The Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 15 was an interesting race and one that Nico Rosberg won after taking part in 111 F1 races. And now that little jinx has been settled, we may see an increase in confidence in the German driver (He is half Finnish and half German) much like how Jenson Button winning his first race and then go on to winning a world championship.

Of course, the win was in a way handed to him by the fact that his Mercedes Petronas F1 team mate Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button in the McLaren suffered similar misfortunes. Schumacher, who started off second suffered as team mechanics failed to properly tighten his car tyres at his first pitstop causing, no, forcing the on-form seven time world champion to retire very early on.

Jenson Button who was behind the suddenly very competitive Mercedes F1 cars had also suffered from a tyre change bungle as the McLaren pitcrew struggled to change the rear wheel on Button's car. This allowed Rosberg to scoot ahead comfortably and he wasn't seriously challenged at all right to the finish line.

The Shanghai grand prix also showed to us F1 fans that Ross Brawn, who runs the Mercedes Petronas team which was born out of the championship winning Brawn GP squad in 2010, is back in the business of winning. These new Mercedes F1 cars seem to be even better than the Red Bull Racing cars that reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel drives. This also marks the first F1 win for the modern Mercedes F1 team and the first win as a constructor since 1955.

It also allowed us to watch a mega scrap between those placed 2nd to 8th position. Which is usually what viewers want.

One other notable fact that I happened to notice is that Ferrari, which won the previous race over at Sepang suffers from a lack of pace. It must have been down to the weather (the rain) and the fact that Fernando Alonso is indeed an exceptional driver.

RESULTS
1. Rosberg (Mercedes) 1h36:26.929
2. Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +20.626
3. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +26.012
4. Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +27.924
5. Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +30.483
6. Grosjean (Lotus-Renault) +31.491
7. Senna (Williams-Renault) +34.597
8. Maldonado (Williams-Renault) +35.643
9. Alonso (Ferrari) +37.256
10. Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) +38.720
11. Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) +41.066
12. Di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) + 42.273
13. Massa (Ferrari) +42.700
14. Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault) +50.500
15. Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) +51.200
16. Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +51.700
17. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1:03.100
18. Petrov (Caterham-Renault) +1 lap
19. Glock (Marussia-Cosworth) +1 lap
20. Pic (Marussia-Cosworth) +1 lap
21. De la Rosa (HRT-Cosworth) +1 lap
22. Karthikeyan (HRT-Cosworth) +2 laps
23. Kovalainen (Caterham-Renault) +3 laps
DNF
Schumacher (Mercedes) - Boo Hoo Hoo! I was rooting for the chap!

formula 1, motorsports, china and 11 more...

Viewed: 704 times