Last year in China most drivers avoided using the soft tyres, but this time several teams tries using the more aggressive compound in the middle of the race.
They included Ferrari, who were able to make the tyres last well during practice, and Mercedes, who ran better on the medium tyre but were wary of covering off the threat from Ferrari.
However it was Daniel Ricciardo who ran the longest stint on the soft tyres as he recovered from a poor start when his car went into anti-stall mode. He made it back up to ninth place, a further sign Red Bull’s chassis has the potential to become a competitive proposition once its engine and braking problems have been sorted.
Chinese Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | Soft (14) | Soft (19) | Medium (23) | |
Nico Rosberg | Soft (15) | Soft (16) | Medium (25) | |
Sebastian Vettel | Soft (13) | Soft (17) | Medium (26) | |
Kimi Raikkonen | Soft (15) | Soft (19) | Medium (22) | |
Felipe Massa | Soft (13) | Medium (21) | Medium (22) | |
Valtteri Bottas | Soft (14) | Medium (21) | Medium (21) | |
Romain Grosjean | Soft (12) | Medium (20) | Medium (24) | |
Felipe Nasr | Soft (10) | Medium (21) | Medium (25) | |
Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (14) | Soft (22) | Medium (20) | |
Marcus Ericsson | Soft (14) | Soft (16) | Medium (25) | |
Sergio Perez | Soft (11) | Soft (15) | Soft (15) | Medium (14) |
Fernando Alonso | Soft (12) | Medium (23) | Soft (20) | |
Jenson Button | Soft (14) | Soft (18) | Medium (23) | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | Medium (19) | Soft (20) | Soft (16) | |
Will Stevens | Soft (16) | Medium (22) | Soft (16) | |
Roberto Merhi | Soft (17) | Medium (23) | Soft (14) | |
Max Verstappen | Soft (12) | Medium (20) | Medium (20) | |
Pastor Maldonado | Soft (11) | Medium (22) | Medium (16) | |
Daniil Kvyat | Medium (15) | |||
Nico Hulkenberg | Soft (9) |
Chinese Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.235 | 33 | |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 22.444 | 0.209 | 30 |
3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 22.453 | 0.218 | 34 |
4 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 22.470 | 0.235 | 11 |
5 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 22.483 | 0.248 | 15 |
6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 22.488 | 0.253 | 13 |
7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22.635 | 0.400 | 14 |
8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.645 | 0.410 | 14 |
9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 22.818 | 0.583 | 15 |
10 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 22.829 | 0.594 | 11 |
11 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 22.829 | 0.594 | 31 |
12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22.897 | 0.662 | 36 |
13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 22.899 | 0.664 | 33 |
14 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 23.084 | 0.849 | 14 |
15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 23.144 | 0.909 | 41 |
16 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 23.145 | 0.910 | 13 |
17 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 23.238 | 1.003 | 12 |
18 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 23.258 | 1.023 | 32 |
19 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 23.273 | 1.038 | 32 |
20 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 23.317 | 1.082 | 34 |
21 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 23.338 | 1.103 | 26 |
22 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 23.345 | 1.110 | 35 |
23 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 23.409 | 1.174 | 10 |
24 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 23.421 | 1.186 | 12 |
25 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 23.424 | 1.189 | 39 |
26 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 23.582 | 1.347 | 35 |
27 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 23.605 | 1.370 | 32 |
28 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 23.732 | 1.497 | 31 |
29 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 23.795 | 1.560 | 19 |
30 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 23.846 | 1.611 | 14 |
31 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 23.936 | 1.701 | 14 |
32 | Will Stevens | Manor | 24.054 | 1.819 | 38 |
33 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 24.088 | 1.853 | 40 |
34 | Will Stevens | Manor | 24.132 | 1.897 | 16 |
35 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 24.256 | 2.021 | 12 |
36 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 24.589 | 2.354 | 30 |
37 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 25.938 | 3.703 | 17 |
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
13th April 2015, 16:08
He was on average 2sec slower than Ham who was going 1sec slower than he could. I don’t see how that hints at their potential.
Andre Furtado
13th April 2015, 20:26
I agree, for the speed that he was doing, I don’t see how he was not saving tires.
@HoHum (@hohum)
13th April 2015, 22:17
Never locking brakes might have helped as well.
CountryGent (@countrygent)
13th April 2015, 16:54
I think that is more an illustration of a very good racing driver outperforming his package than any evidence of a midseason Red Bull resurgence. Let’s see how they fair come the European rounds; surely the combined might of Red Bull and Renault will eventually start to tell.
Michal (@michal2009b)
13th April 2015, 18:05
How you can outperform your package? :O
@HoHum (@hohum)
13th April 2015, 22:18
Ask your girlfriend.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
13th April 2015, 23:11
hahaha sharp)))
Rob
14th April 2015, 4:43
ZING!!! :D
Chris Lawson
13th April 2015, 17:00
I think Alonso’s final stint was more impressive and showed potential. I know Merc had time in hand but he was within half a second of them consistently.
Edgar
13th April 2015, 17:46
He used his best trick from last year : excellent usage of his tyres.
But unless Renault bring their A game for Spain onwards, he won’t be capable on doing much. The guy is legit and very good, but his car is handicaped on the straights, and different from last year, now he is almost alone at that.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
13th April 2015, 17:48
I don’t agree, as I argued here, Red Bull chassis is worse than Toro Rosso. The brake problem isn’t as bad in China as in Malaysia so sorting it wont give that much improvement I think. To be honest Sainz is doing better job than Ricciardo except for the spin (his fault) and gearbox problem (not his fault). He set the 3rd fastest lap too.
Funkyf1 (@funkyf1)
13th April 2015, 23:55
Those stats reflect nothing on the race itself. That car looked horrible on track and the other one blew up. Everyone questioned Seb, but he knew! The teams glory days are behind them. I personally think RBR will leave the sport before they reign again. Poor Dan maybe he can follow Seb and take Kimi’s seat when he’s done.
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
14th April 2015, 8:47
“Red Bull’s chassis has the potential to become a competitive proposition once its engine and braking problems have been sorted.”
Dan said no more problems with breaks. But his overtaking attempts in China were just amusing. Not sure what’s happening with the guy. Looks like half a man from last season.
Solo (@solo)
18th April 2015, 14:08
That is what happens when you car is below expectation and you have ambition that counters your car’s ability. You try to push it too much and that ends biting you back. Hamilton had a similar experience in 2011. He wanted too much from his car because Red Bull was so strong that he ended up not driving very cool.
pxcmerc (@)
14th April 2015, 10:09
you could probably have taken the softs full race distance if you ran them slow enough. The tires are engineered to work at certain limits, and the limit of the tires kept Vettel or Nico from getting any where near the guy in front of them in the race. If you ask me Pirelli have gone soft this year, in order to slow down Merc, and in the process they have made it almost impossible to push the tires outside the limit for any real meaningful amount of time.
Matt Adams
14th April 2015, 14:23
Red Bull have always been decent on tyres – so can make long stints work….
but that generally means suffering the undercut, and playing the game that you can make moves later on fresher tyres.
Unfortunately with a marked top speed and power disadvantage, the Bulls will simply be unable to overake even the middling Merc teams.
After an absolutely horrible start, Daniel drove well, but a Redbull with low top speed, but good tyre usage is only good in one spot – and that is leading the race from start to finish (much like Vettel over the Red Bull good period)… Start with a middling car that can’t overtake, and you have a very long year,