Chinese Grand Prix Thoughts

Yesterdays Chinese Grand Prix gave us many interesting topics to talk about so we are going to take a look at some of these.

Mercedes Team Battle: After the end of last season both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg claimed that their rivalry was over and that they would get along better this year. After the race in the press conference the two showed that this would not be the case as Rosberg accused Hamilton of ruining his race. Rosberg claimed that Hamilton went to slow which almost caused him to lose his 2nd place to Vettel in the Ferrari. Hamilton responded by saying that he was looking after himself and that it is not his job to look after Rosberg as well. I think this is an interesting point and this is something we will definately be following the next couple of weeks. During the race the two drivers seemed to be fairly evenly matched with Hamilton having a slight edge. Hamilton was able to pull out a few fast laps before his last pit stop which clinched the race for him. If Rosberg felt that he had a lot more speed than Hamilton then I think he could have taken a risk and put more pressure on Hamilton to try to pass him in the first half of the race. It is probable that Rosberg would have worn his tires more if he did this but if he was able to come out in front it would have put him in control of the pace instead of Hamilton. In the end I think this has been the difference between the two Mercedes driver the last two years. Even though Rosberg can be just as quick as Hamilton at times during the race he has never been able to pass Hamilton on track the way Hamilton was able to complete passes on Rosberg last year. This is why Hamilton is the defending World Champion and why Rosberg is seemingly slipping to a number two driver.

Rosberg's Confidence: The first point brings us to another point on how Rosberg seems to not be as confident as he was last year. Rosberg seemed to feel last year that he was capable of winning the title but early this year he appears to have doubts in his abilities at times. Rosberg was helped last year by Hamilton retiring from the first race which gave him a 25 point head start for the championship and kept him in the lead for longer but he does not have that this year. If Hamilton wins the next two races as he did last year it will put Rosberg in a very difficult situation and the team might have to focus on Hamilton because Vettel is closer to Mercedes than anyone was last year. I think Rosberg desperately needed to beat Hamilton on track for the race in order to get his confidence back and let the team know that he will again be fighting for the title. It would have been even better for Rosberg if he could have passed Hamilton on track which is something that he could not do last year. Rosberg will have to resolve his confidence issue quickly though as the Bahrain Grand Prix is less than a week away and Hamilton will be looking to expand his lead over Rosberg again. If Rosberg does not resolves the issue Mercedes may start to look for a replacement.

Ferrari Team Battle: Like the two Mercedes drivers the two Ferrari drivers of Sebastian Vettel  and Kimi Raikkonen looked to be evenly matched throughout the race. Raikkonen started in 6th but got a good start and was able to climb up to 4th behind Vettel after a few corners. After this Raikkonen followed closely behind Vettel for the majority of the race but like Rosberg was not able to get by. The strategies changed slightly before the last pit stop as Raikkonen waited a few extra laps before making his final pit stop hoping to have fresher tires for the end of the race. He was closing in on Vettel but never got the opportunity to try to complete a pass as the race ended under the safety car. Although I don't think Raikkonen would have had enough time to actually complete the pass on Vettel and get on the podium it was nice to see him back running near the front of the field again. He has been pretty unlucky during the races this year and Raikkonen needs to get some good results if he wants Ferrari to retain him for another season. In order for him to be retained I think he needs to show the team that he can match Vettel's pace and on occasion defeat him. I think the pace is there but Raikkonen has not been able to put in good qualifying laps which have made him fight from behind which is part of the reason he has been unlucky. Hopefully for Raikkonen a solid weekend will help his confidence and he will be able to perform better in qualifying for Bahrain next week which will give him a better chance in the race.

Max Verstappen: Max Verstappen was definately a driver to look at during the race as he looked to be on his way to an 8th place finish and points for the second straight race until retiring with three laps to go. On a weekend in which Carlos Sainz did not look as strong as Verstappen it would have been good for him to gain a few extra points on Sainz. Verstappen also provided some entertainment throughout the races as he was able to pull off some brilliant overtaking moves. Many people doubted whether or not Verstappen was ready and too young to be in Formula 1 but I think he has been able to silence a lot of his critics despite retiring for the second time.

Overall for the race it was not full of passing but I thought it provided an interesting battle between Ferrari and Mercedes. Ferrari looked as if they were able to match the Mercedes pace for the first half of the race but once the teams put on the hard tires Mercedes pulled away. Mercedes definately seemed to be more aware of Ferrari and what strategy they were running than they were last weekend as I think Mercedes now views Ferrari as a serious threat. However I think Mercedes was also taking the first half the race cautious and was allowing Ferrari to hang around as I think they wanted Ferrari to control the strategy so they could react to what Ferrari was doing. I think that Mercedes did have more pace available to them if needed. Although I think Mercedes still has the advantage overall I do think that Ferrari is closer to them than anyone was last year. This should make for some interesting races the rest of the year as we will see if Ferrari can beat Mercedes enough to win the title.

What did you think of the Chinese Grand Prix? Did you find the race interesting? Also, what did you think of the battles between the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.