2014 Chinese Grand Prix Sunday - Chinese GP
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Hamilton is still charging away, the lead is up to 2.9s after three of 56 laps.
Rosberg is still back in sixth place, chasing Massa. Alonso and Ricciardo are thid and fourth.
Button grabs 13th from Vergne, well executed move through Turn 2.
Hamilton completed lap one already 1.5s clear of Vettel, and after lap two that's up to 2.4s.
Lead order: Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Ricciardo, Massa, Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Bottas.
Rosberg has fallen back to seventh place.
Massa and Alonso both made amazing starts, but Massa ran out of space and there was some unnerving wheelbanging.
Hamilton takes a clear lead as Ricciardo and Alonso battle for second with Vettel behind.
JONATHAN NOBLE: Another slow formation on to the grid there from Lewis Hamilton. It has become a theme of the season - with the drivers having discussed it in the drivers' briefing already this year.
Some extreme hanging back by Hamilton on the way to the grid as he waits for the tailenders to catch up.
Mercedes asks Rosberg for feedback on the formation lap start as it has "no telemetry". He replies that it was "perfect".
The cars have started on the formation lap. The Chinese GP is moments away.
EDD STRAW: "Looks like everybody except Magnussen has decided to start on the soft rubber. No great surprise there."
JONATHAN NOBLE: "Interesting to see Ron Dennis speaking with Christian Horner on the grid - after a ramping up of tensions between McLaren and Red Bull over aero man Dan Fallows. I'm sure we have not heard the last of this story."
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BEN ANDERSON: Nico Rosberg is in the unusual position of starting behind two Red Bulls today, but is confident he'll be able to get past them and challenge Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton for victory.
"The start position is not great, and I’m not happy about how qualifying went, but I have the momentum behind me for race pace," Rosberg said.
"It will be a tough race, because the left front tyre is a big issue. I had a good run on Friday so I’m going into it confidently.
"I have this Red Bull package in the middle, which is not very helpful! But that’s the way it is and I’m hoping with the top speed that I have I will manage to get by them somehow."
"The start position is not great, and I’m not happy about how qualifying went, but I have the momentum behind me for race pace," Rosberg said.
"It will be a tough race, because the left front tyre is a big issue. I had a good run on Friday so I’m going into it confidently.
"I have this Red Bull package in the middle, which is not very helpful! But that’s the way it is and I’m hoping with the top speed that I have I will manage to get by them somehow."
EDD STRAW: "As usual, there are two DRS zones. The first is on the start finish, just after the final corner, with the main one on the back straight. Because that straight is so long, it doesn't kick in until the cars have travelled 450 metres out of the final corner. With the Turn 14 hairpin at the end of that straight, expect to see plenty of passing there."
Grid
JONATHAN NOBLE is on the grid and has spotted "a bit of kerfuffle on Ricciardo's grid slot as marshals try to mop up some fluid".
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BEN ANDERSON: Fernando Alonso starts fifth and is aiming to chase down the Red Bulls in today's race. The Spaniard is feeling more optimistic about Ferrari's chances after the nightmare of Bahrain last time out, but is still keeping expectations in check despite topping both of Friday's dry free practice sessions.
"We need to be realistic, and not dream too much," he said. "We were ninth and 10th fifteen days ago, we cannot go to the race thinking the podium is the only target to be happy.
"We need to go step-by-step. We start in a good position. We need to avoid, if possible, some of the battles that we had in the last races in the first couple of laps, where you lose the train of the leaders too much.
"Hopefully we can have a good, clean first lap, and try and follow them."
"We need to be realistic, and not dream too much," he said. "We were ninth and 10th fifteen days ago, we cannot go to the race thinking the podium is the only target to be happy.
"We need to go step-by-step. We start in a good position. We need to avoid, if possible, some of the battles that we had in the last races in the first couple of laps, where you lose the train of the leaders too much.
"Hopefully we can have a good, clean first lap, and try and follow them."
The last time Hamilton and Rosberg sandwiched two Red Bulls on the grid was at Spa last year, when the Mercedes were again first and fourth, with Vettel and Mark Webber between them.
Back then the silver cars faded in the race - Hamilton and Rosberg finished third and fourth behind Vettel and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Wouldn't put loads of money on a repeat of that...
Back then the silver cars faded in the race - Hamilton and Rosberg finished third and fourth behind Vettel and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Wouldn't put loads of money on a repeat of that...
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BEN ANDERSON: Lewis Hamilton has never won three consecutive races in his Formula 1 career. He's starting in the best position to change that statistic today, but isn't too bothered by the prospect.
"I haven't thought about it and I don't have any feelings towards it either," he said.
