Chinese GP 2011 - Shanghai

[hollus]

...however the FIA have said the moving around rule does not apply for the start. ...

Source?

DRS Question - If you are a backmarker unlapping yourself, can you use DRS. I you are on the lead lap can you use to pass a backmarker?

Can you use it to pass any car that is in front of you in the OT zone?

I wondered this as either DiResta or someone (can't remember) was getting back on the lead lap past Vettel.

Yes, you can use it if there is a car physically 1 second ahead, no matter how many laps up or down. This was discussed in F1fanatic (I had to cite my source, didn't I?).

[beelsebob]

...however the FIA have said the moving around rule does not apply for the start. ...

Source?

Really crap source, but Brundle said this in the BBC comentary.

[i70q7m7ghw]

The DRS was good today but only because they shortened the zone. If they left it the original larger distance then we would have seen stupidly easy overtakes with no excitement and very little skill involved.

Not sure it was good for everyone. Watched some footage of Heidfeld and he was already at max speed when using KERS and behind his predecessor before activating DRS.
When he pushed the green button nothing happened as he was already bouncing the limitor at 322 so looks like its only usefull if used at the first part. Why not having activated it during the first half of the straight just enough to give him some better acceleration.

That was his and Renault's choice - they set the gear ratio's so that they'd have the fastest car without the DRS. They didn't allow enough headroom for a DRS boost, but that was their choice.

I thought the placement was just about perfect as it did exactly what it was supposed to - allow cars to close up and have the opportunity to try and pass without making it a sure fire thing. We repeatedly saw drivers able to pull alongside but then have to fight through the next couple of corners in order to make the pass. That is how it should be.

Even without DRS & KERS the straight is so long F1 cars usually hit the limiter anyway, gearing wouldn't have been affected that much. IMO the DRS zone was in the wrong place, but that's just me.

[i70q7m7ghw]

...however the FIA have said the moving around rule does not apply for the start. ...

Source?

Really crap source, but Brundle said this in the BBC comentary.

If they can't enforce the rule it should be abolished. Proper rules don't have exceptions.

The rule shouldn't be able how many moves a driver makes etc, it should simply be if a driver is deemed to be driving unsafely when in close proximity to another car.

Schumacher Vs. Barrichello at Hungary last year? Schumacher made one move, it's just that one move nearly put Barrichello in the wall.

[beelsebob]

If they can't enforce the rule it should be abolished. Proper rules don't have exceptions.

The rule shouldn't be able how many moves a driver makes etc, it should simply be if a driver is deemed to be driving unsafely when in close proximity to another car.

Schumacher Vs. Barrichello at Hungary last year? Schumacher made one move, it's just that one move nearly put Barrichello in the wall.

Agreed, this would also sort out the inverse solution, which we saw in Malaysia, where Hamilton didn't put Alonso in danger, but did get penalised. That was some awesome racing, and I wouldn't want to see the FIA clamping down on it!

[Poleman]

@myurr

It seems that the L-Pod car won its first race.

[vall]

Great race! However, I don't know if it is only me, but with the huge tire difference and DRS some of those "exciting" overtakes looked way to easy to my taste.

[neoxsr]

To imagine - if Hamilton hadn't gotten that car repaired in time, we would've had an RBR 1-2, amazingly. 2nd place from 18th would have been candidate of drive for the year.

I reckon it's got to be drive of the year already anyway, 18th to 3rd is the kind of stunt Shuey used to pull occasionally! Frankly I dont remember any other drivers managing this sort of feat in recent seasons.

Hamilton, Brazil 2009, 18th to 3rd too, in dry conditions and Barrichello, Silverstone 2008, 16th to 3rd with the poor Honda in extreme wet conditions.
I can only remember these two situations.

[beelsebob]

To imagine - if Hamilton hadn't gotten that car repaired in time, we would've had an RBR 1-2, amazingly. 2nd place from 18th would have been candidate of drive for the year.

I reckon it's got to be drive of the year already anyway, 18th to 3rd is the kind of stunt Shuey used to pull occasionally! Frankly I dont remember any other drivers managing this sort of feat in recent seasons.

Yes, but then in recent seasons we haven't had a hard tyre that's so much slower than the soft tyre that you don't get held up by mid fielders at all when you're on it at the start.

