2017 Chinese Grand Prix Race Report

It was a thrilling race and even though the battle wasn’t as close as we’d hoped, due to the strategy for Vettel going pear-shaped, with the unexpected safety car – it still looks like we’re going to have a great year!

Both Hamilton and Vettel leave China on equal points in the World Championship with the next stop in Bahrain in just 1 weeks time.

Let’s take a look and what the drivers and teams had to say after the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix

Mercedes – 2017 Chinese Grand Prix Race Report

Lewis Hamilton – 1st

“My pole lap put me in a great position and then the start was just fantastic – I’m really happy with my starts right now so I want to keep that up!”

“During the race, I needed to keep my composure in some really tricky conditions out there – after the pit stop under the Safety Car, the speed was low and the tyres were cold so it would have been very easy to make a mistake.”

“In the final 20 laps, Seb and I were just pounding around as fast as we could – exchanging the fastest lap times and that’s what racing is all about!”

“In the future, there will be times when we don’t have a Safety Car and we won’t have that gap – that’s what I’m excited for and it’s very close out there. There were times when it was hard to match Sebastian!”

“It’s very overwhelming when you have a weekend like this because I’m just a single link in the chain – there are hundreds of people who are involved to put me here up on the top step – a big congratulations to everyone, especially back at home.”

“I hope they’re celebrations and feeling the spirit.”

Valtteri Bottas – 6th

“I’m very disappointed with today – I made a good start but it didn’t go so well from there. Yes, we lost some time in the pit stop but it was nothing compared to what we lost with my mistake.”

“I was trying everything I could to get the temperature in the tyres behind that Safety Car and went too aggressive and lost control of the car – it was entirely my fault and I’m really sorry for the team and the points we lost today.”

“I’m leaving for Bahrain tonight and I’m glad the next race comes soon – once you’d done a mistake it’s done so you try and forget it and do everything you possibly can to make it up for the next time.”

“I will look in the mirror at myself and come back stronger.”

Toto Wolff – Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“This was a great drive by Lewis and a great result! Pace wise, things looked pretty good out there today in all conditions, although there wasn’t much between us and Ferrari when we were running in free air.”

“For Lewis, it was a pretty drama-free afternoon and he was managing the pace in the right way. Our strategy was spot-on and on the afternoon when there’s a lot of scope for making a mistake.”

“He didn’t put a foot wrong.”

“As for Valtteri – his spin before the Safety Car was unfortunate and cost him a lot of time – mistakes like this happen but it was encouraging to see he had the pace in the car and that he could at least battle back to the position he held before the spin.”

“Overall , it’s now 1:1 for us against Ferrari and the development race is on – this is just the beginning….”

Ferrari – 2017 Chinese Grand Prix Race Report

Sebastian Vettel – 2nd

“We can be happy with today’s results – the race was a lot of fun, very entertaining!”

“The conditions at the start of the race were very tricky, you never know what can happen in those moments so I was perhaps – a bit conservative.”

“We chose to change the tyres as the track was quickly drying out so that I could gain an advantage but luck was not on our side – the Safety Car came in right after.”

“I can’t say how much I think it had an effect – it was still a long way from there to the finish but overall, I think it might have affected the race result.”

“From there I had to work my way through the field and I had a tense wheel-to-wheel fight with Ricciardo – I like this way of overtaking when gaining a position – it comes at a price and not simply by opening the DRS.”

“Pace wise I think we were a match with Mercedes today – if we can fight with Mercedes in Bahrain, that will be again good news.”

Kimi Raikkonen – 5th

“It was not a very strong race, the car felt good with fresh tyres but we seemed to lose the front very quickly and I was struggling.”

“In a place like this, it’s very tricky – I feel that we should have had a better result and maybe we could have changed the tyres a bit earlier.”

“It’s always easy to speak after the race, now we have to look at the data and understand – this result is far from ideal but this is what we have got today and hopefully next week we can make things better.”

Maurizio Arrivabene – Team Principal

“Today, on track and in conditions which we very different from those we had in Melbourne, we proved that we have a strong car.”

“Sebastian drove a very good race and the fact that the safety car came out right after his first tyre change, certainly didn’t help.”

“Perhaps without interruption – the result could have been better! Now all the team is already focused on t
he next race in Bahrain.”

