[Addy81]

Oh My God what a Race, Rosberg had a wonderful start and drove brilliantly till the end without any issues at all.

Unbelievable race and it would have been more closer if Jenson had got a better 3rd pit stop

I felt the driver of this Grand prix was Sebastian Vettel who finished in 5th place, after starting way down the grid drove well and gave the mclaren a good fight with worn out tyres in the last few laps.

Maldonado managed to finish infront of Alonso with a aggressive drive as usual, this 2012 season is really heating up and waiting for the Bahrain Grand prix now

[Hatari]

Congratulations Mercedes and Nico! Brilliant race.
Proved a lot of people wrong (including me) with their race pace.

Shame about MS & JB.
Great to see 10 cars so close to each other towards the end of the race.

[Shivank]

I missed the first half of the race; tuned in around 38th lap or thereabout. What had happened to MSC?

The last 10 laps or so were a complete dog-fight. Full-on paisa vasool F1 race!

Congrats to Nico and Mercedes AMG!

I feel Button got a bit unlucky during the pit-stop, he could have challenged the otherwise lonely Nico.

Great race by all of the leading drivers today, everyone seemed to be driving on the edge- especially Vettel, Button, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber and Perez, even Kobayashi pulled some great moves!

[aditya@pune]

Originally Posted by Shivank

I missed the first half of the race; tuned in around 38th lap or thereabout. What had happened to MSC?

Pit stop error. Wheel nut goes loose and he had to pull out.
Provided JB had clean stop in Pits we might had more challenging and wheel to wheel race in last couple of laps.
Anyway good race and congratulations to AMG for winning a race after long long time. I think in 1950 or something they won last.

[mgh]

Gap between first and seventeenth car was less than twothirds of a second per lap, and between first and tenth just about fourtenths of a second per lap.. Button would have had a chance to win the race, if his last pit stop wasn't badly botched.
Seven teams shared the points.
Though at this point McLaren and Red Bull have the edge, it looks from this race that Mercedes has to be added to the list. Then come, Lotus, Sauber, and Alonso ( Ferrari is effectively a one driver team now), and possibly Williams. Sorry to say, but looks as if Force India have lost the plot already.

[arun_kun]

This has to be one of the best races I have watched. Felt really sorry for schumi. Wish Mercedes have opened their account with schumi's win. Was routing for kimi but wrong strategy made him look like a kid at the end.

Congrats to nico ... He was too Gud to catch.

[arun_josie]

This was a unbelievable race, only 22 seconds between 2nd position (Jenson Button) and 13th position (Massa). It took only 3 laps for Kimi to slip from 3rd to 14th due to tyre wear.

Great drive by Nico. Costly error in pits for MSC and Button.
Massa still searching for his first point.
Force India slips to 8th position in the Constructor standing.

[asr245]

What a race! What a race! What a race!

Can't remember seeing such close racing in an F1 race - ever! This race wasn't for the weak hearted. So many battles going on all over the place. I think in this race strategy mattered a lot as it seemed only Rosberg had a clear(ish) track after pitting. Other leaders always seemed to be caught in traffic.

Shame for Kimi & MS but their loss translates to more points for my favorite team so I am reasonably happy.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Firstly i feel sad as i could not catch up the race, and secondly Schumi lost out due to a very silly error during his first pit-stop.

Somehow the Podium seems to be eluding Schumi

Nico had a great race, mostly attributed to the pleasant temperature at Shanghai. Mercedes GP sure has some great points to take for the next weekend.

[Crazy4.Cars]

For sure MSC has more pressure now to deliver since Nico has won a GP

We hae seen MSC over the years, when he has the pressure he outperforms, remember the years he fought with alonso? he drove very well indeed.

No doubt in the last 2 years he has faced a lot of pressure, but he didnt have the right car, this year he has a car with which he can fight.

I am guessing this year and the next year we'll see a few victories for MSC before he calls for retirement again.

