Round 3 of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship took place at the Shanghai International Circuit, and once again the season’s unpredictable nature was on full display. The Chinese Grand Prix became a strategic masterpiece, filled with overtakes, tire management, and thrilling on-track battles.
Nico Rosberg claimed his first-ever Formula 1 victory — and Mercedes’ first win since their return to the sport — after delivering a flawless drive from pole position. Behind him, the field was locked in a fierce fight for the podium, with drivers like Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel constantly swapping positions in one of the most competitive races of the year.
This Grand Prix showcased the depth of talent and the incredible balance of performance that defined the 2012 season — where every team had a chance to shine and every race told a new story.
#F12012 #Formula1 #ChineseGrandPrix #Shanghai #Mercedes #NicoRosberg #Hamilton #Button #Vettel #F1Classic #GrandPrix #F1History #Motorsport #F1Highlights
Nico Rosberg claimed his first-ever Formula 1 victory — and Mercedes’ first win since their return to the sport — after delivering a flawless drive from pole position. Behind him, the field was locked in a fierce fight for the podium, with drivers like Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel constantly swapping positions in one of the most competitive races of the year.
This Grand Prix showcased the depth of talent and the incredible balance of performance that defined the 2012 season — where every team had a chance to shine and every race told a new story.
#F12012 #Formula1 #ChineseGrandPrix #Shanghai #Mercedes #NicoRosberg #Hamilton #Button #Vettel #F1Classic #GrandPrix #F1History #Motorsport #F1Highlights
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SportsTranscript
00:00move away on the formation lap Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher lead them round. Gary is our
00:06man in the pits of course and our technical expert. Now Gary what are we thinking of in terms of
00:10strategy here today? Well my prediction is a three-stop race is the best but in reality you
00:16could do a two or a four it's not that much different but I think if you did a two the
00:20tyres will be so used by the end of the race that anybody that's done a three could catch you very
00:24quickly really like Hamilton did last year with Vettel so really is the same looks the same as
00:28last year but there are some cars having trouble getting the the softer tyre to work and there's
00:34other cars having trouble getting the harder tyre to work so it's not just about how many stops it's
00:38about how quickly you can get the tyres up to temperature and working and giving you the grip
00:42so you've got to be alive on the pit wall as normal but you've really got to rig the race quite quickly
00:46and make sure you make the decisions as the cars are suffering tyre problems. Great well the teams
00:51obviously will be reacting as quickly as possible to whatever's going on we just saw on that
00:55constructors championship order by the way that Mercedes they might have the front row here but
01:00they have scored one solitary point so far this season they want to improve on that the tyres we're
01:06using this weekend are the soft the yellow banded tyre and the medium tyre with the white writing on the
01:13sidewall of course the other tyres available as ever at the Grand Prix the intermediate and the wets
01:17which we saw both in action last time out in Malaysia but it doesn't look as though we're set for
01:21any rain this afternoon and certainly the forecast is for it to remain dry the key thing though as I
01:27was mentioning David is that track temperature 24 degrees so that's really about the same as
01:32qualifying yesterday but if it drops away much from there then some teams could begin to struggle.
01:37Well as we heard from Jensen on the grid it is so sensitive the Pirelli tyres this year to small
01:42changes in track temperature you know normally in the past you would start to note it's a difference if
01:47you had sort of five to ten degree track temperature difference but not one or two degrees like the
01:51experienced in qualifying so a number of people have been saying this could be an absolute classic
01:56Grand Prix because not only have we got a number of cars showing really great pace we've got this
02:01uncertainty who's going to have the tyres working who's going to have the right temperature of the
02:06track and as we get that wonderful shot there of what the driver's view is like maybe trying to do
02:12some little burnouts as they come out of turn 14 to get those rear tyres nice and warm they've run
02:16out of opportunity now to get heat in the brakes of course they would have done that on the back
02:20straight on the run down to 14 and look at Nico's keeping the grid nice and tight. Yeah he's certainly
02:24keeping them slow onto the start finish straight there he does a little bit of a burnout you're on
02:29board with Schumacher and the two of them bringing these two silver arrows up to the front end of the
02:35grid you know China is a huge market for Mercedes it's their third largest market in the world
02:40after Germany and USA so it's a crucial front row for them cars produced locally in China as well
02:48and now they've got to try and convert these two front row positions into some decent points this
02:53afternoon which has not been the case so far this year just remember then behind the two Mercedes you've
02:59got Kimi Kobayashi here in the south but also Kimi Raikkonen both have made quick starts this year
03:04Jenson Button starts on the right hand side as you look at it on the third row of the grid and Lewis Hamilton
03:10directly behind him they've got Mark Webber on the other side to watch out for Fernando Alonso remember
03:15starting in ninth place in the Ferrari the first of the two Ferraris and the rest of the cars now
03:21moving into position so Noreen Karthikeyan brings up the rear the start procedure is up the way
03:28lights out away we go and Rosberg gets off the line beautifully well Schumacher slower away in second
03:35watch Kimi Raikkonen trying to go up into third but going right around the outside is that Button I think it is
03:41trying to go right around the outside Jenson Button gets past Raikkonen Button's had a very good start up
03:47into third place so he gets Raikkonen out of the way Hamilton now trying to follow through it's Kimi Kobayashi
03:52he's had a bit of a poor getaway and in fact he's got his teammate Sergio Perez not far behind and looking
03:57further down the grid order looks like Sebastian Vettel has dropped grid positions in that scramble
04:02through turn one but unlike the previous two years where we've seen the pole man lose his place in
04:08the run into the first corner that was a perfect start from Nico Rosberg the two salvers absolutely
04:13side by side here Kimi Kobayashi and Sergio Perez each of them fighting for position here and I think
04:19Perez has got past Kobayashi yes he has meanwhile Mark Webber also not away well he's got past Alonso past him
04:25but he's got back past Alonso dives down the inside of the Ferrari Alonso charging he has to make the
04:31most of this first lap Rosberg leaves Schumacher second Button third Raikkonen fourth Hamilton fifth
04:36Perez to sixth place he has come up really really well as Perez from eighth place as well well the end of
04:43the second sector we've got Sebastian Vettel has not only had a terrible qualifying he's now had a terrible
04:49start he's down in 15th place so really struggling Alonso now trying to get back past Mark Webber
04:55as they fight their way down this long long straight Rosberg though has control of the race
04:59initially Webber and Alonso look at them side by side as they come down towards the hairpin and Alonso
05:04retakes the place from Mark Webber Felipe Massa is directly behind them as well and as they head through
05:09turn 14-15 and now up to the last little left-hander Alonso versus Webber with Massa not far behind
05:16and a crucial stage of the Grand Prix Webber needs to be back ahead of that Ferrari as fast as possible
05:21Rosberg leads from Schumacher they have a gap of just about 1.3 seconds over Button in third followed by Raikkonen
05:28and Hamilton further down the order there's a move from Pastor Maldonado doesn't quite come off though
05:33Maldonado trying to get past Sebastian Vettel amazing but that's what he's trying to do in the Williams
05:38well Vettel actually had just passed Maldonado he's now up into 14th place Maldonado trying to come back at him
05:44but looking at the front running order we've got Michael Schumacher just 0.7 of a second behind Rosberg
05:50the reason why that's crucial at this stage at the end of the second lap of course then we'll get DRS activated
05:55and if you're within one second that'll give you that extra speed on the run down to 14 so Rosberg
06:01has got to try and break that one second window to his teammate Michael Schumacher
06:05Senna running in 12th place behind Romain Grosjean so Grosjean's Grand Prix continues at the moment
06:10he hasn't had any mishaps on the first lap just saw the Lotus go through there is Senna then in 12th
06:14Diresta is behind him in 13th Vettel is 14th Maldonado 15th then Coverline and Hulkenberg lost out on that initial run
06:21he's down in 17th Glock is in 18th place take a look at the start
06:26absolutely aced the start Nico Rosberg Michael Schumacher made a perfectly reasonable start relative to the other cars
06:32but that Mercedes must have just been absolutely hooked up everything RPM absolutely sorted
06:38look down the middle of the pack there you can see Sebastian Vettel was getting bunched in
06:42yeah and Massa got a bit of contact I think from one of the Williams right down into the corner
06:46we'll try and keep an eye on that
06:48I know just down at the back of the grid you can see Grosjean I think was very close to coming into the back of the Ferrari of Alonso
06:54now as we come to the end of the second lap he's only actually done four racing laps this year
06:58so give him another couple laps and he'll be a journey into the unknown in terms of his Grand Prix career with Lotus
07:03and there you've got Bruno Senna absolutely fantastic start as he runs down in turn one
07:07oh yes absolutely runs into the back of the Ferrari and he's got front wing damage
07:12but he's still running competitively he's in 12th place Senna this was the start from Lewis Hamilton how did this go?
