After Race 3: China

We’ve come full circle. With Bahrain next up on the agenda, we head to the scene where the real fun and games allegedly began at Mercedes one year ago – fresh off the back of a rather comical post-race fallout between the team-mates.

Following the shock of Sepang, it was very much business as usual for the Silver Arrows in Shanghai. They were never truly threatened all weekend – and you only have to look at the pace Lewis Hamilton had in reserve at the end of his second stint for proof. With only four power units allowed this season (one down from last year), Merc only need to do the minimum possible to win the race – that’s how F1 has always been. As such, Hamilton controlled the pace of the race.

At least the Merc family photo was affected by the squabbling - and they even had space for the legendary Ed Moses (bottom right)
Source: F1 Fanatic / AMG Mercedes

 Now, let’s try and get to the bottom of “he said, he said” quicker than the Chinese marshals moved Max Verstappen’s stricken Toro Rosso. It’s a fair point to make that Rosberg could have been slightly compromised by his team in qualifying – having to possibly over-stress his tyres on his out-lap, ultimately costing him the half-a-tenth that would have given him pole position. Not only is that a hypothetical scenario, but there’s then no guarantee Rosberg would have kept the lead heading into Turn 1. Rosberg played “Mr. Nice Guy” in the first two races but he unleashed his frustrations this weekend. His post race video when answering fans on Twitter is both commendable but also misguided. Credit his interaction with the fans more than anything – but it also comes across as rather desperate. If Rosberg had lost out to Vettel, he would have had a point. But he didn’t. The same way Nico couldn’t stay close to Lewis because he would ruin his tyres, so too Vettel ruined his by trying to keep close to Nico.

1. Lewis Hamilton (up one spot)

Regains his top spot after the pole/win/FL combo, and we’ve already discussed his weekend above. Let’s move on!

Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

2. Sebastian Vettel (down one spot)

If not for the late SC, it would have been interesting to see whether Vettel would have held on to his podium. As it is, Verstappen’s late demise helped ensure that the same three men stood on the podium in the first three race for the first time in F1 history.

The same trio have topped the podium in the first three races for the first time ever
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

3. Max Verstappen (up one spot)

Both STR youngsters fell out in Q2 and it was Max who was given the aggressive strategy, starting on the softer tyre. He quickly worked his way into the top ten with a couple of cracking overtakes on the Saubers before he settled into a comfortable P9 – which became eighth thanks to Pastor Maldonado. Just like Melbourne, he was robbed of points – although we were treated to some light relief from the Chinese marshals.

Source: Mattzel89 (Twitter)

4. Felipe Massa (up two spots)

Massa has quietly enjoyed a terrific start to the new season. He outqualified and out-raced his team-mate in Shanghai but Williams were again caught in a no-man’s land behind the top two teams but ahead of the rest – much like BMW-Sauber in 2007.

=5. Carlos Sainz (down two spots) & Kimi Räikkönen (no change)

Having held third spot in the F1 Power Rankings after both of the first two races, it’s a two-place drop for Sainz after a scruffy weekend. An early rookie error in Turn 1 – similar to Marcus Ericsson’s race-ending incident in Malaysia – saw him tumble down the order before a gearbox issue saw him plummet further.

Räikkönen was denied a shot at the podium in the closing stages due to the SC. An excellent first lap saw him overtake both Williams and he also led a race for the first time since his return to the Scuderia.

7. Felipe Nasr (up one spot)

Nasr has been one of the pleasant surprises of the season and the rookie has already firmly asserted himself as de-facto team leader. Ninth in quali, eighth in the race, and ahead of his more experienced Swedish team-mate in both.

Nasr scored points for the second time in three races
Source: Sauber F1 Team (Facebook)

8. Romain Grosjean (up seven spots)

Grosjean is the undoubted massive gainer in this week’s F1 Power Rankings after finally breaking his points-scoring duck, which stretched back to Monaco. He finally realized the potential of the Lotus E23 and drove a controlled race to a fine P7.

=9. Daniel Ricciardo (no change) & Valtteri Bottas (down two spots)

As the lights went out at the start of the race, these two went in immediately opposite trajectories as Bottas chased down the top three from P6 while Ricciardo saw his anti-stall kick-in. As it was, Bottas fell back to P6 by the end of the opening lap – which is where he ran all day long while Ricciardo methodically worked his way up the field to an eventual ninth on another trying weekend for former quadruple world champions.

For the second year running, Ricciardo's RBR team-mate had selective hearing on team orders
Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing

11. Fernando Alonso (up two spots)

The double world champion’s misfiring start to the season is just beginning to spark into life. McLaren-Honda are gaining pace at a rapid rate of knots and it seems as if reliability is picking up too. Points are not far away.

12. Will Stevens (new entry)

This might be a bit of a shock to you but stay with me… Stevens finally made his 2015 race debut and comfortably out-performed his team-mate in both quali and the race. It’s unlikely he’ll stay in the lofty heights of P12 in the F1 Power Rankings but all of those behind him have had some sort of black mark next to their name for whatever reason – so consider Stevens the barometer who splits the good from the not-so-good.

It was great to see both Manors on track on Sunday afternoon
Source: Manor F1 Team (Facebook)

13. Nico Hülkenberg (down two spots)

The Hulk suffered a Q1 exit but he made up for it with a cracking first lap that saw him put himself firmly in the midfield battle before his early gearbox exit.

14. Marcus Ericsson (up one spot)

Before the season, if you had said that Ericsson would be in Q3 in China and score points, you’d almost certainly have felt that he’d be well inside the top ten in the F1 Power Rankings. The fact is he was once again firmly beaten by his rookie team-mate.

15. Sergio Pérez (up three spots)

I mentioned after Sepang how Force India are very much in damage limitation mode until they get their upgraded challenger. The team switched Checo to an aggressive three-stop strategy early on and it almost paid dividends as he was able to push his tyres throughout the race, finishing an agonizing P11 – just outside of the points.

16. Nico Rosberg (down four spots)

Oh dear, Nico. He is well and truly losing the mental battle at Mercedes and his post-race outburst was just plain unnecessary given the team secured a 1-2 finish, despite Rosberg’s allegations that his race was being significantly compromised.

17. Pastor Maldonado (no change), Daniil Kvyat (down eight spots) & Jenson Button (down five spots)

China 2015 was a microcosm of Pastor’s career, absolutely frustrating inconsistency mixed with bad luck. Missed out on Q3 by 0.007secs but a couple of excellent overtakes early in the race saw him run with Grosjean until a simply unforgivable mistake prior to his second pit-stop as the infamous Chinese pit-lane once again caught him out. A fun-looking high-speed followed thereafter before his race was prematurely ended as Button rear-ended him.

Kvyat’s miserable start to life at the senior team continues: brake failure saw him hopelessly hit the barriers on Friday before his Renault spectacularly exploded on Sunday. Meanwhile, it’s a harsh drop for JB after a poor race from the champion as he ended Maldonado’s race.

20. Roberto Merhi (down one spot)

Merhi props up this week’s F1 Power Rankings after a fairly anonymous race. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing – rookies should be doing just that, keep out of trouble and gain experience. Unfortunately for Merhi, he was quite soundly beaten by his team-mate.

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