2013 Chinese Grand Prix grid

2013 Chinese Grand Prix

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Row 11. Lewis Hamilton 1’34.484
Mercedes
2. Kimi Raikkonen 1’34.761
Lotus
Row 23. Fernando Alonso 1’34.788
Ferrari
4. Nico Rosberg 1’34.864
Mercedes
Row 35. Felipe Massa 1’34.933
Ferrari
6. Romain Grosjean 1’35.364
Lotus
Row 47. Daniel Ricciardo 1’35.998
Toro Rosso
8. Jenson Button 2’5.673
McLaren
Row 59. Sebastian Vettel No time
Red Bull
10. Nico Hulkenberg No time
Sauber
Row 611. Paul di Resta 1’36.287
Force India
12. Sergio Perez 1’36.314
McLaren
Row 713. Adrian Sutil 1’36.405
Force India
14. Pastor Maldonado 1’37.139
Williams
Row 815. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’37.199
Toro Rosso
16. Valtteri Bottas 1’37.769
Williams
Row 917. Esteban Gutierrez 1’37.99
Sauber
18. Jules Bianchi 1’38.78
Marussia
Row 1019. Max Chilton 1’39.537
Marussia
20. Charles Pic 1’39.614
Caterham
Row 1121. Giedo van der Garde 1’39.66
Caterham
22. Mark Webber 1’36.679*
Red Bull

*Excluded from qualifying after running out of fuel.

2013 Chinese Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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85 comments on “2013 Chinese Grand Prix grid”

  1. What an incredible lap from Button in Q3 there.

    1. looking at the time sheet, Usain Bolt would have beaten Button to the chequered flag!

      1. David Coulthard was talking about a cross-over point on BBC. Apparently 8th the clean side over 9th, because the cars run from the very right side of the track to the left, coming out of the final corner.

        If so, then Jenson has outsmarted Sebastian big time.

        1. To be honest I can’t see Vettel being behind Button very long at all as his car is around 1 sec per lap faster. Vettel could start in a puddle of mud and still be in front within a lap or two, or three if he has to wait for DRS.

        2. I heard that row 4 is 16m further forward than row 5.

          If so, then Jenson has outsmarted Sebastian big time.

          1. +1 @jerseyf1

            I lol’d pretty hard at that

  2. Pirelli is spoiling the sport. Teams are saving tyres instead of running for a proper shootout today.

    1. Now there’s something we haven’t heard before.

      Without Pirelli RBR would probably be dominant, as they claim to have much more downforce on their car than anyone else. Enjoy it while you can.

      1. Without Pirelli RBR would probably be dominant

        I’ve seen nothing to suggest that would be the case.

        Im fed up of this Formula Tyre saver now, I want F1 back!

        1. Relax people. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We had the same thing in the first races last year too and everything seemed to have settled by the second half.
          The Pirelli guy said that teams like to complain when everything isn’t as they want it but at the same time they are working like hell and solve problems faster that you can put them so they will find a way to manage the tyres good and there is a good chance he may be right.

      2. In fact both of your comment types we’ve heard a lot of, and that really is the main issue. Comments about tyres instead of the pole sitter’s lap should send alarm bells ringing.

        Pirelli get the stick, but its the FIA that have done this.

      3. True but yet again, tires that last 5 laps when the race has 50-70 is really stupid. Tbh I don’t care if one team dominates, I want the drivers to push to the final meter before the checked flag. I want to see them push and not cruise.
        The direction we are going now is just… stupid. You could see the degradation on the tires after one timed lap. Stupid.

        1. @oji

          Tomorrow, if cars start pitting en mass at 5 laps, I will be surprised.

          I think you are exaggerating things.

          The times they are setting I believe are quicker than last years.

      4. @kingshark
        I seriously doubt that Red Bull have more downforce than Ferrari and Mercedes.
        Vettel just went for a different strategy, we will see tomorrow if it’s right or wrong

      5. @kingshark

        That explains Red Bull losing multiple tenths in the middle sector. Because they have the most downforce…

        1. @f1fannl
          https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/24/f1-fanatic-roundup-2403/
          There you go.

