Chinese GP 2012 - Shanghai

[raymondu999]

What caused the wheelie? Does the Red Bull have THAT much traction?

[GrizzleBoy]

I know people are saying that Webber can do things with the RB8 that Vettel can't, but that just takes the biscuit.

[Giblet]

I assume the same thing that happened to Petrov with a rain gutter, but only one wheel hit it.

The car is pretty outside the rumble strip.

[ell66]

anyone else surprised rosberg didnt pit again when he built up a 22 second lead?
had there been a safety car he'd of been screwed.

[raymondu999]

Yeah I thought that too, when the lead was 24.3s. Maybe he wanted the "race domination" brownie points

[ringo]

I saw no reason for rosberg to pit really. He could afford to lose time on crappy tyres.
Button never really had a chance. First i thought "wow almost 2 seconds a lap", then Bosberg reversed that and was going just as fast as button.
Pitting or not, Rosberg had it in the bag.

Initially, this race looked boring up to the first half, no overtaking, no real fighting. It was the strategies that added to the excitement. In fact it may have been how the tyres behave on a rubbered track with lightened cars.

As for the drivers and teams, good job by Nico, nothing else to say from that. Fast and clean.
Button did an ok job, nothing specatular, but he was there when it counted. Could have been a little more hasty at passing Vettel. Not sure if he was mindful of the others behind if he failed to overtake.
Hamilton did a good job, taking into consideration the non DRS overtakes at the end. His overtaking ability saved him here. The one on Vettel was very brave. Funny how Vettel was so soft on Button, but boiled over when he saw the second mclaren attempting to pass.
Great racing from Webber and Hamilton. These 2 and Alonso are the best racers on the grid by far.
Webber is #1, there is no denying it. RB tried their best to put back baby vettel in the high chair, but Webber slapped him out on the final lap.

Both Williams drivers did an exceptional job. Same for Grosjean in his long stint.

Sauber were a bit rough around the edges, thouhg the car seems capable of winning a race this year.

Force India need Sutil. I'm just not convinced with these 2 guys they have in the car now.

STR almost wasn't in the race. lol.

[GrizzleBoy]

STR almost wasn't in the race. lol.

Indeed.

Maybe they let Buemi and Algersuari off for their own benefit lol.

[donskar]

Great race. Good to see three different teams winning the first three races. Will be interesting to see how Newey reacts to make the RB more competitive. Perez will look great in the F2013 (or whatever they call it). If Austin has the same close racing as we saw today, then F1 could gain some US fans.

[marcush.]

I know I'm in the minority, but these tire lotteries aren't very amusing to me.

How is it a lottery when the driver is in full control of the car and how it uses these tyres?

obviously a change in climatic conditions will throw almost every car out of the setup window -or kick it in with these new tyres.

Every team encounters these problems -either in qualy or in the race.This was the first race with very constant conditions (apart from the overnight rain friday to saturday) .I believe Mercedes has a good understanding of how to setup their car but suffer from an extremely small window compared to say Sauber and Mclaren.

[myurr]

I saw no reason for rosberg to pit really.

Safety car. If there had been one then Button would have been on his tail again but on much fresher tyres. Rosberg had a brand new set of unused options, should have used them just in case.

Initially, this race looked boring up to the first half, no overtaking, no real fighting. It was the strategies that added to the excitement. In fact it may have been how the tyres behave on a rubbered track with lightened cars.

Actually I think we should give Pirelli a round of applause. They said they wanted to make the gap between the tyres closer and to make it viable to do a two or a three stop. In China they got that absolutely spot on. Two different strategies, different car and drivers suiting a different number of stops. Two stops was faster for most on the day, but it could easily have been the other way round. The best racing is always when the teams are kept on their toes like that, and it was fun to see the three stoppers really having to work for their positions (as much as I'd liked to have seen Hamilton go for a two stopper).

[PlatinumZealot]

I wish Nakajima was back in F1.

[Shrieker]

@ myurr,

They haven't fixed the excessive marbling problem however.

[Nando]

If you want to keep shooting blanks, I'm not going to stand in your way. I've explained this issue as far as I'm willing to explain it.

And you for some reason don´t seem to understand the simple fact that you can launch an F1 car ON the straight and still hit top speed before braking.

But, for the life of me, I cannot understand why you think traction plays no role in top speed at this track. What's so special about Shanghai?

Traction for top speed means squat for that straight because it´s soo long.

It is as far as i know the only place you are actually hitting your top speed.
And not only that, but you actually stay at top speed for quite a while.

The only thing I can think of is that you've somehow forgotten about the left/right kink that opens the long, sweeping, banked right turn that leads onto the back straight.

Is completely irrelevant because of the length of the track.

Again, let´s see if you can grasp this.

For TOP SPEED, the exit of the corner does not matter because you hit top speed halfway on the straight easily.
You can stand the car after the right hander, launch it and still hit top speed.
So for TOP SPEED, the left and right hander is not important because of the length of the track.

Now if you are discussing LAP TIME then you want a good exit to hit your top speed as quickly as possible.
But it won´t change your top speed due to the length of the track.

I lost count of the number of times I saw the F2012 experience horrible oversteer in this section, and it wasn't just limited to one driver.

Again, you are not really understanding what you are talking about it seems.

There´s laptime and there´s top speed.

the top speed will come whether you completely f*ck up the right hander out to the back straight.
IT WILL HIT TOP SPEED EITHER WAY.

Now if you are discussing lap times you need a good exit to get to your top speed as QUICKLY as possible.


You are the one shooting blanks like i have never seen before.

[myurr]

@ myurr,

They haven't fixed the excessive marbling problem however.

True, but that only really caused problems for two and a half drivers throughout the whole race (Grosjean and Alonso running wide, Raikkonen with dirty tyres that had gone off the cliff so I'll count that as a half). It's not ideal but if it's the price we pay for races like todays then I pay it gladly.

[Nando]

Just to turn things down to an even lower level...

1km straight. 1000 meters.

An F1 car, from standstill will easily hit it´s top speed in less then 1000 meters.

Now imagine taking a big banked right hander and set that at the beginning of the straight.

So now you have to hit top speed in less then 1km but you also get the ability to enter this long straight at way over 200km/h.

I think they exit the banked right hander at around 250km/h.
That´s 60km/h more they have to get in 1km.

Rosberg exited the corner at 267km/h.
Make that 250km/h for the Ferrari to exaggerate slightly.

this means that Alonso has to grab in 60km/h in one full kilometer.

Your argument is flawed. If you can´t see it then i don´t know what will, i´m out. for real this time.

DRS or no DRS, the Ferrari will hit it´s top speed whether Alonso like it or not.
no traction limits in any way.

But if you are talking about laptimes, then you should have said that in your first post.