2014 Chinese Grand Prix Preview - MotorSportsTalk

Ahead of the first European race in Spain at the beginning of May, Formula 1 makes one final foray east with this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Having first graced the calendar back in 2004, the race is celebrating its tenth birthday this year. In the past decade, we have seen a number of memorable moments and some fine racing, suggesting that we could be in store for yet another Shanghai surprise this weekend.

However, if Mercedes claims a fourth straight win on Sunday, it will be anything but a surprise. The team has come out of the traps with a relentless pace and near-perfect score so far. Three wins, two seconds places and just one DNF. Despite being the blot on the Silver Arrows’ scoresheet, Lewis Hamilton is looking to record a third straight win for the first time in his glittering career, but you can be sure that teammate Nico Rosberg will be keen on getting even after losing out in Bahrain.

Therefore, the talking points this week do not surround possible race winners because – weather and reliability depending – that is a foregone conclusion. However, the same cannot be said about the rest of the field.

2014 Chinese Grand Prix – Talking Points

Ferrari begins life after Domenicali

After six seasons as Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali fell on his sword earlier this week and resigned from the post after the team’s worst start to a season since 2009. The Italian has been replaced by the marque’s North America CEO Matteo Mattiacci, but president Luca di Montezemolo is also set to increase his involvement. It will be interesting to see how the team gets on this weekend in China after a rather difficult week.

Red Bull’s wounds begin to heal

The storm in a teacup finally ended in Paris on Monday as Red Bull’s appeal against Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix was thrown out in court. Despite arguing relentlessly for the past month, the team accepted the decision with dignity, and attention now turns to China where a podium finish must be the target for defending world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Play it again, Force India

Force India heads into the Chinese GP weekend with its tail up after Sergio Perez secured the team’s first podium finish in five years last time out in Bahrain. However, the team will now be keen on a repeat performance, and the pace of the car suggests that both Perez and teammate Nico Hulkenberg could be in the mix to reach the podium. That said, the straight line speed of the McLaren cars could scupper these hopes.

What a fight for the podium we’ll have though: Force India vs Williams vs McLaren vs Red Bull vs Ferrari (well, maybe).

Meanwhile, at Sauber and Lotus…

We all saw the ‘coming together’ between Pastor Maldonado and Esteban Gutierrez in Bahrain, and although Pastor insists that it wasn’t his fault (Pastor’s wrong, by the way), both teams are still scratching their heads. Not a single point between them. Giedo van der Garde could be the winner in all of this though. He has another FP1 run-out this weekend as part of his reserve driver deal, but is it really too crazy to think about him replacing one of their drivers at some point this season?

Six in six?

Throw out the formbook for China. In the last five years, we have seen five different winners of the race (Vettel, Button, Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso), and only Hamilton and Alonso are repeat winners. Could it be a sweet six this weekend? Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg are the only drivers who can realistically manage it, and it would take a big slice of luck to see both Mercs DNF.

2014 Chinese Grand Prix – Facts and Figures

Track: Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai (5.451km)
Laps: 56
Corners: 16
Lap Record: Michael Schumacher 1:32.238s (2004)
Tire Compounds: Soft (Option); Medium (Prime)
2013 Winner: Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2013 Pole Position: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:34.484
2013 Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) – 1:36.808
DRS Zones: Main straight (T16 to T1); T13 to T14

Follow @LukeSmithF1

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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