Nico Rosberg takes first win in Chinese GP
Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix for Mercedes from pole position on Sunday in the first victory of his 111-race Formula One career.
Rosberg's victory was the first by Mercedes, as a works team, since 1955 when Argentine Juan ManuelFangio won the Italian Grand Prix from pole.
At the front it was a stroll in the park. Few expected the Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher to maintain their qualifying advantage for the duration of the Chinese Grand Prix, but Rosberg seized the lead at the start and was never threatened thereafter. He went on to take a comfortable victory, 20.6sec clear of his rivals: it was his maiden Formula One success and the first for a Mercedes chassis since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1955 Italian GP, at Monza.
This year's Mercedes has a reputation for shredding its tyres over a race distance, but cooler temperatures played into the team's hands and Rosberg was able to pull away at his leisure. With no immediate pressure from behind, the German was able to look after his rubber and made only two tyre stops while most of his main adversaries plumped for three.
Rosberg had a buffer during the early stages, with Schumacher sitting a few seconds behind, but the veteran dropped out moments after his first pit stop because he rejoined before his front right wheel had been properly secured.
Despite his comfortable advantage, Rosberg's victory owed a little to good fortune: Jenson Button looked set to challenge the leader, but a sticky left-rear wheel delayed his final stop and dropped the Englishman into traffic.
In the race's closing stages, Rosberg led a queue featuring a blend of cars on fresh and worn tyres – and a volley of passing manoeuvres enlivened the closing laps as several drivers' rubber wilted. Button was able to pick his way through to take second ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
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| Nico Rosberg celebrating his win |
"My pace was very good prior to the final stop," said Button, "and I thought I might be able to hunt down Nico towards the end. For that, though, I needed to rejoin on a clear track, but the pit delay put me behind four other cars and I had to fight my way through."
The Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel took fourth and fifth, from Romain Grosjean (Lotus, his first F1 points finish), Bruno Senna (Williams), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber).
Hamilton has finished third in each of this season's first three races and holds a slender championship lead over Button, by 45 points to 43, with Alonso (37) and Webber (36) next up.
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