Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin says he was left confused by his lack of grip on Soft tyres as his switch to a two-stop strategy in China failed to pay off.
Sirotkin spent the first stint towards the rear of the pack and was on course for a one-stop strategy, switching from Softs to Mediums at the mid-point of the 56-lap race.
The deployment of the Safety Car shortly after prompted Williams to switch Sirotkin back to a set of Soft tyres, and he took the restart from 17th position.
Sirotkin, though, was unable to make up substantial ground, and classified in 15th place, moving ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly once the Frenchman’s time penalty was applied.
“It was a difficult race,” said Sirotkin. “I had nothing to lose so I had to fight at the start.
“I tried to get some positions but when you’re right in the midfield it’s difficult to do something and I think I could have managed better. Afterwards I really struggled to find the pace.
“It was quite difficult to find the window with the tyre and it was a very tough first stint. At some points when I was in free air for a few laps it was stabilising a bit, but overall it was really tricky.
“We pitted for a new set of Mediums and then new Softs under the Safety Car.
“I don’t know what happened to them but they had far less grip than the Mediums so we lost quite a bit with that, then we were just trying to get to the end of the race.”
Team-mate Lance Stroll finished in 14th position, the Canadian profiting from a rapid getaway that netted him six spots on the opening lap.
“It was a great start again and, like in Bahrain, I made up five or six positions at the start,” he said.
“Then after that I believe we raced the maximum out of the car.
“We were not very lucky with the Safety Car, because the guys on two stops got a free pit stop in front of us.
“I think the Force Indias were possible to beat, not on pure pace, but with the good start and everything.
“It was a bit of a shame, but I am really happy with the race. We got our strategy done and I believe we got everything out of it.”
