Scuderia Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel have, whether by luck or by good calls in the pits, been the dominant force so far in the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship, but Mercedes has dominated the last four Chinese Grands Prix.
Can Ferrari break the stranglehold?
In both the Australian and Bahrain Grands Prix, pit stops were key. Sebastian pitting under the virtual safety car in Australia was a lucky break that gave him an unlikely victory. In Bahrain, it was a botched pit stop for Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen — one where a mechanic was struck and injured — that meant Vettel had to nurse his super-soft tires for 39 laps when Pirelli predicted a lifespan of just 30 laps for that set of tires.
Should Lewis Hamilton, who trails Sebastian Vettel by 17 points, fail to win in China, it will be only the second time since 2014 where he has gone six races without a victory. Mercedes was well off the Ferrari’s pace in Bahrain but was utterly dominant on one-lap pace in Australia. The Shanghai circuit bears more similarities to Bahrain with its long straights and even combination of fast- and slow-speed corners.
Key stats
Circuit: Shanghai International Circuit
Laps: 56
Circuit length: 3.38 miles
Race distance: 189.56 miles
Fastest race lap: 1:32.238 (Michael Schumacher, 2004)
2017 pole time: 1:31.678 (Lewis Hamilton)
The stats that matter
– How important is pole here? In 14 races, the winner has started from P1 nine times. The lowest winning grid slot was sixth, where Michael Schumacher started in 2006.
– Sebastian Vettel’s victory in Bahrain took him to 49 in total for his career. Only three drivers have scored 50 or more wins – Michael Schumacher (91), Lewis Hamilton (62) and Alain Prost (51). Prost was the last driver to win the opening two races of a season and not win the title (1982) and also the last man to win the opening race in consecutive years without winning either title (1987 &1988). No driver has won the opening three races and not been crowned champion that same year…
– Mercedes’ qualifying record in Shanghai is better than on any of the other circuits on the calendar. This is the only track on which they have been on pole for the past six consecutive years, with 2013 being the only time they failed to convert that advantage into victory. But, in Bahrain no Mercedes topped any session over the weekend, even including Q1 and Q2. This was a first in the current turbo hybrid era.
– Williams are currently last in the Constructors’ Championship, and are the only team without a point so far. They’ve been knocked out in Q1 three times out of four opportunities, and they haven’t completed a single lap in a points position as yet this season. Aside from Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, four other drivers are yet to score in 2018: Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Brendon Hartley and Romain Grosjean.
– Shanghai is notable for exceptionally high reliability. The 2015 Chinese GP was the sixth of seven races in history to pass without a single retirement. Prior to that, the 2011 and 2012 races featured just one retirement each, both caused by a loose wheel after a pit stop (Jaime Alguersuari in 2011, Michael Schumacher in 2012). There were two retirements in 2014 and only three in 2015. Of the five retirements last year, only three were due to mechanical failure.
– Rain has affected the Chinese Grand Prix five times in 13 previous runnings, and qualifying was rain-affected in both 2015 and 2016. The 2009 China race was one of 11 races in history to have been started behind the Safety Car due to wet conditions. Despite the high presence of rain in this event, there have never been more than two Safety Car periods in any Chinese GP, although the Safety Car has been deployed at each of the last 3 races here.
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