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https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/142737/magnussen-backs-vettel-renaults-over-q3-mess Kevin Magnussen believes Sebastian Vettel and the Renault Formula 1 drivers "did the right thing" in controversially passing Max Verstappen in the dying seconds of Chinese Grand Prix qualifying. Red Bull driver Verstappen was left furious after failing to cross the start/finish line in time to complete his final Q3 flying lap, having been overtaken by Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo. The Dutchman argued drivers have an unwritten rule to not overtake each other during the warm-up lap, and claimed his rivals had "****ed up my entire build-up". Magnussen was another driver to fail to make it in time to start his final flyer, but said afterwards he felt Vettel and the Renaults were right to speed up. "It was pretty messy so at the end of the lap everyone was trying to, I guess, get started, but also have somebody in front," Magnussen said. "So it ended up being too much and cost a few guys the lap. "Everyone also went out of the pits at exactly the same time. We were following each other and towards the end of the lap you didn't know whether to try and overtake people, which in that case they are going to defend." When asked by Autosport about Verstappen's complaints over Vettel and the Renault duo, Magnussen said: "In the end, if they got the lap, then they did the right thing." The Dane, who will start ninth ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean, said he decided against trying to overtake his rivals because he felt it would have been counterproductive. "I didn't want to be an arsehole," Magnussen joked. "You know what I mean. We are racing. I didn't attack anyone not because I'm a gentleman, but because I thought my chances would be pretty poor of actually getting past people because people don't want you to get past and it's just messy.
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/26511507/what-happened-ferrari-china - So DRS is the savior of th weekend possibly. What happened to Ferrari?: Mercedes has talked up the power advantage Ferrari has this weekend and the speed-trap figures show exactly why. The dominant Ferrari pace of Bahrain made the red car looks like favourites coming to Shanghai but for all Mercedes is lacking on the straights, it has made up for it in the corners -- Vettel said the silver cars looked "bloody quick" through them. The China circuit is as reliant on good frontal downforce (which Mercedes appears to have more of) as outright power, but Sunday's race might provide a different story entirely, especially if Mercedes finds it difficult to keep the Ferrari's at bay when the red cars are equipped with the DRS overtaking aid down the long backstraight. The pendulum keeps swinging between the lead two teams and it could make for a fascinating season dynamic if that continues for a while longer in 2019.
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/26511507/what-happened-ferrari-china All eyes on Vettel versus Leclerc: After the events of Bahrain, Vettel might have wished he hadn't baulked Verstappen in that way -- it means Ferrari teammate Leclerc will line up alongside him on the second row. Vettel struggled to match Leclerc's pace in Bahrain and needed a team order to stay ahead of him in Australia, so now we have a fascinating scenario where they line up alongside each other again. Leclerc's refusal to obey a second team order in Bahrain adds a fascinating element to this brewing intra-team rivalry and he once again has nothing to lose -- all the pressure going into Sunday's grand prix is in the man sitting in the cockpit of the No.5 car. Over to you, Seb, let's see what you're made of. Speaking of Leclerc, the youngster had a rather telling radio message after qualifying P4, which should give you some insight into how hard he pushes himself: "F--- I did mistakes. Come on Charles, s---. Not good enough for me. From my side, not speaking of the car. Car was good. I should have done better."