Formula 1 heads to China for third round of the Formula 1 world championship. It is the 13th time that F1 has been held at the Shangahi International Circuit. China has been mostly good to Lewis Hamilton, he has the most victories to his name around the 3.3 mile circuit with four, however in 2007 Hamilton’s race ended early after beaching his McLaren in a gravel trap upon entering the pitlane, a race that would have seen him secure his first world championship in his debut season.
If Hamilton wants to make it five in China then he will have a lot of work to do come Sunday. Hamilton is more than likely to start behind teammate Nico Rosberg following a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. The defending champion will have to be at his best try beat his teammate and will have to do it the hard way to end Rosberg’s streak of five wins on the bounce.
Shanghai brought controversy to the Mercedes pair last year, as Rosberg criticised Hamilton of ‘compromising his race’. Hamilton, who has 4 victories in China will be aiming for a repeat of last year however, as he came out on top, with his teammate closely behind in second.
It will be a difficult task for Hamilton to make it a fifth race win in Shanghai coming off the back of another disappointing race weekend in Bahrain. Mercedes tweeted “if there’s anyone that can fight back, its #LH44” as Hamilton will try and reduce the 17 point gap between himself and Rosberg
To clarify, it’ll be a five place grid penalty for @LewisHamilton. If there’s anyone who can fight back, though, it’s #LH44! ??⏱ #F1
— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) April 14, 2016
Haas will try and follow up their impressive start to 2016 in Shanghai, after consecutive points finishes for driver Roman Grosjean. The team have come under scrutiny recently, with many complaining about the large amounts of Ferrari modifications to the car, Grosjean’s response to which was “they are just jealous.”
“There are two approaches – the Claire Williams approach, which is very nice, saying it’s very good for Formula 1 that there’s a new team coming, on top of that an American team, and being successful, it opens up the audience, opens it up to a big country, opens ideas up to other people that want to join Formula 1, and I am sure we would love to see 24, 26, 28 cars on the grid, it would be awesome” – he told Autosport.
Finally, Fernando Alonso has been deemed as being ‘provisionally fit’ to participate in the race, following his horror crash in Melbourne on the opening weekend. If Alonso is to return to the track, his temporary replacement Stoffel Vandoorne will drop out after an impressive display in Bahrain.
