Chinese GP 2012 - Shanghai

[myurr]

Definitely sucks. I repeat my call for there to be an annual allocation of gearboxes like there are with engines, rather than this silly 5 grid place penalty.

[raymondu999]

In a way would be similar though - because then that damaged box would take its turn in the round rbin

[myurr]

In a way would be similar though - because then that damaged box would take its turn in the round rbin

If they were allowed 8 engines and 8 gear boxes and could use that allocation as they see fit then if there are manufacturing issues with one particular box then it can be pulled out of circulation and hopefully the others can take up the slack.

Not ideal but I understand the need for longer life components. I just don't like the current system where we see drivers penalised based on little more than random luck. It affected Kimi last race, the potential pole sitter for this race. There has to be a better way.

[raymondu999]

Yes but they're allowed 4 now, by virtue of each gearbox having to last 5 consecutive races. It would be more like 4 gearboxes a year

I agree though. It should be a team-based penalty, not a driver penalty.

[Holm86]

Is it just me or have the gearbox gods decided that this will not be a merciful year? seems to me like we've already had a lot of premature gearbox changes...

Thought the same.

[f1316]

Is it just me or have the gearbox gods decided that this will not be a merciful year? seems to me like we've already had a lot of premature gearbox changes...

Thought the same.

Feels like the Gods are on the side of the spectator, since it's nice to see the guy with the ultimate pace coming back through the field, not leading from the front.

Had the gearbox Gods decided to be less merciful on Vettel last year, we could have ended up with a more interesting championship.

[akshat21]

Just read on autosport that Hamilton is hit with a 5 place grid penalty for changing his gearbox. And the team discovered it in the last 48 hours.

[Gerhard Berger]

Yes but they're allowed 4 now, by virtue of each gearbox having to last 5 consecutive races. It would be more like 4 gearboxes a year

I agree though. It should be a team-based penalty, not a driver penalty.

As Martin Brundle said at Malaysia, you cannot separate the driver and the car in a team sport. A drivers performance is always linked to the car. It's no different from a driver being badly affected by the team designing a poor chassis or his engine blowing up in the race.

I think they should use a similar rule to engines though.

[FrukostScones]

still rain on my weather radar

[Hail22]

still rain on my weather radar

Ditto, even the local meteorology dep. Says rain this weekend.

[boyracer94]

BBC weather suggests rain also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feeds/17689981

[Pandabeer]

Which would be bad, then we're three races in and still can't tell the real race-pace or performance of some teams. I would like to see a dry race to finally get an idea of what's going on with some teams, but a wet race would still be nice to watch IMHO, but yea please not this time.

[godlameroso]

It's ok, I'll do my anti-rain dance, it looks exactly like my rain dance, except...it's anti-rain.

[Hail22]

Due to Hamiltons Gearbox Penalty changing my Quali setup:

1. Button
2. Alonso
3. MSC
4. Raikkonen
5. Rosberg
6. Hamilton (moved from 1st due to gear box penalty)
7. Webber
8. Vettel
9. Perez
10. Ricciardo

[SiLo]

Alonso 2nd and Massa not in the top ten? I know the difference can sometimes be big, but I don't think it will be that big.

I also agree that gearboxes should be the same as engine allocaations, 8 per year is a good number and being able to swap them around is fine too. However, it may make for a more entertaining race at the weekend, every cloud and all that.