07:18well he hooked up nicely he'll get Yusuf Kers once he's above 100 km an hour
07:22deployed that and gets a nice run down the inside of the Sauber
07:25but to say that was a little bit tardy of Perez that initially leaving the door open
07:29Kobi Ashi that was Kobi Ashi that was Kobi Ashi indeed
07:31Kobi Ashi indeed and that allows Lewis to run the inside line all the way through turn two
07:36yeah Kobi Ashi was definitely a bit slower way you can see that was a good start from Heike Kovaleinen
07:41Kovaleinen is currently running his 16th place in the catering and he had a good run going
07:45yeah there was a little bit of bunching up as they went through the first corner
07:48and here we get from Kobi Ashi's position
07:50bogged down a little bit too much
07:53looked like it was a similar start initially to Michael Schumacher
07:56but then he got swamped as he lost that momentum of the others
08:00yeah and then it's so difficult in this situation
08:03look at how small the Murders are on the car
08:05you sense that there's other cars around you
08:07but of course there's a massive blind spot in these cars
08:10the McLaren or Hamilton was going around the outside of them
08:13sensible stuff though from Kobi Ashi
08:15he managed to stay out of trouble
08:17but he did end up losing a place on that first lap
08:20to his teammate Perez who runs in six
08:22so the DRS has been enabled now
08:24we're on lap three out of 56
08:26and Rosberg leads from Michael Schumacher
08:28Jenson Button not far in front of Raikkonen
08:31then Hamilton being chased by Sergio Perez in that Sauber
08:34but we saw him star last time out in Malaysia in the damp conditions
08:38but David this Sauber seems just as effective in the dry doesn't it?
08:42well it's shown very good tyre wear on this car in the last two years
08:45and this is going to be absolutely crucial this afternoon
08:48we've talked about track temperature not being particularly high
08:51but I think at this stage we've got the McLarens really nursing the tyres
08:55trying to get and eek a little bit more out of these option tyres at this stage
08:59of course the cars are heavy with fuel
09:01they would have gone off the grid with about 150 kilos of weight
09:05strapped in behind the driver
09:06it's like taking on a couple of passengers over what you actually drove in qualifying
09:11so I think the Sauber drivers have the confidence to be able to push and lean on that tyre
09:16and as we get into the end of the fourth lap of Grand Prix racing
09:21we can expect the first pit stops to be anything around lap 10 to 15
09:25depending on whether they're doing two or three stops
09:28well Rosberg is really getting away
09:30he's 1.6 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher
09:33Buttons are further 1.6 seconds further back
09:37Front wing looks okay, keep pushing, we need to get through Basse
09:41so that's interesting, the team have had a good look
09:44they've looked at the data as well
09:46and the little bit of damage that we saw
09:48from the front wing of Bruno Senna on the back of Felipe Massa's car
09:51doesn't seem to be hurting him, he's still in 12th place
09:54and they just saw him go through the shot there
09:56and he's being chased by Paul Di Resta in the Force India
09:59but Senna only a second behind Romain Grosjean
10:03so still in the hunt here and that little bit of damage doesn't seem to be affecting him
10:06there are the leaders again, Rosberg with that advantage over Michael Schumacher
10:10Buttons sitting there in 3rd place
10:12Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton
10:14a whole bunch of world champions all running together
10:17but all being led by Nico Rosberg
10:19this is great stuff, if you remember Nico Rosberg led here
10:22okay Jensen that was a great start, we're in a really good position now
10:25let's try and pull away from the DRS of the Lotus behind
10:28well I'm sure Jensen could have worked that one out himself
10:31but nonetheless some comforting words from his engineer
10:33so what I was going to say before that is Nico Rosberg did lead this Grand Prix last year
10:38and Mercedes had under fueled the car and they had to then run the engine more lean towards the end
10:43and that saw him drop down the order
10:45so he's clearly a bit of a Shanghai specialist
10:48and he's opened that gap to Michael Schumacher up to 2 seconds
10:51now there was some talk before this race
10:53would Mercedes if they get off in great order
10:55would they run strategically
10:57would they have one whoever the car is that's running in second
11:00in this case Michael
11:01would he just try and back the pack up a lot
11:03allowing Nico Rosberg to open out a gap
11:05and give them a bit of a safety window
11:07because they are harder on the tires than the cars around them
11:10yeah it's a good point
11:11we're going to have to wait and see how it all develops
11:13as we go through the course of this race
11:14Massa just coming through there in 10th
11:16Grosjean there is Bruno Senna
11:18Paul de Resta still in 13th place
11:20Vettel is still in 14th position in the Red Bull
11:23not really making any kind of progress at the moment
11:26Maldonado is 15th in the Williams
11:28Senna's teammate of course
11:29then Kovalainen 16th
11:31Hülkenberg 17th
11:32then Daniel Ricciardo
11:33and the Toro Rosso is currently running in 18th
11:36a play ahead of Petrov
11:38and then Verm who started from the pit lane remember
11:40has come up to 20th place
11:42has got past both of the HRTs and the Mauritius
11:45we're on board with Sebastian Vettel
11:47finding himself down in 14th position
11:49after that miserable first lap
11:51and trying to get past Paul de Resta
11:53let's listen up here as he comes down the straight
11:56watch the data on his dashboard
11:58into top gear 7th gear
11:59and he'll hold that 7th gear for a long long way here
12:03you can see the speed of the Force India in front of him
12:06I'm presuming that Paul was able to use his DRS
12:09and Sebastian closes up under braking of course
12:13so it's going to be a bit of a long afternoon
12:16if he's not able to get into that slipstream
12:18use the DRS and try and pull a pass on the Force India
12:21clearly the Red Bull is a faster car
12:23but he has the double whammy of running in the dirty air of the car in front
12:27means that you lose downforce
12:29your car slides more over the track surface
12:31and crucially takes away tyre wear
12:33I'm nowhere on the straights
12:35I'm nowhere on the straights
12:36I'm nowhere on the straights
12:37I cannot get past on the straights
12:39Understood
12:41Confirmation that what we just saw there
12:44he's nowhere on the straights
12:46a little bit of frustration coming through
12:48Sebastian's voice
12:49we never expected to be running around in 14
12:52but he's got to be patient
12:54the straight line speed trap figures
12:56certainly from the Red Bulls
12:57traditionally it's quite low
12:58even when they were at their winning best
13:00they're not usually topping the speed trap figures
13:02but they were only the only cars that were behind them on the speed trap
13:06yesterday in qualifying
13:07were the two HRTs and the two Mauritius
13:09it wasn't a huge margin to the other cars
13:11but even so it's got to show that when you do go down the field like this
13:15it's very hard to overtake
13:17all of last year they were regularly in the bottom half of the speed traps
13:21and they went to some lengths working with the FIA
13:24to try and see if Renault could get an upgrade to their frozen spec of engine
13:29because they felt that at the point at which it was frozen
13:31it didn't allow that engine to be quite as powerful as the Mercedes for instance
13:35which is considered to be one of the best engines in Formula 1
13:38and as you see when you run in clean air
13:40and you're able to use and exploit the downforce and grip of your car
13:43it's not a problem
13:44but in racing you really have some difficulties
13:47we see Grosjean
13:49a little look at Maslow
13:50a little sighter
13:51that would make me nervous
13:52given Grosjean's record so far this year
13:54if he was weaving around that would make me nervous
13:56but anyway he's made it to lap 7
13:58so he's almost doubled his laps this year
14:01somebody just diving into the pits in the background
14:03how is it?
