2016 Chinese Grand Prix

 2016 Chinese Grand Prix

Racing data
3rd of 21 races in the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	2016 Formula 1 Pirelli Chinese Grand Prix
Date:	17th April 2016
Place:	Shanghai
Course:	Shanghai International Circuit
Length:	305.066 km in 56 laps of 5.451 km
Pole position
Driver:	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Time:	1: 35.402 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes
Time:	1: 39.824 min (lap 48)
Podium
First:	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Second:	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Third:	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-TAG Heuer

The Chinese Grand Prix 2016 (officially 2016 Formula 1 Pirelli Chinese Grand Prix ) took place on 17 April at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai instead and was the third race of the Formula 1 World Championship in 2016 .

report

backgrounds

After the Bahrain Grand Prix , Nico Rosberg led the drivers' standings with 17 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton and 26 points ahead of Daniel Ricciardo . In the constructors' championship, Mercedes was ahead of Ferrari with 50 points and Red Bull with 53 points .

At the Chinese Grand Prix, Pirelli provided the drivers with the tire compounds P Zero Medium (white), P Zero Soft (yellow) and P Zero Supersoft (red) as well as Cinturato Intermediates (green) and Cinturato Full Wets (blue) for wet conditions .

At McLaren , Fernando Alonso returned to the cockpit after recovering from his chest injuries that he sustained in an accident at the Australian Grand Prix and because of which he was not allowed to start in Bahrain by the FIA .

The DRS zones remained unchanged compared to the previous year, the measuring point for the first zone was 35 meters before turn 16, the zone itself was on the start-finish straight and began 98 meters after the last curve. The measuring point for the second DRS zone was in curve 12, the DRS was then allowed to be activated 752 meters before curve 14.

There were no changes to the route compared to the previous year, only in curves 9, 10, 11 and 16 further curbs were added behind the existing curbs , which were 50 millimeters higher than the existing elements.

Max Verstappen (eight), Marcus Ericsson (four), Kimi Räikkönen , Vettel (three each), Alonso, Valtteri Bottas , Romain Grosjean , Hamilton, Rio Haryanto , Nico Hülkenberg , Daniil Kwjat and Felipe Nasr (two each) went into the competition with penalty points Race weekend.

With Hamilton (four times), Alonso (twice), Raikkonen, Vettel, Jenson Button and Rosberg (once each), six former winners competed in this Grand Prix.

The race stewards were Silvia Bellot , Alan Jones , Ge Jun and Tim Mayer .

The FIA ​​World Council decided in the week before the race to discard the qualifying mode introduced at the beginning of the season and return to the mode of the previous year.

A few days before the race it became known that Hamilton's gearbox was damaged in the collision with Bottas shortly after the start of the race in Bahrain and had to be replaced. Therefore, Hamilton received a starting place penalty of five places.

training

In the first free practice, Rosberg set the fastest time in 1: 38.037 minutes ahead of Hamilton and Vettel. The training was interrupted twice because there were several tire damages on the left rear, two of them with Felipe Massa and once with Kevin Magnussen . The race management initially suspected a problem with the Pirelli tires, until it turned out that Massa had broken the rim and Magnussen's wheel suspension had broken before the tire was damaged.

In the second free practice session, Raikkonen set the fastest lap time in 1: 36.896 minutes ahead of Vettel and Rosberg. Magnussen didn't drive at all after his suspension break in the first practice session, Esteban Gutiérrez only did four laps and then had to park his vehicle with a brake defect.

In the third free practice session, which was held in wet weather conditions, Vettel set the fastest time in 1: 57.351 minutes ahead of Bottas and Sergio Pérez . Since the number of rain tires per driver and race weekend was limited, the McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull drivers as well as Ericsson and Grosjean did not drive a timed lap.

Qualifying

The qualifying consisted of three parts with a net running time of 45 minutes. In the first qualifying segment (Q1), the drivers had 18 minutes to qualify for the race. All drivers who achieved a time in the first section that was a maximum of 107 percent of the fastest lap time qualified for the Grand Prix. The best 16 drivers reached the next part. Vettel was fastest. The track was dry after the third free practice session, but there were still wet spots on the start-finish straight at the beginning of practice. Pascal Wehrlein skidded on one of these spots with his slick-tyred car and hit the lane, so training had to be interrupted. Hamilton did not complete a timed lap due to a problem with his ERS , ending a series of 27 races in which he reached Q3. Hamilton, the Manor, the Renault drivers and Gutiérrez were eliminated.

The second section (Q2) lasted 15 minutes. The ten fastest pilots qualified for the third part of qualifying. The training session was canceled one minute before the end because Hulkenberg lost his left front wheel and parked the vehicle on the edge of the track. Raikkonen was the fastest, Rosberg came third on the soft tire compound. The Sauber and McLaren drivers, Grosjean and Massa were eliminated.

The final section (Q3) lasted twelve minutes, during which the first ten starting positions were awarded. Rosberg set the fastest time ahead of Ricciardo and Raikkonen. It was the 23rd pole position for Rosberg, including the first of the season. Ricciardo and the Red Bull team finished on the front row for the first time since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix .

After qualifying, Hülkenberg received a starting place penalty of three places because his team had sent him out on the track with an incorrectly attached bike.

run

Ricciardo started well and took the lead from Rosberg. Behind them Kwjat overtook both Ferrari drivers in the first corner, Vettel dodged to the outside and collided with Raikkonen. Räikkönen went off the track to the outside, while Felipe Nasr had to dodge when driving back and collided with Hamilton, whose front wing slipped under the vehicle and damaged the underbody. There was also contact between Grosjean and Ericsson. At the end of the first lap, Grosjean, Räikkönen and Hamilton pitted to have new front wings fitted.

Vettel, who had initially dropped several places, overtook several drivers and was already back in sixth place at the end of the second lap. Ricciardo was now in front of Rosberg, Kwjat, Pérez, Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz jr. , Vettel, Button, Massa and Bottas.

On the third lap, Rosberg attacked Ricciardo, who at the same time burst the left rear tire after driving over a piece of debris from the accident from the first lap. He pitted to change tires and dropped back to 18th place. On the fourth lap, the race management decided to send the safety car out onto the track so that further debris could be removed from the lane.

Kwjat, Pérez, Hülkenberg, Sainz, Vettel, Button and Bottas used this opportunity to pit for a tire change. Hülkenberg drove slowly in the pit entrance to get a gap on his team-mate Pérez, since both drivers could not complete the pit stop at the same time. He was overtaken by Vettel, Sainz stayed behind Hülkenberg. The race stewards investigated the incident, Hülkenberg received a five-second penalty and two penalty points for unnecessarily slowing down in the pit lane. Vettel had his damaged front wing replaced during the pit stop and thus lost several positions. When Pérez drove off, there was almost a collision with Sainz and Button approaching from behind. The race management waived a penalty against Pérez, only the team had to pay a fine of 5000 US dollars.

Rosberg led before Massa, Alonso, Wehrlein, Gutiérrez, Kwjat, Palmer, Haryanto, Pérez and Bottas. Hamilton stopped twice during the safety car phase, first switching to Supersoft and then back to Soft one lap so that he could now complete the race exclusively on Soft .

At the end of the eighth lap, the race was released again. After the clearance, with the exception of Rosberg, all drivers who had not changed tires lost several positions within a few laps. Vettel attacked Bottas, there was a contact, Vettel's new front wing was damaged and he lost several small parts of it on the start-finish straight. Vettel drove on anyway and overtook other competitors.

Raikkonen drove to the second pit stop. After 17 laps, Rosberg was leading Kwjat by around ten seconds, followed by Massa, Vettel, Pérez, Bottas, Sainz, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Button. In the following four laps, all drivers came to the pits to change tires. Raikkonen and Hamilton subsequently overtook several competitors and were both back in the points. Vettel meanwhile shortened the gap to Kwjat, but did not come within striking distance to launch an attack.

On lap 31, Hamilton pitted for the fifth time and switched to the medium mix. Meanwhile, Rosberg was leading by around 30 seconds ahead of Kwjat and Vettel, who both entered the pits on lap 36. While Kwjat also switched to medium , Vettel switched to soft . Just one lap later, he took advantage of the tire advantage and overtook Kwjat.

Rosberg switched to medium on lap 36 and was now able to finish the race without another pit stop. A lap later Ricciardo also switched to medium .

Hamilton, Ricciardo and Raikkonen caught up with the two Williams drivers who were fourth and fifth. Shortly afterwards, all three passed Bottas. However, Massa managed to defend himself against the attacks of Hamilton, who had to let Ricciardo pass on lap 43 and Raikkonen on lap 46. Shortly afterwards, both drivers also overtook Massa and pulled away from him.

Gutiérrez, Grosjean and Hülkenberg switched to the supersoft mixture again in the final phase of the race and then drove the fastest laps of the race. However, all three drivers were outside the points and had no prospect of making it into the top ten.

On the 54th lap, Bottas braked himself and fell behind Verstappen, and on the last lap behind Sainz.

Rosberg won the race ahead of Vettel and Kwjat. It was the 17th victory for Rosberg, the sixth in a row. Kvyat achieved his second podium after the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix . Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz and Bottas took the further points. All the riders who started reached the finish line, the last time this was the 2011 European Grand Prix .

The first three positions in the drivers' championship remained unchanged, Rosberg extended his lead over Hamilton and Ricciardo. There were also no changes in the constructors' championship.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	06th	Nico Rosberg
Scuderia Ferrari	05	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari SF16-H	Ferrari 059/5	P
	07th	Kimi Raikkonen
Williams Martini Racing	19th	Felipe Massa	Williams FW38	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	77	Valtteri Bottas
Red Bull Racing	03	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull RB12	Day, this year	P
	26th	Daniil Kvyat
Sahara Force India F1 Team	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India VJM09	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	11	Sergio Perez
Renault Sport F1 Team	20th	Kevin Magnussen	Renault RS16	Renault Energy F1 2016	P
	30th	Jolyon Palmer
Scuderia Toro Rosso	33	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso STR11	Ferrari 059/4	P
	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sauber F1 Team	09	Marcus Ericsson	Clean C35	Ferrari 059/5	P
	12	Felipe Nasr
McLaren Honda	14th	Fernando Alonso	McLaren MP4-31	Honda RA616H	P
	22nd	Jenson Button
Manor Racing MRT	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor MRT05	Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid	P
	88	Rio Haryanto
Haas F1 team	08th	Romain Grosjean	Haas VF-16	Ferrari 059/5	P
	21st	Esteban Gutiérrez

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 37.669	1: 36.240	1: 35.402	01
02	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1: 37.672	1: 36.815	1: 35.917	02
03	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1: 37.347	1: 36.118	1: 35.972	03
04th	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1: 37.001	1: 36.183	1: 36.246	04th
05	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1: 37.537	1: 36.831	1: 36.296	05
06th	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1: 37.719	1: 36.948	1: 36.399	06th
07th	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1: 38.096	1: 37.149	1: 36.865	07th
08th	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 37.656	1: 37.204	1: 36.881	08th
09	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 38.181	1: 37.265	1: 37.194	09
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1: 38.165	1: 37.333	no time	13
11	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1: 38.016	1: 37.347	-	10
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1: 38.451	1: 38.826	-	11
13	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	1: 37.593	1: 39.093	-	12
14th	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1: 38.425	1: 39.830	-	14th
15th	Marcus Ericsson	Clean Ferrari	1: 38.321	1: 40.742	-	15th
16	Felipe Nasr	Clean Ferrari	1: 38.654	1: 42.430	-	16
17th	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1: 38.673	-	-	17th
18th	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	1: 38.770	-	-	18th
19th	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1: 39.528	-	-	19th
20th	Rio Haryanto	Manor Mercedes	1: 40.264	-	-	20th
107 percent time : 1: 43.791 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 37.001 min)
-	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Mercedes	no time	-	-	21st
-	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	no time	-	-	22nd

Remarks

1. ↑ Hülkenberg was moved three starting positions back because he was sent onto the track in Q2 with an incorrectly attached front wheel.
2. ↑ Hamilton was moved five starting positions back because his gearbox was changed before the race weekend.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	56	2	1: 38: 53.891	01	1: 40,418 (38th)
02	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	56	3	+ 37.776	04th	1: 40.610 (37.)
03	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	56	3	+ 45.936	06th	1: 41,546 (38th)
04th	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	56	3	+ 52.688	02	1: 41.015 (55th)
05	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	56	3	+1: 05.872	03	1: 40.593 (40.)
06th	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	56	2	+1: 15.511	10	1: 41.815 (34th)
07th	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	5	+1: 18.230	22nd	1: 40.662 (32nd)
08th	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	56	3	+1: 19.268	09	1: 40.399 (41st)
09	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	56	3	+1: 24.127	08th	1: 41.485 (35th)
10	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	56	3	+1: 26.192	05	1: 41.558 (23.)
11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	56	3	+1: 34.283	07th	1: 41.846 (30.)
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	56	2	+1: 37.253	14th	1: 42.226 (36.)
13	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	56	3	+1: 41.990	12	1: 40.298 (46.)
14th	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	55	3	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 40.368 (45th)
15th	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	55	4th	+ 1 lap	13	1: 39.824 (48th)
16	Marcus Ericsson	Clean Ferrari	55	2	+ 1 lap	15th	1: 43.269 (41.)
17th	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	55	3	+ 1 lap	17th	1: 42.311 (22.)
18th	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Mercedes	55	3	+ 1 lap	21st	1: 41,489 (48th)
19th	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	55	4th	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 39.923 (48th)
20th	Felipe Nasr	Clean Ferrari	55	3	+ 1 lap	16	1: 40.582 (42nd)
21st	Rio Haryanto	Manor Mercedes	55	3	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 42.009 (42nd)
22nd	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	55	3	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 42.232 (26.)

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 75 02  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 39 03  Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 36 04th  Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 33 05  Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 28 06th  Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 22nd 07th  Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-TAG Heuer 21st 08th  Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 18th 09  Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13 10  Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 7th 11  Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 6th 12  Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4th

Item driver constructor Points 13  Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1 14th  Kevin Magnussen Renault 0 15th  Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 0 16  Jolyon Palmer Renault 0 17th  Marcus Ericsson Clean Ferrari 0 18th  Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 0 19th  Jenson Button McLaren Honda 0 20th  Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 0 21st  Felipe Nasr Clean Ferrari 0 22nd  Esteban Gutiérrez Haas-Ferrari 0 23  Rio Haryanto Manor Mercedes 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 1  Mercedes 114 2  Ferrari 61 3  Red Bull-TAG Heuer 57 4th  Williams-Mercedes 29 5  Haas-Ferrari 18th 6th  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17th

Item constructor Points 07th  Force India-Mercedes 6th 08th  McLaren Honda 1 09  Renault 0 10  Clean Ferrari 0 11  Manor Mercedes 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mario Fritzsche: Pirelli announces tire selection for Bahrain and China. Motorsport-Total.com, December 17, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Green light from the FIA ​​doctors: Alonso is allowed to start in China. Motorsport-Total.com, April 14, 2014, accessed April 14, 2014 . 
3. ^ ^{A b c} Ruben Zimmermann: Formula 1 China: Alan Jones as race steward in action. Motorsport-Total.com, April 12, 2016, accessed April 12, 2016 . 
4. ^ Charlie Whiting: Event Notes. (PDF) FIA, April 14, 2016, p. 2 , accessed on April 15, 2016 (English). 
5. ↑ Norman Fischer: Last hurdle cleared: Old qualifying definitely from China. Motorsport-Total.com, April 11, 2016, accessed April 11, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Five places down: gear change at Lewis Hamilton. Motorsport-Total.com, April 14, 2014, accessed April 14, 2014 . 
7. ^ GP China in Shanghai / 1st free practice. Motorsport-Total.com, April 15, 2016, accessed April 15, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Formula 1 China 2016: Tire damage overshadows FT1. Motorsport-Total.com, April 15, 2016, accessed April 15, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Norman Fischer, Dieter Rencken: Cause research: Pirelli innocent of tire damage. Motorsport-Total.com, April 15, 2016, accessed April 15, 2016 . 
10. ↑ GP China in Shanghai / 2nd free practice. Motorsport-Total.com, April 15, 2016, accessed April 15, 2016 . 
11. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Formula 1 China 2016: Ferrari challenges Mercedes. Motorsport-Total.com, April 15, 2016, accessed April 15, 2016 . 
12. ^ GP China in Shanghai / 3rd free practice. Motorsport-Total.com, April 16, 2016, accessed April 16, 2016 . 
13. ^ Christian Nimmervoll: Formula 1 China 2016: Rain best time for Sebastian Vettel. Motorsport-Total.com, April 16, 2016, accessed April 16, 2016 . 
14. ↑ Norman Fischer, Dieter Rencken: Force India: penalty for Hülkenberg, fast departure for Perez. Motorsport-Total.com, April 16, 2016, accessed April 16, 2016 .