2019 Chinese GP Review – By Bob Constanduros
The 1000th round of the World Championship may not have been the most exciting race but it had its talking points and it once again emphasised the superiority of Mercedes and what Ferrari is up against. The Italian team revealed just what it has taken on with a small controversy – in their eyes – about team orders, while Mercedes twin-stacked their cars and carried it out beautifully to seal another one-two. If nothing else – and that’s not to diminish Alexander Albon’s performance – that’s the major conclusion from the Chinese Grand Prix.
A few night’s after the Chinese Grand Prix, I gave a lecture in my village on my life in motor sport and of course, Formula One in particular. In the Q&A session afterwards, I was amused to be asked ‘who will come second in this year’s championship?’
Ha ha, that wasn’t one I was expecting but I liked it all the same. And the answer was? Well, I think the questioner was pretty sure that Lewis Hamilton is going to win again, so it must be a question of his teammate and the Ferrari rivals. But which one? I don’t think I chose so I leave it up to you!
What I loved about China was the on-going improvements in Valtteri Bottas’s performances. His practice and qualifying was a continuation of what we saw in the first Grand Prix of the year, and it is a real determination to get on terms with his teammate. Admittedly Hamilton seemed a bit hobbled in the first two days of the event, allowing Bottas to assert his position, but Hamilton had his revenge in the race.
The start was definitive; Valtteri reckoned he had a little bit more wheelspin than his teammate and that made the big difference. And in case there was any threat from Ferrari, Mercedes brought in both their cars on the 36th lap for their second pit stop and pulled it off magnificently. That kept both cars ahead of Ferrari and resulted in their third one-two in three races.
Ferrari, meanwhile, had to implement team orders for the third time in three races, ordering Charles Leclerc to let the faster Sebastian Vettel through on lap eleven. Leclerc was definitely slower and struggling with his tyres and it was sensible to let the German through, but Ferrari’s tactics resulted in Leclerc also losing out to Max Verstappen which did seem unnecessary. He fought back from a 15s deficit after the last stops to finish less than four seconds behind the Red Bull driver but he should, at least, have been in fourth place.
Again in my Q&A piece I was asked where I stood on team orders. I have to say simply that I feel that they are a necessary evil. I don’t like them because I want drivers to race, but it is a team sport and if one driver is quicker than his teammate and has a greater potential to challenge the cars ahead, then why not swap? I like the idea that Force India had that if the challenge doesn’t come off then the positions are reversed again, but that doesn’t always happen. In Ferrari’s case, they have the added problem that one driver is vastly more experienced than the other – even if the other is sometimes quicker. It is always going to be tricky to justify the use of team orders, and controversial.
There were other performances of note in China. It was good to see Daniel Ricciardo assert himself in the Renault team and his replacement at Red Bull Racing, Pierre Gasly finally making his mark, plus that final lap point of course. Racing Point haven’t had a good start to their season so it was good to see Sergio Perez reversing that situation, while Lance Stroll still has to settle into his new team.
Alexander Albon came up with the best reply to the naysayers who doubted his talent after slamming into the pit lane wall in FP3. I have to admit that I expressed my concern regarding his confidence after the accident, but driver’s steward Derek Warwick said that drivers recover from that pretty quickly and so it turned out with a great drive from the pit lane to tenth place, plus a robust defence of position in the final laps.
Toro Rosso teammate Daniil Kvyat was branded the bad boy due to his collision with the McLarens on lap one and paid the price, but I felt some sympathy with him as he seemed to make contact first with another car on his right and, as Tigger might have claimed, was ‘bounced’ into the McLarens on his left. Apparently the stewards later agreed, but by then it was too late.
The locally massively popular Kimi Raikkonen claimed that after Ferrari, driving for local team Sauber is now more of a hobby and he seems more relaxed without the political cauldron that is the Italian team. The result in China was a points-paying ninth from 13th on the grid, in a race where there was just one mechanical retirement.
So there was plenty to talk about after the 1000th round of the World Championship, even if it wasn’t hugely exciting. There was no great celebration of that 1000th round, although Damon Hill was there to drive his father’s former Lotus 49 which, it amused me to note, was tended by just one mechanic, the vastly experienced Chris Dinnage of Classic Team Lotus, looking after his boss Clive Chapman’s car.
Elsewhere in the paddock there were exhibits of other Grand Prix cars, overalls, pictures and helmets. On the grid, the current crop of Grand Prix drivers were joined by Jean Todt and Chase Carey, plus all the ex-Grand Prix drivers they could muster, those who work as pundits in TV plus those attached to teams, for a rather messy family pic. I wonder if they might be considering doing something rather more major for the 1000th Grand Prix in the history of the World Championship – without the points-paying Indy 500s of the fifties – at Monza…
Ends
