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2015 Chinese Grand Prix shines bright sun on the dark days of racing

Yes, we tuned into the Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai China to see a race. But we all know we really tuned in to see if Ferrari, or any other team, could make it a competitive race with Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Based on qualifying, things didn't get off the best of starts: Lewis Hamilton made it four-out-of-four at the front, leading all three Free Practice sessions and then taking pole position in his Mercedes. Nico Rosberg is making the most of his time in the simulator, getting closer to Hamilton as the months go by. This time he lined up in second, just 0.042 in arrears. Ferrari did its best to temper expectations after Malaysia. Even though Sebastian Vettel qualified in third, almost a second behind Hamilton, the Scuderia's race pace is still considered a danger. Kimi Raikkonen's final hot lap went sour in Turn 3 and dropped the Finn to sixth place on the grid. In between the Ferraris, Williams is another team desperately working to maintain its advantage, and both of its drivers capitalized on Raikkonen's misfortune. Felipe Massa took fourth, Valtteri Bottas was in fifth. Daniel Ricciardo led the Infiniti Red Bull Racing charge in seventh, ahead of Romain Grosjean in the Lotus earning a spirits-lifting eighth. The two Saubers continue to show how good the Ferrari engine is, with Felipe Nasr taking ninth position and teammate Marcus Ericsson in tenth. Yet when the lights went out, so did the racing, for the most part. At the end of the first lap, because of some excellent moves by Raikkonen on both Williams' and a terrible start by Ricciardo that dropped him to seventeenth, the order was Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen, Massa, Bottas, Grosjean, Nasr, Ericsson, and Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus rounding out the top ten. At the end of the race, the only positions that had changed were the final two: Ricciardo had a laps-long battle with Ericsson, passing, getting repassed, then passing again to take ninth for good, with Ericsson finishing tenth. Maldonado suffered the worst in a battle with Jenson Button in the McLaren, when Button misjudged the entry into Turn 1 for a pass and clouted the back of the Lotus. Button was able to finish but Maldonado had to retire. Yes, there were some decent moments in between, like Bottas getting by Massa at the start, then Raikkonen getting past Massa in the first few corners and the Finn's move on Bottas also letting Massa through.

Mercedes, Nissan and VW slammed by China's CCTV

Several automakers in China, including joint ventures with Nissan, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, are in hot water because their dealers are allegedly overcharging customers for repairs. China Central Television, the country's state broadcaster, leveled the claims during its annual Consumer Day expose. CCTV runs these reports each year on March 15 and often takes aim at foreign companies operating within China. This year the focus fell on automakers, according to the Financial Times, and no domestic car companies were targeted. The network also accused dealers of overselling parts, and it took aim at Jaguar Land Rover specifically for problems surrounding transmission repairs, according to Reuters. The yearly stories are often criticized for focusing on outside businesses. "It panders to a certain type of nationalism as it tends to target foreign companies and rarely touches large state groups or monopolies," Qiao Mu, a journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said to the Financial Times. Foreign automakers seem to face tighter scrutiny when doing business in China than their domestic counterparts, in general. The government there investigated several luxury brands, including Audi and BMW, last year for how they supplied spare parts and whether the components were overpriced. Some incurred fines, and Lexus decided to lower its prices. Volkswagen also experienced protests when owners felt the company wasn't handling a recall properly. The CCTV report also comes as many auto dealers in China are feeling a pinch due to high mandated sales targets from automakers. The situation was so dire in early 2015 several brands cut back sales targets and in some cases even paid the sellers to offset poor profits. News Source: Financial Times - sub. req., ReutersImage Credit: Andy Wong / AP Photo Government/Legal Mercedes-Benz Nissan Volkswagen Car Dealers Auto Repair Maintenance jaguar land rover

Lewis Hamilton wins Russian Grand Prix in 1-2 victory for Mercedes

SOCHI, Russia — Lewis Hamilton coasted to a comfortable victory and led a Mercedes one-two finish at the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday to tighten his grip on a sixth World Championship. In a calamitous few laps for Ferrari, the Italian team threw away a possible one-two finish of its own after Sebastian Vettel broke down and Charles Leclerc dropped from first to third. Valtteri Bottas followed teammate Hamilton home at the Sochi Autodrome as Mercedes secured the full quota of points. Hamilton now leads Bottas in the championship by 73 points. Leclerc is 107 points behind the British driver. Max Verstappen finished fourth ahead of Red Bull teammate Alex Albon, who started last after he crashed out during qualifying. "What an effort, guys," said a jubilant Hamilton on the radio after the race. "What an incredible job. That is exactly what we needed. We never give up." Ferrari had already got themselves into a needless mess before Vettel retired with an engine failure on lap 28. Vettel got the jump on pole-sitter Leclerc on the long drag down to the second corner but a curious pre-race arrangement had Leclerc calling for the roles to be reversed. It appears that the team had agreed that if Vettel benefited from Leclerc's slipstream and moved ahead of the Frenchman off the start line, he would have to concede the position. Ferrari were on the radio to tell Vettel to let Leclerc by, but the four-time world champion resisted the order. Leclerc protested over the radio. "You put me behind and I respected everything," he said. "We will talk later." The Ferrari pit wall were on to Vettel again, but again the German refused to let his teammate pass, fearing that he would be exposed to Hamilton in third place if he slowed down. Leclerc was the first to stop on lap 22, but instead of calling in Vettel the next time around Vettel was left on old tires as his teammate put in several fast laps on his fresh tires. Four laps after Leclerc pitted, Vettel was eventually called in and by the time he emerged he had fallen behind his teammate and into second place. Just moments later disaster struck as Vettel broke down with an engine failure. It was then to get worse for the Scuderia. With Vettel's broken down machine in a precarious position, the virtual safety car was deployed to slow down the field, allowing Hamilton, who had yet to pit, a free stop for tires and the lead of the race. George Russell then crashed out in his Williams and the full safety car was deployed.