14:04ah is it Vettel or?
14:05that's Mark Webber
14:06it's Mark Webber
14:07he's got a problem
14:08what was on this gear
14:10I don't know the drill
14:11hey
14:12so Hülkenberg struggling himself
14:15but that's a very very early stop
14:17now let's get some reaction from Gary in pit lane on this
14:21what do you reckon Gary?
14:22well Webber's come in obviously put on the harder tyre
14:25the white wall tyre
14:26early stop he's obviously just stuck in traffic
14:29and he's making use of that
14:30rather than driving around doing something else at lap time
14:32he might as well come in and get one of the stops done now
14:35and then hopefully whenever the rest of these guys have problems with their tyres
14:38he's on a fresh set and can overtake a few of them
14:41bit of a gamble but you've got to do something when you're stuck right there
14:44do you think we're going to see something similar from Vettel as well?
14:47well I wouldn't be surprised he is stuck there
14:48I mean he's complaining about straight line speed
14:50but they only had a look as David said at the speed trap stuff from yesterday
14:53didn't have to put it over the radio because I'm sure they knew that last night
14:56but yeah I wouldn't be surprised he is stuck in traffic so we might as well do the same strategy
15:01right well up front no change in terms of the Mercedes still leading in the early stint here
15:05from lap seven and Rosberg and Michael Schumacher
15:08one two for Mercedes button sitting in third
15:10Räikkönen fourth and then it's Hamilton in fifth place
15:13Nico Rosberg's pit board there just giving him some information
15:17of course they'll be talking to him on the radio as well
15:19he's got a useful margin over his teammate as he comes down to the end of the straight into turn 14
15:25saw a lot of brake blocking in the cooler temperatures on Friday afternoon
15:28now that the cars are full of fuel as you said David 150 kilos
15:33it's around about 200 litres of fuel
15:35about three times the size of an average family car in times of fuel tank
15:40I mean it's a massive amount they carry in the early stages
15:42they have to be very careful not to lock those tyres when carrying such a heavy load
15:47well it is indeed that's a huge amount of mass that you're trying to slow down when you get on the brakes
15:52they're running several seconds a lap slower than they were in qualifying yesterday
15:56and what the drivers are trying to do right now is just be ever so gentle with these Pirelli tyres
16:02they suffer from thermal degradation and you just don't want to at any point take them just beyond their operating window
16:09otherwise what the drivers refer to as falling off the cliff in terms of performance
16:13so interesting that Mark Webber has chosen to not only go for the harder of the tyres
16:19which will be slower in absolute peak performance relative to this yellow option tyre that you can see there
16:25and that will give some interesting information for the other teams
16:29if they're looking to see what sort of lap time they can get on those harder tyres
16:33they're getting a perfect run now from Mark Webber
16:35we'll just keep an eye on his lap times he's unsurprisingly gone quickest in the first sector
16:40he's running in clean air now in 20th place
16:43so just riding there for a little while with Kimi Raikkonen
16:46of course another former world champion who has returned to the sport this year
16:50and in a competitive fourth place currently set fastest lap at the end of the Malaysia race
16:55did express himself a little disappointed with his qualifying performance yesterday
16:59when he put the car up on the second row in fourth place
17:02but basically because I think in Malaysia he felt he had a car that could have challenged for pole
17:06when he saw Rosberg's time yesterday he thought well there was no way they were going to be able to challenge that
17:11Rosberg's pace we thought it was a real exception in qualifying
17:14but he's doing the laps one after another at the moment opening up a three and a half second lead over Michael Schumacher
17:21this is the group all fighting over second place Perez is at the back of that group
17:25so is Kamui Kobayashi and behind Kobayashi is Alonso in the first of the Ferraris
17:31then it's Massa under a bit of pressure I noticed as they came past us from Romain Grosjean again
17:36Senna is in the 11th position now 12th place for Paul de Resta and 13th place and still not coming into the pits unlike his teammate
17:44Sebastian Vettel obviously deciding to stay out there now there is the Massa versus Grosjean affair and let's listen
17:52ok similar lap time to Fernando there similar lap time to Fernando his feeling of the shock is that it's going away a little bit
17:58weather already pitted fit medium
18:03so just a lot of information going to Felipe Massa now he's on the white wall tyre he's what started this race on the harder of the two compounds
18:11and maybe that explains why at the moment he's just a holding station quite happy to just stay in front of Romain Grosjean
18:17by the way Romain Grosjean has done already in this race double the number of laps that he's done in the first two Grand Prix
18:23he only managed four in the first two Grand Prix he's done eight so he's going a lot better
18:27yeah indeed he'll be happy to see that he'll be hoping to see 56 by the end of this afternoon we've got the Sauber team out
18:35yeah so interestingly Ben just looking at this look Michael is running about six tenths of a second slower than his teammate Nico Rosberg
18:43but he's not exactly looking like he's holding up Jenson Button you know Jenson's there but he's not looking like he's you know being held up by Michael
18:51so I don't think this is I don't think this is a strategic play for Mercedes to try and back up the pack and allow Nico Rosberg to get away
18:59but let's just keep an eye on that
19:01yeah definitely and we'll also see which of the Sauber's will be heading into the pits certainly look like they're preparing for one or other
19:08but it was Perez going through so I guess it's going to be Kobayashi
19:11yep Kanuli Kobayashi is making his way down in towards the pit lane and also we're going to see another change as presumably this will be Sebastian Vettel
19:19yep there we are coming into pit lane as we speak
19:22of course that tricky pit lane entry which caught Lewis Hamilton out in horrible conditions when he had no grip left on his tyres back in 2007
19:30but Vettel stops clearly in his pit box and they get ready to send him on his way
19:36yep away he goes Force India also in of Nico Hulkenberg and Kobayashi has already headed off onto the pit exit
19:44so Vettel hoping that this early pit stop is going to help him it still brings him out into some traffic
19:50he's gone on to the medium the harder compound that's being used this weekend as did his teammate Mark Webber
19:56so perhaps what they've learnt from Webber was sufficient and they've put a new nose on the front of Nico Hulkenberg's car as well
20:04so obviously a little bit of damage since we knew he had problems on that first lap that dropped him down and he's rejoined the fray
20:11no difference and as you say Button not really keeping with Michael Schumacher he's being hounded by Kimi Raikkonen
20:17then Lewis Hamilton there is Perez he's still on the yellow sidewall tyres the softer tyre as are most of the front runners
20:23and as they come out of turn 13 onto the long straight this is the battle for second place with a number of different drivers different cars
20:31and that's what's making Formula 1 this year so exciting
20:34you can see that DRS zone there was clearly marked it's not having a great deal of effect in the actual racing which is surprising
20:41we saw more than 60 passes on track last year and DRS accounted for about half of those but so far there doesn't seem to be quite as much marbling as Raikkonen pits
20:51I think he was followed in there by Perez as well no it's actually Hamilton sorry who's followed him into the pits
