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A wet and wild Chinese Grand Prix weekend was rounded out by a victory from Lewis Hamilton, who converted pole position to his fifth win at the Shanghai circuit.
It’s been an odd weekend so far at the Chinese Grand Prix, with only one practice session and qualifying having been run, due to poor weather on Friday. Join The Roar for a live blog of the race starting from 4pm AEST.
Limited running has put the grid in an awkward position moving into the 56-lap race in Shanghai, with mother nature set to play its hand again.
There was no stopping Lewis Hamilton from setting pole position however in the dry conditions gleaned during qualifying.
The sixth consecutive pole for the Briton was also the 75th of the Mercedes AMG team in Formula One and they’ve achieved that feat in only 150 grand prix – which is a 50 per cent pole rate.
Ferrari once again were not too far off, with Sebastian Vettel second fastest and his teammate Kimi Räikkönen in fourth.
Mercedes AMG and Hamilton have been dominant at this venue, as the team have won four of the last five races in Shanghai and Hamilton’s own win tally being four – which puts him as the most winningest.
Ferrari’s last win was in China was in 2013 courtesy of Fernando Alonso, while both current drivers have only won a race each at this venue.
Overtaking was sparse in Melbourne, however with the addition of the long straight and a wider circuit in general – there could be scope for more passes.
Passing will be something that Max Verstappen will have to partake in, having qualified down in nineteenth following electrical gremlins. Many hope that the spectacular wet weather driving seen by the Dutch teenager in 2016, will be back on show.
Other highlights from qualifying included the top-ten berths for Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault and rookie Lance Stroll for Williams in just his second race. Either from inside the top ten boast a chance of capitalising on any carnage in the forecasted wet conditions.
‘Like an animal,’ Alonso threw his McLaren into thirteenth on the grid and if he continues to extract more than what his car possesses – there could be a possibility of surprise points for the Spaniard and the beleaguered McLaren team.
The red cars currently are said to have the desirable package in race-trim, which with wet tyres that haven’t had much testing, could prove to be a benefit over the Mercedes AMGs which struggled on their rubber in Australia.
Can Vettel make it two on the bounce? Will Räikkönen win his first grand prix since 2013?
With much uncertainty about how the race will pan out with extreme weather on the horizon, join us on The Roar at 4pm AEST for live blog coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix.
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