2018 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 13-15

[Restomaniac]

I'm expecting Hamilton to bounce back and take pole and victory.

The only thing that goes Mercedes way in China is the cooler temperatures because Mercedes can turn on the tyres faster than other teams, they might choose to run the mediums again in the race in the cold conditions.

Ferrari it seems that have the upper hand in the 2 straights in China, but might struggle in the twisty section.

So in essence there are reasons to feel upbeat about Hamilton this week, but I would start praying they bring updates when the European Season starts since they are lacking behind Ferrari in fast circuits where top speed is important.

Needless to say that if Hamilton fails to convert this race into a win or worse to end up behind Vettel... then his championship chances are dropping.

Last but not least let us no forget that Hamiltons last DNF was in 2 October 2016 at Sepang and as time and each race passes the DNF monster will start hunting you down, even so, Hamilton has been extremely lucky in 2017 to have no mechanical, tyre failures or collisions... believe me his luck will eventually run out. ( i am looking at you MAX )

I swear I'd be a Hamilton fan if not for how incredibly lucky he is, it frustrates me. Last week another example... Not only do most of his competition that qualified in front of him dnf, his tire somehow was fine from rubbing against a rivals tire that went flat. Vettel's behavior at Mexico and Baku disgusted me but my heart cheers him on because I don't want to see Mercedes dominate any more. I'm dumb, I know.

But regarding his championship chances. The bookies are giving him a large majority odds for pole and victory, and is dominant favorite for the WDC. Mercedes are almost certainly getting the WCC according to the books. We may all be overly optimistic about this weekend being a close race.

Yes him taking a grid penalty in only the 2nd race was awfully lucky.

As I assume was him losing a lead in which he was cruising due to a VSC in the 1st race.

If that's supposed good luck I'd hate to see bad luck.

[NAPI10]

Can someone post Tire compound usage for FP2?

[Vanja #66]

Here's what's left, according to Albert Fabrega.

[Big Tea]

Will this make any difference ? they under fuel at all tracks anyway don't they

Exactly what I was thinking

No if you use renault and Honda, especially in power hungry circuit. Nice, we could see ALS return!

It will probably mean a 10kg increase in min weight again.

[Nonserviam85]

Is this the first GP that we are having a gap (hardness wise) in the available tyre options?

[NathanOlder]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaqnycyUwAM1I5h.jpg

Here's what's left, according to Albert Fabrega.

So no one has any used sets of tyres after 3 hours of track time ? Or is that not how its meant to be read

[Vanja #66]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaqnycyUwAM1I5h.jpg

Here's what's left, according to Albert Fabrega.

So no one has any used sets of tyres after 3 hours of track time ? Or is that not how its meant to be read

No, it means teams used different compounds and now they are all on much more similar combination of tyres than before P1. Hamilton used 3 softs and 1 ultra, Bottas 1 medium, 2 softs and an ultra, Ferraris and Red Bull used a medium, a soft and 2 ultras and so on.

[NathanOlder]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaqnycyUwAM1I5h.jpg

Here's what's left, according to Albert Fabrega.

So no one has any used sets of tyres after 3 hours of track time ? Or is that not how its meant to be read

No, it means teams used different compounds and now they are all on much more similar combination of tyres than before P1. Hamilton used 3 softs and 1 ultra, Bottas 1 medium, 2 softs and an ultra, Ferraris and Red Bull used a medium, a soft and 2 ultras and so on.

Yeah, so why doesnt it show Hamilton having 3 used softs ect ? instead of 0

[dans79]

Anyone else think this is why Some teams are favoring the softs?

[media]https://twitter.com/RacecarEngineer/sta ... 8725673986[/media]

[Vanja #66]

Yeah, so why doesnt it show Hamilton having 3 used softs ect ? instead of 0

They return them to Pirelli and can't use them for the rest of the weekend?

[DVB]

Don't care about the 105kg fuel amount... They should open up the fuel flow limit

[NathanOlder]

Yeah, so why doesnt it show Hamilton having 3 used softs ect ? instead of 0

They return them to Pirelli and can't use them for the rest of the weekend?

Yeah, thats all I could think of. I still think these charts with Used/New tyres should have those on it. At least we can see what has been used at any given point.

[Big Mangalhit]

Great news. Comes to late. I actually enjoy the flow limit, makes them push boundaries but the race limit is just stupid and promotes lift and coast.

Will this make any difference ? they under fuel at all tracks anyway don't they

Exactly what I was thinking

They say that... but they also say Ferrari had fuel problems in Melbourne so...
Also there were many rumours saying it's honda main problem.

let's see if something drastic changes next year, maybe it will help with engine parity. I would think that they consulted the engineers before making this change but then again it's F1 we are talking about

[Monster Hesh]

For Qualy to be close Ferrari need to be ahead on Fridays. It's close but come crunch time, this is Merc's,
Race wise, who knows, is track position key here? yes and no. Inevitable safety car? hands of the racing gods.

[f1316]

You say that but how often did we see the lollipop man raising it too early? I seem to remember them bringing it back down on top of someone’s helmet once.

My point being that humans can also make mistakes.

The real solution - as it is with tyres as well - is refuelling, as it gives much more margin for the tyres; people will argue it adds even more safety issues but I don’t agree - there are plenty of additional things that could be done to ensure safe fuel stops.

The real solution is only having 6 total people on a pit stop. 2 Jack men, 2 wheel changers, 2 wheel gun men.

They would move to about 9 seconds, plenty of time to be sure it's proper before release.

Most clean (no v/sc) races will be one stoppers then...

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

I don’t understand that at all - you put fewer people on, they’ll rush more in a bid to be fast and therefore make more mistakes.