2019 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 12-14

[vehicledynamics]

Pirelli 2019 tyres:
http://postimg.cc/8789dz35

Barca tests 22-27 degrees Celsius; Ferrari in the tyre window, Merc and Red Bull are not

Melbourne Pirelli 2019 tyres:
http://postimg.cc/fkt8HhY0

FP1 – 28-31˚C, FP2 and qualy - 41˚C, race - 42˚C, Merc and RB in the tyre window, Ferrari are not (sliding a lot)

Bahrein Pirelli 2019 tyres:
http://postimg.cc/BL5zJJD7
FP1 – 51-54˚C, FP2 - 35-28˚C and qualy 28˚C, race 28˚C, Ferrari in the tyre window, Merc and RB are not (sliding a lot)

Here in China, we have the same tyre allocation as in Melbourne:
http://postimg.cc/r0YfVzsJ

FP1 – 29-34˚C, FP2 - 36-29˚C

IN CONCLUSION:
From the tyre allocation and results, until now it seems to me that Ferrari chassis has the sweet spot on lower track temp and Merc & RB on the higher track temp ...

More tyre data for China due to the courtesy of Pirelli :

http://postimg.cc/4KR61V7q

Sorry , but I do not understand how can you know whether a driver/team is in the tire temp window or not. When you say a driver was in a certain race in the window or out the window, is based on what?

[Artur Craft]

Seems like Ferrari is faster in high speed corners, in mid speed corners (150-200kph) they are roundbouts, but on slower speed corners (80-140kph) RB is constantly 5-8kph up on Ferrari.

which high speed corners ? The only fast corner(T1 starts fast but gets really slow) is flat out

Also, RB is 6kph faster on the mid speed corners. RB is faster on all corners that are not power limited, maybe they will get pole on Monaco again

Disregarding everything else (engine modes, aero...), verstappen lost ~0.8s to vettel on the straights up to the last hairpin where the camera on verstappen's car blacks out. Eyeballing it i'd say RB lost around 1s over the course of entire lap compared to ferrari on the straights.
Verstappen is actually ahead up until the back straight, then loses massive amounts of time on the long full throttle section.

Seems like Ferrari is faster in high speed corners, in mid speed corners (150-200kph) they are roundbouts, but on slower speed corners (80-140kph) RB is constantly 5-8kph up on Ferrari.

*but it does seem as if Max has higher corner entry, but slightly later on throttle, as well as earlier on breaks.

Really interesting they are so close considering all of that...

Verstappen reaches de first white board on back straights with 282 km/h vs Ferrari's 300 and 310 vs 322 of Ferrari's to next white board on the side of tarmac

but the people on the RB thread were all saying that Honda is quite close to Merc/Ferrari....

[Artur Craft]

So, Mercedes sets the fastest time of the weekend thus far and yet Ferrari's are fastest?

Seems like a narrative I've heard of before. Mercedes and Toto fan boys setting up a heist about how they've won a race without the fastest car.

I suggest you get used to it. Most F1 fans are irrational

[amritc1]

So, Mercedes sets the fastest time of the weekend thus far and yet Ferrari's are fastest?

Seems like a narrative I've heard of before. Mercedes and Toto fan boys setting up a heist about how they've won a race without the fastest car.

I suggest you get used to it. Most F1 fans are irrational

I might be Wrong. Ferrari been smashing it but at the cost of reliability. Mercedes playing the safe game stay close but don’t over cook it. This is what is getting them results. Ferrari is faster but Mercedes is playing the long game.
Ferrari will win some top tracks but will loose overall through the session.

Predictions
quali
1. Ham
2. Lec
3. Bot

Race
1. Ham
2. Vet
3. Bot/Lec/Ves

[ollandos]

good morning
fp2 2019 2018 +/-
Mercedes (Valtteri Bottas) 1: 33.330 1.33.482 (ham) -0.152
2 Ferrari (Sebastian Vettel) 1: 33.357s + 0.027s 1.33.489 (rai) - 0.132
3 Red Bull (Max Verstappen) 1: 33.551s + 0.221s 1.33.823 (max) - 0.272
4 Renault (Nico Hulkenberg) 1: 34.096s + 0.766s 1.34.313 (hul) - 0.217
5 McLaren (Carlos Sainz) 1: 34.141s + 0.811s 1.34.632 (alo) - 0.491
6 Alfa Romeo (Kimi Raikkonen) 1: 34.551s + 1.221s 1.35.624 (eri) - 1.073
7 Toro Rosso (Alexander Albon) 1: 34.634s + 1.304s 1.34.849 (gas) - 0.215
8 Racing Point (Lance Stroll) 1: 34.779s + 1.449s 1.34.792 (per) -0.013
9 Haas (Kevin Magnussen) 1: 34.788s + 1.458s 1.34.458 (mag) + 0.330
10 Williams (Robert Kubica) 1: 36.121s + 2.791s 1.35.340 (sir) + 0.781

