Chinese Grand Prix analysis

After the statistics and photo slideshow, here is my analysis of the Chinese GP.

Straight line speeds

	Driver	Speed (kph)
1	Lewis Hamilton	318
2	Rubens Barrichello	313.2
3	Sebastian Vettel	310.9
4	Felipe Massa	310.3
5	Jaime Alguersuari	308.9
6	Fernando Alonso	307
7	Mark Webber	306.9
8	Karun Chandhok	306.6
9	Bruno Senna	306.2
10	Michael Schumacher	305.5
11	Adrian Sutil	305.4
12	Nico Hulkenberg	304.3
13	Vitaly Petrov	303.4
14	Jenson Button	303.3
15	Robert Kubica	300.9
16	Nico Rosberg	299.5
17	Heikki Kovalainen	298.5
18	Jarno Trulli	294.1
19	Lucas di Grassi	293.6
20	Pedro de la Rosa	287

The first obvious thing to note is that Lewis Hamilton is leading this list, while Jenson Button is a whole 15km/h behind. Clearly, Jenson had more of a grip-based setup than Lewis, which would explain his lack of speed. This would also explain why his last set of tyres desintigrated in the final few laps, when he usually has perfect tyre managment as his top skill.

It was interesting enough to see the Force India of Adrian Sutil be beaten by both of the HRT cars. Also, drivers like Barrichello, Vettel, Massa and Alguersuri were the fastest apart from Hamilton. These were some of the drivers who opted to use a dry weather setup for the race. This backfired for them all, mostly Alguersuari, who we saw sliding back down the field later in the race, and miss out on possible points.

The fact that Pedro de la Rosa was miles slower than anyone else can probably be attributed to the engine failure that took him out of the race soon after the start.

Button vs Hamilton

Button vs Hamilton in Shanghai

Yes, I know I do this chart far too much, but it really is too interesting to miss. Note that the two massive increases in lap times were caused by the safety car and their second pit stops respectively.

Again, this chart shows why Lewis Hamilton has the advantage of more raw speed than Button. The question is, why is Jenson beating Lewis? This is mainly because of Button’s superior strategy decicions and tyre managment. While Hamilton opted for intermidiate tyres on Lap 2, Button stayed out, and Lewis was forced to pit again on Lap 5 for dries.

Because of this, Lewis had a 40 second deficit to Button within a few laps. However, the second safety car completely ruined Button’s advantage, and gave Lewis a chance to fight back. While he did, he was unable to catch up to and overtake Button in time. So, from this, we can learn that while Lewis was faster for most of the race, he failed to be faster when it mattered most – at the end. This goes back to Button’s excellent tyre managment.

For most of Laps 45-50, Lewis was unable to catch up, as he was stuck behind Rosberg, and then his tyres desintigrated. While Button’s were completely gone as well, he was able to maintain a lead, despite a mistake on Lap 51, and win the race.

Since then, Hamilton has conceded that he may have to take “the easier route” as he calls it, and make the right decicions at the right time, rather than hard racing.

Fastest lap per driver

	Driver	Team	Time	Set on Lap #
1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1.42.061	13
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1.42.358	14
3	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1.42.609	14
4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1.42.886	14
5	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	1.43.245	14
6	Robert Kubica	Renault	1.43.630	14
7	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1.43.755	14
8	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1.43.801	14
9	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1.44.134	14
10	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	1.44.298	14
11	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1.44.364	14
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1.44.549	13
13	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1.44.594	14
14	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1.45.559	17
15	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1.47.141	14
16	Pedro de la Rosa	Sauber-Ferrari	1.47.739	6
17	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	1.48.216	16
18	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	1.48.788	15
19	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1.49.675	14
20	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	1.53.185	7

Again, this shows how Lewis has more raw pace than Jenson. Otherwise, we can see how the Red Bulls did have good pace this weekend, but their disastrous first pit stop for intermidiate tyres, when one of the wheel guns failed on Mark Webber, ruined their races.

Also, this chart proves how Pedro de la Rosa was in serious trouble from the start, as his best lap, set on Lap 7 when the track had dried out, was 11 seconds slower than Hamilton’s.

About these ads