Alonso gets first win for Ferrari; Vettel’s dash in vein

Shanghai, 14 April 2013: Fernando Alonso delivered Scuderia Ferrari’s first win of the season winning the UBS Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the FIA Formula One World Championship to make it as a third driver to win a round each here on Sunday.

Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus stunned the Formula One world winning the season opener in Australia while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, the reigning World Champion won a controversial Malaysian GP defying team orders. Today both the Red Bulls failed to get on to the podium. Vettel made a desperate dash, though, which was too little and too late to get on to the podium.

The teams opted for different strategies to save the Pirelli tyres and the race was action packed with Sahara Force India’s Adrain Sutil becoming an early victim while his teammate Paul Di Resta managed to get four important points with an eighth place finish after being in fifth place before he went for a pit stop in the fag end.

For Ferrari, Felipe Massa, after a strong start, had to settle for sixth at the flag but the eight points he added to the winner’s 25 takes the Prancing Horse ahead of Lotus to second in the Constructors’ Championship, just five points behind Red Bull.

Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo said: “I was very confident going into this race and today I am very happy, especially for Domenicali and for everyone in the Scuderia who has worked so hard and so well at the track and in Maranello, as they really deserve this victory. Fernando Alonso drove a great race and Felipe Massa brought home points that are important in the Constructors’ classification. Winning in China is very satisfying for Ferrari and it is also a source of great pride in Italian technology. Now we go on, but with our feet firmly on the ground. A thank you to the fans: it was very nice to see so many Ferrari flags in the Shanghai grandstands and to feel so much enthusiasm here in Italy”.

Team Principal Stefano Domenicali commented: “I am pleased with the result for the team as a whole today and clearly with winning a race that looked like being a difficult one from many points of view, starting with tyre management. After what happened in Malaysia, I am particularly happy to see Fernando on the top step of the podium, because it’s the best possible turnaround and it’s down to a great job from the guys here at the track and in Maranello. However, I am sorry for Felipe who, because of graining, was unable to make the most of his potential, nor to secure the result he could have aimed for after his great start. This is only the third race and in a few days we will already be back on track to take on another challenge in Bahrain. In this first part of the championship it is harder than ever to come up with an accurate evaluation of the hierarchy in the field: between qualifying and the race we have seen contrasting performances for some teams and therefore we must concentrate very hard on improving the car over the single lap in qualifying, while maintaining the performance level we have seen over the long runs”.

Fernando Alonso: “It couldn’t have gone better than this today! I hadn’t won since Germany and this has a special feeling because it was a tricky race full of action. Along with the second place I got in Australia, this result shows that the car is competitive and that we are working in the right direction to always be in the fight for the podium. For that, I have to thank the team for the huge efforts it has made both here and back in the factory. They have worked so hard to put me in this position from which I can fight with the others on equal terms. We had a good feeling all through the weekend and qualifying third gave us the possibility of fighting for the top places. On top of that, maybe we were owed some good luck. Along with that all the important factors worked perfectly, such as set-up, strategy, calling the pit stops and the stops themselves. All together it produced a win that wasn’t easy at the end of a race in which we made the most of our pace and did a good job of managing the tyres, which was definitely the most dangerous aspect. With no one dominating the Championship, it makes it extremely interesting, even if we are aware this is only the third race. We are under no illusions and we must continue to concentrate and do all we can to improve still further”.

Felipe Massa: “It’s difficult to understand exactly what happened today, because the start went very well. I was immediately quick and the car was working perfectly. At the first stop, I fitted the Medium tyres and after a few laps I began to suffer with graining on the front. That meant I lost ground to other cars and it was probably down to a problem linked to the track conditions and my driving style. All weekend, I haven’t felt comfortable with these tyres and in the race, any attempts I made to save them was useless. But for this problem, I would certainly have been in the fight for the podium, but I am still confident because, all the same, I was able to bring home a good points haul which is important in a season that has only just begun”.

Pat Fry: “The great start from both cars was certainly the best way to begin the race. We knew the Mercedes would have a slightly higher degradation than us and the double overtaking move on Hamilton at the start of Lap 5 meant we got into the lead immediately. We also knew that we would rejoin in traffic after the first pit stop, without knowing if we would have been able to overtake the cars that were on the Medium: the move paid off for Fernando with his stop on the sixth lap, while for Felipe, who pitted on lap 7, it was more difficult, especially as he had some graining which meant he was not able to finish any higher. Overall, the F138 showed that it has a good pace and we can take satisfaction from that. Now we must immediately turn the page and concentrate on the race coming up in Bahrain. We are absolutely aware that we still have a lot of work to do on qualifying performance if we want to make the most of our race pace”.

Sahara Force India press release adds:

Sahara Force India secured four championship points today as Paul Di Resta raced to eighth place at the Shanghai International Circuit. Adrian Sutil’s race ended early when he was hit from behind by Esteban Gutierrez.

P8     Paul Di Resta   VJM06-04

Tyre strategy: Medium, Medium, Medium, Soft

Paul: “A good result in the end and a strong recovery after a difficult start to the race. I was battling with Nico [Hulkenberg] on the opening lap, but unfortunately there was some contact with Adrian [Sutil] down at the hairpin, which put me on the grass and set us back three or four places. After that I was stuck in the pack, my tyres were graining, and I couldn’t really make much progress. It wasn’t until the third stint that I was in some clean air and the pace of the car was very strong. I was pushing all the way and I knew it would be very close after the final stop with Grosjean and Hulkenberg. But the pit crew did a top job; they kept their nerve and we managed to stay ahead of both of them. If everything had gone to plan I’m sure we could have done an even better job, but it’s good to pick up more points and to see our race pace right up there once again.”

DNF      Adrian Sutil      VJM06-03

Tyre strategy: Soft

Adrian: “A very disappointing day for me. Things were going well in the opening laps and then under braking for the final hairpin I got hit from behind as I turned into the corner. I guess Gutierrez missed his braking point and had nowhere to go but into the back of my car. My rear wing was broken and there was no option but to stop. It’s always a shame not to finish a race and I had a good chance of scoring more points today. I was on the soft tyre and the strategy looked to be shaping up well.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal

“It’s the first time we’ve scored points in China so it’s good to get that monkey off our back and see Paul demonstrate the inherent pace of our car. He was boxed in the pack early on, but the strategy came back to us at the end of the race as Paul put in a fantastic third stint on the medium tyres. We left it until the last couple of laps to fit the soft tyres, but Paul had done enough in the clean air to keep Grosjean and Hulkenberg behind him. Credit should also go to the pit crew who were exceptional today with some very rapid stops, especially the final one. On the other side of the garage Adrian was the innocent victim of Gutierrez’s mistake. There was nothing Adrian could have done to avoid it but it certainly cost us a good chance of getting two cars in the points.”

Lotus quotes:

 

Kimi Räikkönen took his second podium finish of the season with a strong second place in the Chinese Grand Prix. Despite a rearranged nose and front wing – courtesy of contact with Sergio Perez’s McLaren – Kimi fought back after a poor start from the front row of the grid. Romain Grosjean endured a more difficult race, with ninth place his reward at the chequered flag. Kimi keeps up his run of consecutive points finishes and retains second in the Drivers’ Championship on a tally of 49 points; three behind leader Sebastian Vettel. The team falls one place to third position in the Constructors’ Championship on 60 points, with Ferrari now ahead with 73 points.

• Both drivers started on scrubbed sets of the soft compound (yellow) Pirelli tyre.
• Kimi pitted for new mediums (white) on laps 6, 21 and 34, Romain on laps 7, 23 and 37.
• Kimi incurred damage to his front wing after an early collision with Sergio Perez.

Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03

“Second wasn’t quite what we wanted, but in the circumstances it was the best that we could manage today. I’m not 100% happy because we didn’t win, but it is what it is and second place is a good result after a bad start and the incident with Sergio [Perez]. It was quite difficult out there; obviously the car is not designed like that otherwise we would use it all the time, but I was surprised how good it was still. Of course there were some handling issues which was not ideal, but we just had to try to live with it and we still had pretty okay speed.”

Kimi’s teammate Romain Grosjean finished 9th getting a valuable 2 points in the process.

ends