"When I was in GP2 and Formula 3 I won 10 races in a row. It feels great but I want to win all the way through the year.
"Getting pole positions and winning races has a psychological effect on your competitors."
"I haven't thought about it and I don't have any feelings towards it either," he said.
"When I was in GP2 and Formula 3 I won 10 races in a row. It feels great but I want to win all the way through the year.
"Getting pole positions and winning races has a psychological effect on your competitors."
EDD STRAW: "The track temperature is up at 25C, which is the highest we've seen so far. The higher the temperature gets, the less of a problem tyre graining will be."
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Marcus Ericsson was disappointed to be 1.386 seconds off Caterham team-mate Kamui Kobayashi even though he was still ahead of the second Marussia of Max Chilton.
"I'm not so happy with my own performance because it was not a great session," he told EDD STRAW after qualifying.
"First of all, we lost FP3, I only did five laps then we had a problem with the brakes and the power unit and the guys had to work really hard to get it ready.
"Our car is pretty difficult to drive in the dry, so in the wet it's pretty difficult and I was struggling to get a good lap together."
"I'm not so happy with my own performance because it was not a great session," he told EDD STRAW after qualifying.
"First of all, we lost FP3, I only did five laps then we had a problem with the brakes and the power unit and the guys had to work really hard to get it ready.
"Our car is pretty difficult to drive in the dry, so in the wet it's pretty difficult and I was struggling to get a good lap together."
With very cool conditions during Friday practice, as cool as Pirelli has experienced since returning to F1 at the start of 2011, then rain throughout Saturday, teams don't have as much data on tyre performance as they would ideally like.
EDD STRAW heard from Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery on Friday about tyre performance, which suggested it was still unclear whether teams would opt for two or three stops.
"In the cold, before we ever did a lap we knew we would have issues with graining," said Hembery. "It's something we historically get here, and with cooler weather you have more. But we were still getting a 20-lap life out of the soft tyre.
"It was hard to tell a true performance delta. We anticipated a 1.6-second delta [between soft and medium rubber] and that's not far off the average we saw, but we saw some in excess of two, and some actually under one second.
"The degradation levels were about 0.3s on the soft, which is probably explained by the level of graining, and half of that for the medium. We are borderline two or three stop at the moment."
EDD STRAW heard from Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery on Friday about tyre performance, which suggested it was still unclear whether teams would opt for two or three stops.
"In the cold, before we ever did a lap we knew we would have issues with graining," said Hembery. "It's something we historically get here, and with cooler weather you have more. But we were still getting a 20-lap life out of the soft tyre.
"It was hard to tell a true performance delta. We anticipated a 1.6-second delta [between soft and medium rubber] and that's not far off the average we saw, but we saw some in excess of two, and some actually under one second.
"The degradation levels were about 0.3s on the soft, which is probably explained by the level of graining, and half of that for the medium. We are borderline two or three stop at the moment."
Breaking news
The off-track fight is getting more fraught, with AUTOSPORT revealing yesterday that McLaren plans to take Red Bull to court in their row over who has the right to aero man Dan Fallows' services.
Christian Horner has expressed his disappointment at Ron Dennis for going public with his views on the matter - and that's earned another emphatic response from Ron.
Christian Horner has expressed his disappointment at Ron Dennis for going public with his views on the matter - and that's earned another emphatic response from Ron.
Here's how F1's leading qualifiers stack up:
1 Michael Schumacher, 68 poles
2 Ayrton Senna, 65
3 Sebastian Vettel, 45
4 Lewis Hamilton, 34
5 Jim Clark, Alain Prost, 33
7 Nigel Mansell, 32
8 Juan Manuel Fangio, 29
9 Mika Hakkinen, 26
10 Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, 24
And for the full list of F1 polesitters - and pretty much every other stat from across motorsport - AUTOSPORT subscribers can check out our stats partner FORIX
1 Michael Schumacher, 68 poles
2 Ayrton Senna, 65
3 Sebastian Vettel, 45
4 Lewis Hamilton, 34
5 Jim Clark, Alain Prost, 33
7 Nigel Mansell, 32
8 Juan Manuel Fangio, 29
9 Mika Hakkinen, 26
10 Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, 24
And for the full list of F1 polesitters - and pretty much every other stat from across motorsport - AUTOSPORT subscribers can check out our stats partner FORIX
Speaking of stats milestones, if Hamilton can convert pole to victory today, it will be the first time in his F1 career that he has won three grands prix in a row.
He's done back-to-back wins four times, but a hat-trick is uncharted territory.
The Mercedes driver has already made one step forward up the F1 stats this weekend - his 34th pole edging him beyond Alain Prost and Jim Clark to fourth in the all-time pole table, and top Brit behind Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Sebastian Vettel.