20:56so everyone reacting to Mark Webber having stopped on the hard tyres and Mark Webber is the fastest man on the track
21:03right now running down in 17th place but that's clearly given an indication to all and we've got the L attire
21:10so really a lap 11 well that is actually what we expected anywhere around 10 to 15 and of course it was a battle of the pit crews
21:18and in this case Lotus not quite as good as McLaren
21:22no and Hamilton just getting out in front of Kimi Raikkonen so that's a place gained by McLaren
21:27you know they they changed their rear jacks and look at this they've come right out with Webber have they
21:32yeah battling away with Mark Webber so Kimi Raikkonen might have lost that place to Mark Webber as well
21:37because Webber's got himself in between those two cars and a fraction of a second lost in the pits
21:42and suddenly Kimi has effectively lost two places but he's going to come straight back at Mark Webber
21:47that's a tricky place to try and overtake they almost touch they virtually do
21:51he gets squeezed out and Webber gets the place
21:53that was great stuff there Mark defended nicely on the run down into turn six
21:58Kimi Raikkonen would have used his care strategically coming out of turn three and in the end great wheel-to-wheel racing
22:05two pros there very experienced drivers Mark did exactly what he should do which is just let his car run out onto the line
22:12now Lewis this is the option tyre the option tyre
22:15so he's just being told he's on the softer compound tyre
22:18they had a problem with the rear jack
22:20oh Webber locking up a little bit
22:21with the rear jack last time out in Malaysia McLaren lost quite a lot of time on pit stops for both Lewis and Jensen
22:26and it's meant a redesign of the jack they used to lift the car for those tyre changes
22:32well there was nothing wrong with that pit stop from McLaren and it benefited them hugely
22:36got them ahead of Raikkonen and it got them out ahead of Mark Webber
22:39and so Lewis Hamilton's pit stop going very much according to plan this time
22:43they're closing up on Heikki Kovalainen at the moment who's running in 13th
22:47it's Kimi Raikkonen just trying to get past the Toro Rosso as well
22:51and these guys going side by side so Kobayashi getting into the mix as well
22:57great side by side race racing in the middle of all that
23:00Jean-Erik Verne is in the Toro Rosso and we've got quite a few more pit visitors
23:04Button has been into the pits and heads back out
23:07where does he come out he's out ahead still of Hamilton
23:11and there is Kamui Kobayashi part of that group in the Sauber
23:15now let's see what we've got here David Kimi Raikkonen
23:18yeah this was the battle between Raikkonen and Hamilton
23:20well all fair stuff the pit lane is part of the racetrack of course
23:25and they both be running in the limiters which controls the speed of the car
23:28and when they get to that white line they're able to release
23:30and frankly that was it was all over for Kimi when he was dropped from his pit box
23:37and great work there from the McLaren crew
23:39now what is really interesting is we've been talking a lot about Mercedes
23:43not being able to make the tires last and they still haven't stopped
23:47yeah so it is so confusing this year to try and make head no tail of these these tires
23:53you know we're on lap 12 they're out there on the option tires of course that they qualified on yesterday
23:57and Rosberg still putting in good lap times
24:00yeah that is a very good point
24:02the Mercedes are still going around while lots of others have come into the pits
24:06Gary just tell us your thoughts on that
24:08are you as surprised as we are that Mercedes have been able to go this long?
24:11well you know obviously it's a surprise that the eight that tires up the way they used to do anyway
24:15so they've obviously been working hard on that and it does look good
24:19I mean if you look at Rosberg's times he's in the mid 43's the whole time
24:23so he's it's staying stable obviously the car should go a little bit faster
24:26each lap because of the fuel usage but it's not
24:29but there's Michael Schumacher and just as we speak now
24:32I think Michael was doing a good job there of making sure that Rosberg got a little bit of a window
24:36yeah certainly the gap opened up he's got the he's gone for the harder of the two compounds of tire
24:42also into the pits Bruno Senna Alonso was in behind as well
24:46now I wonder if Senna are they going to do anything to that front wing or not
24:49and we'll see
24:50now coming back out look at that side by side battling as Schumacher comes out
24:53Button gets round outside of him
24:55so Michael running a bit wide there in those new hard tires
24:58and that's worked fantastically for Jenson Button
25:00Yeah
25:01who gets back out in front of Michael Schumacher
25:03so let's actually just one thing I want to come back on Ben
25:06is we're going to see a replay here of what happened here for Nico
25:09suspect probably a lock-up as he runs into turn six
25:12yep indeed he runs wide
25:16no real harm done though
25:18no
25:19and uh
25:20Rosberg pushing on as he approaches his first stop but uh
25:24as you say Jenson Button crucial to get past Michael Schumacher
25:28oh and Schumacher has pulled off now what is that is that a
25:31it must be a problem for Michael Schumacher for the second time this year
25:34it was a gearbox problem in Australia that took him out of the race
25:37something has gone wrong once again for Michael Schumacher
25:41it is not going to be his day of days
25:43he's not going to take his 92nd victory at the track where he took his last before his semi-retirement
25:48and Schumacher is out
25:50well Schumacher's out
25:52my wheel goes out of the race
25:55something with his wheel we saw his pit crews one of the pit crew was slapping the ground as the car pulled away as if there was some issue
26:01we've got Rosberg has now come into pit so let's see if the Mercedes crew have an issue with a wheel gun or something
26:08I didn't quite catch what Michael said there did he mention a problem with the wheel?
26:11yeah I didn't quite catch it myself
26:13uh now which tyre's going on it's the harder compound I think the white wall the white writing on the sidewall of the Pirellis
26:19now Rosberg doesn't have anyone backing him up anymore he's got to do this all on his own
26:24and away goes Nico Rosberg now he maintains the lead of this race I believe let's just know he won't
26:31Perez hasn't been in yet so Perez will now be the race leader
26:34the race leader again Sauber as usual going for a slightly different strategy but Michael Schumacher
26:41let's see if we can spot anything here David
26:44well that's with Michael I think I'm pretty sure he mentioned he had an issue with his wheel
26:49and I definitely saw one of the pit crew slapping the ground
26:53trying to watch out for any wobbly wheels
26:55can't spot anything there at the moment but we'll get some more news on that soon I'm sure
27:01and that is a real shame for the crew though for Michael and for Ross Braun
27:07they're down to just the one car in this race but it is the lead car
27:11right let's keep an eye on the left hand side the pit crew there
27:14oh the hand comes up
27:16yeah he never got the gun on the nut
27:18yeah he did he never got to do it up at all it was sent on its way
27:22and he hadn't even got the air gun on the wheel nut
27:24and he knew immediately that that obviously was not going to be good
27:30disappointment for Mercedes
27:32that's a real surprise
27:33but they've still got their other car leading this race
27:36Michael Schumacher
27:37he'll have a few words about that I'm sure when he comes back
27:40but he was given the signal to go and that's exactly what he did
27:43Rosberg then has made his pit stop and Perez
27:48now did he come out in front of Perez even though Perez hadn't stopped
27:52let's just check now I think Perez is leading this race isn't he?
