2018 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 13-15

[Morteza]

Tire Choices


2017 Results




2017 Onboard Pole Lap

[johnny vee]

Thank you Morteza

[George-Jung]

I think this year this track will suit Ferrari better in 2018 than Mercedes- due to the longer wheelbase, compared to 2017.

But it is just speculation.

[f1316]

Ferrari looking to bring a new floor that is supposed to fix some of the problems they’ve been having with the car.

Let’s assume that works - but that the others won’t stand still - i’m going to say that, presuming a normal session, Lewis on pole but Seb splits the Mercedes, maybe about two tenths off.

Then a very close race between those two - with a Red Bull driver picking up the final podium spot, overcoming the Fins who were both ahead on the grid - and I’m going to say that Lewis just shades it as the law of averages says he has to get a break at some point.

But we nevertheless leave China safe in the knowledge that the top three teams are very evenly matched, RB just finding it challenging to overcome Saturday lack of modes.

[DVB]

No supersofts? That's gonna be a fun race! Looking forward to QF!

[etusch]

There is a very long straight here. I wonder how much advantage ferrari powered cars will have here. Will Ericsson made it again. Most of that I wonder what Toro Rosso will do.

[Restomaniac]

No supersofts? That's gonna be a fun race! Looking forward to QF!

It is indeed.

Let us see what happens when teams have to actually decide on a 1 stop and slower in Qualy and a 2 stoppers and faster in Qualy.

[matt_b]

No idea who's gonna be fastest here but Mercedes need to bounce back to make things interesting. Pirelli have skipped a compound to spice things up so I can already see Red Bull doing Q2 on the softs so I'm calling it now.

[Vasconia]

This should be a fun race. People tend to say that this track didn´t suit Ferrari last year but I think that the result was reasonably good. They weren´t far in qualy and the race was not that bad.

Marc Gene mentioned that this is going to a difficult race for them, I thought that the longer wheelbase could make Ferrari faster here but we may be wrong.

I expect Hamilton winning this race though, another Ferrari victory could put some pressure on Mercedes.

[Restomaniac]

No idea who's gonna be fastest here but Mercedes need to bounce back to make things interesting. Pirelli have skipped a compound to spice things up so I can already see Red Bull doing Q2 on the softs so I'm calling it now.

Indeed I can too but that would mean them starting in positions 10+.

This is the choice I have been talking about all season. Long game and a lower start or short game and higher start would mix the grid right up.

[zibby43]

There is a very long straight here. I wonder how much advantage ferrari powered cars will have here. Will Ericsson made it again. Most of that I wonder what Toro Rosso will do.

Mercedes haven't run their lower-downforce "spoon" rear wing yet this year (i.e., they didn't run it at Melbourne or Bahrain).

That may make its first appearance.

[zibby43]

Weather forecast for the weekend calls for rain on Friday, and dry and cool on Saturday (cloudy) and Sunday (partly sunny).

Temperatures for qualifying and the race will be around 17 C (62 F).

[ENGINE TUNER]

Depending on the temperature, all drivers who miss out on q3 will probably be 1 stopping, unless it's too cold and the mediums can not reach their proper operating temp, then everyone will be forced to 2 stop.

Any driver that makes q3 will have to run the softs in q2 in order to 1 stop.

I don't see the US/M as a viable strategy, only US/S/S(or variations of this) or the S/M. The softs will most definitely be the preferred race tire. But can any of the big 3 make it to Q3 by running the S in Q2(thus allowing themto 1 stop)?

If the temp is too low the mediums will grain and be difficult to get into the proper working range.

Rain on Friday could have alot of teams not knowing how well the mediums may react on race day.

This is EXACTLY why pirelli should ignore the calls from all the simple minded people asking them to "just call them soft medium and hard".

[ENGINE TUNER]

Let us see what happens when teams have to actually decide on a 1 stop and slower in Qualy and a 2 stoppers and faster in Qualy.

If any of the big 3 can make it to Q3 by running Softs in Q2 then they won't have to 2 stop(we say this in Australia by RBR & in Bahrain with HAM. But then they have to factor how much they could lose off the start to the cars running US. I can see maybe RIC trying to run softs in Q2, or any of the top 6 with a grid penalty.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Does anyone have any info regarding Toto's claim that China switched from being a front limited track to a rear limited track last season?