Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap of the Chinese Grand Prix using soft tyres at the end of the race.
Here are all the drivers’ lap times and the fastest laps table.
Chinese Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded):
https://www.racefans.net/charts/2013drivercolours.csv
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | |
Lewis Hamilton | 105.684 | 104.041 | 104.864 | 105.816 | 111.988 | 120.395 | 102.612 | 102.735 | 103.156 | 103.121 | 103.112 | 104.31 | 104.292 | 105.25 | 104.685 | 103.938 | 103.954 | 104.018 | 103.909 | 104.675 | 109.104 | 117.891 | 101.97 | 101.483 | 102.094 | 101.838 | 102.349 | 102.855 | 102.878 | 103.337 | 102.374 | 103.039 | 102.666 | 102.296 | 101.826 | 102.539 | 106.89 | 116.547 | 100.284 | 100.279 | 100.058 | 100.422 | 100.199 | 100.404 | 100.593 | 100.624 | 101.338 | 100.731 | 100.037 | 99.981 | 100.056 | 100.057 | 100.108 | 100.279 | 101.346 | 101.94 |
Kimi Raikkonen | 107.16 | 104.475 | 104.288 | 105.29 | 106.769 | 110.57 | 119.584 | 102.93 | 103.443 | 103.314 | 103.27 | 103.647 | 103.216 | 104.136 | 104.348 | 105.951 | 103.15 | 103.189 | 104.216 | 104.076 | 109.192 | 117.797 | 102.895 | 101.987 | 102.233 | 102.053 | 101.843 | 102.606 | 102.793 | 103.453 | 102.99 | 102.269 | 102.513 | 106.278 | 116.909 | 100.979 | 100.851 | 101.397 | 101.17 | 100.246 | 100.524 | 100.682 | 100.36 | 100.261 | 100.297 | 100.568 | 100.947 | 100.941 | 100.367 | 100.156 | 99.955 | 100.027 | 100.321 | 100.176 | 100.584 | 101.471 |
Fernando Alonso | 106.002 | 104.566 | 104.314 | 105.573 | 104.939 | 110.122 | 118.755 | 103.04 | 103.12 | 102.914 | 103.117 | 103.721 | 104.509 | 103.785 | 103.504 | 103.399 | 103.396 | 104.518 | 104.116 | 104.558 | 103.12 | 102.651 | 106.689 | 118.344 | 101.09 | 101.379 | 100.973 | 101.715 | 102.761 | 101.947 | 101.829 | 102 | 102.345 | 102.758 | 101.902 | 101.31 | 101.319 | 101.421 | 101.205 | 101.193 | 105.948 | 116.876 | 100.274 | 100.191 | 99.692 | 99.506 | 99.552 | 99.9 | 99.781 | 100.32 | 100.494 | 100.705 | 101.575 | 100.03 | 99.87 | 102.312 |
Nico Rosberg | 108.691 | 104.14 | 104.583 | 107.237 | 112.442 | 120.971 | 103.378 | 103.648 | 103.856 | 104.015 | 105.345 | 104.304 | 104.036 | 104.2 | 105.246 | 104.648 | 104.67 | 104.453 | 109.423 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Felipe Massa | 106.607 | 104.345 | 104.306 | 105.485 | 105.836 | 106.935 | 110.262 | 119.779 | 103.174 | 104.06 | 103.282 | 103.728 | 104.57 | 103.771 | 104.176 | 104.4 | 104.869 | 104.644 | 109.712 | 117.621 | 102.983 | 102.704 | 102.714 | 102.591 | 103.296 | 103.669 | 103.797 | 103.558 | 103.646 | 103.997 | 103.586 | 104.921 | 102.86 | 102.421 | 102.607 | 107.229 | 116.202 | 100.608 | 100.548 | 100.832 | 101.135 | 101.061 | 101.283 | 101.443 | 101.351 | 101.861 | 101.914 | 101.458 | 101.506 | 101.961 | 101.69 | 101.605 | 100.973 | 100.402 | 100.284 | 101.514 |
Romain Grosjean | 109.341 | 104.02 | 104.456 | 104.647 | 106.557 | 108.185 | 111.265 | 119.676 | 103.669 | 104.09 | 104.55 | 104.839 | 104.57 | 105.588 | 104.886 | 104.748 | 104.051 | 104.211 | 104.725 | 104.161 | 103.951 | 104.259 | 108.024 | 117.875 | 102.053 | 101.931 | 102.987 | 102.782 | 102.723 | 102.829 | 102.287 | 103.521 | 104.157 | 103.475 | 102.992 | 103.297 | 106.347 | 117.781 | 101.792 | 102.203 | 101.651 | 101.497 | 101.401 | 101.348 | 101.463 | 101.591 | 101.218 | 101.375 | 101.05 | 101.532 | 101.101 | 101.012 | 101.466 | 101.738 | 100.563 | 100.861 |