27:55Perez leads there we are with Sergio Perez
27:58so after his impressive performance last time out in Malaysia
28:02where he was going for the victory
28:05and in the end had to settle for still a surprising second
28:08he now leads the race here in China
28:10well he's working the wheel a lot as he went into turn two there
28:13suggesting that the rear tires are starting to go off
28:15he's certainly getting to the end of the usable life
28:17of this particular tire
28:19so I think we can expect him to be coming in at the end of this lap
28:22Felipe Massa running in second place is on the harder tire
28:25so Massa in front of you has not stopped yet
28:28button behind is on used option
28:31maybe on plan B for him
28:35the great thing for Rosberg
28:37he's gone on to the harder tire
28:38but he does have a new set of the softer tire available to him from qualifying
28:43because he only did one run in the final part of qualifying
28:46so a lovely position to be in as a driver
28:48knowing you've got a sort of perfect set of tires waiting for you
28:51well he's in a commanding position right now
28:53he's running nicely on these tires
28:57track temperatures playing for him
28:59and when we at the round of pit stops for Perez and Massa
29:04he'll resume his position at the lead of this Grand Prix
29:07only three and a half seconds separate him from Jenson Button of course
29:11so he's going to have to keep pushing
29:13and this is where there's still some great racing
29:15and Button doesn't have much of an advantage over Hamilton
29:18so the two McLaren drivers absolutely on it at the moment behind
29:21then Webber with Raikkonen and Alonso
29:24these guys just coming through
29:26there's Webber in the Red Bull
29:27there's Raikkonen in the Lotus
29:28chased down by the world championship leader coming into this race of course
29:32Fernando Alonso
29:33if they can get that Ferrari moving up the top ten a little more
29:36perhaps he can protect that championship lead
29:38of course his biggest rivals are the two McLaren drivers
29:42Hamilton currently sits second in the points
29:44Button third
29:45and at the moment they're the other way round
29:47Button leading Hamilton in their particular battle
29:49Rosberg has just set fast his lap
29:52so the Mercedes is working on the soft tyre
29:54it's working on the harder tyre as well
29:56he's just done a 1.42.5
29:59but the other Mercedes driver is now back at the paddock
30:03and it is race over for Michael Schumacher
30:05another look at that pit stop
30:07well indeed you see the front wheel
30:09front right
30:10seemed to be a bit slow coming off
30:12and then when the other wheel was presented
30:15he didn't get a chance to change the direction of the wheel gun
30:19traffic light had gone to green
30:20you can see the green light on that
30:22so why he got that signal
30:25well normally the system is that the lights will go green
30:28when the wheel nut has been engaged
30:30and the gun is actually taken off the wheel
30:33and that's the sensor that sends that message
30:35and that's why we're seeing sub three second pit stops now
30:38because you're taking out the human reaction
30:40to actually informing the chief mechanic
30:43who controls the ultimate go-no-go for the car
30:47and in that case they just didn't get the wheel nut
30:49located for some reason
30:50the wheel nut is actually housed within the wheel
30:52it's a system that's been used in DTM, German Touring Cars
30:55for a number of years
30:56and a number of the teams now have adopted that
30:59so every wheel has its own unique nut
31:01now Salva getting ready for Perez
31:03oh what a big lock-up for Perez down into turn 14
31:06as he gets ready to come into the pit
31:08Gary, just give me a thought on the sort of pace we've seen from Perez
31:13before he comes in
31:14do you think they might go for a two-stop where others might go for the three?
31:18yes I mean that's what I would try to do
31:20they're putting on the harder of the two tyres again
31:23so obviously trying to go as far as possible
31:25David you know I think that lock-up probably hurt that left front tyre as well
31:28so we need to change them now and just see what happens really
31:31see how far they can go
31:32right well he's into the pit box
31:34this is the crucial stop for Salva
31:36and where he feeds back in will be important
31:39yeah it's the harder tyre
31:41little slow away there
31:42seem to be dragging his clutch as he pulled away
31:45they launch from the pit box in the same fashion that they would launch from the grid
31:49but that will have cost him time in the pit lane
31:51normally it's about 21 seconds from leaving the track
31:54doing a normal three-second pit stop and rejoining
31:57but in that case it was probably about 22 seconds total loss of track time
32:01he's come out just ahead of Sebastian Vettel interestingly
32:04so behind Grosjean but ahead of Sebastian Vettel
32:08Vettel's got Bruno Senna still behind him
32:11so that was an important place he didn't want to come out behind Vettel
32:14both on the harder tyre
32:16and it just shows how close Formula One is this year
32:19there's no team really seems to be able to
32:21even when they get down in the midfield
32:22they can't seem to leap forwards like we've seen in the past
32:25you've got a battle for each position
32:27now Rosberg is the second of these two cars
32:29and Massa hasn't stopped yet
32:31so Massa really going deep
32:32Ferrari presumably are going for the two-stop option
32:35well the crew are not setting out in the pit lane as we speak
32:38so we can't expect Massa to come in
32:40but what we can expect is Rosberg to get the use of DRS
32:43and we'll see his rear wing open up any time soon
32:47there's the DRS zone open his wing does
32:49he'll gain an extra 15 to 20 kilometres an hour
32:52and that is a textbook DRS overtake
32:55yeah and for someone like Rosberg in this situation
32:58that's where DRS is so useful
32:59because he doesn't lose time behind somebody
33:01who hasn't yet come into the pit
33:03a lot of marbles, little bits of rubber down the straight
33:06you saw a few of them getting kicked up there
33:08is that going to cause any problems as we go through the Grand Prix?
33:10well certainly later in the race it makes it more difficult for the drivers
33:13because the actual racing line starts to narrow in some of the higher speed corners
33:16where you see these marbles being thrown off
33:18but of course they get thrown up into the air and they drop down
33:21and it just becomes the driver senses less grip out there
33:25and start taking a slightly tighter line
33:27Kimi Raikkonen with Fernando Alonso behind
33:30of course Kimi former Ferrari driver himself
33:33world champion with Ferrari indeed
33:35but Alonso very much the current star at Ferrari
33:39it's great to see the two of them running so close together
33:42there's Perez after that pit stop
33:44he's still in front of Vettel but can't find a way past Romain Grosjean as yet
33:49and Grosjean sitting there in ninth place
33:51doing exactly what he needs to do in this Grand Prix
33:53finish it in the points
33:55that's what he's got to do after those two non-finishes in the early two races
34:00the Frenchman just needs to deliver some points here today
34:03and so far he's driving sensibly not putting a wheel wrong
34:06Kobayashi running just up ahead of them
34:09let's just take a look back at Perez
34:11now this was the battle trying to get past Kimi Raikkonen
34:14went down the outside but yeah Kimi still had it
34:18well indeed the rules are this year the drivers can make one change of direction to defend their position
34:24and they've got to do it clearly and maintain that line as they go into the braking zone
34:28and then we've got the pass being played out there and then retaken again that's the replay of that particular event but yeah
34:34it's Grosjean sorry Grosjean rather than Kimi as well that he's racing against there in that little group
34:41but having a good little dice
34:43Kobayashi as I say just ahead of them
34:45Button and Hamilton no real change between those two
34:49and the rest of them heading down so behind Alonso then you've got Kobayashi then you've got Grosjean
34:55there he is still with Perez behind
34:57interestingly we're just getting a message here on our screens in the comm box
35:02telling us that incident involving car 7 which is Michael Schumacher of course
35:06will be investigated for an unsafe release
35:09now presumably that must be the fact that the wheel nut hasn't been tightened up as opposed to being
35:13you know normally when you use that terminology it's because you've been released into another car in the pit lane
35:18exactly now Massa's been in for that one stop wonder where he will come out with regard to the likes of Perez
35:24I think he's going to come back out behind him probably
35:26so now that everybody has cycled through at least one pit stop
35:30we've got Rosberg leading the race once again by a margin of 4.4 seconds over the McLaren here of Jenson Button
35:37then it's Hamilton a further 1.6 seconds behind
35:40so Mercedes power powering the top three cars at the moment
35:44Massa has now dropped down the order so that brings Webber up into fourth place
35:48so after that early pit stop it seemed to work quite well for Webber
35:51it's brought him up to fourth
35:52Raikkonen is in fifth and then Alonso who's that?
