as we did in Malaysia.”

Practice 3 Mark Webber: P1, Best Time: 1:35.323, Laps: 16, Chassis 4

Sebastian Vettel: P3, Best Time: 1:35.691, Laps: 14, Chassis 3

—————

Renault F1 Team

FREE PRACTICE 3

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P8, 1:36.343, 16 laps

Vitaly Petrov, R30-02, P15, 1:37.339, 13 laps

QUALIFYING

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P8, 1:35.364

Robert: It was good qualifying session for me – probably my best performance this year from a driving point of view, and I was particularly pleased with my laps in Q3. If you had said to me yesterday I would start the race from eighth, I would have been happy, so it’s a good result and puts us in a good position to score points in the race.

Vitaly Petrov, R30-02, P14, 1:36.311

Vitaly: I’m pleased with my performance, which is my best result from a dry qualifying session, even if my ultimate objective has to be to make it through to Q3 because Robert has shown this is what the car can do. Overall, things are going in the right direction for me: I’m improving my driving and getting more comfortable with the car all the time. I also need to say a big ‘thank you’ to my mechanics, who did a fantastic job to repair my car in time for qualifying after my accident in free practice.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
We were very pleased with the performance of the car, which shows the progress we continue to make as a team. Robert’s eighth place is a good result and we are now between the two Mercedes in qualifying, and we can expect even better race pace. As for Vitaly, he did a good job to bounce back from his accident in free practice this morning, which is all part of the learning curve for a driver in only his fourth Grand Prix. He is pushing himself hard, as well as the car, and his performances are improving every weekend. He did well to qualify 14th, which was the strongest performance of the rookies.”

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
It was a good session from both drivers with Robert solidly into Q3 and Vitaly doing well to qualify 14th. It was satisfying to get ahead of one of the Merecedes with Robert, and eighth is a good position from which to start the race. After Vitaly’s crash this morning, the mechanics did a fantastic job to repair the car so that Vitaly could take part in qualifying. Overall, it was a good effort from the two drivers and we know that our car works better on high fuel, so we’re well placed to aim for points with both Robert and Vitaly tomorrow. The weather forecast suggests we may get some rain for the race, but we’re happy whether it’s wet or dry.

—————

Scuderia Toro Rosso

Giorgio Ascanelli: “I don’t like having all our eggs in one basket, so we split them, with one car anticipating rain tomorrow and one with a downforce level more suited for the dry. Guess which one was fastest today. Tomorrow we will see what happens! The team worked efficiently, making no mistakes. Both drivers did a good job and in Buemi’s case, we could not have expected more from him, after he got no running yesterday. I’m glad we sorted out the problem on his car quickly, so I’d say that, overall, things are looking up!”

Jaime Alguersuari: “We are getting closer to Q3 and I think we did a good job so far this weekend, especially as it’s my first time at this track. I expect we can have a good race tomorrow, as the car works well over a distance, running consistently and we seem to have got it to work better than in Malaysia. We will have to wait and see what the weather brings, but I think I have a realistic chance of scoring points tomorrow, whether it is wet or dry, so I would prefer it if it does not rain.”

Sebastien Buemi:“I had no problem with getting back in the car after what happened yesterday, although of course the lack of track time affected me. In any case the team did a good job to rebuild the car so that I could run trouble free today. To be honest, I was expecting to get a better grid position, but it’s understandable when you don’t drive on Friday. As for the race, we have gone for a compromise setting that should also work if the predicted rain arrives tomorrow. P13 is not too far away from the points, so let’s wait and see what we can do.”

Jaime Alguersuari(STR5-03)	FP3:	Best lap 1.36.879, pos. 11th, 17 laps
	Qualifying:	Best lap 1.36.047, pos. 12th
Sebastien Buemi(STR5-01)	FP3:	Best lap 1.37.192, pos. 13th, 18 laps
	Qualifying:	Best lap 1.36.149, pos. 13th

 

—————-

AT&T Williams F1

Both Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg were unable to achieve the necessary pace in this afternoon’s qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix to progress any further than Q2. Rubens only just missed out on a place in the top ten and will start tomorrow’s race in 11th, while Nico will line up on the eighth row of the grid in P16.

Rubens Barrichello:
Qualifying went ok for us; it was just a shame that we were pipped in the last minute of Q2. Everything is so close at the moment though and, if you think about it, that was our best qualifying for getting closer to the top. It was a great lap and I’m happy with what I did out there this afternoon.

Nico Hulkenberg:
We had a hard time in the practice sessions and P16 is obviously not what I was hoping for. My last lap wasn’t perfect because I made a mistake in the last corner which cost me time. I think it will probably be wet for the race tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
Rubens did well in qualifying and unfortunately just missed out on a slot in the top ten. We had to fit a new engine on his car after this morning’s practice so it was a good effort by the mechanics to get him out in time for qualifying. Nico’s qualifying wasn’t as good as he would have hoped for and he’ll be analysing that tonight with his engineers. We tested a stalling rear wing on Rubens’ car during the morning practice session, from which we collected some useful data, but it’s early R&D at this stage so we have taken the decision not to race it this weekend.

 

Qualifying Result

Position	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	S Vettel	Red Bull Racing	–	–	1:34.558
2	M Webber	Red Bull Racing	–	–	1:34.806
3	F Alonso	Ferrari	–	–	1:34.913
11	R Barrichello	AT&T Williams	1:36.664 (11th)	1:35.748	–
16	N Hulkenberg	AT&T Williams	1:37.049 (16th)	1:36.647	–

 

Track Conditions

Weather	Mild
Track Temp	24 – 31C
Air Temp	20 – 20C

 

—————-

Bridgestone Motorsport

Bridgestone Motorsport’s Saturday Update

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) took Bridgestone’s soft compound tyre to pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix after a scintillating 1m 34.558secs lap of the Shanghai International Circuit.

Vettel will be joined on the front row tomorrow by team-mate Mark Webber, who was fastest in the morning practice session. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver Fernando Alonso and Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team driver Nico Rosberg will start from the second row.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running?

“Qualifying was very interesting and congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for a very intelligent pole position where he managed our soft compound very well. The key to a fast qualifying lap here today was to conserve the soft compound tyres through the first sector to be able to push harder in sector two and three. Pushing too hard in sector one meant that there was not the same amount of rear stability from the tyres in the second two sectors.”

What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow’s race?

“Assuming it is dry, all of the top ten competitors will start on the soft compound. Only considering the tyre performance we would expect people to make their first stops from around lap 20. Through tyre management drivers should be able to make their tyres last longer than this, and it will be good to see who opts for which approach. Rubens Barrichello is the first driver in the field who can choose his starting tyre, so we will watch his decision keenly. Of course, there are many predictions for wet weather tomorrow, but as we saw in Malaysia, weather predictions cannot always be believed.”

 

Courtesy: HRT F1, Lotus Racing, AT&T Williams F1, Renault F1, Red Bull F1, Mercedes GP Petronas, BMW Sauber F1 Team, Force India F1, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Bridgestone Motorsport © RIF