Red Bull Racing – 2017 Chinese Grand Prix Race Report

Daniel Ricciardo – 4th

“I have mixed emotions, it’s obviously disappointing to miss out on the podium as it was so close today but as a team it’s a good result to finish third and fourth.”

“I lost a lot of time in that first stint as I stubbled to keep my tyres alive and that pretty much put us out of the podium position – after the first pit stop, I had good balance and speed which meant I could claw back some time and close the gap to the leaders.”

“Towards the end of the race, I could see that Max was struggling with his tyres but as soon as I got close to him, I always began to struggle with mine.”

“The team let us race but even though I was in the DRS zone, I wasn’t close enough to pull off a convincing move.”

“As a team we should be pleased with the result, we learnt a lot today but we still have work to do in order to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari.”

Max Verstappen – 3rd

“That was a very special race. When I woke up this morning, I never expected to be on the podium … we had a very good first lap and I passed 9 cars which was positive.”

“The conditions really helped me get past the cars as quick as I could and I knew that it was important because when the track would dry, it would be tougher to pass.”

“I always enjoy driving in the wet – I made most of the conditions!”

“The battle with Daniel at the end was hard as my car was not fun to defend in – I’m glad we hung on and obviously, it was a great race to watch and for the team – I think our pace in the dry is a bit slow for a podium but all things considered we definitely MAXED it out…”

Christian Horner – Team Principal

“A great performance by the team today – taking advantage of the slippery conditions at the beginning of the race with Max able to make a great start.”

“The right strategic calls under the Safety Car allows us to then get our cars into second and third ahead of both Ferrari’s. Great work from the pit-crea today.”

“To come away third and fourth is a very positive result – we achieved our 100th podium as well and there’s still plenty to do – we are now leaving China with 27 points.”

McLaren – 2017 Chinese Grand Prix Race Report

Fernando Alonso – DNF

“We started from P13 in tricky conditions and after a few laps we were running in 6th position.”

“That was a big surprise and was thanks to an amazing couple of laps – I was hoping the tricky conditions would continue as other cars were spinning off here and there – we maximised all we could and we were able to hold on to P7 for some time.”

“Today we proved once more how hungry we are to get a good result – unfortunately there’s still issues and we are not strong enough to finish the races.”

“The lack of winter testing means that we are now paying a big price – hopefully we can improve this quickly.”

“its a shame that height Stoffel or I could get to the end of the race today – all we can do is learn our lessons and be a bit better in Bahrain – even though there is no forecast for rain…..”

Stoffel Vandoorne – DNF

“It was a short race for me but quite exciting at the beginning – both Fernando and I got a good start and we were in the mix for the first few laps.”

“Our pace was actually promising and we were competitive.”

“The car feels good in the corners and I felt confident too – I was closing the gap to some of the guys in front.”

“On lap 17 we lost power – I don’t really know the reason but I thin it was a fuel problem. It’s a shame that we couldn’t get a finish today – the potential is there and it’s not ideal to be in this situation and I would have liked to go to the end.”

“Hopefully next weekend in Bahrain it will be better – it’s very different from Shanghai and we will be doing our best – as usual!”

Eric Boullier – Racing Dircector

“A fuel problem ended Stoffels’ race and a driveshaft issue put a stop to Fernando’s afternoon too. From here we go straight to Bahrain and this is where we will enjoy better and warmer racing.”

Sauber F1 Team – 2017 Chinese Grand Prix Race Report

Marcus Ericsson – 15th

“I had a good start and a decent first lap. During the virtual safety car we were changing to soft tyres, even though we knew that the track was partly dry as well as wet.”

“The conditions were tricks as well as the asphalt in the temperature being relatively low – overall I struggled with the tyres in the whole race.”

“Now, I’m looking forward to Bahrain!”

Antonio Giovinazzi – DNF

“first of all, I want to apologise to the team – they did a great job getting the car ready for the race and it’s a shame that I crashed again today!”

“A learning lesson and I just want to forget this weekend quickly.”

Monisha Kaltenborn – Team Principal

“Today was not our day – especially for Antonio. We are glad that he is fine after the accident.”

“The conditions were difficult and even more so without having much experience. For Marcus, the race was not easy as we were not able to keep up with the pace of the competitors – this weekend showed us the weaknesses of the car and now we are focusing on the next race, Bahrain in just one week!”

Here are some more photos from the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix