2015 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 10-12

[WaikeCU]

You basically said what I was thinnking about Lewis - under the same conditions Nico can't seem to beat him, so he needs to start going other ways to at least try it. Waiting for Lewis to drive worse than himself ... naaa, won't win him a title, that's for sure.

Here we go again... [-o< There should be a rule here that forces to back up claims like that. I'm guessing this "seems" is based on two races and ignores two full seasons of something opposite? Fine, quick question: with all conditions clearly not being the same who do you think was faster in Malaysia race? However irrelevant to finishing position it was but since we're discussing predictions with vague "beating" and "conditions" looks like Rosberg didn't have to wait long for a chance. Anyway, for China:

- Williams compared to Ferrari will be more interesting than Merc-Ferrari. They had races like that last season vs RB and came back.
- I second the notion that Bahrain or even Barcelona will give a clearer picture. For later: there are rumours about RB failing short nose tests and Ferrari not getting it right for structural/dimensions reasons(?) (I can't find this article now), maybe if they can and use tokens they might be closer to Merc.

Vettel is hoping Nico could bring on the challenge to Lewis. It they get in each other's way, then Vettel maybe can gain an advantage on both of them, if he handles Kimi.

[giantfan10]

ferrari should retain their ability to be kinder to the tires than mercedes.... will that matter in this Gp?
Mercedes said they will speed up their update process bringing new parts to china and so will ferrari... what will this change?
i dont care who wins even though im a ferrari fan .. i want to see a race not a mercedes prcession at the front.

[spadeflush]

Hopefully Kimi will have an event free race. I have a feeling he is right up there with Vettel.Would love to see a close battle among them

[dans79]

I expect Merc to have a 0.5 to 0.9 sec/lap advantage again, assuming they do away with the multiple tactical errors they made in Malaysia.

[Kalsi]

As the statements in the first page of the topic says, we should not forget China was one of the only two podiums the poor F14-T had in 2014... i can remember a very good overall balance in that race where the car almost looked "normal" instead of running on eggs

Taking also into account that australia didn't show issues in tyres management at lower temperatures for the SF15-T i tend to be optimistic at least for a little battle and a third consecutive podium in first three races, which would be an unbelieavable result given last year's performance... also interesting would be to see how williams turns out to be confirmed as 3rd strength or not

[FW17]

Is the circuit now called Shanghai Audi International Circuit?

[George-Jung]

I expect Merc to have a 0.5 to 0.9 sec/lap advantage again, assuming they do away with the multiple tactical errors they made in Malaysia.

I always find these kind of posts amazing.. is it wishfull thinking or based on facts?
It doesn't contribute anything relevant..

0,5 or 0,9 that is almost a difference of 200%
Than why not say that you expect the Merc to have a 0,1 to 1,0 sec/lap advantage..?

[dans79]

I expect Merc to have a 0.5 to 0.9 sec/lap advantage again, assuming they do away with the multiple tactical errors they made in Malaysia.

I always find these kind of posts amazing.. is it wishfull thinking or based on facts?

Based on the following:

*) in Australia Merc was 1.43 seconds faster in qualifying (Vet & Kimi said they could have gotten it down to 1.0)
*) in Australia Merc was 0.595 seconds faster in the race
*) in Malaysia Merc had a perfect storm of screw ups.
    -  not enough practice time because of a reliability issue
    -  set-up biased towards rain (my opinion), 
    - pitted during the safety car, 
    - bad tire strategy in general
*) lewis only finished 8.569 seconds behind Vettel, despite loosing just shy of 10 seconds because of traffic.
*) we are two races in, so we have no way of determining exactly how much of the 'gap' is track/strategy/weather dependent.

The most important part being that you don't loose the gap we saw in Australia (a pretty strait forward race) over night.

[TommyWTF1]

Would expect a Merc 1-2 again here.

On a sidenote, I've always felt the DRS down the back straight to be completely senseless. If they have to have 2 DRS zones, I'd rather it be on the 10-11 relatively short straight to get the following car right up behind in 11-12.

Completely agree. I don't know why they don't do this on more tracks but putting DRS on the huge straights just make for slam dunk overtakes.

