2018 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 13-15

[Vanja #66]

Rosberg won it like that, mate.

[Chuckjr]

Is Ferrari even using the new floor this weekend?

[Unc1eM0nty]

I'm not sure where vettel got that 331 but it must have been with some kind of slipstream at some stage.

EDIT.
I went and had a look at live timings and it was on vettel's soft tire run that he reached unusually higher top speed compared to any attempt prior or after that lap. His top speed was hovering at 333 for the last second or two, while on his first Q3 lap his top speed was quite a bit lower at 327-328. He had no traffic on either of those laps.
Did ferrari actually not use max power in Q3, or was the deployment strategy incorrect at that moment in Q2?

It was very windy apparently, this might explain some of the differences within teams.

[Wynters]

So Mercedes will definitely come back and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they’re much stronger tomorrow and end up having the strongest car at some stage of the season - but they don’t right now, that’s now for sure.

Comfortably best car in Australia, best car in Bahrain, second best car in China. I'm not sure I'd say that they 'for sure' don't have the best car based on the evidence so far?

I could be easily persuaded that Ferrari have the best garage/pit wall though. They're not making any strategic or background mistakes whereas Merc look to be struggling to tie their own shoelaces.

Ferrari have done a great job this weekend and should deservedly cruise to a comfortable 1-2 tomorrow, I'm interested to see what happens behind them though.

[godlameroso]

I wouldn't say he needs it, but a win on the board would mean game on.

Statistics would say Hamilton may not need to win, but he needs Seb not to win. Every driver who won first 3 races of the season would go on to win the world championship.

yes that stat was true when they only had 16 to 17 races per year...but now with 21 races it is consistency in the entire season which counts

Very true, well said.

[foxmulder_ms]

Interesting looking at 2017 vs 2018 lap times.

Lewis: 1:31.678 vs 1:31.675 -0.003 gain
Bottas: 1.31.865 vs 1.31.625 -0.240 gain
Seb: 1.31.864 vs 1.31.095 -0.770 gain
Kimi: 1.32.140 vs 1.31.182 -0.958 gain

I've just seen this post. Nice info. I haven't watch the qually but If this is the case it is just merc botched the setup, frankly. Kind of last year's Monaco.

[godlameroso]

Mark my words, in the race everyone is going to be dumbfounded to see the ultra softs last not much less than the soft tires but have more pace(in other words no on track difference), and the medium tire will be the only one worth using in the race. Anyone that tries different is going to have a bad time.

A 2 stop seems to be likely, a 1 stop is going to be incredibly risky.

[MtthsMlw]

Is Ferrari even using the new floor this weekend?

I don't think so, actually their car is pretty much the same as it was in Melbourne. Rumored diffuser update in Bahrain but I still can't see difference. They just got their concept working.

[Big Tea]

I wouldn't say he needs it, but a win on the board would mean game on.

Statistics would say Hamilton may not need to win, but he needs Seb not to win. Every driver who won first 3 races of the season would go on to win the world championship.

yes that stat was true when they only had 16 to 17 races per year...but now with 21 races it is consistency in the entire season which counts

One DNF could be a 25 point loss/win, so all to play for even is this one does not play out as Merc would like.

[NathanOlder]

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.

Most of the people who qualified in front of him, well 3 people qualified in front of him. Only 1 retired, and at the time technically he was behind Hamilton when he retired. He had bad luck meaning he started 9th. Of the 8 starting in front of him, 2 retired. 1 was Kimi , like I said, he was in the pits and coming out behind Hamilton. The other was Danny Ric, he was the only one to retire from in front of Hamilton, and he was only in front of Hamilton because of Hamiltons BAD LUCK with a gearbox change.

So please dont talk nonsense .

Obviously I was referring to his grid position... Why be obtuse and rude about it? Started 9th, and three of the drivers who would have been difficult to finish ahead of retired. Verstappen retired too remember? From the incident with Hamilton that could just have easily caused Hamilton to retire, which was incredibly lucky for him. He had a rare grid penalty which happens more often to the other race winning drivers, so I think it's still reasonable to call him lucky last weekend. Most drivers don't get a podium from starting 9th, even those with nearly as much talent as Hamilton.

Hesh, yeah there's a good chance of a safety car. I wonder how significantly that that possibly will affect race strategy?

Jeez! So please take a minute to let me know where Verstappen started inside the top 8 ? Its completely left my mind.

So of the 8 who STARTED in front of Hamilton, you said most of them retired so Ham was lucky. Most of 8 has to be at least 5 otherwise its not 'most of'. So please let me know the 5 (or more) who retired please.

Again, I personally think you are talking nonsense because your statement is factually wrong. I stated 1 car retired while in front of Hamilton, that was Danny Ricciardo, Kimi was behind at the time of retirement, Max destroyed his own race and retired which was bad luck for Max, Its not good luck for Lewis.

[CriXus]

Vettel vs Raikkonen

[NathanOlder]

I just wish Sauber would paint their nose Alfa Romeo red. When I see the all-white car from the front I always think it's a Williams.

Totally agree. So many times this season I get confused for a brief moment trying to figure out why a Williams has the No.9 on it!!

[matt_b]

Mark my words, in the race everyone is going to be dumbfounded to see the ultra softs last not much less than the soft tires but have more pace(in other words no on track difference), and the medium tire will be the only one worth using in the race. Anyone that tries different is going to have a bad time.

A 2 stop seems to be likely, a 1 stop is going to be incredibly risky.

I would say Ferrari and Merc will 1 stop with S M, Red Bull U S S with everyone else doing a mixture of the 2. We will see soon enough though.

[godlameroso]

Soft tire will need 3 stops, better to use the medium. If you must do 2 stops U U M. Red Bull and the others are stuck with S U M if they plan to do 2 stops. Also possible is UMU MUU, SM is the only one stop strategy and it may be too slow at some point.

[godlameroso]

Vettel vs Raikkonen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyLXBOFQGws

What the hell was that, Vettel gained 1.5 tenths on the straight,