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This weekend's Chinese Grand Prix will only mark the 12th running of the race. The Shanghai International Circuit does not have the glamorous, mystical, dangerous history of older Formula One circuits like Monza or Silverstone or Monaco.
Still, the 11 Chinese Grand Prixs to date have produced some great moments and some dangerous ones, some humorous moments and some sublime ones. As the F1 circus continues to rack up the frequent flier miles, heading to the far side of the world for the third time in a month, we have scoured the proverbial archives to bring you the top five moments in Chinese Grand Prix history. 1 Michael Schumacher is one of the most talented drivers in F1 history—but that does not mean he was above the occasional on-track screw-up. The 2005 Chinese Grand Prix was the last race of that season. After winning his fifth straight championship in 2004, Schumacher had won just once in 2005 and was sitting a distant third in the drivers' standings when he arrived in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Minardi's Christijan Albers was in his rookie season and had not finished in the top 10 apart from the six-car U.S. Grand Prix. He qualified 18th in China (Schumacher was sixth) and was in the middle of a warm-up lap on his way to the grid, when suddenly a Ferrari appeared in his path. With no time to react, Albers dro 2 Lewis Hamilton arrived at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, the second-to-last race of his rookie year, with a 12-point lead in the drivers' standings. That was considered a substantial margin at the time for those of you who don't remember the days when a win was still worth a proper 10 points. Sitting second in the race, with worn tyres on a drying track, Hamilton lost control coming into the pits and beached his car in the gravel trap. As you can see in the video, McLaren team principal Ron Dennis looked ready to jump onto the track and push Hamilton into the pits himself. Perhaps he should have. After retiring in China, Hamilton still could (or should) have won the title in Brazil. But a gearbox problem early in the race dropped him almost to the back of the field, and he could not recover. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who was 17 points behind Hamilton before the Chinese race, won the championship by one point. 3 In 2009, Jenson Button won six of the first seven races on his way to the Drivers' Championship. The one missing win from that streak was the Chinese Grand Prix, where Red Bull finally took its first F1 victory in its fifth season as a constructor. Sebastian Vettel secured his first win in 2008 during a wet Italian Grand Prix, driving for Red Bull's sister team, Toro Rosso. Moving up to the big team in 2009, it took just three races for the German to make his mark. As Red Bull had never won a race before, the organisers of the Shanghai race were unsure which anthem they should play for the winning constructor. Instead of asking someone, it seems they took a guess, landing on Britain's "God Save the Queen" (not unreasonable, considering Red Bull's factory is in Milton Keynes). Unfortunately, the team is registered in Austria, so "Land der Berge, Land am Strome" would have been a more appropriate choice. It's always nice when F1's overly orchestrated podium ceremonies hit a snafu. Regrettably, there doesn't seem to be a high-quality video of the podium ceremony, but if you have to see it for yourself, check out the 10:20 mark of this video—Vettel doesn't seem to know or care. Following the win in China, Vettel would score three more victories in 2009 and finish 11 points behind Button in the championship race. Building on that success, Vettel and Red Bull would go on to win the next four drivers' and constructors' titles. 4 Sebastien Buemi suffered one of the weirdest-looking (and perhaps scariest) accidents you will ever see during free practice at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix. Travelling at over 300 km/h down the Shanghai circuit's long back straightaway, Buemi hit the brakes, and his front suspension broke on both sides. His front tyres broke free and continued down the track while Buemi slid on towards the corner. Despite his best efforts to continue steering, the Swiss driver was just a passenger at that point. He did, however, provide a strong endorsement for all that extra run-off room at modern F1 circuits when he walked away from the crash unharmed. 5 Nico Rosberg's first F1 victory came in his seventh season at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix. The reason this moment makes our top five, though—narrowly edging last year's early chequered flag debacle—is that it was also Mercedes' first F1 win since 1955. "We are proud to deliver the first victory for a works Silver Arrow car in 57 years," team principal Ross Brawn said, according to The Telegraph's Tom Cary. "I was just one year old when Juan Manuel Fangio won in Monza in 1955—but this victory is something I will remember, and savour, for a very long time." More importantly, though, that victory may have helped convince Lewis Hamilton that Mercedes could be a contender, and it set the stage for his move from McLaren to Mercedes, which his new team announced later that year. That worked out pretty well for everyone (except McLaren and Rosberg): Vitality. This, by most observers’ perceptions is what Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari breathed back into a sport that had been straining under the weight of unrealistic expectation prior to Malaysia. After moribund premonitions about the 2015 season a fortnight ago, F1 burst back into life in the searing heat of Malaysia because unexpected victories always inspire human expression. First off there was joy. By simply swapping teams and becoming the underdog, in victory Sebastian Vettel was celebrated rather than booed as he leaped onto the top step in Sepang. 6000 miles away in Maranello, the centre of Ferrari’s beating heart, church bells were pealing. Down in the pitlane below Vettel, amongst the throng, we saw grown men crying. No doubt this was the case all over Italy. Thirty-four races is a long time for the Scuderia to wait between wins and next to us James Allison was visibly moved whilst hanging on the every word of the man who drove his creation to the chequered flag. By all accounts Maurizio Arrivabene’s racing team have had an extra 100 million Euros added to their yearly budget by Ferrari. What does that tell you about their hopes for the months ahead? There was also frustration. Lewis Hamilton’s annoyance with his race engineer Pete Bonnington talking to him while cornering encapsulated the emotion of an afternoon that even had Paddy Lowe flustered. The champions were beaten in the words of Vettel “fair and square” so much so that Hamilton, realising this, was able to put aside his dissatisfaction and enjoy the winner’s moment with him, sat together atop the podium. Indeed the nature of the result raised pulse rates throughout the paddock and has perhaps shifted the paradigm for this season. Prior to the race it seemed Red Bull had simply come to terms with the Sisyphean task of overhauling Mercedes this year. They grumbled that it might force them to rethink their involvement due to the necessity of sporting success to the parallel business of marketing. But Ferrari’s victory has already encouraged Renault to take a more positive approach in the media concluding that: “Mercedes can be caught if all the ingredients are there.” You would think that if the team and its engine manufacturer, with a budget their size, can put aside their public bickering and direct their energies in a more positive manner then they too could be a challenger sooner rather than later - especially as they have more engine tokens left to spend than any of the others. McLaren, to their credit have spun the world a magnificent tale akin to an asthmatic giant struggling to find his inhaler. They have put a brave face on their woes and through gritted teeth and a wry smile ‘Big Ron’ exclaimed that their partner Honda will relish the engineering challenge of catching up. They’re not whinging. So just how long will it take the others to catch Mercedes with the regulations set out and stretching in front of them towards the end of the decade? That is the overriding question but what this weekend taught us is that the sport doesn’t require gimmicks to demonstrate that it’s in good health. It doesn’t need artificial ways to peg the best back. F1’s mantra is to push the technology boundaries further. It requires the dedication and belief of an engineering team that, with good ideas and solid execution can build a car that can challenge anyone. That’s what happened in Malaysia. Hope was born out of hard work. Just as Vettel was being criticised by Bernie Ecclestone for not doing enough to promote the sport when he was world champion, he rose again. He’s not on Twitter and has preferred not to wallow in the trappings of fame. So what? Isn’t that all besides the point anyway? All he’s interested in doing is winning races. Quietly and behind closed doors he’s helped precipitate change at Maranello, breathed new life into Ferrari and in doing so, into the sport. There’s nothing artificial about that. That is why he’s a great champion and that’s why, contrary to the doom mongers predictions, F1 2015 isn’t ready to flatline just yet. |
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