TEERUBI
OHONEETHERI
NGTON24 AUTOSPORT.COM 18 APRIL 2019RACE CENTRE CHINESE GPToro Rosso driver Alex Albon scored
a point for the second consecutive race
after starting from the pitlane following
a big accident in Saturday practice.
Albon ran wide exiting the final corner
on his qualifying simulation lap, dropping
the right side of his car onto the artificial
grass at the exit. He attempted to hang
onto the tankslapper without losing
momentum, but was flicked right into the
barrier separating the track from the pit
entry. The damage meant Albon missed
qualifying, and the Toro Rosso team had to
build up a new car around a spare monocoque.
“There is lap time there, you can run a
bit wider and it helps to bring that entry
speed into the corner,” said Albon, who
was uninjured. “It’s something I’ve beendoing before. You always get one snap, it’s
quite normal, but it snapped and then it
snapped the other way. Once you get the
tankslapper, you’re a passenger and I was
hoping it would snap left to spin me onto
the circuit, but it went right into the wall.”
Having shown strong long-run pace
on Friday, Albon ran 18th at the end of
the first lap thanks to both McLarens
sustaining damage (see left). He then
passed Williams drivers Robert Kubica
and George Russell, then the Alfa Romeo
of Antonio Giovinazzi, to run 15th.
After climbing to 11th as others pitted
before him, he finally stopped at the end
of lap 19 to switch from hard to soft Pirellis.
This dropped him to 16th before he promptly
dispatched Russell again. Lance Stroll, directlyKv yat penalised for
McLaren wipeout
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was hit with a
drivethrough penalty for a first-lap incident
that ruined the races of McLaren drivers
Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris.
Kvyat was battling for 14th with Sainz into
the Turn 6 hairpin on the inside line. Shortly
after the apex, he had to correct when the rear
end stepped out, which pushed him wider
towards Sainz. He clipped the right-front
of the McLaren with his left-rear and was
pitched briefly off the ground. On landing,
he slid into the other McLaren of Norris,
who had run wide at the corner and had been
almost off the track, and hit his sidepod with
his front-left. Norris then rode up over the
Toro Rosso’s tyre and was flicked into the air.
Both McLarens had to head to the pits
for new front wings, with Norris carrying
other damage into the rest of the race and
retiring after 50 laps. Sainz finished 14th.
Kvyat served his drivethrough while
running 14th and was never able to get
back into points contention, before
retiring late on to save mileage.
“This was, I think, a normal lap-one
incident – one car coming from off the
track, and one car being sandwiched,
and me leaving space enough for one car
certainly,” said Kvyat. “I don’t see how that
incident deserved a drivethrough penalty.”52
Kimi Raikkonen’s elimination in Q2 in
China ended a run of 52 consecutive Q3
appearances, which started at the 2016
German GP. From 13th on the grid, he
finished ninth behind Sergio Perez.BIG NUMBERAlbon scores points
after shunt causes
pitlane start