Welcome to Speed. There is no way around it, Lewis Hamilton is the Emperor of Shanghai. The Englishman holds the record for wins in the Chinese Grand
ADVERTISEMENTWelcome to Speed. There is no way around it, Lewis Hamilton is the Emperor of Shanghai. The Englishman holds the record for wins in the Chinese Grand Prix and once again had a perfect weekend there, getting pole position, fastest lap and the most important, another win.
It was a victory built on control and tactics rather than sheer speed to out pace his rivals. The British world champion drove with pace in hand putting the foot down as you might say only when needed around his pit stops.
It was an emphatic display from the 30-year-old to clinch the 35th win of his career. He also had a full house, pole position, fastest lap and of course the race win.
“It was great to have a smooth weekend and really dialing in the car,” he said on the podium. “It was just controlling the gap and using the tyres when I needed to.”
Crucial too for the Mercedes driver was the fact he managed to keep the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen at bay with Vettel in third and his team mate fourth.
Despite Hamilton’s impressive win, not everybody was happy at Mercedes. Nico Rosberg, for instance, complained that the Englishman was too slow. The relationship between the two team mates has seen better days.
Another spat between the two with claims by Nico Rosberg that the world champion was driving unnecessarily slowly so backing him into the chasing Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
That could have made him vulnerable to being passed by Vetel. “Frustrating” said Rosberg and added it put him under unnecessary pressure.
Lewis Hamilton has rejected the claims he did it on purpose. “We came here to get a one-two and we did. There shouldn’t be too much aggro really,” was how the world champion responded
It’s reported the two are set to discuss it – wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall.
Lewis Hamilton has four wins to his name in Shanghai. Michael Schumacher only has one but it turned out to be a special one. It was his last win in F1, on 1st october 2006.
Before the race Schumacher admitted his previous two outings in China had not been good
Practice too had not worked out well and started from sixth on the grid. Renault were looking dominant, one and two on the grid and Fernando Alonso led Schumacher by two points in the drivers championship.
But as the track dried after overnight rain the German showed his mastery working his way through the field to take the chequered flag.
It was his 91st win in a long and distinguished career in the sport. It was also his last podium finish until the 2012 European Grand Prix during his comeback to the sport.
After only finishing fifth in the first Grand Prix of the season in Qatar, Marc Márquez arrived in the United States willing to make up for lost ground. The two-time Moto GP World Champion started the race from pole position after smashing the lap record of the Grand Prix of Americas circuit during qualifying.
That is it for Speed. We leave you with images from the 4 hours of Silverstone, the first race of the season in the European Le Mans Series. Victory went to Greaves Motorsport, with Gary Hirsch, John Lancaster and Björn Wirdheim behind the wheel.