35:55that's one of the sauber's getting very wide as he runs through there
35:58that was Perez indeed he went really wide out onto those marbles we were talking about
36:03in the very high speed turn eight corner
36:06and yeah that's not good news at all for Perez who was running so strongly
36:11of course yeah it is Perez it's the uh Kobe Ashley still the lead sauber
36:15he's the second place of the sauber
36:17Senna is now tucked in behind him so he's lost that place to Vettel
36:20that was uh quite crucial to him to keep
36:23right as we see the the running order after the round of pit stop
36:27Jenson Button is dropping back from Nico Rosberg
36:30so Mercedes have genuine race winning speed
36:34they're making their tyres last what could possibly come between
36:38Nico Rosberg and his first Grand Prix victory this afternoon
36:41well have they under fuelled the car like they did last year
36:44will they have to turn down the engine later in the race
36:47um if they haven't done that and they've done their sums right
36:50he's looking as he's in a commanding position
36:52he is looking very very good the track temperature's still at 24 degrees
36:56very consistent they'll be happy about that the car's working in these conditions
37:00and they won't be too worried so Williams Senna now running in 11th
37:04Maldonado is in 13th place Massa has come back out after that pit stop
37:08he's now in 14th place ahead of Jean-Erik Verne
37:11Hulkenberg currently in 16th and it's uh Charles Peek running in 17th place
37:16at the moment currently ahead of his teammate Timo Glock
37:19so he'll be pleased about that that's Romain Grosjean
37:21another Frenchman in the field of course
37:24and he's tucked in behind Kamui Kobayashi
37:27Kobayashi knows that points are very important to Sauber as well
37:31after that remarkable second place for his teammate Perez
37:34they know that podiums are not likely to be regular occurrences
37:38but getting into the top 10 is certainly possible with this Sauber car
37:42just a little bit of a lockup doesn't want to be damaging these tyres
37:45on this uh little stint of the race
37:48still of course getting the running of this harder tyre out of the way
37:51they have to run both types of tyre at some point during the race
37:55but it's entirely up to the teams as to when to do that
37:58Gary um just a little look at the lap times over the last few laps
38:02again Rosberg does seem to have the pace to hold that lead and indeed extended as David was saying
38:07yeah I mean he's done a 42.5 there and that's on the harder tyre
38:10they're they're a little bit fresher than uh Button and Hamilton's softer tyre
38:14but in reality he's pulling three tenths on them
38:17um with a tyre that's probably two or three tenths slower in reality
38:21so you know the car's working the tyre as well
38:23both in the both the soft tyre and the medium tyre so
38:26looks pretty good for him at the moment 21 laps in
38:29he's got more to go yet but it does look pretty good for them
38:31well as you say still a lot of the way to go in this Grand Prix
38:34but Nico Rosberg commanding things currently by 4.4 4.7 seconds rather
38:40now a little bit of a race going on in the background
38:42as Paul Di Resta is trying to get past Pastor Maldonado
38:46Di Resta moves to the right as we look at it
38:48the Force India trying to go around the outside of the Williams
38:50that's not going to be an easy task
38:52and sure enough Pastor Maldonado who so close to getting great points in Australia
38:58in the first race until he crashed following Alonso in the last lap
39:01Di Resta now finding that Williams is using a bit of road that he would like to be in
39:07but no way past it just yet and behind them it is Felipe Massa in the Ferrari
39:12Massa's having a steady drive there
39:15lap times not looking too far away I think from Alonso
39:20he's only a couple tenths slower on that last lap
39:22so obviously running not in the position we're used to seeing a Ferrari
39:26and there's no question that Massa hasn't been able to get as much out of this difficult car
39:31as his teammate Alonso
39:33but a couple tenths is respectable I would say
39:35there's a gap between the two of them at this point
39:37yeah that's right
39:38so Di Resta there not as close to Maldonado this time as they continue away
39:43Senna's just a bit further ahead of them
39:45and lots of looking going on in the mirrors there
39:48that was Noreen Karthikeyan who's about to be lapped by Nico Rosberg
39:51Jenson Button there in second place
39:53you're on board with Fernando Alonso here
39:55let's just listen
40:02down all those gears into the hairpin
40:04now let's listen as well as he comes up through this little left hander
40:07where we come off the car for the moment
40:09still chasing after Kimi Räikkönen
40:11they're running fifth and sixth as Webber comes in
40:14now he was earliest in on that first stint
40:16now he's decided to come in after 21 laps have been completed
40:20so now he's going on to another set of harder tyres I think
40:24there is indeed a set of halves going on there
40:26so he'll be spending a lot of time in the pit lane this afternoon Mark Webber
40:31and as we look where he'll rejoin into some clean air
40:36there'll be absolutely no one on track
40:38the next guy will be Jean-Erik Verne coming through the last corner
40:41so he's at a 15 lap stint on that last set of tyres
40:44so struggling to make them last
40:47of course as the race goes on the track rubbers in it gains grip
40:50you burn off fuel
40:52but just under two and a half kilos a lap the car gets lighter
40:55so every set of tyres in theory should be able to go a bit longer in the race
41:01on board here with Fernando Alonso as he chases Räikkönen
41:04then you've got the onboard as well
41:06showing you what's going on in terms of speed, gears and throttle
41:09and you can see Räikkönen's car moving around quite a lot
41:12let's see what we can learn here David from the behaviour of the cars
41:16well we can see that Räikkönen desperately trying to make sure
41:20that he doesn't have Alonso to get in that one second activation zone
41:23which enables him to use the DRS
41:25he locked up as he ran the car into turn 11
41:29looks like he's got a much better drive off of turn 13
41:33and he's opened up that gap slightly
41:35but he was obviously in the zone to get the one second activation
41:39so he's got the use of DRS there
41:41but not really closing up at all
41:43meanwhile McLaren get ready for a pit stop
41:46is it going to be Button, is it going to be Hamilton
41:48they're running second and third at the moment
41:50the gap between them a couple of seconds
41:52Hamilton is in then
41:53Lewis Hamilton from third position
41:55brings the McLaren down into pit lane
41:57so they're in a good point scoring position
41:59but he's getting fed up at third places
42:01is Lewis Hamilton, he's had two of them so far this year
42:03I'm sure he isn't really fed up because he is in a strong place in the championship
42:07good stop by McLaren again sending him on his way
42:10and with Alonso a couple of places behind him in this race currently
42:13it would be good news for Lewis Hamilton
42:16he could take the championship lead
42:17and comes out behind the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa
42:22coming back out with a 3.9 second pit stop
42:25well that'll be the second of what we'll expect to be a three stop race this afternoon
42:30for Lewis Hamilton
42:32absolutely crucial how they bring the tires in when they leave the pits
42:37they can't go out there and hit it too hard
42:39otherwise you'll get this sort of thermal shock into the rubber
42:42so the drivers at this stage of the race where the cars are still relatively heavy
42:46are having to almost drive with the fingertips
42:48if you imagine in qualifying they're squeezing the steering wheel
42:51and trying to wring every last little bit of speed out of that car
42:54at this stage you're holding it with a light hand
42:57and you're allowing the car to just use all of the road
43:00and desperately trying not to generate what they call slip angle across the tire
43:04well Rosberg seems to be doing it beautifully because he's got that 4.2 second lead over Jenson Button
43:09he's maintaining it
43:10last lap Button was a bit quicker
43:12whether that's telling us anything we'll have to wait and see
43:15Hamilton has been into the pits
43:16we've got the lapped HRT there
43:18so next up it is Raikkonen and Alonso
43:21those two they've seen Hamilton go into the pits ahead of them
43:24then behind them we've got Kobayashi
43:26there is Kobayashi in the white and black Sauber
43:29he's chased by Grosjean in the Lotus
43:31and then tucked in behind them still is Sebastian Vettel
43:34Mark Webber's beginning to light up the timing screens already on his new set of harder tyres
43:38Gary, interesting they went to the harder tyre again there at Red Bull
43:43do we think that the harder compound tyre is actually working better in the race here today?
43:50oh, I'm not hearing from Gary at the moment
43:52so not to worry we'll come back to him in a moment
43:54let's just take a look here
43:55Heikki Kobayashi
43:57what's he been doing?
