Shanghai is one of the two highest speed circuits and thanks the controversial fluidic switch for front wing stalling Mercedes were always going to be strong here. With a front row lockout thanks to Hamilton’s grid penalty for a gearbox change it looked almost fated that we would see a Mercedes win at China 2012!
In the end it came down to how many stops drivers were doing. Massa managed to not take home any points thanks to him being on a 2 stop, with Alonso being on the right 3 stop strategy and bringing home a couple of points!
McLaren went for three stops while Mercedes were down for a two stop strategy. This gave a distinct advantage to Mercedes, but Hamilton had little choice as in qualifying he set his fastest time and had to start the race on a set of tyres that had done six laps. This meant he would struggle to make it to lap 13, which was the window for most 2 stops strategies.
Anyway it was a good win for Roseberg with Button and Hamilton rounding off the podium!