[Morteza]

https://twitter.com/MSM_Christian/statu ... 7990883328

[atanatizante]

Pirelli 2019 tyres:
http://postimg.cc/8789dz35

Barca tests 22-27 degrees Celsius; Ferrari in the tyre window, Merc and Red Bull are not

Melbourne Pirelli 2019 tyres:
http://postimg.cc/fkt8HhY0

FP1 – 28-31˚C, FP2 and qualy - 41˚C, race - 42˚C, Merc and RB in the tyre window, Ferrari are not (sliding a lot)

Bahrein Pirelli 2019 tyres:
http://postimg.cc/BL5zJJD7
FP1 – 51-54˚C, FP2 - 35-28˚C and qualy 28˚C, race 28˚C, Ferrari in the tyre window, Merc and RB are not (sliding a lot)

Here in China, we have the same tyre allocation as in Melbourne:
http://postimg.cc/r0YfVzsJ

FP1 – 29-34˚C, FP2 - 36-29˚C

IN CONCLUSION:
From the tyre allocation and results, until now it seems to me that Ferrari chassis has the sweet spot on lower track temp and Merc & RB on the higher track temp ...

More tyre data for China due to the courtesy of Pirelli :

http://postimg.cc/4KR61V7q

Sorry , but I do not understand how can you know whether a driver/team is in the tire temp window or not. When you say a driver was in a certain race in the window or out the window, is based on what?

Results, car behaviour, drivers & management statements, F1 tech editors & former F1 drivers and so on ...

[Morteza]

That's the end of #FP3 then, the session won't be restarted. @ToroRosso have a big task ahead of them to get that car ready for qualifying

[NathanOlder]

Big smash for Albon there in practice. Toro Rosso will struggle to get that fixed in time for Qualy,

After seeing Practice 3, looks like Seb will be on pole.

A fair few were struggling to get a lap in though, mistakes all over the place.

Renault looking strong, could cause Max some problems in qualy.

My prediction

Vettel
Bottas
Leclerc
Hamilton
Ricciardo
Max
Hulkenberg
Sainz
Gasly
Raikkonen

Another mention, Merc today smashed Ferrari in the final sector. Bottas 4 tenths up on Vettel and Leclerc.

[Morteza]

[Laserguru]

Seems like the 1 psi overnight increase in rear tyre pressure hurts RB performance a lot, would be interesting to see what cornering benefit is left. Sadly Max couldn’t start his second run so qualifying will bring the answer. Renault seems faster now.

[etusch]

Seems like the 1 psi overnight increase in rear tyre pressure hurts RB performance a lot, would be interesting to see what cornering benefit is left. Sadly Max couldn’t start his second run so qualifying will bring the answer. Renault seems faster now.

When Redbull's fp2 time is better how Renault can be faster ?

[Laserguru]

Seems like the 1 psi overnight increase in rear tyre pressure hurts RB performance a lot, would be interesting to see what cornering benefit is left. Sadly Max couldn’t start his second run so qualifying will bring the answer. Renault seems faster now.

When Redbull's fp2 time is better how Renault can be faster ?

I am talking about fp3 obviously? Fp2 was with 18.5psi rear tire pressure, fp3 19.5. Renault was looking stronger than RB on both soft and super in fp3. I was wondering why that could be. Unfortunately we couldn’t see what the late setup changes to Max’ car would bring due to Albon’s crash. Interesting quali ahead.

[atanatizante]

Seems like the 1 psi overnight increase in rear tyre pressure hurts RB performance a lot, would be interesting to see what cornering benefit is left. Sadly Max couldn’t start his second run so qualifying will bring the answer. Renault seems faster now.

Yeah, with that increased rear tyre pressure and knowing that track temp should be +45 degrees Celsius (it was 39 at the end of FP3) during qualy time, drivers must be very careful with in their warm-up out-lap prior to the hot lap ...

And again, after the FP3 results with Bottas fastest, there`s another confirmation to my theory viewtopic.php?p=828131#p828131 which demonstrates Merc cars sweet spot in warm track conditions ... for time being ...

[atanatizante]

On Sky, Nico Rosberg said Ferrari are gaining 8 tenths on the straights, compared to Merc, but losing the same amount in low corners ...

This statement was backed by Karun saying that after FP2 analysis Ferrari and Merc are on par regarding top speed on the straight when they were on race trim but in qualy mode Ferrari was 8km/h faster in Vettel`s case (trying the low RW DF) and just 3km/h in Leclerc`s case (in the higher RW DF) ...

For the record, in FP3 both Ferraris were 5km/h faster on the straight compared to Merc ...

So is not about drag but rather the Ferrari party mode ...