2014 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai

[SiLo]

Rosberg was all over the place today, he screwed both of his laps on the last set, trying too hard perhaps?
Great Q3 by Ricciardo, before the long straight he was actually on target for pole, after...

This was true of Vettel too. This is why I assert that the RedBull's aero package is at least as good as the Merc's.

I agree.

Same can be said of Hamilton, his lap wasn't exactly clean and his run onto the back straight was a bit shoddy, but he was still a lot faster than everyone else. At least Ric got a good second run in.

[GrizzleBoy]

I don't know the particulars of Raikkonen's struggles, but to be this far off the pace from Alonso begs the question, just how bad is that Ferrari really, or just how good is Alonso?
I have always rated Raikkonen highly, and perhaps he just has more trouble adjusting to the new formula, but I'd expected him to have sorted it out by now and draw closer to his teammate.

Differences in the wet are overall amplified, Rosberg was 0,7 behind Hamilton at one point, Vettel ended up half a second behind Ricciardo, for this particular pair even more. The rest is obvious from previous seasons and hardly surprising, plus new clean sheet cars and one more year.

Now it's time for over-hyping Ricciardo, especially from Red Bull. Soon enough joke about him being all-time great will be said seriously. Several seasons of mediocrity apart from couple of qualifying highlights, now after getting himself best downforce, traction, cornering car he's one of the best. I doubt it. At least Magnussen overly hype ceased along with his and McLaren's performance.

Lotus is trying very hard to maintain 100% failure rate in wet qualifying, you end up like that when you have no responsibility for strategy/timing mistakes, on the contrary it used to be OK. Who cares if it's five in a row.

With Rosberg - this is where you end up with safety first approach over the years- you can't just switch maximum attack on and off just like that. Just like last season there were some starts (Abu Dhabi?) when I thought drivers like Perez (worse overall) would have been in front of Vettel in the first corner. It may be smart this season but not without consequences - mistakes.

Riccardo's performances have been doing all the talking. No hype needed.

[dans79]

Pole lap from Lewis Hamilton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL-2vfjeYaI

that was a very good lap considering the conditions and the tires he was on.

[zeph]

I don't know the particulars of Raikkonen's struggles, but to be this far off the pace from Alonso begs the question, just how bad is that Ferrari really, or just how good is Alonso?
I have always rated Raikkonen highly, and perhaps he just has more trouble adjusting to the new formula, but I'd expected him to have sorted it out by now and draw closer to his teammate.

Differences in the wet are overall amplified,

Be that as it may, it is not only in the wet that Raikkonen is off the pace. I understand all the variables that come into play here, but I repeat: I had expected him to be closer to Alonso by now.

[gray41]

Pole lap from Lewis Hamilton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL-2vfjeYaI

Very nice, thank you!

[GrizzleBoy]

1 Sebastian Vettel 14:40:36 297.7

3 Daniel Ricciardo 14:35:00 297.1

Compared to the Mercs:

44 Lewis Hamilton 14:58:41 317.7

6 Nico Rosberg 14:58:17 317.1

Times and top speeds of the top four in quali.

[gray41]

Nico could get past both the RedBulls before the DRS zone even comes into play.

[Emerson.F]

So lets get this straight. If it weren't for lewis Redbull would've had 3 pole positions in 2014.

The spin

[KnottyBwoy]

Hamilton still 1.283 secs faster than Rosberg...

I guess ROS doesn't like the wet...

I wonder if HAM has a slightly safer setup due to not having had so long to set it up right on the edge.

Ham is on dry setup as i heard from his sky interview...

[GrizzleBoy]

Nico could get past both the RedBulls before the DRS zone even comes into play.

Yup. 20kph difference is no joke.

Then again, if they can manage to hold him off till turn one, they may fare better through the high speed corners and make it hard for him to be close enough at the end of the straights.


























I kid, I kid.

[Emerson.F]

Alonso has literally qualified in 5th position more than any other driver in grand prix history. lmao

Fred Forever Fifth

[GrandAxe]

I don't know the particulars of Raikkonen's struggles, but to be this far off the pace from Alonso begs the question, just how bad is that Ferrari really, or just how good is Alonso?

I have always rated Raikkonen highly, and perhaps he just has more trouble adjusting to the new formula, but I'd expected him to have sorted it out by now and draw closer to his teammate.

These guys are getting on with age now and Kimi might be doing that a bit quicker than most. As a young man with McLaren, he really lived the high life at the West end as an unrelenting boozer. There is evidence that alcohol can cause premature aging.

[lebesset]

I don't know the particulars of Raikkonen's struggles, but to be this far off the pace from Alonso begs the question, just how bad is that Ferrari really, or just how good is Alonso?
I have always rated Raikkonen highly, and perhaps he just has more trouble adjusting to the new formula, but I'd expected him to have sorted it out by now and draw closer to his teammate.

Differences in the wet are overall amplified,

Be that as it may, it is not only in the wet that Raikkonen is off the pace. I understand all the variables that come into play here, but I repeat: I had expected him to be closer to Alonso by now.

well I didn't ! .... in my view it will be half way through the season before that happens , and the car problems he is having are exacerbating his problems
it took hamilton half a season before he really adapted to mercedes , and if there is anyone quicker than him I would like to know who it is !

[gray41]

Lewis 11 behind Sebastian now in poles, he might catch up by the end of season.

Who'd have thought that.

[rifrafs2kees]

I don't know the particulars of Raikkonen's struggles, but to be this far off the pace from Alonso begs the question, just how bad is that Ferrari really, or just how good is Alonso?

I have always rated Raikkonen highly, and perhaps he just has more trouble adjusting to the new formula, but I'd expected him to have sorted it out by now and draw closer to his teammate.

These guys are getting on with age now and Kimi might be doing that a bit quicker than most. As a young man with McLaren, he really lived the high life at the West end as an unrelenting boozer. There is evidence that alcohol cause premature aging.

I think you nailed it