Daniel Ricciardo | 109.736 | 104.498 | 104.308 | 112.263 | 125.153 | 104.13 | 103.808 | 103.876 | 104.737 | 104.023 | 104.332 | 104.857 | 104.602 | 105.796 | 104.737 | 104.838 | 104.034 | 104.276 | 104.768 | 104.275 | 104.176 | 104.155 | 109.366 | 119.349 | 101.852 | 101.924 | 102.111 | 101.968 | 101.969 | 102.315 | 102.255 | 102.346 | 102.23 | 102.027 | 102.172 | 102.195 | 103.109 | 106.951 | 119.157 | 100.954 | 101.398 | 100.616 | 100.719 | 100.65 | 100.685 | 101.773 | 101.475 | 101.363 | 101.243 | 101.074 | 100.953 | 100.419 | 100.362 | 100.446 | 100.24 | 100.592 |
Jenson Button | 110.314 | 104.809 | 104.138 | 107.218 | 105.263 | 105.67 | 104.768 | 104.751 | 104.593 | 104.416 | 104.622 | 104.935 | 104.72 | 104.821 | 104.155 | 104.623 | 104.515 | 104.198 | 104.525 | 104.592 | 105.032 | 103.834 | 108.23 | 116.909 | 102.442 | 102.139 | 102.552 | 103.046 | 104.082 | 103.566 | 103.975 | 104.051 | 103.483 | 103.037 | 103.187 | 103.073 | 103.661 | 103.086 | 102.02 | 101.748 | 101.649 | 101.684 | 101.426 | 102.343 | 102.279 | 102.125 | 102.308 | 101.886 | 106.52 | 113.549 | 100.306 | 101.09 | 100.738 | 100.741 | 100.729 | 98.058 |
Sebastian Vettel | 110.745 | 104.811 | 104.296 | 106.058 | 105.314 | 105.117 | 104.585 | 103.686 | 103.73 | 104.222 | 104.735 | 104.594 | 104.691 | 108.204 | 117.977 | 102.858 | 104.359 | 104.837 | 104.183 | 104.153 | 103.407 | 103.098 | 103.159 | 103.15 | 102.66 | 102.804 | 102.6 | 102.878 | 104.625 | 103.45 | 107.946 | 117.301 | 100.391 | 100.652 | 101.244 | 101.145 | 101.447 | 101.673 | 100.949 | 101.586 | 101.764 | 101.312 | 102.278 | 101.241 | 101.62 | 100.353 | 100.722 | 100.283 | 100.039 | 100.216 | 104.716 | 113.28 | 96.808 | 97.256 | 98.211 | 100.051 |
Nico Hulkenberg | 111.485 | 104.903 | 104.177 | 104.869 | 105.08 | 105.096 | 104.54 | 103.386 | 104.142 | 104.148 | 104.33 | 104.725 | 104.777 | 108.547 | 122.303 | 102.489 | 103.253 | 104.334 | 104.3 | 104.008 | 103.651 | 103.591 | 103.432 | 103.466 | 103.397 | 103.766 | 103.466 | 103.249 | 107.39 | 116.276 | 100.63 | 101.427 | 102.871 | 103.059 | 104.468 | 108.498 | 118.64 | 100.764 | 101.009 | 101.553 | 101.765 | 101.964 | 102.147 | 102.003 | 101.899 | 103.041 | 102.4 | 102.092 | 102.216 | 102.342 | 101.843 | 102.107 | 103.512 | 101.915 | 101.624 | 101.178 |
Paul di Resta | 113.849 | 106.169 | 104.419 | 104.617 | 105.471 | 105.397 | 105.552 | 104.852 | 104.657 | 104.958 | 105.059 | 105.006 | 105.68 | 110.049 | 118.771 | 103.097 | 103.749 | 103.619 | 104.46 | 104.146 | 104.316 | 104.127 | 105.447 | 103.937 | 103.983 | 103.756 | 103.674 | 103.544 | 103.324 | 103.506 | 103.212 | 109.205 | 117.367 | 101.031 | 101.744 | 101.434 | 101.138 | 101.342 | 101.403 | 101.467 | 101.325 | 101.307 | 101.59 | 101.446 | 101.515 | 101.729 | 101.491 | 100.911 | 100.932 | 100.744 | 100.666 | 100.66 | 104.726 | 115.464 | 100.101 | 100.888 |
Sergio Perez | 113.668 | 105.586 | 104.652 | 104.762 | 104.987 | 105.026 | 106.161 | 104.876 | 104.524 | 104.738 | 104.792 | 105.398 | 105.244 | 106.071 | 105.222 | 107.383 | 105.418 | 105.022 | 105.128 | 106.94 | 105.468 | 105.102 | 104.85 | 110.111 | 118.307 | 101.359 | 101.513 | 102.285 | 103.161 | 105.184 | 107.926 | 118.617 | 101.418 | 101.878 | 101.779 | 101.948 | 102.277 | 101.823 | 102.273 | 101.925 | 102.774 | 103.148 | 102.422 | 103.488 | 102.628 | 103.107 | 102.614 | 101.811 | 102.319 | 102.504 | 101.959 | 101.427 | 101.772 | 101.33 | 101.281 | 101.419 |
Adrian Sutil | 112.187 | 104.605 | 104.257 | 105.829 | 112.172 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pastor Maldonado | 114.066 | 106.469 | 105.787 | 105.99 | 105.873 | 106.572 | 112.369 | 122.165 | 105.858 | 105.62 | 105.439 | 105.33 | 104.516 | 105.018 | 104.757 | 104.05 | 105.303 | 105.104 | 104.874 | 105.424 | 104.524 | 104.481 | 108.006 | 120.683 | 103.03 | 103.075 | 103.256 | 103.786 | 103.987 | 103.897 | 104.149 | 104.324 | 103.906 | 103.77 | 103.953 | 103.199 | 103.074 | 103.433 | 106.894 | 118.056 | 102.305 | 101.144 | 101.665 | 101.933 | 101.835 | 101.907 | 101.807 | 101.525 | 101.803 | 102.265 | 101.957 | 101.99 | 102.065 | 100.968 | 101.801 | 101.361 |
Jean-Eric Vergne | 116.745 | 106.84 | 105.435 | 105.123 | 105.571 | 106.126 | 107.098 | 104.028 | 105.977 | 104.52 | 105.144 | 104.578 | 104.837 | 106.173 | 120.77 | 120.382 | 103.016 | 103.194 | 103.917 | 105.008 | 103.239 | 103.859 | 103.595 | 103.334 | 104.083 | 103.235 | 103.275 | 103.29 | 103.778 | 103.374 | 103.415 | 103.844 | 103.173 | 103.536 | 104.635 | 103.306 | 108.176 | 116.588 | 100.372 | 100.835 | 100.817 | 101.362 | 105.574 | 118.597 | 100.456 | 100.45 | 100.197 | 100.399 | 100.633 | 100.868 | 100.379 | 100.534 | 100.228 | 100.885 | 100.608 | 100.138 |
Valtteri Bottas | 114.748 | 106.671 | 105.837 | 105.665 | 105.942 | 106.537 | 108.054 | 106.612 | 105.492 | 106.286 | 107.146 | 105.49 | 104.784 | 105.433 | 105.046 | 109.831 | 121.539 | 103.767 | 104.083 | 105.018 | 103.25 | 103.883 | 104.873 | 105.199 | 104.623 | 104.24 | 104.336 | 104.698 | 104.891 | 104.435 | 103.666 | 103.872 | 103.648 | 108.647 | 120.663 | 100.797 | 101.312 | 102.237 | 102.233 | 102.237 | 101.696 | 101.92 | 101.784 | 102.514 | 102.181 | 101.964 | 102.146 | 102.218 | 102.645 | 102.355 | 106.353 | 116.854 | 98.2 | 99.664 | 100.057 | 100.534 |
Esteban Gutierrez | 112.827 | 104.775 | 104.829 | 104.959 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jules Bianchi | 115.073 | 106.865 | 106.06 | 106.677 | 107.37 | 111.046 | 122.341 | 105.11 | 106.154 | 106.495 | 105.565 | 106.388 | 105.568 | 105.579 | 105.019 | 109.413 | 124.763 | 103.995 | 104.211 | 103.924 | 103.431 | 103.663 | 104.554 | 104.157 | 103.747 | 103.977 | 104.071 | 104.321 | 104.506 | 104.286 | 104.218 | 108.769 | 119.865 | 102.162 | 101.537 | 102.28 | 101.812 | 101.98 | 102.181 | 102.724 | 102.371 | 102.081 | 103.196 | 102.696 | 102.838 | 103.138 | 102.448 | 101.883 | 102.172 | 102.091 | 103.87 | 103.081 | 102.365 | 103.594 | 105.137 | |
Max Chilton | 116.332 | 107.609 | 106.729 | 106.557 | 107.957 | 109.632 | 114.746 | 123.112 | 105.202 | 105.416 | 105.086 | 105.561 | 105.392 | 105.345 | 106.055 | 105.628 | 105.828 | 105.903 | 105.938 | 105.522 | 110.806 | 126.147 | 103.383 | 104.12 | 103.831 | 103.524 | 105.21 | 103.424 | 104.4 | 103.399 | 103.641 | 104.087 | 108.559 | 125.3 | 102.249 | 102.639 | 104.221 | 102.43 | 101.978 | 102.633 | 104.19 | 104.599 | 102.603 | 103.07 | 103.257 | 103.358 | 102.603 | 103.129 | 104.338 | 103.294 | 105.377 | 103.792 | 102.684 | 102.605 | 102.316 | |
Charles Pic | 117.049 | 107.374 | 105.876 | 105.779 | 110.969 | 121.44 | 104.512 | 105.735 | 107.647 | 106.21 | 105.769 | 106.273 | 105.501 | 105.2 | 105.309 | 105.157 | 109.41 | 122.04 | 103.785 | 104.173 | 103.83 | 103.953 | 104.186 | 104.06 | 103.931 | 104.232 | 104.498 | 104.453 | 104.494 | 104.442 | 104.447 | 104.496 | 108.951 | 119.589 | 102.085 | 102.287 | 102.142 | 102.565 | 102.497 | 102.566 | 102.377 | 102.197 | 102.126 | 102.79 | 103.199 | 102.658 | 102.425 | 101.997 | 104.007 | 102.526 | 102.649 | 102.284 | 102.51 | 103.552 | 104.663 | |
Giedo van der Garde | 115.861 | 107.069 | 106.616 | 106.972 | 108.277 | 113.978 | 122.607 | 105.319 | 105.786 | 106.408 | 106.055 | 106.33 | 106.426 | 106.517 | 108.294 | 106.868 | 107.06 | 106.752 | 107.086 | 113.036 | 121.082 | 103.671 | 103.907 | 104.618 | 104.365 | 104.647 | 104.902 | 105.147 | 105.176 | 104.973 | 105.056 | 105.177 | 107.053 | 105.541 | 105.841 | 106.211 | 110.282 | 122.072 | 102.378 | 102.858 | 102.602 | 102.357 | 102.61 | 104.908 | 104.017 | 103.846 | 104.962 | 103.794 | 105.072 | 103.786 | 103.786 | 103.885 | 104.052 | 105.426 | 104.614 | |
Mark Webber | 119.567 | 119.905 | 103.511 | 103.643 | 103.55 | 104.933 | 104.226 | 103.722 | 104.241 | 105.005 | 104.061 | 103.416 | 103.773 | 105.329 | 110.576 |
Chinese Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’36.808 | 53 | |
2 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’38.058 | 1.250 | 56 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’38.200 | 1.392 | 53 |
4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’39.506 | 2.698 | 46 |
5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’39.955 | 3.147 | 51 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’39.981 | 3.173 | 50 |
7 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’40.101 | 3.293 | 55 |
8 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’40.138 | 3.330 | 56 |
9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’40.240 | 3.432 | 55 |
10 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’40.284 | 3.476 | 55 |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’40.563 | 3.755 | 55 |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.630 | 3.822 | 31 |
13 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’40.968 | 4.160 | 54 |
14 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’41.281 | 4.473 | 55 |
15 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’41.537 | 4.729 | 35 |
16 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’41.978 | 5.170 | 39 |
17 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1’41.997 | 5.189 | 48 |
18 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’42.357 | 5.549 | 42 |
19 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’43.378 | 6.570 | 7 |
20 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’43.416 | 6.608 | 12 |
21 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’44.257 | 7.449 | 3 |
22 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’44.775 | 7.967 | 2 |
2013 Chinese Grand Prix
- Alonso voted Chinese GP Driver of the Weekend
- Fun or artifical? Mixed views in China Rate the Race
- F1 fans’ 2013 Chinese Grand Prix video gallery
- Top ten pictures from the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix
- 2013 Chinese Grand Prix weekend in Tweets
Browse all 2013 Chinese Grand Prix articles
Image © Red Bull/Getty
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag)
14th April 2013, 15:43
I know Vettel was on new softs at the end of the race, but the rate he closed in on hamilton was truly incredible.
Also, his pace compared to Button when he was allowed to absaloutely fly is truly impressive also.
F
14th April 2013, 16:09
It’s good news for an RBR fan once RBR get on top of the tyres. Their qualifying is excellent but their race pace is poor which is now affecting their Sundays AND Saturdays.
I have to say those final few laps were both thrilling and depressing. Thrilling because OMG SOMEONE IS FINALLY PUSHING and depressing because of how suddenly clear it was that up until now, the race was just a parade.
Sebas (@seabass)
14th April 2013, 19:23
Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. I cannot imagine why the marks at the rate the race are so high.
The sprint of Vettel showed how they should race, on the edge. Don’t think about conserving your tires if you’re on an average amount of pitstops. Just push that car like hell.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
15th April 2013, 3:32
@seabass Life is not just about seeing a wall and pushing through it. If you want to see pushing, go to an Operation Theatre..
jimscreechy (@)
15th April 2013, 17:09
Why is it incredible? He changed for brand new softs with 5 laps to go and we saw the tires last at least 6 laps. He himself said he probably could not have done another lap with the fuel he had so he must have been very light indeed. No mystery there at all.
rez (@rez0)
14th April 2013, 15:47
Just what happened on Hülkenberg’s last stint? He lost so much time, damn.
His stint on the soft tyres was also disastrous. I wonder what could’ve been if he mirrored Vettel’s strategy and saved the soft compound for last.
Massa’s last two stints were also terrible in comparison to Alonso…
venom (@venom)
14th April 2013, 16:15
vettel was pushing it and to maintain the pace over the 5 laps was pretty impressive. have to say the ferrari race pace is also pretty impressive. and is it just massa or his engineers that always seems to pit him at the wrong time and get him in trouble
AndrewT (@andrewt)
14th April 2013, 16:26
i believe that he pitted only 1 lap later than Alonso. obviously you can’t call in both your drivers at the same time (well, Mercedes managed it, but there was a bigger gap between them), and the optimal timing was preserved for Alonso. spending only one more lap on those softs caused Massa a lot of time lost, and a couple of cars arriving between him and Alonso. the rest of his pitstops were timed rather to his current rivals than to Alonso, but getting stuck behind di Resta didn’t help him for sure, meanwhile Alonso made a number of successful overtakes and stormed into the lead. i would say it’s bad luck for Massa, but he should have been able to pass di Resta, with doing that, a 4th position could have been in reach
Gabriel (@naylamp)
14th April 2013, 16:32
Maybe he should’ve pit one lap earlier than ALO. But I suppose ALO had the privilege given his position. Anyway, after that MAS couldn’t deliver and the gap just increased.
timi (@timi)
15th April 2013, 15:54
@venom He didn’t maintain it over the llast 5 laps. He lost 0.4, 0.9 and 1.8 seconds over the 4 laps he did on the tyres respectively. But it worked because even his slowest lap was faster than Hamilton’s on 18lap old mediums.
AndrewT (@andrewt)
14th April 2013, 16:16
considering that Vettel delivered his fastest lap in lap 53, and he didn’t face much of a traffic for the remaining 3 laps, we can assume that the softs with almost no fuel left, and with a well rubbered asphalt peaked that time, but despite their degradation we didn’t see him slow down closing the gap to Hamilton, who might have been in a way deeper trouble with his old primes. since we saw Räikkönen last year in Malaysia and Alonso in Canada, it’s a massive risk to stay out on older tyres, that could only have piad out for Hamilton, because Vettel wasn’t nursing his last set, but one lap, or only one DRS zone, and it’s a whole different story…
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl)
14th April 2013, 16:42
Ferrari’s race pace was fantastic. On the distance nobody could challenge them. In fact only Massa kept up with Alonso’s pace until he got himself into traffic. As I watched lap times live, Alonso was faster than Vettel every time they’ve had the same tire. Even when his tires were several laps older, he stilled lapped at least 0,2 faster than Red Bull’s leader.
Lari
14th April 2013, 17:22
@cyclops_pl Yep, that’s true, Ferrari seems to be the fastest or sharing the fastest car title atm. But Massa getting stuck behind traffic is a bad excuse for his poor performance, had it been Alonso behind the traffic, I can bet 100EUR, he wouldn’t have spent so many laps there. Like said many times, and this race again hit the spot on this, Massa is great 1 lap guy but bad race craft. Massa should be ashamed how much slower he was, even when taking in consideration that Alonso had most of the race traffic free (meaning almost all he had to pass were lapped ones, and noone attacked his position). I have a feeling Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren will have different 2nd drivers in 2014, just keep in mind this comment ;)
Nomore (@nomore)
14th April 2013, 17:29
agree
Nick (@nick101)
15th April 2013, 18:09
Really? How long was Alonso stuck behind Button with Button on much older tyres than Alonso? Keeping in mind also that at the moment the Force India is faster than the McLaren.
Don’t be so quick to write off Massa and declare Alonso amazing!
Lari
14th April 2013, 17:24
Where did Bottas come up with that laptime at the end, even if he had new tyres, considering the general pace of Williams atm? Amazing stuff.
Luc
14th April 2013, 18:03
I was thinking the same thing.
Looking at the lap chart, it seems Bottas pitted on the same lap as Vettel did.
nonetheless nice stuff from Bottas.
Dd42
14th April 2013, 19:39
Really?! You consider a lap 1.4 seconds slower than the fastest lap and half a second slower than his own quali lap amazing?
IMO in this era of F1 fastest laps don’t mean much. I genuinely believe Bianchi could set the fastest lap if his team wanted, they’d just need to pit for a set of options on the last lap and push like hell
Lari
14th April 2013, 20:01
Yes I do, as he was 3.3 seconds slower in qualifying than the pole time. And even if he didn’t get the best lap out of his car, Maldonado was 2.7 seconds slower than pole, so being 1.4 seconds slower is not bad at all given their usual differences. And I genuinely don’t believe Bianchi could do that.
clappy (@danielc)
14th April 2013, 20:20
lari im sorry Bottas doesn’t cut it for me 3 races in a slow car is 1 thing, but 3 races and imo not at least getting close to Maldonado on true performance is a totally diff thing, afterall Bottas was meant to be the big thing, and you need to be beating Maldonado if that’s the case he needs to start soon.
Lari (@lari)
17th April 2013, 6:08
He hasn’t done too bad job considering he’s a first timer in F1 (no, I don’t count the FP’s from last year). He has beaten Maldonado in all 3 races, last one fair and square, Australia because Maldonado drove himself off the track and Malaysia because Maldonado had technical issue. In qualifying Maldonado has been quicker 2/3 times, but I’m pretty sure the scale will tip more even as F1 circus arrives at Europe and tracks that Bottas knows very well also. In addition, Maldonado was one of the suprisers last year and regarded as a fast, albeit inconsistent, driver so we have to keep that in mind. And regardless of all this getting back to the point, I think that lap from Bottas in Shanghai was very good. Sorry, you can’t convince me otherwise. :)
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
14th April 2013, 19:43
It looked like Hamilton’s tyres gave up two laps earlier than he would have liked. On lap 49, he renewed his challenge on Raikkonen, and at the time I thought this meant he expected to have enough life in his tyres left to make it to the end of the race comfortably. His challenge on Raikkonen was also justified, as Raikkonen’s performance also seemed to drop off the last two laps, if not as seriously.
Vettel’s race was a bit of a mystery to me, as he seemed to have good pace at all stages of the grand prix, yet even with that incredible final stint he just fell short of beating Hamilton to the podium. Also, he may have lost a little too much time in the middle of his stints in order to be quick at the end of them. Ultimately, though, I think it was getting stuck behind Hulkenberg that cost him P2.
Ricciardo’s stints were very impressive, especially his penultimate stint, which looks to be at least as good as Hamilton’s. I’m happy he’s put in this strong performance, and to get that Red Bull seat that Webber looks likely to vacate, he will need to put in more of those this season, and prove that JEV is not the better racer.
ivz (@ivz)
15th April 2013, 8:23
Strong drive from Ricciardo, closing in on Massa towards the end of the race. Maybe Toro Rosso will have a decent car this year.
dot_com (@dot_com)
14th April 2013, 20:08
I do not understand how Bottas got the 3rd quickest time of the day, but spent the entire race struggling to keep the Marrusias/Caterhams behind him. The car obviously has some pace. Or was it just a tyre thing – the team told him he was “allowed” to do a fast lap? This season is way more about tires than cars and drivers. And just how did Williams go from having a front-running car in 2012 to having such a shed in 2013?? They didn’t need to reinvent anything – just build on what they already had, and tell Pastor not to crash it.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
14th April 2013, 20:48
Despite Vettel’s fastest lap, you can still clearly see the drop-off in performance: there is a definite upward trajectory in his graph line.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
15th April 2013, 20:49
@vettel1 Yes. However, his last lap was probably also a bit slower because because he was running in the dirty air of Hamilton. I think the one additional lap on the options would have faster than the last lap on the prime. This would probably have allowed him to overtake Hamiltion. Of course, this is easy to say in hindsight but given the gap to the back would not have been too risky either.
The last pitstop being delayed by one second off course also did not help.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
15th April 2013, 21:03
@mike-dee true true, just making an observation though that despite his pace that nobody else seemed to be able to achieve, the is still a definite drop-off!
Saul Dula
15th April 2013, 8:31
I thought this at the time and the chart confirms it, Lewis saw that he couldn’t get close enough to challenge kimi so he backed off and saved the tires to hold of vettels charge. And it worked, just barely. The caterham almost worked against him but ended up leading to vettel missing the apex.
MomPassedMeWithDRS (@mompassedmewithdrs)
15th April 2013, 17:42
Considering the race being 2-3 laps longer and if Vettel passed Lewis on the next straight, do you think Lewis would repass him due to the degradation of Vet’s tyres?
toiago (@toiago)
15th April 2013, 21:53
How feasible would have been for Kimi to extend his first stint in the medium tyres so that he would have done a 2 stopper? It was something wich crossed my mind as I was watching the race.