2013 Chinese GP - Shanghai

[f1316]

Just to say, i think 2006 in China was a great race too.

I think it's interesting that merc haven't gone with a high top speed philosophy this year -- they seem more similar to rb.

I think the f138's characteristics suit the track, but many updates to come from all before the race

[Mika1]

Mercedes expected to bring upgrades to the race too.
The fact Red Bull are better this year and that now Merc are only really a tenth or so of their pace is really an outstanding achievement. They've made up at least 2 seconds over last season's car.

It's not impossible to think they could continue to make progress if they actually put serious effort into this season. We all expected them to have more than 1 eye on 2014

Aldo Costa has done an amazing job, Mercedes had a problem with suspensions and tyre management, 3 years without a great improvement, then the italian came last year and see the results. =D>

Do you remember our ''in Aldo Costa we trust'' conversation during the winter? He is a genius =D> . They have made a massive step forward.

[Unc1e_M0nty]

I think it's interesting that merc haven't gone with a high top speed philosophy this year -- they seem more similar to rb.

The Merc is a very different car to last year, the lack of top-end speed worries me on a track like this.

[Ral]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is looking forward to teams bringing out the DRD setups. I hope so anyway.

Lotus and Mercedes are the ones which have put the most work into it publicly, but you never know with RBR. For the constructor's championship it would be nice if Lotus, Mercedes and Ferrari could get one up on RBR while they are distracted McLaren-style. Might even allow McLaren to get itself back into shape

[Vasconia]

Mercedes expected to bring upgrades to the race too.
The fact Red Bull are better this year and that now Merc are only really a tenth or so of their pace is really an outstanding achievement. They've made up at least 2 seconds over last season's car.

It's not impossible to think they could continue to make progress if they actually put serious effort into this season. We all expected them to have more than 1 eye on 2014

Aldo Costa has done an amazing job, Mercedes had a problem with suspensions and tyre management, 3 years without a great improvement, then the italian came last year and see the results. =D>

Do you remember our ''in Aldo Costa we trust'' conversation during the winter? He is a genius =D> . They have made a massive step forward.

Yeah, I rememeber something hahaha, its a pity he didnt come earlier(specially as a Schumi fan).

[Red Schneider]

This race will be the first time ever that I find myself desiring to see two Red Bulls at the front.

[BorisTheBlade]

I think it's interesting that merc haven't gone with a high top speed philosophy this year -- they seem more similar to rb.

The Merc is a very different car to last year, the lack of top-end speed worries me on a track like this.

Looking at the Sepang numbers I have to say that they aren't exactly "slow". It's just that they aren't much faster than anyone else like last year.

[Juzh]

That said, Red bull had much better acceleration than mercs when both rosberg and vettel had drs open down the back straight just before vettel passed hamilton(Vettel on ham, and rosberg on vettel). Vettel was visibly pulling away from ros behind him and timing gaps confirmed it.

[myurr]

That said, Red bull had much better acceleration than mercs when both rosberg and vettel had drs open down the back straight just before vettel passed hamilton(Vettel on ham, and rosberg on vettel). Vettel was visibly pulling away from ros behind him and timing gaps confirmed it.

You'd expect him to be pulling away, he's on the power first. This happens out of any corner unless one car has a large advantage over the other due to tyres, KERS, DRS, or momentum through the apex. I wouldn't read too much into it unless both cars are able to get on the power at the exact same moment.

[Juzh]

Fair point, but still the speed difference was quite a lot. Maybe ros got a bad exit.

[Nando]

The RBR has ridiculous acceleration out of corners. Not much between each gear in that car.
It probably helps them in the start as well.
(maybe not webber but it all depends on how close he is to Vettel, like Malaysia, fantastic start)

[godlameroso]

My weather prediction, a perfect weather(for Shanghai) weekend. Perhaps overnight rain on one of the days, but temps will be around 24-28 C Track about 33. This race will show us who's where really.

[PlatinumZealot]

I think it's interesting that merc haven't gone with a high top speed philosophy this year -- they seem more similar to rb.

The Merc is a very different car to last year, the lack of top-end speed worries me on a track like this.

Looking at the Sepang numbers I have to say that they aren't exactly "slow". It's just that they aren't much faster than anyone else like last year.

The car is about half a second ahead of the other cars but the tyres have limited the RB's pace in the races we have had so far. You actually might see the true pace of the RB on the more milder down-force dependent tracks.

[raymondu999]

Disagree. IMO you have it the wrong way around. The milder the downforce level, then the downforce advantage becomes a bigger percentage. In the heavier downforce tracks, then it becomes a smaller percentage difference.

[iotar__]

The car is about half a second ahead of the other cars but the tyres have limited the RB's pace in the races we have had so far. You actually might see the true pace of the RB on the more milder down-force dependent tracks.

0,5 s ahead? What do you mean by that? The only thing we've got is: current tracks, current races and current results. So in which parallel universe is RB faster by 0,5 s? Over one lap? Average over the whole race distance? That would be overall 28 s.

There's also nothing behind "tyres limiting speed" claim. 1. We've got only those tyres. 2. Cars can't run without tyres. 3. Speed of the car = speed with tyres. There's no theoretical speed of the car without tyres and thus tyres limiting speed. Claims that "they could go faster if not for the tyres" (not yours to be clear) make little sense because they are based on mixing theoretical values with real life data and results.

And what do you mean by true pace? The one after they have figured out tyre degradation? [Leaving tracks aside which is another variable. After Melbourne it was only about tyres, now it's about tyres AND tracks. Interesting correlation between results and reasons behind them.] Well, it's going to be a different car then. Developed based on data from actual races, on actual tyres. Not theoretical ones.