F1: Mercedes Duo dominates in China

The Chinese Grand Prix saw Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton cruise his way to an easy victory. His teammate, Nico Rosberg, didn’t have that smooth of a race. He told his engineers pre race that the car’s clutch felt perfect, but when it really mattered, it wasn’t perfect, dropping Rosberg to a lowly 7th from 4th. He was passed by hard charging Massa, who collided with Alonso in spectacular fashion, although both vehicles could continue the race with just the sidewall markings missing. While witnessing the whole incident unfold, Rosberg drove into Bottas, sending Bottas off the circuit. The pace of the W05 was apparent, as there were laps where Rosberg closed almost a 4 second gap to the car ahead. Massa’s pace was impressive too, right until a botched pitstop saw him get lapped. Red Bull was the team that shocked the paddock the most, for both cars in podium positions, lapping only slightly slower than the Merc. Once again, Vettel was told to make way for his younger Aussie teammate, although this time, he refused to concede. Still, with stale rubber(well compared to his teammate at least), he ran wide in T1, and allowed Ricciardo to cruise through. From there, Vettel struggled, and Alonso passed him as well. A couple of laps down the road, Rosberg passed Vettel too, and the Mercedes and Ferrari were now locked in a battle for P2. Vettel was then overtaken by the lapped Caterham of Kamui Kobayashi, who actually set a faster laptime that lap than Vettel did in his RB10. The Force Indias had decent pace as well, and so too was the Williams of Bottas. The only Mercedes-powered team that floundered was McLaren, with yet another disappointing race, with both Button and Magnusson being lapped. Rosberg continued his charge, and managed to get pass Alonso well before the end of the race. Ricciardo was closing the gap with every corner, but he couldn’t pass Alonso before the end of the race. The race ended 2 laps early due to an over-eager flag man, that waved the checkered flag at Hamilton on lap 55. Rosberg leaves China as the championship leader.