Chinese GP 2009 - Shanghai

[Metar]

Rosberg did not lose out because he had the options on at the end, he lost out because his strategy caused him to run them for way too long at the end... he would have been equally proper --- if he ran them for too long in the first stint like Ferrari did.

Kubica did nothing special, he lucked out with the safety car and his team just didnt make bonehead strategy decisions like Vettle/Red Bull and Rosberg/Williams did.

Hoping for a safety car is not a strategy, it is just that a hope... Just like efrrari was hoping for rain when they put the rain tires on KIMI.

Jenson had the safist and most optimal strategy for Austrailia, and guess what he won... bacause Charlie didnt mash the SC button until after Button pitted.... hmmm maybe thats why they call it a button.

Reasons don't enter into it: Rosberg was on Options on their 9th lap when his followers, all on Primes, passed him with incredible ease. Doesn't matter if it was strategy, luck, or act of god: He was on Options, other weren't, he was passed. Vettel was the faster car all weekend, but the Prime-tyred Kubica closed in on him with amazing ease while the former struggled with worn Options.

And I agree that Kubica did nothing special, and that it was luck (or strategy that depended on the safety-car - which is a gamble) - but that doesn't mean his result didn't show something: If you fulfill your obligation to run the worse tyre early on, you will have your car at it's best pace near the end, with the question remaining: Will that pace be enough to repay for the lost time at the start. In this case, it was - and teams will want to be in that same position again, too.

[donskar]

DaveKillens wrote:

Funny, so far in this thread no one has mentioned Ferrari's chances. They have a very good car, and two top drivers. If they keep from screwing up (again), it's reasonably possible we can see a Ferrari at least on the podium, if not challenging for the win.

Ferrari's chances? They don't have one. It was only a little too slow -- but too unreliable -- with KERS. Without KERS it will be more reliable, but even slower.

I do hope I am wrong.

[andartop]

I think they do have a chance, as long as their two "good" drivers actually manage to squeeze the best out of this car. In raw pace they have proved already they're not too far off, definitely not as far off as the race results suggest up to now. The real question is: are Felipe and Kimi able to really push the car? And is the Team capable of avoiding ridiculous mistakes?
It's quite simple: all they have to do is think really hard what their strategy is going to be, and then use a completely different strategy. Can't fail!

[ISLAMATRON]

Reasons don't enter into it: Rosberg was on Options on their 9th lap when his followers, all on Primes, passed him with incredible ease. Doesn't matter if it was strategy, luck, or act of god: He was on Options, other weren't, he was passed. Vettel was the faster car all weekend, but the Prime-tyred Kubica closed in on him with amazing ease while the former struggled with worn Options.

And I agree that Kubica did nothing special, and that it was luck (or strategy that depended on the safety-car - which is a gamble) - but that doesn't mean his result didn't show something: If you fulfill your obligation to run the worse tyre early on, you will have your car at it's best pace near the end, with the question remaining: Will that pace be enough to repay for the lost time at the start. In this case, it was - and teams will want to be in that same position again, too.

Rosberg pitted on lap 44(put on the options) and went on to reel off the fastest lap of the race on lap 48(almost 3 tenths faster then 2nd fastest Kubica)... He clearly burnt off his tires that were being expected to run way past their normal lifespan. Rubans didnt pass him until lap 52 or 53... about 8 or 9 laps after he put them on... They clearly left the options on for too long, especially with him blazing the track with that fast lap.

Like I said their mistake was not using the options on the last stint (as the top 2 drivers on the podium did, but effectively)... their mistake was running them too long with too much fuel and probably too hard, tire management, whether it be wet or dry is probably the most important part of Grand Prix strategy.

[Conceptual]

I suspect MANY cars to quali super light on fuel for a 5-8 lap first stint, just to get rid of the super-softs.

Even pitting so early, they should more than make it up later in the race when people try pushing 15-20 laps on those horrid tyres.

Especially with the chances of a first lap incident... Imagine, the front runners start off the line, and drive around to pit, and fuel for a LONG second stint.

I sincerely hope that BS takes the drivers concerns about being 6sec/lap slower on the SS as being inherently dangerous. I can just imagine what kind of race incident that that speed difference could lead to on a blind section of track...

PS: If a team chose to use an intermediate rain tyre during the race, even without rain, would they get around needing to use the SS option tyre? If so, how realistic is it to think that teams may run a set of inters in practice, just to burn them down to slicks, and use them for a 10-15 lap end stint in place of the options?

[ISLAMATRON]

Practice tires cant be use during the race... the teams give back all their tires after practice.... please try reading the rules sometime.

The SS options are only 6 secs a lap slower when they are pushed too hard or used too long... otherwise they are faster. The primes would be 6 secs a lap slower if you tried to use them too long as well.

The drivers(specifically Alonso) are just crying like bitches... again if the tires are so bad why do they all use them for qualifying? The tires are designed for a specific purpose, if you use them for other than what they were intended then you incur a penalty, no different than if you flat spot the tires, prime or option.

[ringo]

Ferrari are having a massive grip problem; i feel sorry for them right now. Massa made Sutil in his FI look like MS. Its sad really to see Massa spinning and weaving when the track isnt even wet. I hope they sort out their problems; 3 races without a point!!

[PlatinumZealot]

Wow practice!! It Was very very interesting..

[sennaf1fan]

anybody who didn't see this happening just doesn't understand the way the world works it's wrong until it's on your car way to go mclaren now let the season really begin

[vasia]

Good job for McLaren on improving, but this matters very little. We won't see their actual improvement until qualifying times/fuel loads and the actual race itself.

Practice times, especially Session 1 times mean very little.

[shotzski]

One thing to note was that Lewis Hamilton's MP4-24 was sporting the now-approved double-decker diffuser as well as a new design front wing. Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen's car had neither.

Lewis had the updated aero on his car, and yet Heikki managed to be fourth with the standard package. Any thoughts?

[majicmeow]

the most obvious thought is that they (or just Heikki) are light on fuel... Im wondering if Mclaren is just doing a sponsorship dance to help easy the weary pocket books...

[djos]

Lewis had the updated aero on his car, and yet Heikki managed to be fourth with the standard package. Any thoughts?

Yeah, the other guy's weren't trying very hard! ie Vettel 1/2 second off Webbo's pace and we all know there is barely 1/10th of a second difference (either way) between them in speed.

[djos]

I Guess this illustrates my Previous points pretty well:

Friday Practice Session 2
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn GP-Mercedes 1:35.679
2. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1:35.704
3. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn GP-Mercedes 1:35.881
4. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:36.105
5. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:36.167
6. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota 1:36.217
7. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1:36.377
8. Timo Glock Germany Toyota 1:36.548
9. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.674
10. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.800
11. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:36.829
12. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:36.847
13. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.941
14. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:37.054
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:37.219
16. Nelson Piquet Brazil Renault 1:37.273
17. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1:37.491
18. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1:37.544
19. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault 1:37.638
20. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1:37.750

[myurr]

One thing to note was that Lewis Hamilton's MP4-24 was sporting the now-approved double-decker diffuser as well as a new design front wing. Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen's car had neither.

Lewis had the updated aero on his car, and yet Heikki managed to be fourth with the standard package. Any thoughts?

Heikki had the new front wing. I don't know for sure about the diffuser but all the reports mentioned he didn't have that.

So new aero on both cars, with Lewis having the extra benefit of the interim diffuser.