iWitness in Shanghai: Sunday

Posted on Monday 18 Apr 2011 and tagged with iwitness, shanghai.

Technical Director Sam Michael was the first member of AT&T Williams to board a flight to the UK this evening, so he wasn’t allowed to travel light. Team coordinator Paul Singlehurst gave him six suitcases to take back to the factory, which led to quizzical looks and sarcastic comments from check-in staff. “Couldn’t decide what to bring on holiday, could we sir?”

The flamboyant boss of Mercedes-Benz, Dieter Zetsche, was in the Shanghai paddock today. He watched the race from the Mercedes GP pit garage, hiding behind his heavily waxed curly moustache. Sadly for Zetsche, Nico Rosberg had a hairy moment in the closing stages of the race when he almost ran out of fuel and he came home in fifth place.

Force India drivers Paula di Resta and Adrian Sutil were spotted having dinner together last night. Sutil, we’re reliably informed by a member of the team, took di Resta out for dinner on his birthday. All very sweet, particularly when you take into account that the rookie had outqualified Sutil for the third successive race only hours earlier…

Did you know that a new record was set in the Chinese Grand Prix. Only one car retired from the race, that of Jaime Alguersuari, meaning 23 cars crossed the finish line. That broke the previous record of 22 finishers that had been jointly held by the 1952 British Grand Prix and the 2010 Brazilian GP.

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