Chinese Grand Prix 2015: 5 Key Storylines Ahead of Shanghai Race
After Sebastian Vettel's surprise win in Malaysia, there is no shortage of storylines ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, the third event of the 2015 Formula One season.
Having seen their eight-race winning streak come to an end at Sepang, there is a certain degree of pressure on Mercedes heading into this weekend, where the reigning constructors' champions will be expected to provide an instant response.
The Shanghai race, too, should reveal much more about the true pace of Vettel's Ferrari team and whether the Prancing Horse can indeed launch a genuine title challenge in 2015.
Both Mercedes and Ferrari could have been mistaken for one-man teams in Malaysia, where Vettel and Lewis Hamilton battled exclusively for victory.
Their respective team-mates, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg, have had rather underwhelming starts to the campaign. With both men previously victorious in China, however, the onus is on the No. 2's to challenge the team leaders this weekend and generate extra excitement in the fight at the front.
With a look at Lotus' bad luck and the Red Bull-Renault relationship, here are five key storylines to follow in the Chinese GP.
Can Mercedes Respond After Malaysian GP Shock?
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"Maybe this is the wake-up call that we needed," was how Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, described his team's defeat to Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix, according to Sky Sports' James Galloway.
It was a surprising admission in many ways, not least because the last thing Mercedes needed throughout their title-winning campaign in 2014—when they secured 18 pole positions and 16 victories—was a wake-up call.
Indeed, one of the most gratifying aspects of the Silver Arrows' dominance last season was the fact Mercedes never got complacent, despite having the best car on the grid by a huge margin and despite the knowledge that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg would more often than not get the job done.
The opposition were never underestimated as Mercedes operated vigilantly, almost as if the team were petrified at the thought of wasting their advantage.
That an outfit of such diligence could allow a victory to fade from their grasp, as was the case in Malaysia, was out of character, and something Mercedes will be hoping to put right in China.
There has been plenty of fighting talk since Sepang, with Wolff, according to Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde, discussing the "need to make the most" of "the weapons at our disposal."
Meanwhile, Paddy Lowe, the team's technical chief, was quoted by Motorsport.com's Elizalde as admitting, "It is now clearer than ever that there is serious competition for this world championship."
The Chinese GP will be the most important race for Mercedes for some time, and it will be revealing to see whether the reigning world champions can retaliate and rise to the challenge set by Ferrari.
Where Do Ferrari Really Stand Relative to Mercedes?
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It is undeniable that Ferrari's win in Malaysia was circumstantial, that on a day when tyre management was essential the F15-T simply preserved its rubber more effectively than the Mercedes W06.
And Sebastian Vettel's ability to make just two stops, while Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were forced to make three visits to the pit lane, was what ultimately secured victory for the German.
But if the Sepang race offered a distorted view of the pecking order, so too did the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where Vettel lost plenty of time fighting Felipe Massa for third, allowing the Mercedes to scamper away and win the race by over half a minute.
Barely 24 hours after the Malaysian GP, both Vettel and technical director James Allison, as per Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde, admitted the team will struggle to replicate their performance in China, so the Shanghai race should offer a realistic view of just how close Ferrari are to the reigning world champions.
Will the Prancing Horse be a constant threat, regularly in a position to pressurise Mercedes into mistakes and challenge for regular wins?
Or will Ferrari be this year's answer to 2014's Red Bull, only occasionally fast enough to challenge the Silver Arrows but always there to pick up the pieces whenever Mercedes get it wrong?
Should the Chinese GP be a standard event—no rain, no pesky Williams cars in the way—we should see Mercedes and Ferrari in a straight fight on relatively even ground.
And only then will we be able to judge whether this year's title race will be a two- or three-horse affair.
Can Rosberg and Raikkonen Fight Back?
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While Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have taken plaudits for their victories in Australia and Malaysia, their respective team-mates, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen, have lived in the shadows.
In the opening two races of the season, Rosberg was almost unrecognisable from the driver who pushed Hamilton all the way in 2014. Unable to challenge his team-mate for victory at Albert Park, the German was a mere spectator at Sepang as Vettel inherited Rosberg's place as Hamilton's biggest threat.
His antics across the Malaysia weekend—blocking Hamilton in qualifying before letting Vettel through in the race—were signs of desperation, the actions of a driver who knows he can't beat the best in the business in a straight fight.
For Raikkonen, the misfortune which marred his return to Ferrari last year has carried into 2015, with two-first lap collisions, a dodgy wheel nut and a poorly timed rain shower undermining his performances alongside Vettel thus far.
Both Raikkonen and Rosberg are former winners in China—Kimi won in the wet in 2007, Nico took the first victory of his career in 2012—and it would be timely if both drivers were to return to form at Shanghai.
It's about time the No. 2's came to the forefront.
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Will Luck Finally Favour Lotus?
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When Lotus traded Renault for Mercedes power at the end of 2014, few would have thought the team would have the same amount of points after two races as they did at this stage last year.
But after the Australian and Malaysian grands prix, the Enstone-based outfit are one of three teams—McLaren and Manor Marussia the others—yet to score in 2015.
The new E23 is a huge improvement on last year's car, highlighted by the fact Lotus made it into Q3 in both races, yet a mixture of bad luck and unnecessary incidents has prevented the team from extracting the most from it.
Pastor Maldonado was eliminated at the first corner in Australia after tangling with Sauber's Felipe Nasr, while Romain Grosjean didn't make it much further, withdrawing at the end of the opening lap having suffered a loss of power.
Maldonado's misfortune continued in Malaysia, where the Venezuelan was one of a number of drivers to be caught out by a mid-session shower in qualifying before suffering a puncture and then brake problems in the race.
Grosjean, meanwhile, might have finished in the points had he not been spun by Sergio Perez at the halfway stage, from where he could only recover to 11th.
Lotus certainly have the speed to finish in the top 10, but whether they'll be able to banish the memories of China 2014 this weekend and enjoy a clean, trouble-free weekend remains to be seen.
Red Bull, Renault Relations Set to Be Tested Again
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As Sebastian Vettel celebrated his Malaysian Grand Prix win from the top step of the podium, his former Red Bull bosses were seen having a frank discussion with Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul in the confines of the garage.
The four-time constructors' champions' unhappiness with their engine supplier has been one of the biggest stories of 2015 thus far, with Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo finishing a lap behind Vettel at Sepang a fortnight after an anonymous Australian GP performance.
And although, as per Motorsport.com, both parties have now opted to refrain from washing their dirty laundry in public, the Chinese Grand Prix could see relations between team and engine supplier sink even lower.
The Shanghai International Circuit's back straight, at 1,175 metres, according to BBC Sport, is the longest stretch on the F1 calendar, which will almost certainly expose Red Bull's lack of straight-line speed.
According to the FIA's data, only the Manor Marussia and McLaren-Honda cars were slower than the four Renault-powered machines in the speed trap in Malaysia, with the Red Bulls and Toro Rossos also painfully slow in the first sector, as per the FIA's maximum speeds information, which is mostly reliant on engine power.
The Red Bulls will be typically strong in the technical twisty sections at Shanghai, but Kvyat, Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz could be defenceless on that long, long straight.
If that proves to be the case, and the Renault-powered cars are bullied by their Mercedes and Ferrari counterparts down the back stretch, expect any rapprochement to be short-lived.
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