Lewis Hamilton took a brilliant strategic victory in the UBS Chinese Grand Prix, passing race-leader Sebastian Vettel within the final five laps of the race.
In a race where strategy proved to be perhaps more consequential than speed, the outcome was in serious question until Hamilton’s late pass. Vettel ended second, just ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber, who put in an exceptional performance to take third after starting 18th on the grid. Jenson Button lost out to Webber on the penultimate lap, with Nico Rosberg fifth and Felipe Massa sixth.
Once the race got under way, Hamilton and teammate Button quickly showed that Vettel’s third win of 2011 wouldn’t come without a fight. Buoyed by a spectacular start, both McLarens overhauled Vettel when the lights went out with Button leading the way. Vettel, meanwhile, lost valuable time and just managed to defend from a charging Rosberg through the first few corners. Nevertheless, for one more race RedBull Racing proved that one of their weaknesses so far is a slow start losing all of their qualification advantage.
Much of the race drama centered on pit road — and how many stops drivers were forced to make due to the degradation of their Pirelli tyres.
While most drivers pitted three times, Vettel and Felipe Massa managed to complete the 56-lap race distance on just two stops as they stretched their fuel and tires longer than the other contenders. However, their strategy didn't worked well and Massa faded over the closing laps, eventually finishing sixth, while Vettel was obliged by lost his race lead from Hamilton. The McLaren driver made three stops and having an already lightning-fast car coupled with fresher tires, managed to pull Vettel’s back bumper with only six laps remaining.
The 2008 World Champion then needed just two laps to march past the Red Bull RB7, and he rolled from there to win by a 5.1 marging.
After the race Vettel commented:
“I saw Lewis coming closer and closer. I tried to defend as much as I could without losing too much time to the guys behind. He found his way past easily. I think it was a good race for us because we can learn a lot today.”
Hamilton commented as well:
“My new option tires seemed to last a little longer than the guys in front but I think it was quite a few things that came together, really. The car felt great and it was one of the best races I’ve experienced at least this year.
A real thumbs-up to the guys back at the factory and the garage. They really put their hearts into the car and making it the best it can be every weekend...
It’s rare to have battles like the ones we saw today; you really had to think about the situation, and I loved that challenge, but having to overtake people made things so much sweeter.
At the end, it was tough to get past Sebastian - even though he was getting slower, he never looked like getting out of shape. It was always going to be difficult to follow him onto the back straight, so I wanted to get him before then - I wasn’t expecting to overtake where I did, but I had the grip to keep ahead, and I made it stick...I feel so proud: this race is in my top three of race wins, it’s up there with Silverstone and Monaco in 2008. I exist and I live and I breathe to win: I love winning and I just couldn’t be happier.”
A great surprise of the whole grand prix was Mark Webber who appears to have a slower start of the season in comparison to his team-mate. His mistake to run on hard tyres during the 1rst qualification session proved catastrophic causing his 18th position in the starting grid. However everyone should admit his accomplishment during the race as he climbed most of the firld and ended the race with a podium finish in 3rd.
And that wasn't easy at all. The Australian started 18th, and struggling on his hard tyres, was even passed by Sergio Perez, slumped to 20th place by lap 11. However, as it turned out, that getting the hard tyres out of his wheels during his first pitstop was a master stroke. By the end of the race, when practically everyone else was either on the hard tyres or on the soft worn, Webber was lapping around one-and-a-half seconds faster in his fresh soft.
On his climb through the field, he benefited from other drivers making pit stops but he was also obliged had to make some tough passes over Vitaly Petrov and Michael Schumacher.
"To see P17 (18) on your board after 15 laps you think it might not happen, but suddenly I felt very comfortable with the car. I had a few sets of tyres left from qualifying, so that helped - and maybe that’s the way to do it! Miss qualifying and go from there! But, all joking aside, I think the guys have done an incredible job - it’s a back to back race and we haven’t had the smoothest run with my car, but I haven’t given up. That drive today was for them and everyone back at the factory. Congratulations to Lewis and it was a good day for us in terms of points for the team."
Sergio Perez show extensive inexperience in F1 racing picking up two drive-through penalties during the race.
The first came after he collided with Sutil, which he apologised for:
“Most importantly I’m very sorry for the accident with Adrian – I am sorry for him and sorry for my team. At this time in the race I wanted to get the most out of my tyres, as I was under pressure from Vitaly [Petrov], so was quite aggressive. Unfortunately I lost the rear when I was already on the inside of Adrian and crashed into him. It is a real shame because, as I said before, this weekend I felt a lot more comfortable with the car than ever before.”
His second penalty appears to have been for his collision with Nick Heidfeld.
Jaime Alguersuari was the only retirement from the race, his right rear wheel coming off immediately after a pit stop. It was a better day for Lotus though, as Heikki Kovalainen beat Pastor Maldonado's Williams to 16th on outright pace, while HRT also recorded its first double finish of the season.
