Nico Rosberg’s Shanghai victory has ended a 57-year winning drought for Mercedes-Benz as a works manufacturer. The silver arrows, which last won at Monza with Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955, returned to Formula 1 in 2010 but until now had only achieved a trio of podium finishes with Rosberg during that season.
The current Mercedes outfit, based at Brackley, carries Tyrrell DNA, as Ken’s team became BAR in 1999 before the Honda, Brawn GP and Mercedes changes of 2006, 2009 and 2010 respectively. The result marks Mercedes’ tenth F1 win.
“This is a truly special and historic day,” says Team Principal Ross Brawn. “I am so delighted for Nico, he has deserved to take his first victory several times, and has now done so by driving a perfectly judged race from pole position. I am excited to see how he develops now he has that win under his belt. Commiserations to Michael (Schumacher), who was driving a controlled race in second position but was forced to retire after his pit-stop. However, he is the first man to say that we win and lose as a team and his performances this year prove that he is equally capable of climbing to the top step of the podium.
“I was just one year old when Juan Manuel Fangio won in Monza in 1955 - but this victory is something I will remember, and savour, for a very long time indeed!”
Norbert Haug, Mercedes’ Vice President for Motorsport, was also highly emotional.
“What a sensational victory from Nico and our team!” he exclaimed. “It was unbelievable how Nico drove and controlled the race from Lap 1 to 56. A big thank you to everybody in Brackley, Brixworth, Stuttgart, Fellbach, Untertürkheim and Möhringen for all their relentless work and their belief in our capabilities and that we can make it. Nico's performance was superb today, the team executed a great two-stop strategy and Nico and his car managed the tyres very well.
“It was a shame for Michael; he missed out on a possible very good podium result. It was particularly sweet to see Jenson (Button) and Lewis (Hamilton) on the podium - Mercedes Power to the power of three!”
The squad now shoots up from ninth to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, but is 62 points behind leaders McLaren just three races into the season.
Mercedes’ ten Grand Prix victories:
1. France 1954: Juan Manuel Fangio
2. Germany 1954: Juan Manuel Fangio
3. Switzerland 1954: Juan Manuel Fangio
4. Italy 1954: Juan Manuel Fangio
5. Argentina 1955: Juan Manuel Fangio
6. Belgium 1955: Juan Manuel Fangio
7. Netherlands 1955: Juan Manuel Fangio
8. Great Britain 1955: Stirling Moss
9. Italy 1955: Juan Manuel Fangio
10. China 2012: Nico Rosberg
Gregory Haines
GPUpdate.net Editor
GPUpdate.net race report:
2012 Chinese Grand Prix
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Nico Rosberg
Ross Brawn
Norbert Haug
Michael Schumacher
Teams
Mercedes Grand Prix
Other
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:36:26.929 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | +20.626 |
| 3. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +26.012 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +27.924 |
| 5. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +30.483 |
| 6. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | +31.491 |
| 7. | B. Senna | Williams | +34.597 |
| 8. | P. Maldonado | Williams | +35.643 |
| 9. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +37.256 |
| 10. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +38.720 |
| Full results | |||
| Michael Schumacher | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Michael Schumacher photos | |||
| Norbert Haug | |||
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| More Norbert Haug photos | |||
| Ross Brawn | |||
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| More Ross Brawn photos | |||
| Nico Rosberg | |||
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| More Nico Rosberg photos | |||
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