[George-Jung]

I expect Merc to have a 0.5 to 0.9 sec/lap advantage again, assuming they do away with the multiple tactical errors they made in Malaysia.

I always find these kind of posts amazing.. is it wishfull thinking or based on facts?

Based on the following:

*) in Australia Merc was 1.43 seconds faster in qualifying (Vet & Kimi said they could have gotten it down to 1.0)
*) in Australia Merc was 0.595 seconds faster in the race
*) in Malaysia Merc had a perfect storm of screw ups.
    -  not enough practice time because of a reliability issue
    -  set-up biased towards rain (my opinion), 
    - pitted during the safety car, 
    - bad tire strategy in general
*) lewis only finished 8.569 seconds behind Vettel, despite loosing just shy of 10 seconds because of traffic.
*) we are two races in, so we have no way of determining exactly how much of the 'gap' is track/strategy/weather dependent.

The most important part being that you don't loose the gap we saw in Australia (a pretty strait forward race) over night.

In Melbourne Vettel was stuck behind Massa, therefor the gap between the Mercs and Vettel at the end of the race doesn't say that much.

Hamilton finished 8,5sec behind Vettel.. due to Vettel letting go of the throttle and waving over the finish-line, otherwise it would still have been 10+sec.

But anyway, backing your opinion with this makes more sense than just putting a statement that you expect something without explaining it.

[Sevach]

This should be a good track for Mercedes, even in 2012 it was.
Ferrari competes with them on the straights but on corners Mercedes is still much faster, in China that means Mercedes gets S1 and S2(specially) easily, Ferrari good in S3.

Tire deg will probably be okish, maybe if Ferrari can run the softer tire better and longer than Mercedes it gives them a fighting chance.

[ringo]

Hopefully Kimi will have an event free race. I have a feeling he is right up there with Vettel.Would love to see a close battle among them

He seems like he can be faster than Vettel, all things going well with his setup. So far he has shown very interesting pace at some instances.

[CBeck113]

You basically said what I was thinnking about Lewis - under the same conditions Nico can't seem to beat him, so he needs to start going other ways to at least try it. Waiting for Lewis to drive worse than himself ... naaa, won't win him a title, that's for sure.

Here we go again... [-o< There should be a rule here that forces to back up claims like that. I'm guessing this "seems" is based on two races and ignores two full seasons of something opposite?

Who won more races last season (and the title for that matter)? Has it continued this year (so far, if you need to hear that)? Whatever he's been trying hasn't been working - he can be the fastest car in the field, but he still seems to finish behind Lewis, or have I missed something?

Fine, quick question: with all conditions clearly not being the same who do you think was faster in Malaysia race? However irrelevant to finishing position it was but since we're discussing predictions with vague "beating" and "conditions" looks like Rosberg didn't have to wait long for a chance.

See above - he didn't pass Lewis, did he? I don't see how this is different from last year, so this trend has held about one full season so far.

Anyway, for China:

- Williams compared to Ferrari will be more interesting than Merc-Ferrari. They had races like that last season vs RB and came back.
- I second the notion that Bahrain or even Barcelona will give a clearer picture. For later: there are rumours about RB failing short nose tests and Ferrari not getting it right for structural/dimensions reasons(?) (I can't find this article now), maybe if they can and use tokens they might be closer to Merc.

- Yes, this race wil be back to "normal" and Mercedes should have their normal advantage back, and it will be a race between Nico and Lewis. But I believe that Ferrari will have the upper hand here to vs Williams (based on only two races, just like every other guess here) because they seem to be able to get their setup right, but I want to see a race, so I hope Williams is back this round.

- Agreed, but those races will also be after the next round of updates, so we'll also see who has done their homework.

[Juzh]

Hopefully Kimi will have an event free race. I have a feeling he is right up there with Vettel.Would love to see a close battle among them

He seems like he can be faster than Vettel, all things going well with his setup. So far he has shown very interesting pace at some instances.

Like when? I'm honestly curious, because the number don't add up, and FPs are not something to rely on. Just ask hamilton.

[n04h f1]

I really hope Rosberg can win this race to make this season more interesting, especially since the Ferraris probably won't be as close to the Mercs as in Malaysia.