2016 Chinese Grand Prix grid

2016 Chinese Grand Prix

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Row 11. Nico Rosberg 1’35.402
Mercedes
2. Daniel Ricciardo 1’35.917
Red Bull
Row 23. Kimi Raikkonen 1’35.972
Ferrari
4. Sebastian Vettel 1’36.246
Ferrari
Row 35. Valtteri Bottas 1’36.296
Williams
6. Daniil Kvyat 1’36.399
Red Bull
Row 47. Sergio Perez 1’36.865
Force India
8. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’36.881
Toro Rosso
Row 59. Max Verstappen 1’37.194
Toro Rosso
10. Felipe Massa 1’37.347
Williams
Row 611. Fernando Alonso 1’38.826
McLaren
12. Jenson Button 1’39.093
McLaren
Row 713. Nico Hulkenberg* No time
Force India
14. Romain Grosjean 1’39.830
Haas
Row 815. Marcus Ericsson 1’40.742
Sauber
16. Felipe Nasr 1’42.430
Sauber
Row 917. Kevin Magnussen 1’38.673
Renault
18. Esteban Gutierrez 1’38.770
Haas
Row 1019. Jolyon Palmer 1’39.528
Renault
20. Rio Haryanto 1’40.264
Manor
Row 1121. Pascal Wehrlein No time
Manor
22. Lewis Hamilton** No time
Mercedes

*Three-place penalty for unsafe release
**Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “2016 Chinese Grand Prix grid”

  1. the one who took the decision to leave Vettel in the garage is an idiot even if he was Vettel himself

  2. Disappointing qualifying for Ferrari indeed. Both drivers made the same mistake.

  3. Has Hülkenberg been cleared over his loose tyre?

    1. No. He is under investigation.

    2. he has gotten a 3 place grid drop for that @paeschli

  4. Why did Ferrari risk to not send Vettel out for an initial run in Q3? Just to save a set of the delicate supersofts?
    The rears locked for both Kimi and Seb into the hairpin I think.
    Great effort by Ricc!

    And merc sandwiching the whole grid, and a surprising one at that!

  5. I almost got it right with Ricciardo. I must admit I didn’t imagined cars would struggle so much more than in Friday even considering the rain. Tough qualifying for everyone. The q2 yellow run means Rosberg is going to trounce the field if he gets off the line well or get undercut by his 1st stop.

  6. I have a feeling that Ferrari choking when they have a chance of beating Mercedes may become a theme of 2016

    1. It could. It’s been 3 times in 3 races already

  7. Well Liverpool did it earlier this week.. Hoping Lewis can do the same tomorrow!

  8. For a team that has an engine that is as powerful if not more powerful than that of the Mercedes, that was a big let down by Ferrari when it counted. It’s good Redbull and Bottas showed them how it is done. Had Ferrarri and the pair driving for them made more effort, they would have locked out the front row. Nico’s pole lap wasn’t even great to begin with.
    It’s a shame what happened to PW and LH. I was hoping for everyone of the drivers to be positioned on the grid tomorrow based on their personal bests during qualification rather than events beyond their control.

    1. MG421982 (@)
      16th April 2016, 9:58

      1st time I “hear” that Ferrari’s engine it’s at least as powerful as Mercedes’!! Where did you get that info from? I highly doubt it, anyway.

      1. Both Ferrari and Mercedes claimed as such.

  9. Sviatoslav (@)
    16th April 2016, 9:44

    That was a great, nearly perfect lap from Rosberg. I wanted Kimi to do better. Alonso clearly didn’t want to race. Hulk is terrible and Perez is WAY better because he doesn’t remove tyres from his wheels.

  10. IMO the new tyre rules are actually helping Mercedes. They could have effort to run softs in Q2 and the extra strategic flexibility give them more options when it goes wrong, for example at the start.

  11. @michal2009b: Ferrari had more than 1.1 s over 11th placed Massa. They could have tried it as well, but didn’t risk it like Mercedes. In case it plays out well for Mercedes and Rosberg tomorrow, they deserve it as they have seen an unused opportunity.

    1. @xenomorph91 – yes, they could and should have done this. But I think it is fair to say these new rules help faster cars.

      1. @michal2009b: Yes, no doubt about it.

        Could also bring variety into races (at least at the beginning) if the starts are slower for the faster cars than those behind. In the end, faster cars will probably always prevail.

        1. The races are 60(+/-10) laps long, so you can bet there’s plenty of time for the faster cars to prevail.

      2. Yes in theory this has given Rosberg an additional advantage (otherwise they wouldn’t have run the sorts in Q2) but it could also backfire if the supersofts allow his rivals to gain track position at the start. Hopefully be a good race anyway with Ricciardo in the mix and Hamilton fighting back from last.

        1. ‘Run the softs’ in Q2 obviously….

  12. Firstly, how refreshing to see a “normal” qualy session where it comes down to drivers and teams giving their best performance, or not. No gimmicks.

    Even though Rosberg ended up on top, he had to drive the lap to do it. Who knows how much Ferrari could have been with a better lap form both drivers.

    Race start, obviously the start at the front will be fascinating between ROS, RIC, RAI and VET. But, keep an eye on SAI and VES, that could be very interesting.

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