Nico's car wasnt pushed into any kind of pressure during this race, he was busy looking after his tyres all the time, i doubt if mercedes AMG is the best package right now, this was not a clear dominating performance.

On the other hand Mclaren is a complete package and can dominate if they start from pole position.
Cheers

[asr245]

You got to love this clip. This race was funnnn to watch.

Maldonado Vs Alonso - YouTube

A close field and these new Pirelli's have made it fun.

[dkhatau]

Originally Posted by Crazy4.Cars

Nico's car wasnt pushed into any kind of pressure during this race, he was busy looking after his tyres all the time, i doubt if mercedes AMG is the best package right now, this was not a clear dominating performance.

On the other hand Mclaren is a complete package and can dominate if they start from pole position.
Cheers

any car on the pole has a chance to win the race so, and you are telling nico won by fluke??? whatever side you are at least show respect for the winner.

[anachronix]

The 2012 season is proving to be the best season in the very recent times!

Star of the race: Pirelli PZero

The track looked like a war zone with all those marbles from the Pirellis. Drivers even with a fresh set of tires, going off the racing line to overtake someone would mean you pick up some of those dirty marbles and start losing the grip on the Pirellis. Total chaos and its Pirelli totally underperforming in their 2nd year in F1! The situation does help witness a lot of overtaking, but it doesnt change the fact that the Pirellis are the worst set of tires F1 fraternity has ever witnessed!

Great drive from Rosberg, he had total control of the race all the time. Even without JB's error in the pitstop, he had no chance of catching Rosberg. It was funny when Mclaren pitwall was lying to JB about the Mclaren being 0.7s quicker than the Mercedes before his final pitstop while it was the other way around! All Nico had to do was take care of his tires and maintain the gap!

Another unlucky day for the old man, he had a good chance to be on the podium in China!

...and Mercedes made many people in the paddock eat their words including Mr.JB! He is becoming too rude with his comments offlate putting down other cars and drivers performance and I am happy that he was humbled on the track yesterday!

Without the tire situation, it would have been a boring weekend!

Looks like you guys missed this in the race

F1 China 2012 - Mark Webber on 2 wheels - YouTube

[PuntoMania]

I prefer these Pirelli tyres any day of the year to the Bridgestone tyres of a few years ago. I seem to remember those tyres had absolutely no degradation and at times the tyres just seemed to go on and on and on. Not good for racing.

The marbles are a big problem but I think its great that there is a performance drop off in these tyres which means we see a lot of action between cars.

The other big, and perhaps the main drawback of the Pirellis are the fact that they work optimally in a very narrow range of operating temperature, which forces drivers to become extra conservative at times.

They're on the right track though

[kaynmantis]

Originally Posted by Crazy4.Cars

Nico's car wasnt pushed into any kind of pressure during this race, he was busy looking after his tyres all the time, i doubt if mercedes AMG is the best package right now, this was not a clear dominating performance.

On the other hand Mclaren is a complete package and can dominate if they start from pole position.
Cheers

I agree McLaren has the best package so far. Although your other comment seems a little off.

Nico wasn't push cause no one could catch him. He started from pole and dominated the race. At least for this one race. I understand that if so and so didn't happen (especially to button), he wouldn't have dominated. But that the nature of racing. One needs to consider that if McLaren did not bungled up to Button's pit, there is no reason to think Nico would be running at the same pace as he did so Button can come within striking distance, he may increase the pace. Since Button was the only real threat, which was taken out of the equation, Nico could finish at a more comfortable pace.

However, I still reserve my take on Mercedes. There are sure signs of improvement for race pace. However, considering the cold condition in China + long straight that benefits Mercedes, it is difficult to gauge how much improvement they made, especially when they race on hotter tracks that are tough on tyres. But signs are encouraging.

On other hand, Button keeps surprising me. This guy's good without appearing good .

Rooting for Mercedes as a team and Kimi as a driver, but so far McLaren drivers has the best chance at the championship. Nevertheless, there's a long way to go.