2019 Chinese GP Review

It wasn't the most exciting Chinese Grand Prix, though it could have been worse, but perhaps it wasn't as dramatic as you'd hope for the occasion of the 1000th GP - that is if you include the early Indy 500 races and the 1952 and 1953 seasons ran under F2 rules. Anyway, considering the 900th race was the memorable 'duel in the desert', the 2014 Bahrain GP which saw Rosberg and Hamilton go wheel-to-wheel several times when battling for the lead. The 800th race was the 2008 Singapore GP aka Crashgate. And the 700th race was the 2003 Brazilian GP where Webber's huge crash in his Jaguar in the wet saw Alonso hit his debris and crash out the race and missing the podium proceedings, whilst Kimi's McLaren overtook Fisichella's Jordan for the lead. Kimi stood at the top of the podium, but with the race red flagged, the order from the previous full lap was used, and thus five days later, Fisichella's Jordan (which was awfully uncompetitive that year) was decleared the winner and they swapped trophies at the next race.

Anyway, the Chinese GP had a lot to live up to and it seemed that the warm up lap was the most exciting part of the race where both Max and Kubica spun. Except for Verstappen making one lunge at Vettel and the Ferrari strategy fail, the leading teams ran in order. The midfield was surprisingly quiet after Kvyat took out both McLarens and the Haas cars quietly slipping backwards. The top ten cars in qualifying were made up of rows in team order, so perhaps the signs were there early on that it wasn't going to be a great race. Now, Mercedes are looking to break a record from 1992, having secured their third one-two in as many races. Vettel on the other hand only scored his first podium finish of the year. Ferrari need to turn things around quickly.

Team-by-team (kind of)

At the moment, Mercedes are maximising their potential, whilst Ferrari are not extracting the best from their car and not getting the best out of their strategy. Ferrari do not appear to be able to unlock the full potential of their engine and that seems to be hurting them. The car seemed so stable in Barcelona yet that hasn't been the case at the races. So many times we've seen Kimi Raikkonen left out long on the first stint and, maybe my memory isn't as good as it once was, but I don't ever remember a time that worked out for him having fresher tires at the end of the race, so to leave Charles out was just a nail to the coffin in his race against Max and Seb.

Leclerc is doing little wrong at the moment, he's a match for Vettel and they've had to impose orders 3 times in 3 races to slow him down. So he just needs to continue doing what he's doing, take these knocks on the chin, keep improving, and force Ferrari from his sheer pace to at least have both drivers treated equally.

Alex Albon had a dramatic zero to hero weekend. A massive crash in FP3 lead to him missing qualifying, but when starting from the pitlane, he ended up in the points, making some good passes along the way. In contrast, Kvyat tangled with both McLarens and retired a quick car. Albon thoroughly deserves winning driver of the day for me.

If we forget the last few years at Ferrari, I'd be waxing lyrical about Kimi's season and suggesting him for a top seat. Last year he was close to Seb on more occasions than in previous years and he continues to show the way to his young Ferrari Academy team-mate.

A good weekend from Sergio Perez, extracting the most from the car when Stroll got lost somewhere near the back of the midfield. Good steady progress from the Racing Point team.

Haas seem to have a great car for qualifying, but they seem to slip back in the races. Renault on the other hand seem to be in the ascendancy, albeit with an unreliable car. It was good to see Ricciardo have a solid weekend.

Bottas had a great qualifying, but a pedestrian start meant that was meaningless as he struggled behind Lewis. It's encouraging that his pace was much better than at Bahrain, perhaps that plastic bag caught in his front wing in the desert did have a major effect, but you'd have to wonder if Lewis was behind, he'd have probably hustled Valterri from lights to flag.

Mercedes don't feel as dominant as the results show so far, even though this is the first time in this turbo-hybrid era that they have started out a season with three one-twos. But you can say they are used to making the most out of their package and getting the best result that is available to them. No mistakes, reliable cars, fixed setups for quali and race after troubled practice sessions, successful double-stacked pitstops and two drivers who are hungry for success. It's all falling their way at the moment, and with the huge gap they have to their contenders, it may prove to be a boring season nobody (except Mercedes) wanted.

Red Bull are close, but not close enough, only quick enough to nibble at the heels of the Ferraris. But a good use of strategy for Max to snatch fourth and pitting Gasly to get the fastest lap points are all strong strategy calls. Gasly needs more time to adapt, but this is F1 and this is Red Bull, both notoriously ruthless. We know Gasly can do better, we hope it shows sooner rather than later.

And Williams... umm.... had a car start behind them on the grid... and both cars finished again... yes there are some positives.