He's done back-to-back wins four times, but a hat-trick is uncharted territory.
The Mercedes driver has already made one step forward up the F1 stats this weekend - his 34th pole edging him beyond Alain Prost and Jim Clark to fourth in the all-time pole table, and top Brit behind Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Sebastian Vettel.
Kamui Kobayashi
Kamui Kobayashi effectively won the 'class' fight at the back of the grid, outqualifying Marussia's Jules Bianchi by 66 thousandths of a second.
He was one of the few drivers to go out on intermediate rubber for the first run in Q1, later improving his time on his second set and ending up within three tenths of Gutierrez's Sauber.
"It was difficult to have got something more," Kobayashi told EDD STRAW. "It was not our favourite conditions, so we need to be a little bit happy even though we cannot be happy with this result overall. I think our decision [to run on intermediates] was right.
"We have the same package as in the first races, so we didn't expect something here, but at least we are still ahead of Marussia, which is good, and not too far from the Sauber as well."
Shanghai is already the scene of one F1 milestone for Kobayashi - he set the sole fastest lap of his career so far here with Sauber in 2012.
There's live motorsport coverage on AUTOSPORT all day today.
F1 Live will continue post-race to bring you all the news and reaction from the paddock at Shanghai, and from 11.30am UK time Race Centre Live will be up and running too.
The centrepiece of today's non-F1 action is the opening round of the epic Toyota versus Audi versus Porsche World Endurance Championship fight at Silverstone.
We'll have as-it-happens commentary from the WEC curtain-raiser, plus all the action from the three British Touring Car Championship races at Donington Park, Alex Zanardi's motorsport return in the Blancpain Sprint Series at Nogaro, Auto GP, and the Paul Ricard World Touring Car Championship races - where Sebastien Loeb took a maiden pole but must start from the back.
F1 Live will continue post-race to bring you all the news and reaction from the paddock at Shanghai, and from 11.30am UK time Race Centre Live will be up and running too.
The centrepiece of today's non-F1 action is the opening round of the epic Toyota versus Audi versus Porsche World Endurance Championship fight at Silverstone.
We'll have as-it-happens commentary from the WEC curtain-raiser, plus all the action from the three British Touring Car Championship races at Donington Park, Alex Zanardi's motorsport return in the Blancpain Sprint Series at Nogaro, Auto GP, and the Paul Ricard World Touring Car Championship races - where Sebastien Loeb took a maiden pole but must start from the back.
EDD STRAW: "During Friday practice, Daniel Ricciardo produced the outstanding long-run.
"On the soft tyre on Friday afternoon, he completed a 19-lap run at an average pace of 1m44.407s, which was seriously quick. Most impressively, he was still able to do a 1m44.643s on the final flying lap of that run.
"Others were losing significantly more performance much earlier in their runs.
"That could bode well for Ricciardo and Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the battle for best of the rest."
For more on what Friday's practice times told us, here's EDD STRAW and GARY ANDERSON's form guide (it's not encouraging reading for Ferrari fans):
Practice analysis: Ferrari flatters to deceive
"On the soft tyre on Friday afternoon, he completed a 19-lap run at an average pace of 1m44.407s, which was seriously quick. Most impressively, he was still able to do a 1m44.643s on the final flying lap of that run.
"Others were losing significantly more performance much earlier in their runs.
"That could bode well for Ricciardo and Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the battle for best of the rest."
For more on what Friday's practice times told us, here's EDD STRAW and GARY ANDERSON's form guide (it's not encouraging reading for Ferrari fans):
Practice analysis: Ferrari flatters to deceive
Nico Rosberg
Two weeks ago, the Bahrain Grand Prix produced an epic wheel to wheel battle between Mercedes team-mates Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
This time Rosberg has ground to make up before he can resume that fight - he's only qualified fourth, behind the two Red Bulls.
And speaking of Red Bulls, Daniel Ricciardo is ahead of Sebastian Vettel again - and looked very quick over long runs on Friday.
Hello from Shanghai, it's Chinese Grand Prix race day.
After yesterday's wet qualifying session, we have dry weather for today's main event.
Here's your full recap of everything that happened in the pole fight, which was won by Lewis Hamilton for the third time in 2014's four grand prix weekends to date:
Chinese GP qualifying: Hamilton takes pole in the wet
After yesterday's wet qualifying session, we have dry weather for today's main event.
Here's your full recap of everything that happened in the pole fight, which was won by Lewis Hamilton for the third time in 2014's four grand prix weekends to date:
Chinese GP qualifying: Hamilton takes pole in the wet
By: Matt Beer, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Jonathan Noble, Andrew van Leeuwen
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