Sunday, 12 April 2015

Hamilton leads home Mercedes 1-2 in China as Raikkonen shows great pace for Ferrari

(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)

Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team’s reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took his second victory of the season as the Englishman led home a Silver Arrows 1-2 finish with Nico Rosberg once again forced to settle for the runner up spot at the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished the race in third place following a great battle with team mate Kimi Raikkonen who finished the race in fourth place. There was a safety car right at the end of the race after Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen who crashed on the main straight meaning that the race ended behind the safety car.

Williams Martini Racing had a great race as Felipe Massa finished the race in fifth place just ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas to give the Grove based outfit 18 points.

It was a fantastic race for the Lotus F1 Team as Romain Grosjean was able to show that the Enstone outfit have produced an extremely competitive package with the E23 Hybrid powered by the Mercedes power unit. The Frenchman ended the race in 7th place, scoring the team’s first points of the season.

The Sauber F1 Team’s Felipe Nasr had a great race as the Brazilian ended the event with yet another points scoring finish ending the race in eighth place. Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo had a great recovery drive to score points for the Milton Keynes based outfit a result which moves the former world champions back ahead of their sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso.

The Sauber F1 Team’s Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top ten with another great drive for the Swiss outfit.

The Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s Sergio ‘Checco’ Perez ended the race just outside the top ten in eleventh place just ahead of the McLaren Honda duo of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button who will be very satisfied with the progress the Woking based outfit have made. The team will also be happy as it was the first race of the season that they have managed to get both cars to the end of the race.

Carlos Sainz finished the race in 14th place for Scuderia Toro Rosso just ahead of the Manor F1 Team duo of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Max Verstappen was classified in 17th place despite retiring from the race with two laps to go.

It was a disappointing race for the Lotus F1 Team’s Pastor Maldonado as the Venezuelan was forced to retire from the race and had a coming together with McLaren Honda’s Jenson Button.

The Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s Nico Hulkenberg had a disappointing race as he was forced to retire with a gearbox failure.

Infiniti Red Bull Racing Daniil Kvyat was also forced to retire from the race with a suspected engine fire.

The result means that Lewis Hamilton has now extended his lead over Sebastian Vettel at the top of the championship.

Drivers Championship

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team 68 Points
2 Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Ferrari 55
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team 51
4 Felipe Massa Williams Martini Racing Team 30
5 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari 24
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams Martini Racing Team 18
7 Felipe Nasr Sauber F1 Team 14
8 Daniel Ricciardo Infiniti Red Bull Racing 11
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team 6
10 Nico Hulkenberg Sahara Force India Formula One Team 6
11 Max Verstappen Scuderia Toro Rosso 6
12 Carlos Sainz Scuderia Toro Rosso 6
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber F1 Team 5
14 Daniil Kvyat Infiniti Red Bull Racing 2
15 Sergio Perez Sahara Force India Formula One Team 1

Constructors Championship

1 Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team 119 Points
2 Scuderia Ferrari 79
3 Williams Martini Racing Team 48
4 Sauber F1 Team 19
5 Infiniti Red Bull Racing 13
6 Scuderia Toro Rosso 12
7 Sahara Force India Formula One Team 7

8 Lotus F1 Team 6

© Ben Johnston 2015

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