The weekend’s best weather awaited Formula One on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton took a dominant win, while Ferrari got their first podium finish of 2014.
Here’s how it unfolded on Twitter.
Build-up
Williams mechanics in preparations. It didn’t help, however, as a disastrous pit stop ruined Felipe Massa’s race.
Pit stop practice for the boys in prep for the race. #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/me9dBbhahv
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) April
20, 2014
Happy easter everyone. Chocolate and raceday. What more could you want 😃 — Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) April 20, 2014
Good morning from Shanghai. The rain has gone – looks like it’s going to be a dry race today
— Jon Noble (@NobleF1) April 20, 2014
#ChineseGP driver’s parade with #jev and @Jules_Bianchi ! French corner of the bus. #r8main #f1 #france pic.twitter.com/x51hf5cBU5 — Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) April 20, 2014
Interesting to note all the Ferrari-powered cars have had spark plug changes overnight. #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 20, 2014
#F1 A big thank you banner by the chinese Ferrari fans for Stefano Domenicali. #Shanghai pic.twitter.com/yN9i0r427g — Tobias Grüner F1 (@tgruener) April 20, 2014
Race
The fourth race of the season got underway with two tangles in the first metres.
Another rocketship start from Massa, who tangles with Alonso! #F1
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) April 20, 2014
Massa being squeezed at the start. #F1 pic.twitter.com/6AK5cPoSU8
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 20, 2014
Both Williams drivers had contact at the first corner. Bottas also fortunate to be running after contact with Rosberg. Grove build ’em tough — F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) April 20, 2014
Hamilton pace stunning. Nearly 10 seconds out in front. Next ten seconds covers 2nd to 8th
— Steve Slater (@steveslaterF1) April 20, 2014
Problems in the pits for Massa put him back on track out of position at the back of the pack — WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) April 20, 2014
Alonso now effectively second. Can’t help but wonder what’s going through Domenicali’s mind as he watches this. #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 20, 2014
After the first round of stops, Nico gains a position and Checo two – great job by the crew! #FeelTheForce — Sahara Force India (@clubforce) April 20, 2014
Vettel gets Multi 31, Ricciardo passes his less than co-operative team mate. #F1 pic.twitter.com/h7ORG2hCav
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 20, 2014
Gap to @alo_oficial down to 1.3 seconds for @nico_rosberg.. the beast is hunting down the prancing horse #TheBeastGoesEast
— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) April 20, 2014
Awesome crowd here which is what we love to see! #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/BV8NWWxMZL — WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) April 20, 2014
A promising weekend for Romain Grosjean and Lotus came to a disappointing end with a gearbox failure.
Hello you, we weren’t expecting you home so early. #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/BzmsEYA5Jj
— Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) April 20, 2014
His teammate Pastor Maldonado fought Esteban Gutierrez, with a better outcome than a fortnight ago.
Maldonado vs Gutierrez round two – this time everyone stays the right way up. #F1 pic.twitter.com/XeeRcckxm2 — F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 20, 2014
Rosberg asked for his fuel figure again: “33.5. It really annoys me to do that.” #F1
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) April 20, 2014
More good work from Kamui who catches and passes CHI quickly, now setting off after BIA
— Caterham F1 Team (@CaterhamF1) April 20, 2014
Bottas is also being asked for his fuel figures and unlike Rosberg his data is not appearing on the readout on the world feed. #F1 — F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 20, 2014
Superb pacing by Alonso. Leaving enough reserve for a string of personal best laps to keep ahead of Ricciardo.
— Steve Slater (@steveslaterF1) April 20, 2014
Six laps left. @kamui_kobayashi has cut the gap to BIA to 2.4 seconds and is lining him up….
— Caterham F1 Team (@CaterhamF1) April 20, 2014
Hamilton on the final lap: “I just got the chequered flag.” Bonnington: “Negative, keep pushing.” #F1 — F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) April 20, 2014
Lap 55/56 | Jules is doing an epic job keeping KOB behind him to the flag.
— Manor F1 Team (@ManorF1Team) April 20, 2014
Lewis Hamilton wins the Chinese Grand Prix for the third time! #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) April 20, 2014
Nico holds on to P6 despite a late surge by BOT, Sergio crosses the line in P9 for our 3rd double-point finish of the season! #FeelTheForce — Sahara Force India (@clubforce) April 20, 2014
After the chequered flag
Rosberg looks very, very disappointed. Big psychological win for Lewis today.
— Phil Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) April 20, 2014
Hamilton may have three wins to Rosberg’s one, but it’s the latter who leads the championship.
1 win & 3 seconds puts ROS still ahead of 3 wins & a DNF for HAM. Hmmm. Consistency is nice, but winning should count more #F1 — Mark Gallagher (@_markgallagher) April 20, 2014
Actually, it’s not a 23rd finish cake, it’s a 23rd birthday cake! We crash the engineering meeting #popular pic.twitter.com/yi46Jnnkuv — Marussia F1 Team (@Marussia_F1Team) April 20, 2014
Kimi Raikkonen finished a disappointing weekend in eight position, 53 seconds behind his teammate.
17.42 in Shanghai: Kimi crisis??? pic.twitter.com/0PSy5F8sE6
— Nicola Pohl (@NicolaBILD) April 20, 2014
Lewis seems in a much more positive place psychologically this year. The moods, the self-recrimination, of previous years seems gone. #F1 — Graham Keilloh (@TalkingaboutF1) April 20, 2014
Horner plays down Newey being at Silverstone (with WEB) for WEC; saying he was in race command for GP and doing development. #F1
— Maurice Hamilton (@MauriceHamilton) April 20, 2014
Fernando Alonso dedicated his third place finish to Stefano Domenicali, who resigned from Ferrari team principal role earlier in the week.
Nice touch from @alo_oficial. Dedicated podium to Stefano. Said he hopes to give his former boss lots of joy from comfort of his own home. — Will Buxton (@willbuxton) April 20, 2014
Great to see Ron Meadows on the China podium accepting the team trophy. He’s been there all the way, through BAR Honda, Brawn, Mercedes .
— Gerald Donaldson (@f1speedreader) April 20, 2014
Howdy. Not a bad day had good pace so just gonna keep chipping away at it. Next stop Barcelona! 🇪🇸
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) April 20, 2014
Hungry..;) pic.twitter.com/2Cxfu6PHqc — Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) April 20, 2014
Another good points finish, but always wanting for more. Aiming for improvements in BCN @WilliamsRacing ! #7th #77 #ChineseGP
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) April 20, 2014
After a hard & tiring day, an #F1-themed cake greets us at the @HiltonSH. Thanks, guys. #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/4Y4MKt8LDc — McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 20, 2014
Disappointing weekend. But we need to learn from this and work hard to improve. Then we will come back stronger in Europe! #KeepPushing #ME9
— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) April 20, 2014
Good race for us ! P10 and 1 well deserved point for the team , they’re doing fantastic job . — Daniil Kvyat (@Dany_Kvyat) April 20, 2014
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2014 Chinese Grand Prix
- Alonso wins Driver of the Weekend after China podium
- Dull Chinese Grand Prix gets lowest score so far
- 2014 Chinese Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2014 Chinese GP Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Sam (@)
21st April 2014, 10:42
What does Mark Gallagher mean with the ‘3 seconds’.
I also very much disagree with him that a win should be more points. 25 is 139% of P2. I think that is plenty. To much even, MotoGP works with 125% and in my own racing league we also use the MotoGP system to keep the championship tighter for longer. Also in MotoGP more drivers get points.
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
25th April 2014, 5:51
1 first place and 3 second places.
Chema Carrasco (@chemakal)
21st April 2014, 11:14
3 second places