          Read what I said again, also:

          Without Pirelli RBR would probably be dominant, as they claim to have much more downforce on their car than anyone else. Enjoy it while you can.

          1. So why did you say that Red Bull would probably be dominant if you don’t necessarily believe it yourself?

          2. @matt90

            Considering the context comment he was replying to, pointing out that Red Bull have claimed they have the most down force makes sense I think.

    2. You might think that, but I say it’s the stupid “start on your qualy tires” rule that has got to go.

      1. @faulty

        it’s the stupid “start on your qualy tires” rule that has got to go.

        Hear, hear.

      2. Even without the start on quali tyres rule, They would still do as few laps as possible to save a fresh set for the race.

        Also the start on quali tyres rule would not make the tyres last any longer, They would still only be lasting 5-6 laps & drivers would still not want to use them.

        The problem tomorrow will be that within 4 laps the soft tyres will already probably be a second or more slower than the mediums as there losing 1 second of performance per-lap, That in my view is stupid!

      3. I agree on this. This kind of rules limit strategic options and mostly force teams o follow the same strategies.

    3. Usually when a qualy is good it means the race was pretty dull, so what do you prefer. You can even argue that Pirelli brought back qualy tyres.

      1. You can even argue that Pirelli brought back qualy tyres.

        If they want to bring in qualifying tyres then fine, But don’t force drivers to use them in the race.

        As i’ve said in the past, I don’t mind tyres wearing (Don’t mind super durable tyres either as thats what i grew up watching), But I think the tyres we had in 2012 & now this year are too extreme in the other way.

        There should be a good balance between wear/durability & right now its too far on the wear side & likewise there’s a balance in races between conserving tyres/racing hard & right now thats way too far in the direction of conservation.

        In 2011 I didn’t mind the tyres too much, I thought they worked well that year & thus didn’t complain or criticize them (Apart from Istanbul where I felt tyres forcing 4 stops was too much something most including pirelli agreed with btw), I do however as I say think they have gone way too extreme after 2011.

        I see no redeeming feature regarding DRS & will never ever like or accept it, The tyres however I could accept if they scaled things back to at least what we had in 2011.

    4. And yet, they have opened up several possible avenues for strategy in the race. I would rather see a boring qualifying session an interesting race than an I teresting qualifying session and a boring race.

      1. The Next Pope
        13th April 2013, 9:32

        I agree. It would be interesting to see who’ll come charging from the back of the front runners.

    5. I have a solution; the actual part of the tyre that gives the grip is only 2mm thick, and after that, there is the belt.
      If you made the actual grippy part of the tyre a little bit thicker, then the tyres should last longer, hence you could see more drivers pushing hard more of the time.

  3. Excellent performances from Raikkonen and Hamilton there!!!! The Mercs were expected to be up there,but i never thought that Kimi would be able to challenge for pole!!! Meanwhile,the ferraris flattered to deceive yet again!!!

  4. Massa didn’t make it 5 in a row… well he starts from a good position anyway.

    1. To make up for that, he made it 5th on the grid though.. :D

  5. 8. Jenson Button 2’05.673

    :D

    Also, @keithcollantine the 0 behind VDG’s, GUT’s and BIA’s time has dropped away.

  6. Tomorrow will be interesting.

  7. That was a bit of a screw-up from Vettel on that final lap on the mediums (he could definitely have been ahead of Button, possibly Ricciardo) but nonetheless I think it’s going to be very interesting to see what he can do from 9th on the grid. I reckon he could jump quite a few of the front runners judging by the amount of pace the soft tyre is losing lap by lap and how short it’s lifespan is.

