Lewis Hamilton knew that this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix would be an uphill battle, accepting a five-spot grid penalty for a gearbox change earlier in the weekend. He knew that he'd have to fight hard for a podium in a world where the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen weren't quite up to the speed of his Mercedes, but significantly faster than the rest of the field. He knew that teammate Nico Rosberg would probably win the race over him, extending his already-large gap to the championship lead. He knew all of this, and yet, he couldn't have imagined that it could be this bad, because in qualifying on Saturday, an engine issue forced Hamilton out of qualifying, back to the now traditional Q1-Q2-Q3 group elimination system for the first time in 2016, in the first round.
Hamilton will start 22nd on Sunday, joining a host of other disappointed teams and drivers in the back half of the grid. The entire Renault contingent, for instance, failed to make it past 17th on the grid. Haas F1 was quick the past two Grand Prix weekends, but sees their best starter in just 14th this weekend. McLaren showed significant pace and may well have made Q3, but team returnee Fernando Alonso leads the team at just 11th. Nico Hulkenburg got his Force India into Q3, but a loose wheel that flew off his car at the end of Q2 and a resulting penalty relegates him to just 13th.
Even Ferrari had reason to be disappointed, with both Vettel and Raikkonen failing to capitalize on Hamilton's misfortunes and start on the front row. All this means that only Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo really exceeded his own expectations, and that despite all of their offseason engine struggles Red Bull Racing can claim that their Renault-powered cars are the first non-Mercedes entries on the front row of a Formula 1 race in 2016.
The Chinese Grand Prix airs at 2:00 AM Sunday on the NBC Sports Network on the east coast, making it a Saturday night race in the Pacific time zone at 11:00 PM.
