After a brief foray into Anomaly Land last month when Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix due to an error in race pit stop strategies from Mercedes, everything returned to normal this week as Mercedes made the same pit stops as the Ferrari team and the result when everything is equal is the same as it as always been for the last year and a half – Mercedes went 1-2 in the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Lewis Hamilton won easily – albeit under an anti-climactic caution flag – while teammate Nico Rosberg claimed second and Vettel nabbed the final podium spot.
In what is essentially destined to become a two team race for podium spots between Ferrari and Mercedes, the race began with a 20-car grid – their largest of the year so far – although the final four cars on the grid, the two McLarens and the two Manor [the Team Formerly Known as Marussia] were merely cars getting in the way of the others and would eventually be lapped. As expected, Hamilton took off from his pole position spot, followed closely by Rosberg, then Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. That was generally the order of positions for the remainder of the race with only a few pit stops temporarily shuffling the order for a lap or two and Mercedes comfortably ahead of the Ferraris and with all four cars comfortably ahead of everybody else.
Race elements that could be classified as drama occurred in Lap 10 when Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg meekly crashed out, Lap 15 when Red Bull’s Daniil Kyvat’s car predictably caught itself on fire, Lap 24 when Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, Jr. tried to figure out how a gearbox worked and Lap 52 when – finally – Pastor Maldonado put himself and Lotus out of their misery by retiring. Maldonado spent much of his time on the track trying to make the race interesting for viewers by overshooting the pit lane entrance, causing an accident with Jenson Button’s McLaren and spinning out twice all by himself.
The final element of drama came in Lap 54 when Toro Rosso’s 17-year-old wunderkind driver, Max Verstappen, experienced an engine/gearbox failure on the main straightaway that caused the final three laps of the race to be completed under the yellow caution flag and a boring parade procession of the top 10 cars at the finish line.
Hamilton leads the overall 2015 Formula One season standings with 68 points, followed by Vettel with 55 and Rosberg with 51.
The 2015 Formula One season continues with the Bahrain Grand Prix in Bahrain at 8 a.m. [PDT] on NBCSN on April 19, 2015.
2015 Chinese Grand Prix Results
56 laps – 190 miles
Driver Points Time Avg. mph
1 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes 25 1:39:42.008 183.59
2 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes 18 +0.714 Sec 183.568
3 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari 15 +2.988 Sec 183.498
4 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari 12 +3.835 Sec 183.472
5 Felipe Massa – Williams 10 +8.544 Sec 183.328
6 Valtteri Bottas – Williams 8 +9.885 Sec 183.287
7 Romain Grosjean – Lotus 6 +19.008 Sec 183.008
8 Felipe Nasr – Sauber 4 +22.625 Sec 182.898
9 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull 2 +32.117 Sec 182.609
10 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber 1 – 180.246
11 Sergio Perez – Force India 0 – 180.158
12 Fernando Alonso – McLaren 0 – 180.135
13 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso 0 – 180.03
14 Jenson Button – McLaren 0 – 180.074
15 Will Stevens – Marussia 0 – 176.721
16 Roberto Merhi – Marussia 0 – 176.71
17 Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso 0 – 184.549
18 Pastor Maldonado – Lotus 0 – 180.601
19 Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull 0 – 181.776
20 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India 0 – 182.396