Belgian engineer Jacky Eeckelaert, who worked for Jordan, Prost GP, Sauber, Honda and HRT (before joining Audi Sport Abt in the DTM and Formula E as technical director), offers his account of last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton's dominance.
Hamilton, Emperor of China
Thanks to Lewis Hamilton's win in Shanghai, Mercedes was back to its winning ways, while its drivers found themselves once again at loggerheads with each other. Just like last year, psychological warfare has broken out between Nico Rosberg and his team mate, who the German accused of only partially obeying instructions discussed during the team pre-race briefing, and which involved avoiding slowing down too much. Toto Wolff admitted that the team had almost called Hamilton to order, but then explained that the British driver had not intentionally done anything wrong.
By defeating his team mate, the World Champion achieved a full house in China: pole position (his 41st), victory (his 35th and his fourth in China) and fastest lap. He managed his lead with a disconcerting ease. And on a psychological level, he thoroughly annoyed the fellow on the other side of the garage who now looks like a bad loser. The whole thing - although we don't know the details - is somewhat reminiscent of the conflict which opposed Prost and Senna at Imola in 1989. In any case, Rosberg's complaints seemed a bit hopeless, because if Hamilton had indeed increased his pace, Nico would not have been able to catch him. Quite the contrary...
Rosberg's complaints seemed a bit hopeless, because if Hamilton had indeed increased his pace, Nico would not have been able to catch him. Quite the contrary...
Behind the two Mercedes drivers, Ferrari did not repeat its Malaysian success. We saw that Vettel was closing on Rosberg at the end of his soft tyre stints (especially the second one, with a gap between the two men reduced to only 1''431 on lap 23), but that wasn't the case the runs done on the medium compound rubber. The Silver Arrows controlled the race quite easily but the Scuderia's SF15-T may pose more of a threat in Bahrain, where temperatures will be closer to those we had in Malaysia rather than China, and where Ferrari's ability to limit tyre degradation may come into play. Kimi had a great start, and immediately overtook both Williams. Since the beginning of the year, we've had the same trio on the podium, and a clear pecking order is emerging. At the finish, we had two Mercedes, two Ferraris and the two Williams which struggled to keep up with the red cars (shortly before the halfway mark, Lotus was also amongst the first eight). The order down the field is less clear...
