SHANGHAI // Dominant Mercedes will look to capitalise on fresh woes at Red Bull and Ferrari and hammer home their championship advantage with a fourth straight win at Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.
Three victories out of three, including one-two finishes in Malaysia and Bahrain, tell the story, but Mercedes received boosts this week from the woes of two of their main rivals.
Ferrari were left reeling after Stefano Domenicali, the team principal, quit following a horrid start to the season, including a poor showing 10 days ago in Bahrain.
Red Bull were handed a setback when they lost their appeal against the stripping of 18 points from Daniel Ricciardo for a fuel-flow violation in Melbourne.
Both incidents will have only heightened the mood at Mercedes, who are top of the constructors’ standings and have Nico Rosberg leading the drivers’ table, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton is a three-time winner at the Shanghai International Circuit, so Mercedes will be confident of another big points haul this weekend.
“I’m in a really good place at the moment and walking around the garage, too, you can see the positive energy within the team right now,” Hamilton said.
“Everyone is focused on getting the maximum from these early races and continuing to build beyond the strong start we’ve made to the season.”
Hamilton’s wheel-to-wheel duel with Rosberg in Bahrain provided this year’s best action and a welcome break from discussion of F1’s technical changes and quiet new hybrid engines.
But much of the focus will again be off the track as Ferrari’s untried new team principal Marco Mattiacci, who moves over from the Italian company’s road car business, makes his F1 debut.
His first task will be to establish the Prancing Horse as the top challenger to Mercedes, according to engineering director Pat Fry. After three races, they are fifth in the constructors’ standings.
“Currently, our first priority is to establish ourselves as the second-best team,” Fry told the team website.
“We are looking at all areas of the car -- power unit, aero, suspension. We are trying to make as big a step as we can for each and every race.”
Fry expects a better showing around the 56 laps of the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai circuit after suffering poor traction and a consequent loss of straight-line speed in Bahrain.
But the Englishman would not speculate where he expected Ferrari to finish on Sunday. The former world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were ninth and 10th in Bahrain.
“It’s proving hard to make predictions this year -- at least when it comes to who can challenge the current leaders,” Fry said.
Red Bull have promised to move on from their disappointment over the Ricciardo appeal, which was quashed at a special hearing in Paris.
“I’m stronger for it & hungrier than ever. Not that I need any more motivation, I’m pumped!” tweeted the Australian, who was disqualified from second at his home grand prix for a fuel infringement.
Red Bull are fourth in the constructors’ championship, already 76 points behind Mercedes, who have streaked away by claiming 111 points out of a maximum possible 129.
Four-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel is in an unaccustomed sixth place in the title race, but will hope to start clawing his way into contention in Shanghai.
“The grand prix in China is still something special for me, because I won my first race there with Red Bull Racing in 2009,” Vettel said.
Force India have been the surprise package of the season, second in the constructors’ standings and securing only their second podium finish, in Bahrain, when Sergio Perez was third. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg was fifth.
“Forty-four points out of three races, it’s the dream start we were hoping for,” said the team principal Vijay Mallya. “Bahrain was not just a one-off and we’ve been improving with each race.”
Germany’s Rosberg, who won the season-opener in Australia before yielding to Hamilton in Malaysia and Bahrain, leads the drivers’ standings on 61 points, 11 ahead of his British teammate.
Ferrari’s Di Montezemolo finds ally in Malago
Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo has found a new ally in his war on the current state of Formula One.
Di Montezemolo has so far made no secret of the fact he does not like the new 1.6-litre V6 turbo-charged power-unit era.
Aside from the lack of noise that has been criticised by many, Di Montezemolo has also bitterly bemoaned the ‘taxi driving’ style of the drivers he feels are forced to run economically to save fuel.
Di Montezemolo made public his comments prior to the all-action grand prix in Bahrain, a race at which Ferrari again underperformed as Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen could only manage ninth and 10th respectively.
Many have suggested Di Montezemolo’s comments smack of sour grapes as Ferrari have failed to hit the ground running this year, resulting in Stefano Domenicali resigning as team principal this week.
But at least the venerable Italian has someone fighting in his corner as Giovanni Malago, the president of the Italian Olympic Committee, has aired his views on the new-style F1, and he is far from happy.
Speaking at the launch of the Italian International Tennis tournament in Rome, and with his quotes posted on the Ferrari website, Malago said: “I speak on behalf of Italian sports people and fans - I don’t like this Formula One.
“In my opinion it’s delivered a product that has absolutely no sense. It’s a form of self-harm.
“I hope the people who run the sport look again at the rules because the way Formula One is now, it has much less appeal, and that’s a shame as it is an extraordinary world.”
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