iSport F1 Pitstop: iSporter Gautam TP gives us a breakdown on Mclaren’s win in China.
An excellent start to the 4th round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship, Mclaren answered the recent domination of Redbulls and Ferraris through a unique mix of patience and aggression. Mclaren scored a thrilling one-two finish in the Chinese GP. The fact that Mclaren is already the third team to score a 1-2 finish this season underlines the intensity of competition involved.
Mclaren started well, being the faster cars in both practice sessions on Friday. Race engineers were aware of the tough task in coming up with a combination of medium downforce and high downforce setup allowing drivers to quickly flow through the slow corners and fly fast through the long straights.
Bridgestone had predicted more grains on the left front tyre in the slow corners. The brake demands were also very high due to the huge lateral transfer load from the rear especially at corner 8 after back straight. Though Mclaren appeared quicker during the initial two qualifying sessions, both drivers lost the momentum quickly in the last run giving up on a vital pole position. Jenson Button was however feeling so good about the balance of his car and Hamilton was still baffled by his slower lap time.
The race started in dry conditions. Mclaren was predicting rain in the initial two laps and kept the intermediate tyres on the grid prior to the start of the race. As early as lap 3 Hamilton was finding the conditions tough and made the call to change to intermediates. Button maintained his position behind Rosberg by being more cautious on his dry tyres and not changing them. The track soon dried up and the intermediate tyres proved hard and slow. Hamilton had to pit once again on lap 6 to change to slicks.
Mclaren snatched a deserving One-Two. Mclaren left the golden eastern horizon leading the World Constructors Table. Button's race might sound easier from Hamilton. Button raced a Champion's drive in judging the weather situations correctly and holding onto his senses and the belief in his car during the tricky early half of the race. Button braved the wet track with his slicks in the early laps and could interpret the weather correctly when the track went dry in quick time. Button proved his experience and knowledge to come ahead of everyone without having to race them. Button is neither the quickest driver, nor he has the fastest car. But, he is the only driver so far this season to win two races and is leading the World Drivers Championship table.
In three weeks time we head to the traditional European circuits starting with Barcelona. With Mercedes, Renault and Force India quickly catching up on the Mclarens, Redbulls and Ferraris, the season is proving to be intense and will take the battle for Drivers and Constructors Championship down to the wire. Mclaren have struggled so far in finding the right setup in Qualifying sessions which is one final area the team will be concentrating on. I am sure that by the time I finish my post-race article for an exciting Chinese GP, engineers back in Woking have already started working for the Spanish GP.
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