[Shrieker]

I don't know why, but I felt as if bernie had given red bull a nudge saying "if you keep doing that, not good for the TV figures ya know". Conspiracy ? Well, they changed everything(entire aero haulage in 2009, tyre changes, refueling ban, first movable fw and now drs to name a few) just to make it more viewer happy. And also we saw things being orchestrated in F1 before (remember a certain night race ? ).


Just saying...



If we put all that trash talk away Well... That was one of the more enjoyable races in recent times that springs to my mind. Hamilton really did very, very good. He demonstrated all his overtaking ability, while not overcooking his tyres. I agree his move on Button -while very risky- was what ultimately gave him a shot at race victory. They showed the McLaren pit wall after the overtake and you could read the tension in Martin's face, his face also had turned whitish; but that's understandable, being in his shoes I might've passed out LOL.


Webber's race performance confirms my fear that quali doesn't count for much at all with these tyres. Sure, race is the main thing , but why not also have a spicy quali session ? I say give everyone 2-3 different sets of quali tyres just for quali and get rid of this "start the race with your quali tyre if you're top 10" nonsense.

And let's not take anything away from Webber just because he had more soft tyres. He really drove a great race. Although being a Hamilton fan and also not being very fond of Webber for his rash "contacts" against Hamilton last season, must say can't chose between the two for drive of the day.

Gotta love that guy. LOL


Man (or shall we say Men) of the day award goes to McLaren mechanics for identifying and solving the problem on Lewis' car pre-race under huge time pressure. Hamilton being sent to the grid without the gear-box cover speaks volumes for how tight it was...

[PlatinumZealot]

Wow.. GREAT RACE!! ONE of THE BEST IN RECENT MEMORY!!

Tyre management
Strategy
Speed
Skill
Aggressiveness
Decisiveness
Self belief
track position

The winner had got all of these right. The 2nd place guy didn't have the strategy, the third place guy had the fastest car, but he didn't make the right decision in Q1.

What I can take from Webber's pace is that this was a cock-up on RedBull's part, The Golden Boy or Webber would have won easily had they got it right because the RB7 was a rocket on this track. An easy escape for Mclaren this time but they cannot continue to chase redbull for much longer.

[i70q7m7ghw]

In the final stint, do we know if Jenons's tyres were new or not? The difference in pace would indicate he was on used tyres, a bit like what happened to Lewis last week. Was it Lewis's extra set of new soft tyres that won him the race.

I'm starting to think maybe the 'carry your qualifying tyres to the race rule' and the 'must use both compounds rule' are a bit out of date...

[raymondu999]

Wow.. GREAT RACE!! ONE of THE BEST IN RECENT MEMORY!!

Tyre management
Strategy
Speed
Skill
Aggressiveness
Decisiveness
Self belief
track position

The winner had got all of these right. The 2nd place guy didn't have the strategy, the third place guy had the fastest car, but he didn't make the right decision in Q1.

What I can take from Webber's pace is that this was a cock-up on RedBull's part, The Golden Boy or Webber would have won easily had they got it right because the RB7 was a rocket on this track. An easy escape for Mclaren this time but they cannot continue to chase redbull for much longer.

With all due respect - I don't think tyre management came in very much for the 3stoppers. I'm NOT saying Hamilton can't tyre manage - but I'm saying this race didn't really require him to do much of that

[Rikhart]

To imagine - if Hamilton hadn't gotten that car repaired in time, we would've had an RBR 1-2, amazingly. 2nd place from 18th would have been candidate of drive for the year.

I reckon it's got to be drive of the year already anyway, 18th to 3rd is the kind of stunt Shuey used to pull occasionally! Frankly I dont remember any other drivers managing this sort of feat in recent seasons.

Kimi Raikkonen did it, multiple times in fact.

[myurr]

To imagine - if Hamilton hadn't gotten that car repaired in time, we would've had an RBR 1-2, amazingly. 2nd place from 18th would have been candidate of drive for the year.

I reckon it's got to be drive of the year already anyway, 18th to 3rd is the kind of stunt Shuey used to pull occasionally! Frankly I dont remember any other drivers managing this sort of feat in recent seasons.

Kimi Raikkonen did it, multiple times in fact.

And Hamilton in Australia 2009 in a dog of a car made it from near the back through to 4th.