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A quick turnaround from the thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix sees Formula One head to Shanghai for the third round of the 2018 world championship. Join The Roar for a live blog of the Chinese Grand Prix from 4:10pm (AEST).
It’s two from two for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari so far and the ball is in the court of the reigning world champions in Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes AMG to respond.
The 5.4km, permanent power-circuit will see 56 laps contested and the drivers have a choice of medium, soft and supersoft tyres available; the same as in Bahrain.
Though conditions are converse to Bahrain, with temperatures having been quite cold across the Shanghai International Circuit during the weekend – making optimising tyres difficult again.
Ferrari have once again locked out the front-row of the grid, a feat they haven’t achieved since the 2006 United States and French Grands Prix, with championship leader Vettel having edged out Kimi Räikkönen.
The Silver Arrows again, with no answer to the scarlet chargers, were forced to settle for positions on the second row. Valtteri Bottas will lead his teammate Lewis Hamilton, as both will start the race on soft tyres – as supposed to Ferrari on the supersofts.
Red Bull occupy the third row of the grid, with Max Verstappen leading Daniel Ricciardo, who’s endured a tough weekend with reliability issues plaguing the Aussie again.
As with Bahrain, it appears that the race may be decided by who’ll dictate tyre strategy and whether Ferrari can pull off the mega stint they did on the soft tyres, if Mercedes AMG go onto the mediums.
In the midfield, Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault will lead from seventh and will have his teammate, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean in the Haas making up the top ten.
With the quick cars of Kevin Magnussen and handy racers like Fernando Alonso starting outside the top ten, the battle for the points once again will be juicy.
So, can Ferrari breakthrough at a circuit owned by Mercedes AMG in recent years? Vettel has only won once here, in 2009, while Hamilton has a mammoth five wins and will be targeting a record sixth to kickstart his title defence.
Join The Roar from 4:10pm (AEST) for live blog coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix and what promises to be another spectacular Formula One race.
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