No wonder, then, Ferrari left China defeated but far from dejected. Ted Kravitz gives his verdict on the Chinese Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton took victory in Shanghai.Ĭonversely, although the SF70-H cannot quite match the Mercedes over a single lap, it appears to be more consistent and kinder on its tyres. Vettel's earlier lap time improvement of approximately 1.2 seconds once freed up from behind Daniel Ricciardo and Raikkonen indicates that, unless Hamilton made a mistake, he wouldn't have had sufficient speed advantage to pass Hamilton even if he had caught the Mercedes.īut the numbers do bear out the working theory that, while the Mercedes' outright pace is faster than Ferrari's, which could be particularly critical in a year when reduced overtaking puts an even greater premium on track position, the W08 is 'peaky'. While 2.5 seconds is a considerable gain, it took almost 20 laps to eek out. Nor does it appear Vettel had enough superior pace to overtake Hamilton.
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But the fact Hamilton set a 1:35.657 - faster than the personal best of every other driver in the race bar Vettel - on lap 54 of 56 is suggestive. What we don't know, of course, and what Hamilton certainly wouldn't tell, is how much the Mercedes was holding back. Sky F1's Martin Brundle explains why Ferrari are a far tougher proposition in F1 2017
Then there was other times in the race when I was quicker."
"The last 10 or 12 laps he was doing a 35.6 and I was doing a 35.8 and it was very hard to get to where he was. "There were times when Sebastian put laps in and it was hard to even match the time," said Hamilton. It's a reduction slightly inflated by Hamilton's very slow final lap, but even excluding that final tour from the equation still finds the Ferrari 2.5 seconds faster than the Mercedes through that final stint despite running on tyres which were two lap older. Most saliently of all, Vettel trimmed Hamilton's lead by 3.2 seconds over the final 19 laps.
But it was Vettel who had the more consistent pace: while the Ferrari was in the 1:35s 14 times over the last 17 laps, Hamilton could only better 1:36 on 10 occasions. Hamilton's outright pace was a smidgen better than Vettel's: a 1:35.378 compared to a 1:35.423. Excluding laps 36 and 37, when Hamilton lost time entering and exiting for his second stop, the numbers point to a very closely-fought contest but one in which the Ferrari was slightly ahead.
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