2017 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai 07-09 April

[Vladimir]

Mercedes still have qualifying advantage, but they will loose in race. Ferrari made the better race competitor this year.
Red Bull have more problems, not Renault PU only.
Hulkenberg result shows that. It will be interesting from Russian GP ,and latter Canadian when Renault planed big upgrades.

[iotar__]

- A bit like Aus,
- Ferrari - still the quickest
- wet race should be to their advantage
- I hope it's delayed anyway , too early
- Red Bull firmly 1,3 s behind

[Wass85]

Did Hamilton leave a bit of time on the table in sector 3? He's usually the boss in that sector due to the big braking at the hairpin.

[Bill_Kar]

Before the start of Q3 everyone was like "Ferrari has the pole in their pockets".
After the end of Q3 everyone is like "Ferrari got this on Sunday".
I expect that if Mercedes wins, everyone is going to be like "Bahrain Ferrari has it, high temperatures"

Just calm a little bit.Ferrari is indeed stronger in race pace rather than qualifying, but Mercedes isn't a mule either.If they have figured out the tyre problem they faced in Australia, they still are the team to beat,albeit the gap is heavily chopped comparing to last few years.

In other news, I was impressed by both Hulkenberg and Stroll.I might say that Stroll will even fight with Massa in a few races, he had a nice session out there.Well, tomorrow is another day, though, to quote Sebastian.
What can we say about Fernando.The effort he's putting is extraordinary.When I heard about the ERS problem I thought here we go again, but It was really temporary.
It's a shame about Verstappen, but he's aggresive and he's gonna pick a lot of places, dry or wet.Unless of course he runs into somebody or something.

[Wass85]

Lewis did not have a good start to his final flier as he had to back off on the straight to stay clear of some of the midfield cars. That explains why he was slower in S1, compared to Bottas and Vettel, as the tires were probably not in the right temperature window.

Hamilton was quicker than Bottas in S1 on their best laps.

[JonoNic]

Before the start of Q3 everyone was like "Ferrari has the pole in their pockets".
After the end of Q3 everyone is like "Ferrari got this on Sunday".
I expect that if Mercedes wins, everyone is going to be like "Bahrain Ferrari has it, high temperatures"

Just calm a little bit.Ferrari is indeed stronger in race pace rather than qualifying, but Mercedes isn't a mule either.If they have figured out the tyre problem they faced in Australia, they still are the team to bit,albeit the gap is heavily chopped comparing to last few years.

In other news, I was impressed by both Hulkenberg and Stroll.I might say that Stroll will even fight with Massa in a few races, he had a nice session out there.Well, tomorrow is another day, though, to quote Sebastian.
What can we say about Fernando.The effort he's putting is extraordinary.When I heard about the ERS problem I thought here we go again, but It was really temporary.
It's a shame about Verstappen, but he's aggresive and he's gonna pick a lot of places, dry or wet.Unless of course he runs into somebody or something.

I don't mind my quali prediction being wrong or if Merc wins tomorrow. As long as we cannot predict a race then it stays exciting. Can't ask for more than that.

Sent from my SM-A700F using Tapatalk

[Bill_Kar]

Did Hamilton leave a bit of time on the table in sector 3? He's usually the boss in that sector due to the big braking at the hairpin.

I had thought that.
-Hamilton did a mistake on his first run, so he couldn't be the usual aggressive Hamilton.
-Seeing his pole lap, through sector 3 he was a little bit cautious and he faced some oversteer heading to last corner.
-I believe there was another tenth out there to grasp, but he was really balanced, he couldn't risk another mistake and losing pole.

I have not seen Vettel's lap, so I can't really compare error-free what the gap is, but it was clear throughout Q3 that Ham had the upper hand.

[Wass85]

Did Hamilton leave a bit of time on the table in sector 3? He's usually the boss in that sector due to the big braking at the hairpin.

I had thought that.
-Hamilton did a mistake on his first run, so he couldn't be the usual aggressive Hamilton.
-Seeing his pole lap, through sector 3 he was a little bit cautious and he faced some oversteer heading to last corner.
-I believe there was another tenth out there to grasp, but he was really balanced, he couldn't risk another mistake and losing pole.

I have not seen Vettel's lap, so I can really compare error-free what the gap is, but it was clear throughout Q3 that Ham had the upper hand.

I also don't think he expected anyone to really challenge him so he left some time there, I was surprised to see Bottas so close as his first 2 splits were showing he was way off.

[Sevach]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vett ... q3-891070/

Vettel also expecting to be a bit better in race trim.

[psychemedia]

Graphical review of qualifying:



Session utilisation:



Q1 cutoff evolution:



Q2 cutoff evolution:



Q3:



Via: http://www.f1datajunkie.com/2017/04/f1- ... eview.html

[godlameroso]

by godlameroso » Tue Apr 04, 2017 9:17 pm
...turn 16 will definitely sort the men from the boys.

https://streamable.com/esaff

"The last corner, maybe I lost a little bit and chickened onto the brakes too soon." - Vettel

[RZS10]

Weird to see Grosjean penalized for this (especially after Hungary last year where it was established that a symbolic lift is enough for double yellows even when setting a purple sector)

https://twitter.com/RGrosjean/status/850666277400170496



He clearly braked earlier and went through the whole section a lot slower, slowed down even more when passing the Sauber

Didn't the FIA say they want more consistency in their decisions?

[Juzh]

by godlameroso » Tue Apr 04, 2017 9:17 pm
...turn 16 will definitely sort the men from the boys.

https://streamable.com/esaff

"The last corner, maybe I lost a little bit and chickened onto the brakes too soon." - Vettel

Vettel's radio:

“P2 Sebastian.”
Vettel: “How much was missing?”
“Less than two-tenths.”
“[Censored by FOM]. I didn’t have that. I didn’t have that it was a perfect lap, last corner I probably lost five-hundreths but it was a really good lap. We didn’t have that. Anyway the car was good. Grazie tutti, grande lavoro.”

[godlameroso]

Bottas had a lot of problems with turn 16, might have been the sheet of paper difference between a 1st and second row start. I saw him struggle there in FP3.

[dans79]

by godlameroso » Tue Apr 04, 2017 9:17 pm
...turn 16 will definitely sort the men from the boys.

https://streamable.com/esaff

"The last corner, maybe I lost a little bit and chickened onto the brakes too soon." - Vettel

Vettel's radio:

“P2 Sebastian.”
Vettel: “How much was missing?”
“Less than two-tenths.”
“[Censored by FOM]. I didn’t have that. I didn’t have that it was a perfect lap, last corner I probably lost five-hundreths but it was a really good lap. We didn’t have that. Anyway the car was good. Grazie tutti, grande lavoro.”

I was just getting ready to point out the tweet from earlier was wrong.