Chinese Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 2)
The five red lights illuminated... and as they went out, the Chinese Grand Prix officially went underway. Sebastian Vettel made a terrible start and almost banged wheels with Lewis Hamilton as both McLarens slipped by the Red Bull into the lead – It was stressed at the beginning of the race that the Red Bull was going to be an extremely tough hurdle over the course of the 56 laps meaning that the McLarens had to make their move heading into turn 1 – Excellent double teaming by the two British drivers.
Just behind the leading trio, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa had a close scrap as Fernando Alonso tried to find a way past both of them. Michael Schumacher made an excellent start as he worked his way up to 9th from 13th position as the dramatic first lap of the race concluded.
Focusing on Mark Webber’s Red Bull, the Australian hadn’t been able to make up much ground from his 18th starting position and was running in 17th after the first lap. Jenson Button was told by his team to build up a good gap before Race Control allows drivers to use the Drag Reduction System (DRS) from lap 3 onwards – Important to note here is that the DRS cannot be used unless the trailing car is less than 1.2 seconds behind.
The race headed into its third lap. It was effectively a McLaren 1 – 2 led by Button. At the back of the field, Webber made up another spot as he got past Perez’s Sauber to slot into 16th – The Australian evidently looked like a man on a mission. It was vital that the Red Bull made its move as the Pirellis were still new – Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap; further indication of McLaren’s dominance in the early stages.
In a further scramble for places, Kamyui Kobayashi in the Sauber took 10th place away from Jaime Alguersuari under barking into turn 14 – The DRS was set to be allowed at the end of the effective lap.
Nico Rosberg was being chased by the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso while Jenson Button set the fastest lap – We had seen how McLaren pulled off the numbers game over Vettel; was double teaming the way to go about it at the Shanghai circuit?
The race got off to an exciting start. Stay tuned...
To be continued in part 3...
Tags: