2014 Chinese Grand Prix grid

2014 Chinese Grand Prix

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Row 11. Lewis Hamilton 1’53.860
Mercedes
2. Daniel Ricciardo 1’54.455
Red Bull
Row 23. Sebastian Vettel 1’54.960
Red Bull
4. Nico Rosberg 1’55.143
Mercedes
Row 35. Fernando Alonso 1’55.637
Ferrari
6. Felipe Massa 1’56.147
Williams
Row 47. Valtteri Bottas 1’56.282
Williams
8. Nico Hulkenberg 1’56.366
Force India
Row 59. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’56.773
Toro Rosso
10. Romain Grosjean 1’57.079
Lotus
Row 611. Kimi Raikkonen 1’56.860
Ferrari
12. Jenson Button 1’56.963
McLaren
Row 713. Daniil Kvyat 1’57.289
Toro Rosso
14. Adrian Sutil 1’57.393
Sauber
Row 815. Kevin Magnussen 1’57.675
McLaren
16. Sergio Perez 1’58.264
Force India
Row 917. Esteban Gutierrez 1’58.988
Sauber
18. Kamui Kobayashi 1’59.260
Caterham
Row 1019. Jules Bianchi 1’59.326
Marussia
20. Marcus Ericsson 2’00.646
Caterham
Row 1121. Max Chilton 2’00.865
Marussia
22. Pastor Maldonado* No time
Lotus

*Five-place grid penalty for colliding with Esteban Gutierrez, granted dispensation to start the race after failing to set a time.

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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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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104 comments on “2014 Chinese Grand Prix grid”

  1. Hail Lewis !!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Agreed, that’s some margin! Hope the set-up works in the dry.

    2. Lets not forget the performance advantage of the Mercedes ‘CAR’

    3. YES ! :D :D

    4. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      19th April 2014, 9:05

      Yeahhhhhhhh!!! Going for 3 in a row!

  2. Hamilton just schooled everyone

  3. Well, I’ve got to say, Ricciardo seemed to show Vettel up when it mattered. Before then Vettel was looking like the main contender to Hamilton.

    1. Yes, very surprised by the half second gap. Unless like a few times this year already it was because of a car problem for Vettel. But RIC seems to have been a good choice for Red Bull.

      1. I think the half second could be largely accounted for by improving track conditions – as Vettel’s lap was his first if I’m not mistaken. Afterward Vettel just never got a clean lap.

        1. To be fair it has nothing to do with Ricciardo. To be quick you need to have a clean lap. Getting it is a part of the game. This time Ricciardo just did a better job.

    2. Yeah . Surprise surprise . Ricciardo is up with vettel and even higher . Kudos to him.

      1. I can’t draw any conclusions between Seb and Danny yet. For me the inter-team battles are the most interesting they have been for over ten years. Maybe that’s why I’m more excited about this season than ever before :-)

      2. @grez76 +1 We can’t make conclusions with a few races . Maybe after a full season . Another rivalry is falling flat because of Ferrari’s problems. I was looking forward to Kimi vs Alonso .

        1. @hamilfan kudos to RIC is well deserved, Kimi Vs Alonso is yet to unfold ;)

    3. Indeed, doing a VERY good job so far to push Vettel out of his comfort zone (a good thing, because it means Vettel will have to dig a bit deeper and improve too), great to see it

  4. Well done Lewis, class! Great to see the Williams in the top 10 again.

  5. Lack of EBD really hurting Vettel and really good for Hamilton.

  6. I was so exciting! It’s not like I chose Lewis on pole in my predictor almost two weeks ahead.

    1. It*, I wasn’t excited at all. Could’ve slept for another hour.

      1. You must re-consider as to why you watch the sport.

        1. @neelv27 If the race is anything like Bahrein I’ll be a happy man. But saying this Q-session was anywhere near exciting…

          1. Common Sam that was a good Q. Surely it’s the same man on pole but it was great seeing drivers struggle for grip and it was an intense session.

  7. Well done to Hamilton! Ricciardo beats the overrated Vettel once again. Alonso is the master of 5th place!

    1. you don’t win 4 championships & a bunch of races by been overrated.

      you also dont get praise by all the engineers & other team people in f1 who actually have all the data & know exactly what everyone is doing by been overrated.

      those who still somehow feel that vettel isn’t that good, doesn’t deserve his success or whatever are just jealous because there favorite team/driver have not done as well.
      when its there favorite team/driver winning everything then its because there the best driver, if its anyone else than there only winning because there overrated as a driver.

      jealousy & hypocrisy by people who don’t know anything & cannot see beyond there own bias.

    2. 4 championships and he is overrated… Okay…

    3. lmao Really? Was Prost overrated when Senna beat him? was Alonso overrated with Hamilton beat him? Can’t stand people here who can’t appreciate that Ric is doing a great job, that by no means is an indication that Vettel is underrated.

    4. @ultimateuzair

      “Overrated Vettel”…what a ignorant comment.4 time WDC in case you haven’t been paying attention.

  8. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on being the first British man ever to win 35 pole positions in F1.
    I would say this man deserves respects for his enormous achievements for his country. Stop all the silly talk of
    intelligence and aggression. It makes those who say it look very petty. He couldn’t beat all the so-called ‘intelligent’ drivers if he were foolish.
    Congrats once more to Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton!

    1. Jenny Gow was going on about how Hamilton found last years steering wheel too complicated and had some removed, when in fact Rosberg and Hamilton’s steering from last year had exactly the same amount of buttons, but just styled differently.

      1. To my mind this may make Hamilton MORE intelligent. KISS was coined by engineers.

        1. I think what Hamilton didn’t like was the excessive clutter. When you compare both steering wheels, Hamilton’s had the rotary dials displaying only the selected number with a slot gap and the other options hidden until selected, while Rosberg’s had an arrow head pointer dial.

    2. He’ll surpass vettel’s total by the end of the year. You know, it was a bit dull hearing RBR say how they had to keep working so hard when they dominated, but even major legacies can be lost when you stumble a bit.

  9. interesting how hamilton gets praised for ‘dominating’ in the best car considering all the flack vettel has got the last 4 years.

    1. Well … if it wasnt for hamilton , the bulls wpuld have locked the front row ..

    2. That is for me the most astonishing part of 2014 for now. All the more because it’s the same people.

    3. It’s the same to me . He is doing what Vettel did . In the sense he was always capable of this . So was Vettel .So neither one is a god . Vettel also has not lost pace all of a sudden . Maybe he is having trouble adjusting post EBD era . It would be far more enjoyable if Vettel , Alonso and Hamilton had similar paced cars . That would be epic.

      1. and of course since I am a Lewis fan , obviously I believe if they are on equal cars , Lewis would come out on top just by a few tenths ;-)

    4. Hamilton has the same chances and the same car as Nico who can clearly can push him more than Mark Webber can push Vettel,

      1. Of course, how could we forget that!

      2. @tifosi1989 Two Mercedes drivers in their prime compared to a a rising talent and a elder statesman. Webber will always be my favourite but I don’t mind admitting he wasn’t always that close to Vettel but I also don’t think the comparison between the two teams makes much sense. I don’t even see, except for Bahrein its last few laps, where Rosberg has been pushing Hamilton so hard he’s doing exceptional things. This is Lewis, fast on one lap and very consistent in de the race. All aided by a dominant car whilst his teammate is driving the same car. Rosberg however I believe was never as fast or good.

        1. @ardenflo Yeah Webber could have won 2010 . I was thinking he would win it . Don’t count Nico out just yet . He can be pretty fast and DNFs can happen to anybody anywhere .

    5. I don’t think Vettel received flak in the 1st year. If it was in the 4th year Hamilton wouldn’t be praised.

      1. In that 1st year there were four title contenders. Just saying. In his second year which is surely comparable to this one he got plenty already. Must admit it has reached it’s highs towards 2013.

        1. vettel should atleast be bettering ric in quali.ppl said vettel was worth a extra .5..but he is being bettered 3-1 in quali.lewis is bettering nico 3-1 in quali too.see its not that vettel isnt getting poles anymore.its thats he’s struggling against ric.

          1. If we’re being honest it really is 1-1…

            Bahrein and Melbourne can’t really be seen as Vettel not doing a good lap…

    6. Maybe because Hamilton has paid his dues in mediocre cars over the years, as compared to a kid who jumps into the best car ever designed and is apparently also the greatest driver of all time.

      1. @todfod

        I’m sorry but what have you been watching, when has Hamilton ever been in a mediocre car, sans the first half of 2009 when Brawn and Red Bull displaced Ferrari and McLaren? Hamilton was in a championship winning car for the first two seasons of his career for crying out loud and the cars he were driving from 2010-2013 could hardly be called mediocre; if anything it’s Vettel who has paid his dues in a mediocre car (Toro Rosso).

        1. if anything it’s Vettel who has paid his dues in a mediocre car (Toro Rosso).

          Red Bull chassis + Ferrari engine hardly a mediocre car even Sebastian Bourdais which i struggle to call him an F1 driver was sometimes ahead of the Red Bull drivers

        2. @woshidavid95

          Don’t know what you’ve been watching.. but I can remember Lewis not having a championship winning car since 2008. Heck, even in 2008, his car was the 2nd quickest on the grid.

          As compared to Sebastian, who has had a car that’s been the class of the field since mid 2009

          Don’t know how anyone can argue this point..

        3. @tifoso1989 Define mediocre in that case, I presume you mean midfield level abilities like Sauber or Force India which perfectly fits the description… something Hamilton clearly has not experienced (Sans part of 2009)… Also if Bourdais was ‘sometimes’ ahead he would have scored more than 4 points considering Vettel scored 35 points.

          @todfod You’re not seriously going to argue this point are you >_> With the sole exception of the first part of 2009, Hamilton has always been in a car capable of fighting at the front unlike Vettel who at least had to start his career in the midfield… it doesn’t have to be the absolute quickest so long as he has a realistic chance of winning the WDC, which he did for the first 2 seasons of his career; the only other driver I can think of who had the luxury of this is Jacques Villeneuve so I don’t know how you can say he has ‘paid his dues in a mediocre car’, if anything it’s Vettel because at least he had to work his way to a promotion for a better team unlike Hamilton.

          1. To make myself clearer, Hamilton had realistic chances of winning the WDC in 2007, 2008, 2010 and perhaps 2012 had McLaren not kept bungling their pitstops along with extreme bad luck with mechanical failures and getting hit by other drivers… 2009 is an exception of course, whereas the cars he’s driven in 2011 and 2013 were the (admittedly distant) 2nd best behind Red Bull but I don’t think that can be called ‘mediocre’… Hamilton has never been in a position where he’s only expected to scrap for points, unlike Vettel in his first season.

    7. Right, if any of them raced in F1 and won the championship in the best car at the time they sure wouldn’t be complaining from them then now would there be

  10. Brilliant drive from Lewis and Daniel. I was happy when I saw Rosberg fail because he seemed very arrogant and cocky after bahrain and I think there is some tension between them as teammates after listening to the contradicting interview of them. Lewis saying they didn’t talk after the race, nico said they did and after that in an interview published on the official f1 site he said they didn’t. It’s going to be fun watching them battle this season. Daniel also showing the doubters wrong.

    1. Yeah Daniel is surprising us doubters big time . I am now a fan of :DR .

      1. Ricciardo is the smiling assassin surely. So deceptively unassuming, but with a razor sharp focus while behind the wheels. All of a sudden, it seems its Vettel who just joined the team this season.

  11. The BULLS are back !!

  12. Button is a good driver in wet but it such a shame that mclaren is only Merc power team that did not make it to top 10.

    1. Force India?!

      1. Sorry, was thinking Hulkenberg did not make top 10 either for some reason :/

      2. Williams? I wonder though if they’re getting all the newest bits from Merc considering McLaren’s switch to Honda next year.

        1. Mercedes haven’t brought any new bits as far as I know. Unless you mean front wings and that will be for their team cars only and not customer teams.

    2. Button isn’t very good at the wet at all. Button is good when the circuit is slightly damp.

  13. I think ricciardo beating vettel 3-1 in quali is more amazing than Hamilton get pole in the best car, although Hamilton will beat Rosberg this year

    1. So do I. But the end-of-season score I suppose is what matters – Massa was beating Alonso at this point last year remember in qualifying.

      1. To be fair It was 2-2 by the 4th race, Massa out qualified Fernando in Usa,Brazil(2012),Australia,Malaysia(2013) 4 consecutive races which made a lot of talk

        1. Sorry, cheers for the correction @tifoso1989.

        2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          19th April 2014, 17:43

          @tifoso1989 hey Ferrari fan. Don’t you start to think Kimi was after all a bit overrrated and that it should be Hulk driving the second Ferrari now?

          1. @omarr-pepper
            Hulk is an outstanding talent but i still believe that he cannot do better than Raikkonen in that FIAT. Last year before the tyre change Hulk was nowhere near his performance level in the second half of the season, to be honest that Sauber was also crap with the old tyres. In conclusion the only driver that can manage to drive those undrivable Ferrari’s of the first races of the season is Fernando Alonso. Kimi seems to be surprised in the exit of every corner by the excess of torque the Ferrari PU is producing, Alonso seems to be able to live with it. With all the politics and pressure in Maranello Ferrari need drivers with strong personalities such as Kimi

          2. I agree Hulk should be in a much better car. As far as Comparison of Vettel and Ric, its way too early to say anything. The only truth here is how Webber was not up to the task.

    2. Remember Webber at the start of 2012, he was also beating Vettel and somehow ended up 100+ points behind by the end??? while I doubt Ricciardo would slip that much, it would be too hasty to make conclusions until around mid-season or so… personally I expect Vettel to strike back.

      1. That was more due to the path of development RBR chose though.

        1. @ardenflo

          Sorry I don’t quite get what you mean, please elaborate?

          1. In the beginning of 2012 RBR chose a path of development that suited Webber more than Vettel. Vettel clinged on but as you know going into the summer break Webber was ahead. Even in wins. Webber had Silverstone and Monaco where as Vettel only had Bahrein.

            After the summerbreak RBR found something that ephasized the strenghts of Vettel his style and he went on to win four races in a row in dominant fashion.

            I’m afraid it’s been to long to exactly remember what it was. I’m pretty sure other people might know it.

            @woshidavid95

          2. @ardenflo,@woshidavid95
            After the ban of the EBD Vettel wasn’t comfortable at all in the RB8,Newey first attempt to recreate the EBD effect is to place to exhaust between the rear suspension arms like shown in this photo but after taking a close look at the Sauber coanda exhaust Newey realized that solution was far more effective in feeding the diffuser with exhaust gases and not overheating the rear tyres at the same time.
            RBR then introduced the coanda exhaust in Malaysia Vettel didn’t like it at all and had chosen to race with the old spec exhaust but Mark Webber whose feedback on the car’s aero is very important to Newey (that’s the only reason that stopped Helmut Marko from firing him) felt the car could go faster with the coanda exhaust.
            Webber was leading Vettel in the WDC standing until Spa, Red Bull in Monza secretly tested the double DRS which Newey and i don’t know how had succeeded to integrate its airflow to the diffuser giving the car more speed and downforce at the same time without increasing the drag(pure genius)
            In Singapoor the RB8 was heavily updated (wings,floor,DDRS…) and finally it’s adapted to Vettel’s driving style, the rest is history …

          3. I don’t think that is strictly true. Valencia 2012 upset the balance massively in Webber’s favour, as did Kathikeyan.

          4. In Valencia 2012 Red Bull raced with i think a D spec car featuring those illegal engine mapping which were discovered later in Hockenheim, after they escaped disqualification and the FIA made a clarification RBR didn’t display that level of dominance again until Singapore

      2. @woshidavid95 he is striking back since the second race. He’s got already twice as much points as Ricciardo.

    3. Agree. He’s doing a stellar job. We also must remember that he is new to the team. Many people defend Raikkonen’s poor start to the season with the fact that he’s new to the team. Dan is in exactly the same position… kudos to him!

    4. I think Ricciardo is doing a great job, considering the circumstances. However, is not correct to admit that is “beating” Vettel, as for that he would need to have winnings in his pocket, and he hasn’t. Tough I hope to see him winning too and then, just then, consider some kind of battling between the two. For now, is just a period of adaptation to new regulations.

    5. Also, Australia Ric was running an illegal configuration. so that cant count.

  14. Fikri Harish (@)
    19th April 2014, 8:20

    Okay, did anybody seriously expected Ricciardo to be this good?
    I’m flabbergasted, really, I am.

    Oh, and Raikkonen’s not much of an improvement over Massa is he?

    1. Red Bull could have taken Räikkönen quite easily – Ricciardo is looking like a brilliant gamble @fihar!

    2. Oh, and Raikkonen’s not much of an improvement over Massa is he?

      I don’t think that Ricciardo in that FIAT !!!! oh sorry F14T could do much better, no wonder Stefano has resigned, he had a driver like Alonso on his prime and failed to win championships

    3. I didn’t expect Ricciardo to be doing this well, but I always thought it was clear he was the best driver Red Bull could appoint. And he’ll be with them for the long-term (Red Bull’s participation permitting)…

      …Unlike Ferrari’s approach, which is looking rather naïve right now. Raikkonen’s been out of form since last year’s Korean Grand Prix. If Massa was struggling for Ferrari the way Raikkonen is right now, can you imagine the criticism that would be being hurled his way? And people thought he’d give Alonso a hard time… Not on current evidence.

  15. A great session indeed and after dying for a wet session in the boring 2013 season, 2014 has it all apart from the rain as well.

    One interesting thing I observed in Bahrain and it proved in China is that Rosberg lacks the edge of a champion like mentality. In Bahrain, he attempted thrice to get past Lewis at turn 4 but was pushed out by Lewis while Lewis took just one attempt to pass him at the same corner using a different tactic.

    Nico will need a methodical approach and some luck to best Lewis to the title as Lewis has the edge on speed, wheel to wheel fight and a champion’s mentality.

    Other thing is that I have been really impressed by Daniel. Seb is a great champion and a deserving 4 times champion but Daniel is no pushover and he is a champion material as well.

    Forget Sebastian, Daniel is making Mark Webber look very average.

    1. GB (@bgp001ruled)
      19th April 2014, 8:50

      i believe that too. webber seems to have been a mess…

      1. I think what we are seeing is that Webber was a great actor. He made everyone feel sorry for him, when in fact he just needed to do what Ricciardo is doing now. All of this is very healthy. But I’m still disappointed that so much hate was heaped on Vettel due to the antics of the supposedly upstanding Webber. Sure Seb could be a bit of a baby but think about it so can Alonso, Raikkonen, Button and Hamilton.

    2. It’s often been said that the RBR EBD of the previous seasons, required a counter intuitive approach to driving especially around corners, but these season’s cars are more straight forward even if more complicated.
      Last year while your normal instincts would require you to lift off at the corners, the RBR with the Renault engines, might require the driver to go on the throttle, which Webber wasn’t able to adapt to sufficiently. Prior to the EBD taking prominence, Webber was keeping pace with Vettel.

      1. Prior to the EBD taking prominence, Webber was keeping pace with Vettel.

        Well I don’t remember Mark matching Seb so consistently ever.

        1. Remember 2010? Webber was a championship contender right until the last race.

          1. But that was more down to Seb’s car failures and mind failures :)

  16. To the best of my knowledge Maldonado’s penalty is not carried over to the next race. There is a provision in the rules for grid penalties to be carried over but that rule (Sporting Regulations 28.4c) only applies to penalties regarding power unit changes:

    c) Should a driver use more than five of any one of the elements a grid place penalty will be imposed upon him at the first Event during which each additional element is used.

    […]

    If a grid place penalty is imposed, and the driver’s grid position is such that the full penalty cannot be applied, the remainder of the penalty will be applied at the driver’s next Event. However, no such remaining penalties will be carried forward for more than one Event.

    1. Keith I think you are wrong as Matt Coch says that it carries over to the next race. Source: his twitter account

      1. I don’t believe Tweets are legally binding under the FIA International Sporting Code :-)

        Seriously though is there another regulation that says otherwise? Would be good to know.

        1. well that’s what he believes, and he has talked to various people about it. It will carry over to Spain, if they can’t fix it

    2. That is unfortunate because Maldonado deserved an even bigger penalty for his lack of awareness and also destroying his Car in FP2 on Friday.

  17. Seems that the engines upgrades that Renault brought here for Lotus are working out. Kind of dissapointing knowing that Red Bull and Toro Rosso already had them in Bahrain. Maybe Lotus would had scored their first points back there.

    1. How can there be engine performance updates when engine development is frozen?

  18. Maybe Rosberg would have been P2 or P3 had he taken that last corner at the speed he did on previous laps. The interview after qually was interesting, because he said he had nothing to lose because he wasn’t beating Lewis anyway, but he forgot that he really should have put the thing on P2 and waited for the dry race to turn the tables at the start.

    He’s been rattled by Lewis, and that’s exactly what Hamilton wants.

  19. A lot of Vettel-bashing comments. It’s ironic that the most funny guy in the paddock is the most hated…amm sorry, second most hated (Maldonado). It’s a personal opinion as to why this hatred started.

    2010:

    Even without the Vettel factor, Mark Webber was one the most loved drivers on the grid and that year provided the best opportunity to be the champion and the hopes went up after his dominant wins in Spain and Monaco.

    Come Turkey and the Bulls clashed and the manner in which RBR sided Seb and the victim being Mark, the seeds of hatred were sown. Silverstone watered the seeds and come Abu Dhabi, Mark came in as the favorite alongside Fernando for the title and to the shock of many people (including me), Seb swept the title from under their noses.

    2011:

    People anticipated Mark to fight again for the title but were disappointed when Seb dominated and Mark only won a solitary GP thanks to Vettel’s misfortune.

    2012:

    With Fernando having driven the wheels off the Ferrari, Seb’s four successive and relatively easy victories in Asia was a sting to the people and taking away the 2012 title was the barb (I think Fernando was more deserving).

    2013:

    Clearly, it was Sepang that escalated the hatred even more since Seb disobeyed the order and it was Mark who became the victim which hurt even more (since we rarely saw Mark at the very front). Come China and he showed no remorse and it really pricked.

    That’s one of the prime reasons in my opinion why Seb is hated more than admired.

  20. So Alonso and Massa start next to each other in this race?

    This is going to be interesting. :)

  21. I dnt like this track…. No wonder even drivers dnt like it…. Its so boring… shd be scrapped….!!!!

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