Tilke, throttle and tyre cliffs: The ultimate Chinese GP guide

With high and low-speed corners, a long straight concluding with a tight hairpin and not much in the way of elevation change, Shanghai is a typical Tilke circuit although one that is growing in popularity thanks to some excellent recent races. Overtaking can be a challenge with few real chances to pass throughout the lap, necessitating careful planning of a move such as we saw Lewis Hamilton pull on Sebastian Vettel in 2011, saving all his KERS for a pass at Turn 7, not one of the fancied overtaking spots on the lap. Traction can be problematic in the acceleration zones out of Turns 6 and 14, while understeer needs to be dialled out of the car’s setup to make the infield section from Turns 6 to 9 easier. The track has a 1.2km back straight, the cars going full throttle for 15 seconds, and it is here that the majority of overtakes happen, thanks to the DRS zone which activates halfway down the straight into the 40mph hairpin at Turn 14.

Race strategy highlights from 2012

Mercedes planned a two-stop race for both Rosberg and Schumacher from the outset, with both cars starting on the front row. McLaren, who were to be the Silver Arrows’ biggest threat on the day, went for a three-stop strategy, intending to attack throughout the race. However their ability to do so was compromised by errors and a grid penalty for Lewis Hamilton, which saw him mired in the lower points positions for most of the race before recovering to finish third, albeit 26 seconds behind Rosberg at the flag. It was up to Button to take the fight to Mercedes and he was well-placed to do so going into his third and final stop on lap 39 – at this point he was going to emerge second on track to Rosberg, both on medium tyres but Button’s would be fresher, with Nico stopping on lap 34. A botched pit stop cost Jenson an extra six seconds and dropped him into a fight behind a train of cars including Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, both of whom were also two-stopping. During this phase of the race Button lost over a second lap to the leading Mercedes and any chance of challenging for the win was gone.

From a highlight to a lowlight, and Kimi Raikkonen graphically demonstrated what happens when tyre performance ‘falls off the cliff’. The Finn was running in second place with nine laps remaining, having attempted a two-stop strategy similar to the leaders. In pitting too early for his final set of tyres, Raikkonen left himself with 28 laps to complete on a single set of rubber, and they cried ‘enough’ in spectacular fashion, with cars passing the sluggish Lotus left, right and centre, leaving the Finn to limp home in 14^th place. It’s worth noting that this was the only race in 2012 where Kimi failed to finish in the points.

What to look out for in 2013

With the same medium and soft compound tyres available there’s likely to be a real split between two and three-stop strategies. In 2012 half the drivers in the top ten stopped twice, with the other half pitting three times. Overall the two-stoppers fared better, climbing a combined 22 places compared with a net zero for the three-stoppers, though much of that can be attributed to Kamui Kobayashi dropping from fourth to tenth as faster cars made their way past him. Bruno Senna was the big mover from the lower order – starting 14^th the Brazilian used a two-stop strategy on laps 12 and 29, going medium-soft-medium on tyre choice, to make up seven places and finish seventh.

With the field even closer than in 2012, running a three-stop strategy is risky as it relies on being able to build enough of a gap so that you can pit and rejoin in fro