43:58Daniel Ricciardo behind him in the Toro Rosso
44:00Kobayashi went in a bit deep there
44:02oh, and they had a good bit of side by side
44:04and actually Heikki backed out of that
44:06I don't know whether he's got a problem or not
44:08certainly when you find yourself on the wider line going into turn 2
44:11you have to just try and get off those marbles
44:15and if you pick up the rubber that's deposited in there off the racing line
44:19it gets embedded into your tyre
44:21and it can affect your performance in the next 2 or 3 corners
44:24so rather wisely Kovalainen deciding not to try and hang it out around the outside
44:28as we get on board here with Lewis Hamilton
44:30driving off turn 6
44:32this is where he pulled the pass into Sebastian Vettel last year
44:35you can see he's got more speed in that McLaren as they go through the apex of 7
44:39and then again concertina effect as they brake and roll through turn 8
44:45and then there'll be a lot of patience as you go through this double left-hander
44:49gently open the throttle
44:51little bit of oversteer correction there
44:53as he opened the throttle
44:55and then hard on the brakes clearly within the DRS activation zone
44:59so let's just get a comparison of the relative speeds of these 2 cars
45:03he's got much better drive through the last part of 13
45:07had to hesitate slightly at the latter part
45:10and that's allowed the Ferrari to open up the gap slightly
45:12so it might be just too big a gap for him to pull the pass on this lap
45:16it's important for Hamilton that he gets clear of that Ferrari as fast as possible though
45:20he doesn't want to get stuck in this traffic
45:22and he is stuck
45:23he can't get past it just yet
45:25into the pits comes Jenson Button
45:26he couldn't go any longer on that set of tyres either
45:28again he goes for the harder of the two tyre compounds available
45:32so the yellow tyres are being displaced
45:35Gary interesting tactics about both Red Bull and McLaren going on to this harder tyre
45:40do we see that in these conditions it is the better tyre?
45:44yeah I think that both tyres are obviously very competitive
45:47but it's just about how your car makes them work
45:49and obviously you have to run both types of tyre
45:52I'm sure they'll be doing one more stop
45:54there's about 31 laps to go
45:56and so they can make up their mind for the last set
45:59and see whether they can use the softer tyre
46:02and it comes in quicker
46:03or whether they want to use the harder tyre
46:05you know they're making their tyre switch right now
46:07to be able to make that decision constructively
46:09because the last 10 laps of this race
46:11is going to really tell the tale of who did the strategy right
46:14and we can see them up and down at the moment
46:16and whenever you pit from the lead you end up
46:18or from 2nd or 3rd you end up down in 11th or 12th position
46:21because everybody's packed so tightly together with slightly different strategies
46:25interesting watching Button here at the moment
46:27trying to get past Maldonado having made his pit stop
46:29he got side by side with him just for a second
46:32Hamilton is still further behind
46:34still trying to get past Massa
46:36so both McLarens have found themselves sort of
46:39into situations where they're in traffic
46:41and it's not easy now
46:42will he be able to get a pass on DRS
46:44look at the Williams ahead just sliding around
46:46Button trying to get a really good exit off turn 13
46:49now the DRS flap on the rear wing doesn't open for a little bit
46:53watch out for the line where they come up
46:54now it's open
46:55now he's got the top speed to go
46:57coming up towards 200 miles an hour
46:59and the braking should be straight forward into the hairpin
47:02and Button has done what Hamilton's failed to do so far
47:05and fails again to get past Massa
47:08this is really costing Hamilton now
47:10especially that Button has got past the car that he came out behind
47:14after his stop
47:15Lewis could get frustrated and remember
47:17how many times Massa and Hamilton came together last year
47:20well they did spend a lot of time getting up close and personal
47:23during last season's racing
47:25and as you see costing
47:27this is where Lewis passed Jenson last year
47:29doesn't manage to do it this time on the Ferrari
47:32he's got to watch out for Webber
47:34leaving the door wide open there
47:35so Mark will definitely have a go if he sees an opportunity
47:38yeah Mark Webber has closed up
47:40he's been very very fast over the last few laps
47:43and Mark Webber wants a piece of that action to try and get past the Ferrari himself
47:48well he's within the DRS zone but Hamilton down the inside into turn six
47:52Massa doesn't make it easy for him but nonetheless he pulls the pass
47:55and no contact made so Hamilton get past the Ferrari
47:58Mark Webber will try and do the same
48:00but that's cost Hamilton a bit of time there
48:03no doubt about it
48:04and of course when you first go out from the pits
48:06your tyres are at the best
48:07we saw Mark Webber set fastest lap
48:09on his first flying lap after being in the pits
48:11but Hamilton's used the best of his tyre in trying to get past Massa
48:15yeah as we discussed earlier he's got to be careful that he doesn't put the tyre into
48:20sort of over its peak of operating temperature
48:23and maybe that's why he was being a little bit cautious
48:26but in the end he would have used the cars coming out of five
48:29gets it in the inside but that is a cautious overtake from Lewis
48:33we've seen a lot you know normally he would have had it down the inside
48:36and been right alongside of Massa and get the appreciation of the McLaren crew there
48:42now cars continuing around but of course a key retirement from this race early on
48:48just seeing Mark Webber not getting past Massa
48:50a key retirement the only retirement of this race so far
48:53Michael Schumacher he's talking to Lee
48:57Michael so disappointing the team seemed to know straight away the wheel wasn't on
49:01when did you find out?
49:02yeah I noticed it in turn three once I started to load the front right tyre
49:07that something was wrong and already by turn three
49:11already by turn six there was quite a bit of smoke and damage coming up
49:14and I thought it's better to stop it there before I make some serious damage to the car
49:19should the team of radio do to tell you the wheel wasn't on it did look like they knew?
49:23I probably found out before then maybe
49:26I don't have any hard feelings
49:28I feel a bit sorry for one of my boys that I guess he feels responsible
49:33but you know it's part of the game
49:35the car seemed to be looking after the tyres better than it has in the past
49:39could you have been in the podium? Can Nico win this race?
49:42I don't know the situation right now but it looks pretty positive and I think
49:46I mean we were looking strong honestly
49:49we told you guys that we've been having too much wear in Australia
49:53we've been not having enough wear in Malaysia
49:56so there must have been a middle way and looks like we found a way to operate the car
50:00good luck Michael thank you
50:02no worries
50:03now Jenson Button we saw him go past Maldonado but he's also got past Bruno Senna
50:07just saw a replay of that and this was a moment ago as Mark Webber past Massa
50:11well again copy of what we saw with Lewis Hamilton and the run down into turn six
50:16you see the Ferrari not working so well on the brakes
50:19clear sign that it's lacking overall downforce
50:22now Hamilton coming up behind Paul Di Resta and just moving to the inside
50:28that looks as though it's going to be a fairly straight forward pass
50:31and Di Resta just going in deep
50:34he needs to be a little careful there because of course he could lose another place to Webber
50:38but it all sorts itself out and Hamilton is through
50:41but Button going quite quickly over the last couple of laps
50:44and into the pitch meanwhile Fernando Alonso
50:47now he's gone on to the yellow wall tyre he's gone on to the softer tyre I think
50:52as he heads down pit lane
50:54Rosberg continues to lead this race
50:5627 laps have been completed
50:58so we're at the half distance marker now
51:00Webber also trying to get past Paul Di Resta
51:03and it's a straight forward pass for him down through turns
51:05one, two and now as he comes out of three
51:07he should be able to just ease away slightly
51:09Rosberg leads
51:10Raikkonen is currently in second because Raikkonen's not made his second pit stop
51:14as we've just seen Alonso has done so
51:17Grosjean's been running competitively
51:18Vettel also hasn't made his second pit stop yet
51:21it's going to be fascinating to see how it all works out at the end of this race
51:24because there are definitely people on slightly different strategies
51:27you're on board with Jenson Button who's coming up behind Sergio Perez now
51:32well just in front of him in front of Perez
51:35you can see in the distance there Sebastian Vettel
51:38he hasn't pitted again
51:41he's only done one stop so far this afternoon
51:44so different strategies being played between Vettel and his teammate Webber
51:48yeah that's right
51:49and I wonder how long they can go on those tyres
51:51Grosjean's going pretty well in fourth position currently too
51:54as there you can see Kimi Raikkonen who's currently second
51:57because the two McLarens have been into the pits remember for their second stop
52:01there's Grosjean, his teammate behind
52:03and now here comes Button, he's got the DRS activated
52:06he's side by side with Sergio Perez
52:08again another straight forward pass for Jenson Button
52:12race winner here a couple of years ago in the tricky weather conditions we had that year
52:17Kimi Raikkonen brings the Lotus into the pits
52:20another former race winner of the Chinese Grand Prix
52:23and looking to try and get a podium for Lotus today
52:26I wonder if he's going to be able to achieve that using the Renault power of course
52:29same power as used by Red Bull
52:31he is on the harder is he? I think the harder compound tyre
52:35the white wall tyre and he sets off en route again
52:39now he's going to come out behind both Ferraris by the look of things
52:42behind Alonso and of course it's been Alonso Raikkonen throughout this race
52:47and now Alonso is actually ahead of Raikkonen whereas he was sitting behind him for a while
52:51so Mark Webber still in the hump there as well
52:54I don't think we should discount him from this race but he needs to try and close up that gap to Hamilton now
53:01and keep an eye on the relative speeds as well there of the McLaren of Hamilton
53:06who's got himself a little held up perhaps behind Maldonado
53:10and that might give Webber the chance to close that gap again
53:13just having an eye on the gap that Rosberg has currently having done one stop
53:20if we look at our first of the two stoppers who's running out there that's Jenson Button
53:25he's currently 20 seconds
53:28doing some brilliant job on the sale but the cars in front are on much older tyres
53:31they're all there for the taking
53:33and encouragement
53:35yeah that's right
53:36but what I was saying there is Jenson's running 20 seconds behind Nico Rosberg
53:40so it's going to be extremely close when Rosberg does pit
53:44whether he comes out in front of Button or not
53:46as we expect it to be about 21 seconds
53:49for when you leave the circuit do your stop and get back out again
53:52so Jenson Button
53:54if we presume that if Rosberg is going to have to follow a similar strategy
54:00and pit again
54:01it's going to be nip and tuck between those two guys
54:03yeah it is
54:04so that's one to watch
54:05but Rosberg is the race leader at the moment
54:07and still lapping very competitively
54:09143-1 was his last lap
54:12Button
54:13still trying to find a way through here on Sebastian Vettel
54:17and Vettel's tyres of course much older than Jenson Button's
54:20Button did a 1 minute 41
54:22so he was a second and a half faster than Vettel on that last lap
54:26so he's right up behind him
54:27will he have to wait for the DRS zone
54:29or is he going to be able to overtake before they even get there?
