Nico Rosberg took his maiden Formula 1 win at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, in what was an extremely competitive race. Nico’s win meant this was Mercedes’ first win since 1955!
McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton took the remaining podium spots, after a brilliant drive from latter who qualified 2nd but dropped 5 places on the starting grid due to a gearbox change penalty.
Mark Webber’s 3 stop strategy helped him take 4th, ahead of reigning World Champion and 2-stopping Sebastian Vettel who was set to climb on the podium until a late epic battle with Hamilton and Webber relegated him to 5th.
Grosjean fought his way through the field in the Lotus, engaging in some fierce battles, to take 6th ahead Bruno Senna’s impressive 7th position.
Pastor Maldonado, in the second Williams, took 8th with Fernando Alonso 9th and Kobayashi, who started from 3rd on the grid, completing the top 10.
2012 Chinese Grand Prix proved to be an EPIC race, an absolute delight to watch.
We’ll see you next week in Bahrain!
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Rosberg Mercedes 1h36:26.929 2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 20.626 3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 26.012 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 27.924 5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 30.483 6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 31.491 7. Senna Williams-Renault + 34.597 8. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 35.643 9. Alonso Ferrari + 37.256 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 38.720 11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 41.066 12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 42.273 13. Massa Ferrari + 42.700 14. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 50.500 15. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 51.200 16. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 51.700 17. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:03.100 18. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap 20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap 21. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap 22. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps 23. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 3 laps