Chinese Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 1)
Bettor.com welcomes you to our highlights package of the Chinese Grand Prix 2011 from the Shanghai circuit.
After an interesting bit of qualifying on the day before, Sebastian Vettel recorded his 18th career pole. The German has had a 100 percent success rate in qualifying so far this season and ideally looked to convert his good start to a strong finish
at the end of the 56 laps.
Behind the Red Bull were the two McLarens. Jenson Button preceded teammate Lewis Hamilton for what looked to be an interesting battle between podium positions. While Vettel has made excellent starts in the past 2 races, the McLaren drivers were potentially
still in with a shout if they could beat the Red Bull to the first corner and go on to control the race from thereon.
Staying with the Red Bulls, Mark Webber started the race back in 18th and it looked set to be a tantalizing prospect seeing the best ‘car’ on track carve its way past the rest of the field – The Australian would ideally be hoping to cash into
any kind of mistake or collision on part of the cars ahead going into the first corner.
The Pirellis have definitely dictated pit strategy this season. However, seeing as the weather was expected to be dry throughout, the primary focus would ideally be on finding the right balance between the hard and soft compound option during the course
of the race.
Meanwhile, Team Williams reverted back to the standard exhaust system on their cars for the race as they felt the new one wasn't yet ready to be installed.
With less than 5 minutes on the clock for the start of the race, the cameras spotted some activity in the McLaren team pit garage. Lewis Hamilton’s car was still stationary with its engine cover off. It was reported that the MP4 – 26 had a fuel leak.
However, after some quick and efficient work, McLaren managed to get their British driver out of the pits with 30 seconds to spare and avoid a penalty – Hopefully, the patch would last the beating the car would take over the extent of the nearly one and
a half hour of racing.
A few moments later, engines had been fired and tyre warmers removed. Drivers were set to leave on their warm up laps in a while..
To be continued in part 2...
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