54:31a very slow lap there for Rosberg out front of 43-1
54:36and we've got Button doing 41-7
54:38so Button has now got that gap down to 18 seconds
54:42car going very slowly
54:43that's cover lining I believe in the Caterham
54:45and after a good run in the early stages of this race
54:49great start
54:50I think it's the Fin is in trouble
54:52the two Ferraris there
54:53Massa and Alonso 10th and 11th
54:54but remember Alonso has stopped for the second time
54:57Massa hasn't done that yet
54:59and the Ferrari must be sliding around a lot
55:01so I wouldn't think he's going to block Alonso for long
55:04well
55:05okay so Fernando had a different strategy
55:07Fernando had a different strategy
55:08so let the other car pass
55:09different strategy
55:10of course team autos are allowed in Formula 1 now
55:14and famously it was brought to a head
55:17because of the information that Massa got in Hockenheim a few years ago
55:21where I think his engineer said
55:24Button on Vettel just to interrupt you there David
55:27so he's got that move made
55:29and cleanly done
55:30maybe a little bit of demonstration there of the straight line speed
55:33even with DRS he had that move made quite early
55:36and Alonso on Massa here we go
55:38no chance for Massa anyway really with the DRS in operation
55:41and Alonso goes past his team mate
55:44well Rosberg is running about one and a half seconds slower than the pace of Jenson Button
55:54Button lost a little bit of time on that lap passing Vettel
55:57so the gap's still at 18 seconds
55:59so Rosberg will be trying to hold on to do a two stopper this afternoon
56:04that looks like the best opportunity for him to win this Grand Prix
56:08certainly if he was to bail in now he's going to come out behind the McLaren
56:12so McLaren on a three stopper Mercedes on a two stopper
56:16perhaps but if they are then the tyre wear at the end of the race could be very crucial
56:21and it might be very difficult to stay up there
56:24but we'll wait and see as you say
56:26Rosberg still the race leader at the moment
56:28now Alonso making another move
56:30and getting past Paul de Resta
56:32clean move no problem at all up at turn six
56:34Massa still not coming into the pit
56:36so it does look as though the two Ferraris are on different strategies here
56:40and interestingly a new fastest lap has just been set by the Toro Rosso
56:44of the man who started from the pit lane earlier
56:46Jean-Eric Verne
56:47made massive changes to the setup on the car
56:50changed a lot of the body work for the race
56:52he was really unhappy after qualifying yesterday
56:54and although he's new to Formula One
56:56he's certainly been very rapid in the ranks of single seater racing
57:00that he's driven before coming into Formula One
57:02and he's just got a fastest lap for the moment
57:05of course I'm sure we'll see those fastest laps tumble
57:07as we go through the race and more fuel is burnt off
57:10Paul we are definitely still in a race here
57:12we are definitely still in a race
57:14currently sitting in ninth place
57:17so in other words do not let that Ferrari pass too easily
57:21I know I can imagine frustrated driver behind the wheel thinking
57:24thanks for that message
57:26I think it's very difficult to forget you're in a race
57:29when you're sitting in a cockpit of that temperature
57:31doing 200 miles an hour approaching the braking zone there in turn 14
57:35Gary a quick thought looking at what were the pictures we're seeing so far
57:39we're not seeing the sort of overtaking under DRS
57:42we've just seen Vettel into the pits by the way
57:44so keep an eye on that
57:45but we're not seeing the sort of overtaking under DRS
57:48that perhaps we saw last year or we expected
57:50what are your thoughts on that?
57:51Yeah I am surprised as well
57:53because obviously you know we've seen quite a bit of difference
57:56in car speed down the end of that straight
57:58than qualifying
57:59and you'd have thought the 15 to 20 kilometres an hour
58:02that you get from the DRS
58:04that it would actually have been enough to tow past
58:06but it just seemed
58:07maybe the marbles
58:08too many marbles on the final track
58:10or just you know
58:12just not enough speed over that distance
58:13because obviously you don't start the DRS
58:15right at the beginning of the straight
58:16and start it halfway down
58:18so it should be able to be done
58:20but difficult is the idea of the thing
58:22but I think it's a bit too difficult today
58:24Well we're seeing some passes
58:26but certainly not as many as we might have expected
58:28that's one to watch for the rest of the race
58:30Jean-Erik Verne with that fastest
58:32I think he's just done another one actually
58:33141-1 for Jean-Erik Verne
58:36Heike Kovaleinen
58:37right you saw him trundling around earlier
58:39he's pulled the car back in the pits
58:41now then what happened
58:42or maybe this was what caused him to trundle
58:44was there a problem trying to get that wheel on?
58:46Yes there was
58:47and whether that then led to his problems
58:50I'm not sure
58:51but he is out of the Grand Prix
58:53two retirements Michael Schumacher and Heike Kovaleinen
58:56well Grosjean finds himself running in second place at this stage of the Grand Prix
59:02only done one stop like Rosberg
59:04but you see where he did his first stop was on lap 11
59:09so a very early stop
59:10so trying to get good life out of this second set of tyres
59:14and Perez also going well isn't he?
59:16and Perez has only done the one stop
59:18and still lapping pretty well
59:19but Button's just set fastest lap now
59:21to 140.9
59:22Hamilton here trying to get past Perez
59:24ooh
59:25that was interesting he
59:26there was no way there
59:27but he thought that he might have a go up the inside
59:29decided against it
59:31and Perez
59:32just fending off
59:34Lewis Hamilton
59:35the double winner here in China in the past
59:37for the moment
59:38in comes Grosjean
59:39right there you are
59:40you're talking about Romain Grosjean
59:41but that was a good stint I think by the Frenchman
59:43you know he's
59:44he will have moved himself up the order hugely as a result of that
59:47and Romain Grosjean showing the sort of pace that we saw
59:50in testing from him
59:51which he hasn't really been able to demonstrate in the first two Grand Prix of this year
59:55yeah that was an impressive 21
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