China 2014 Results and Championship Standings (4/19)

After the excitement of the Bahrain race, this race wasn't quite as fun. Still there were some incredible performances (Alonso and Ricciardo) and some tension between Vettel and the Red Bull team which helped to create interest. 

Hamilton's third win in a row solidifies his position as the championship favourite although Rosberg still holds the points advantage. Spain will be fairly pivotal - Rosberg was very strong there last year comparatively so he'll hope that he can produce a strong performance like in Bahrain but this time take a second win of the season.

In the prediction league Ross Brawn has accepted a place at Marussia as Team Principal. He made a very vocal and bullish speech on race day, claiming the minimum target for the team this season was 3rd in the Constructors Championship. Marussia will have an uphill battle given their lack of preparation for the season however some interesting innovations seem to have helped. Adrian Newey was caught breaking into the teams garage with his notebook after the race causing Marussia to sue Red Bull - another incident in a long list of court cases Red Bull have lined up. 

McLaren to take Formula 1 rival Red Bull to court over Dan Fallows

Red Bull made to pay for Formula 1 appeal hearing costs

Ross Brawn publically stated Marussia's number one driver Nat was an "exciting talent - back stronger than ever after a bout of rallying" - and that he planned to give him full support in his quest for points. He did temper expectations in general and warned against expecting big things from Scott, stating he was "lucky and overrated".

Despite initial positively the Marussia team is lacking funds with a 1 Euro budget for salaries each race, all of which has been given to Nat. One leading engineer in the team has emphasised that both drivers could bag up to 5 extra Euros should they win though so there was reason for optimism!

Big congratulations to Dragan (on his record equalling 8th podium - equal with current championship leader Kiszol) and Rose31 on their first podium after only 4 races in the prediction league. Dragan's performance has lifted Lotus even further ahead securing a 27 point lead going into the European season. 

At the top of the Drivers Championship there is a huge clustering between four players (with Dragan close behind). With the increased competitiveness of the Red Bulls and potential bans for Mercedes and their drivers things could get very interesting (I'll keep you informed).

On to the results and the standings...

Championship Standings

Constructors Championship

Read on for more detail.

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Overall results

Breakdown

 
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Random
 
The random category involved risks versus rewards, with additional points being on offer for successfully picking less likely scenarios. It was very successful overall (thanks Kiszol for creating the idea) and the results are below. Well done to all-time random leader Joe (on 29 points) and Juan Medina on a very strong random category on their debut! 

As has been the case recently random was fairly decisive in deciding the overall result.

Points input

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Now a long break until Spain - where we'll head to the European leg of the F1 circuit. I'll aim to get the thread out on Monday before the race. 

Also of interest to some of you, I've updated the stats page up to today's date. 


As discussed if anyone has any ideas about a random category they'd like to see please post on this page - random discussion topic. I'm happy to discuss and refine any ideas people have.    


For Spain random categories often revolve around improvements given the raft of upgrades every team brings to Spain.


See you all soon for another potentially pivotal weekend in the championship battle!