Chinese Grand Prix News

The Formula One Chinese Grand Prix will not take place as scheduled on April 19 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, The Times and other media outlets reported on Wednesday.

The German`s teammate Charles Leclerc had made a better start and was in third place, with Vettel close behind, when the team gave instructions for the Monegasque to let his teammate through early on.

Meanwhile, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was third fastest in his Ferrari after finishing 13.744 seconds slower than Hamilton. 

Bottas, who leads five-times world champion Hamilton by a point in the standings, narrowly pipped the Briton to pole position for Formula One`s 1,000th world championship race.

The 21-year-old Red Bull driver qualified fifth but felt he could have been higher had he not slowed due to Ferrari`s Sebastian Vettel and the two Renaults overtaking as he was teeing up a final effort.

Lewis Hamilton declared his Chinese Grand Prix a "disaster" on Sunday and said Mercedes would find it tough to repeat their F1 championship victory unless they can sort out issues with a car he feels uncomfortable in.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo won a sensational Chinese Grand Prix in thrilling style on Sunday when he stormed through the field from sixth place after taking on fresh tyres under a safety car. The Australian, who only made it into qualifying with seconds to spare after his blown engine had to be rebuilt, took the lead with just 10 laps to go in Shanghai when he charged past race leader Valtteri Bottas, who finished second in a Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari.

Mercedes` reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton finished fifth on track but moved up to fourth after a 10-second penalty was applied to Red Bull`s Max Verstappen for causing a collision with Vettel.

The German lapped the 5.4-km Shanghai circuit in one minute, 31.095 seconds - a track record - to pip his Finnish teammate by a mere 0.087 seconds and take his 52nd career pole.

Verstappen ran as high as second behind Hamilton and fended off late-race pressure from team mate Daniel Ricciardo to finish third and give Red Bull their 100th podium place.

Perez, who started eighth on the grid, finished ninth after being passed by Kevin Magnussen towards the end of the 56-lap race.

It was the 54th F1 victory for Hamilton, who beat German Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) into second place, and Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who took third place.

Hamilton jumped onto the pit wall to soak in the adulation of the crowd after clocking the fastest lap of one minute, 31.678 seconds to capture his fourth Chinese pole in five years.

Sunday’s win was the 17th of Rosberg’s career and extends his streak of race victories to six, dating back to last November’s Mexican Grand Prix.  

Despite the chopping and changing in formats, Sunday`s race will be the ninth straight a Mercedes has started from the front.

Championship leader Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes, 0.237 seconds off Raikkonen’s benchmark.  

Hamilton trails Rosberg, winner of the opening two races of the season, by 17 points in the standings.

Rosberg posted a picture on Twitter of himself and other drivers dining together with the accompanying comment: "#racingunited or in Bernie`s words #windbagsunited."

FIA president Jean Todt and the sport`s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said they had accepted the move "in the interests of the Championship".

Sources said the teams outlined their united position in a letter to F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone and FIA head Jean Todt.