2017 Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying
After a rainy start to the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, we’re now ready for the Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying Session.
Giovinazzi crashed heavily on the pit straight and has been taken to the medical centre.
Qualifying 2 – 2017 Chinese Grand Prix
With 8 minutes to go – Sebastian Vettel has topped the time-sheets with Lewis Hamilton in second place followed by Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen who’s currently in 4th.
Drivers are now back in the pits, ready for the final part of Qualifying 2 .
Vettel is now on his out lap.
The top two are Raikkonen and Vettel followed by the Mercedes. This is the fastest lap that Raikkonen has set – he’s now broken the all-time-record.
Raikkonen’s lap time – 1:32.181
Q2 Knock Out Zone
Sainz
Magnussen
Alonso
Ericsson
Drivers are now making their way back to the pit-lane and we’re waiting for Q3 to start.
Qualifying 3 – 2017 Chinese Grand Prix
Green lights – cars are now making their way onto the track.
Raikkonen and Vettel are both topping the time-sheets so far. Hamilton now tops the time-sheets.
Bottas is now in 2nd place.
Vettel now sets a 2nd fastest lap time – Hamilton still on provisional pole.
Raikkonen radioing his team to say that the “rear is not feeling too good, I don’t know why – can you check the settings?”
Drivers are now back in the pit-lane and getting ready for the final part of Q3.
Cars are now making their way back on-track, Hamilton is already out on track – Ferrari are still in the pits.
Ferrari drivers are now making their way out onto the track.
Lewis Hamilton is on his out lap.
Hamilton is on pole for the Chinese Grand Prix tomorrow.
The top 4 for tomorrow are
Hamilton
Vettel
Bottas
Raikkonen
It looks like it’s going to be a good race!
Here are the top 10 drivers
Lewis Hamilton
Sebastian Vettel
Valtteri Bottas
Kimi Raikkonen
Daniel Ricciardo
Felipe Massa
Nico Hulkenberg
Sergio Perez
Daniil Kvyat
Lance Stroll
Here’s so brief reaction from the top 3 drivers – Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas
Lewis, congratulations – talk us through the lap.
Hamilton – “It’s been a testing weekend so far and today was a challenge for us. We had to hope that we hit the nail on the head with the balance of the car. The Ferrari looked so fast this morning and we knew that it was going to be close between us.”
“There were no major issues but my last lap was my best lap – it started off not as good as I hoped but the rest of it was good. I felt strong and I knew that I was up a couple of tenths.”
“After that it was just waiting to see what everyone else had done – I’m very happy and super grateful to the team for putting us in a position to fight.”
“We’re now fighting and that’s amazing – this is what we need and this raises the bar every time we go out and race. Thank you to all the support for all the fans that are here too.”
“It’s amazing to be a part of the team and be a part of the family like this – someday I can look back on this.”
Sebastian how important is it to get on the front row?
Vettel – “We’ll see tomorrow how important it was. I enjoyed it today – the last lap I lost a little bit of time but it was very close.”
“We got enough of a margin to make it on the front row. Our car is strong, it doesn’t matter what the other guys are doing, we need to do what we can – we can still improve and we need to see what happens in the race tomorrow.”
Valtteri, have you seen where you lost that 1 thousandth of a second to Sebastian?
Bottas – “It’s difficult to see – the gap is always closing. It’s a shame but again the race is tomorrow and we are starting as a team in first and third – the weather tomorrow will play a part.”
“Lewis was strong and the Ferrari was strong, we need to see the weather tomorrow and how the race will be. Thank you to the team and we need to see what tomorrow will bring.”
Lewis it looks like you’ve got a battle on your hands – how much are you looking forward to the race tomorrow?
Hamilton – “Tomorrow it looks like it’s going to be tough, I think it’s going to be a wet race – I haven’t driven on the wet tyres yet so I think that will be fun and tomorrow will be a new lesson for me.”
“I think Ferrari will also step up tomorrow and it will be interesting to see – I think this will be the most exciting thing to see.”
We have lots more coming soon!
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