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April 18, 2014

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Home » Supplement » Formula one

Usual suspects gear up for victory

Source: Shanghai Daily | April 18, 2014, Friday | Print Edition

AMID all the calls for changes to the new regulations, Mercedes made the best response they could by letting Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg run mano a mano in an epic fight for victory, producing the best race yet of the new formula.

This year, both drivers were retained for 2014. Rosberg won the first race of the season in Australia, then in Malaysia, Hamilton completed a grand chelem — leading every lap from pole position, with the fastest race lap — while Rosberg completed a 1–2 finish for the team. It ended Hamilton’s nine race streak without a podium finish, and was the first 1–2 finish by Mercedes-Benz as a team since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. Mercedes repeated the result at the Bahrain GP.

Both drivers described the race in the Middle East as one of the toughest they’d ever driven.

Kevin Magnussen replaced Sergio Pérez while Ron Dennis, who had remained at arm’s length since stepping down from the team principal role, returned as CEO of the operation. McLaren was the first team to officially launch their 2014 car, the MP4-29, which was revealed on January 24.

McLaren has introduced a completely new front wing, wing mounting pillars and nose. When you do all this so rapidly, it takes a little bit of time to catch up with all the small developments that go with it — to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.

After a super-confident debut by Magnussen saw the rookie become the first Dane ever to stand on a podium, and great pit work which helped Button to climb from ninth to sixth, and then sixth to fourth at the flag, McLaren lead the constructors’ championship. They also cured their podium drought. They might not be as quick as Mercedes, but their pace was up there with all of the others.

Felipe Massa has been replaced by Kimi Räikkönen, who returned to Ferrari after four seasons away from the team.

In 2014, when Cosworth decided not to make the new V6 turbo engines, Marussia, the only team that used Cosworth, signed a multi-year deal with Ferrari, starting in 2014. Ferrari now supplies three F1 teams — Ferrari, Sauber and Marussia.

Infiniti Red Bull pairs reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel with Daniel Ricciardo, who replaces Mark Webber after he announced he would move to the World Endurance Championship this season.

At the Australian Grand Prix, Ricciardo finished second while Vettel retired due to an engine failure after just three laps. However, after the race concluded Ricciardo was disqualified for violating FIA’s new rule of 100kg of fuel per hour in each race. Red Bull has since appealed this decision, but no ruling has been announced as of yet.

At the Malaysian Grand Prix, Vettel qualified second while Ricciardo was fifth. On lap 49 Ricciardo had to retire due to a technical failure while Vettel finished third. Ricciardo was also handed a 10-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix, due to an unsafe release by Red Bull at one of his pit stops.

Ricciardo just missed the podium, finishing fourth in Bahrain while Vettel was sixth. Both drivers were well behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.

In the race, the safety car threw a life line to Red Bull. Both Ricciardo and Vettel were set up nicely on their soft rubber when Force India, Williams and Ferrari were heading to the finish on mediums. Ricciardo just failed to pass Perez for third, while Vettel lacked straight-line speed and couldn’t get by Hulkenberg for fifth.

On-site activities

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