    1. I think its more of a screw-up for those who actually set a time on the soft’s. We saw in Australia with Sutil and the soft’s look worse here. It looks like the soft’s only last around 5 laps but an all out pole lap will take a lot from the tyres, as will full fuel at the start of the race. I’d be very surprised if Vettel isn’t leading by lap 5 and able to handle the cars on new tyres, as the harder tyres seem to be pretty good here. Throw Button in the mix and he could act as a buffer to Vettel, helping him pull away.

      Surely something has to be done when it’s better to actually qualify lower down than have pole ? It seems that pole today was an unwanted gift and I have a bad feeling that those who did set a time ( the top 6) will pay the price tomorrow.

      1. @f190 perhaps, but I was just meaning as an individual effort on those tyres! That said though, in Vettel’s post-race interview on Sky he’s giving the impression that he had a brake problem as the pedal was long.

        Surely something has to be done when it’s better to actually qualify lower down than have pole ?

        Absolutely! The top-10 rule in qualifying needs to be scrapped first of all as does the use both compounds rule but I think the primary issue here is the tyres that are like eggshells (to borrow Shumacher’s description): when the tyres are past there best after one lap, you know it’s gone too far.

      2. Andy G (@toothpickbandit)
        13th April 2013, 8:38

        Sure Sutil was running well for the first 2/3rds of the race, but as soon as he put the softs on he dropped well back and should have finished behind his teammate. I suspect we’ll see something similar tomorrow.

        1. @toothpickbandit – I’m not so sure: Sutil had an unusual amount of graining even for that tyre. They will probably be slower in the end yes, but I doubt they’ll have the issues Sutil had.

    2. His brake pedal broke. That’s why he aborted the lap. Otherwise he would have finished it and would have qualified 8th.

  8. Well done Hamilton, but its a hollow victory. When the vest strategy might be to not set a time, something is very wrong. I don’t blame the tyres as much as the top ten rule… GET RID OF THE TOP TEN RULE PLEASE!!!

  9. Good job Ricciardo, moreso in Q2 than in Q3. Put Vergne in his place in Q2 with a great lap. Lets hope he doesn’t go backwards as bad as he did in Bahrain.

    1. This was the performance of quali, and no one has mentioned it?

      1. Yeah that Q2 lap by Ricciardo was fantastic, and I loved Button’s reaction over the radio when they read out the top ten to him! Wasn’t so sure that setting his lap on soft tyres in Q3 was the right decision by Toro Rosso but we’ll see how he fares tomorrow ;)

  10. Massa is only good on the tracks scheduled for the start and end of the season. We will now begin to witness 14 races of Alonso dominating him.

    1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
      13th April 2013, 8:19

      @joshua-mesh – Really hard to call a 0.145 gap “dominating” by any stretch of the imagination.

    2. Seriously, you say that Albert Park is one of Massa’s best circuits?????????????????????

    3. obviously, thats why he did sooooo well at the start of last season ?

    4. You guys just wait and see.

  11. Everything went to plan. Good to see that Lotus fixed the balance issues on Kimis car. I understand why some are leaving for the option for the last stint, with gaps formed they can afford to use the option last but I can also understand why some went for pole, If they are in front they won’t get hindered in their option stint as well. I’m feeling that Mercedes are bound to win and Vettel is bound to make a lot of ground.

  12. So a normal qualifications and Alonso put his standards in the team…see u in Austin or Brasil next time Felipe will out quali Alonso.
    Hamiltoni is just the greatest one lap speeder that i ever seen… just a legend (for racer i pick Alonso)
    Perez till now seems the wrong choice for Mclaren and the right choice for Ferrari.

    1. @nomore – Alonso hardly emphatically out-qualified Massa: he’s still within touching distance of him so I wouldn’t rule out so surely Massa out-qualifying Alonso again soon.

      1. @vettel1

        Do you really want that i bring to you numbers between Alonso and Massa from Bahrain 2010 till Shanghai 2013 in quali ??..just last year was 18 vs 2…

        1. @nomore – you’re bringing up the past, when he’s clearly on better form currently. So that argument holds little value.

          1. @vettel1

            With what you want to compare them ?

          2. @nomore – this season!

          3. @vettel1
            OK in Australia Massa out quali Alonso (who didn’t open the DRS in the straight) by 0.008 Sec and Alonso ccompletely out race him in any sense by giving 20 sec gap.
            In Malaysia Massa out quali Alonso by 1 tenth, in the start Alonso got him and unfortunately he retire so we can’t compare them in that race.
            At Shangai Alonso out quali Alonso by 0.15 sec. we will see the race

          4. @nomore – well the races are irrelevant as we’re purely talking about qualifying here, as for qualifying though Massa did still finish ahead of Alonso on both those occasions. I’m not saying Alonso won’t have the measure of Massa for most of the season as that is quite possible, but as I said initially you can’t rule out so surely Massa out-qualifying Alonso again multiple times.

            They aren’t exactly a country mile apart.

          5. @vettel1 why even care about Massa’s qualifying performances?

        2. But those two are in the last two races @nomore, and it seems Massa has found some pace again since the middle of last season only, which makes those 2011,2010 results somewhat less useful as a comparison. Anyway, Alonso got ahead this time, let’s see what the race brinfs Ferrari; better than a 1st lap shunt by Alonso you’d hope ;)

          1. @bosyber
            have Massa find pace or has Alonso lost some pace in the last quali we dont know…2010 and 2011 are useful and he also in those years was in some quali close to Alonso or even better…

            Any result without the win for Alonso and Massa in podium will be a disappointment for me.

          2. @bosyber not the middle of the season. Massa was quick on tracks he had been traditionally quick on. Anti-clockwise tracks for example. Every year he’s generally quicker on those tracks than the other tracks.

            If Massa was good on tracks that he’s not usually good on, as well as his favorite tracks, then sure I’ll consider that he is doing better than he has before. But if you look at it, he’s only really done well where he has always done well.

            In 2013, AUS qualifying was a bit of a gamble due to rain. Massa was clearly down on pace in the race compared to Alonso, and it is well documented that Alonso didnt use DRS on his qualifying lap. In Malaysia Massa only went backwards, so I hardly think that we can consider that a good performance. Massa in Malaysia reminded me of 2012 Massa.

            Massa’s poor race pace makes me think he is probably sacrificing his race setup for a bit more in qualifying.

  13. Good work red bull

    No more team orders let our drivers race and webber has issue with fuel in q2

    Only reason webber is smiling is because he knew he was quicker than vettel and red bull bosses showing webber who has the money or power to do what ever they want to him

    Once again congrats red bull

    Top effort

    1. Of course, RedBull sabotages their own cars. Do people even think when they write comments?

      Seems like Vettel has been sabotaged by RedBull as well in European, Italian and Abu Dhabi GP 2012. :( Everything staged.

      1. The problem with the way events are happening is that when bad luck hits Vettel it’s things like completely out of the race that you can’t imagine Red Bull having a hand at.
        Vettel gets hit more rarely with car problems and when he does they are final or they ain’t serious enough to even affect his race pace and almost never in qualifying.
        On the other hand Webber gets this small problems that are just enough to put him down the grid but still keep him in the race to get points for the team. Something that Vettel extremely rarely gets.
        That’s where conspiracy theories come in. Because if you wanted to put Webber in the back foot you wouldn’t want him out of the race and not get points for the team but you would like him behind Vettel. So what better tactic that a small fuel/kers/DRS problem etc during qualifying or maybe a slightly less effective starting clutch on the line.
        Personally i still can’t figure out whether they are actually doing anything or not but every time Webber has this little “small” problems or whatever that seem to always allow him to finish in the top 7 or something like that i get more and more suspicious. If his car was completely breaking down during races i would actually be a lot less suspicious.

        1. haha i agree but this time red bull accidnetly sabotaged webbers car too much.

  14. My symapthies for Webber. Screwed yet again by his team.

    1. It’a a bit unjust saying he was “screwed by his team”: there is no way Red Bull intentionally made his car fail, and from Christian Horner we get the impression it was a mechanical failure – not simply underfuelling as per Vettel in Abu Dhabi. It was just unfortunate.

      1. @vettel1
        Radio message said he was told to save fuel at the end of the lap and he stopped close to the pitlane entrance. Everything points to underfuelling, which is at best a blunder from one of the best teams on the grid. Regarding Horner, Garry Anderson said nicely that you need to have fuel in the tank to have fuel pressure issues. And seriously, since when Horner is a trustworthy source of information?

        1. @cyclops_pl

          Garry Anderson said nicely that you need to have fuel in the tank to have fuel pressure issues

          Who’s to say he didn’t? I wouldn’t trust the radio messages, as they could have just interpreted the fuel pressure issues (so fuel delivery) as a lack of fuel. We’ll let the FIA determine that though, so it’s too early to judge yet whether it was just human error.

          which is at best a blunder from one of the best teams

          They’ve done it before with Vettel at a more crucial time, they can do it again. Everyone makes mistakes – there is absolutely nothing at this point to suggest he was “screwed” by his team.

          since when Horner is a trustworthy source of information?

          He’s the best we’ve got right now. Red Bull are currently looking into the problem to see if there was an issue with the fuel bowser and the FIA will tell us of there was a problem with the car. So for now, it’s best not to suggest there was anything sinister going on.

          1. @vettel1

            I’m not suggesting any act of sabotage here, “only” a humiliating blunder. These things happen, but in Q3, when you need to extract every single bit of performance you have. In Q2 teams such as Red Bull should not risk like that with fuel loads. If Webber ends up at the end of the grid with no fuel left or with fuel unable to be extracted for inspection (which is an exact repeat of Vettel – Abu Dhabi case) this would be really embarrassing for Milton Keynes outfit.

          2. And here it is. RBR admits it put not enough fuel. Ironically they put more than enough to fuel conspiracy theories.

          3. @cyclops_pl – absolutely it was only a humiliating blunder. It’s a shame for Webber agreed – maybe he could do a 2011 though? ;)

  15. Finally Red Bull resolve their team order problems.

    1. cracked me up LOL…But its bewildering to me…..fuel pressure problem ? can anyone explain what is that ( technically ) ..Is it same as a problem with the pump ?

      1. @hamilfan It’s also known as BS. They just didn’t put enough fuel in Mark’s tank and admitted it in front of the stewards.

      2. when there is too little fuel in the tank, the fuel will not be picked up properly anymore, and the fuel pressure will drop.

        So most likely cause is if you are almost out of fuel, but there could be other reasons as well.

  16. Red Bulls pretty slow in a straight line – hopefully they end up stuck behind slow cars moaning on the radio.

    1. Get that Mclaren and Toro Rosso out of my way! would be hilarious.

  17. Lewis’s first pole of the season.. Many more to come..

  18. I know Massa was very good at qualifying before 2009 and he seems on the form again. Still, Alonso delievered when it matters. The record is depended! :)

  19. What happened to Vettel? missed qualifying as I was not too keen on getting up early. I would have expected atleast a top 4 finish from 1 RBR.
    So now I reading that Webber cannot have a mechanical problem without it being the team screwing him up. I thought both drivers have different engineers working separately on each car, and I thought that the engineers of both drivers are also in some sort of mini competition, so why would they screw their own car?
    It also sounded like RBR Are keen on the constructors title, why would they subotage their own chances. RBR are not in this to pleas Vettel, they are her to win and whichever driver wins then it’s a + for the team.

  20. MB (@muralibhats)
    13th April 2013, 13:18

    Last time when a Red Bull was sent to the back of the grid for the same reason AND Hamilton was on pole.. Kimi won the race!

  21. Well done Hamilton. A pole for Mercedes in his third outing is a remarkable achievement. Grid is nicely poised for fun and games tomorrow.

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