What did we learn from the GP in China?

Well, we learned (if we didn’t know before) that Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) is the real deal.  A dominant weekend with pole position translated into a win by 15 seconds over his team mate Nico Rosberg.  It would appear that Hamilton’s win was a combination of raw talent and an excellent race car.  Rosberg had the same machinery under him, but was not in Hamilton’s class at all.

Unfortunately, the Chinese GP gave us nothing of the fireworks of Bahrain, even though the long straights and the DRS was resulting in astronomical speeds, Valtteri Bottas (Williams) hit 320 km/h in the wet for example.

Third and on the podium again, was Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) who has shown amazing determination in his driving.  The same cannot be said about his team mate Kimi Raikkonen who finished a lack-luster race in 8th and almost one minute behind Alonso.

Red Bull’s world champion Sebastian Vettel (formerly known as “The Finger”) has certainly been showing his true colors, after Daniel Ricciardo has been quicker than him in Qualifying and quicker in the race.  When told he should yield to the young Aussie as he had newer tyres, the voice from the cockpit said, “Tough luck!”  But in the end it was “Tough luck Vettel” coming in fifth to Ricciardo’s fourth.

Poor Massa is really getting the reputation of being a moaning Minnie.  After a blinder of a start he banged into Alonso and he began the first of his wails.  That was nothing compared to his pit stop where the Williams crew brought out the wrong tyres and then had a problem with the wheel nut for the left rear.  He had gone into the pit in 6th and exited in 20th.  That was definitely worth a loud wail.

One driver who needs better equipment is Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) finishing six seconds behind Vettel, with his team mate Perez in 9th and 30 seconds behind Hulkenberg.  So far this year, Hulkenberg has shown plenty of talent and determination.  Ferrari might like to swap him for Raikkonen?

Way down the back was Pastor Maldonado who managed to get a five place grid penalty for T-boning Gutierrez at Bahrain, then crashed his “Lotus” while trying to remember what the buttons were for on his steering wheel.  He really is a clot and should not be in F1.  His inclusion in the F1 circus shows everything that is wrong with having “pay drivers”.  He is a laughing stock, which is sad, but he is a dangerous laughing stock.  The FIA should revoke his Super License.

How do you manage to wave the chequered flag too early?  The man with the flag did just that in Shanghai, and while I agree the race had become boring, that does not give the organizers the right to call it to a halt on lap 54 instead of lap 56.  There is an FIA rule covering that (Article 43.2 of the FIA formula 1 Sporting regulations)

Amazingly, no contentious calls to the stewards office (for once).

The Driver’s Championship after four races stands as follows: