Chinese Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 12)
The two McLarens had been extremely efficient – perhaps the best pair on the day. However, as the race headed to Lap-36, the McLaren tag-team began to cannibalize itself. Lewis Hamilton stormed his way past Jenson Button on the back front straight. Button
tried to fight back with a few of his overtaking manoeuvres, as both MP4 – 26s headed into turn 1 and 2, but was unsuccessful.
Were we going to see a repeat from the Turkish Grand Prix last year? When Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were firmly in control to make it a Red Bull one – two but seemed to deviate from the main plan and ended up cancelling each other out. Were we in
for some late drama this term?
Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg’s lead over Hamilton was effectively down to 2.5 seconds with the Briton catching up fast. Further back the order, Fernando Alonso did a crossover move on Vitaly Petrov to snatch 8th spot.
The McLaren pit crew sprang to their feet and were ready to welcome one of their British drivers – But who was it going to be? Moments later, Jenson Button dived into the pits from 3rd position for a new set of hard compound tyres and came back
on track in 5th spot. Petrov followed suit as he made his way off the racing line and into pit lane from his 9th position.
The battle between Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher was heating up after the former took some giant leaps towards the Mercedes after being boxed behind Petrov. Soon after, the Australian managed to get both wheels ahead and take 6th position
– It would be worth reminding our readers that Webber started the race from 18th spot and had made up a total of 12 places in the course of 39 laps!
Lewis Hamilton came into the pits for his third stop-and-go of the day. The Briton managed to get back on track in 4th position, ahead of his teammate importantly. It appeared that staying on track for an additional lap proved to go in his favour.
However, Jenson Button responded quickly by posting the fastest time at the end of the lap.
Nearly two-thirds of the race was completed and we were already seeing a lot of overtaking manoeuvres. With the race entering the final 18 laps, were we in for much of the same?
To be continued in part 13...
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