Chinese GP 2009 - Shanghai

[freedom_honda]

As James Allen pointed out on his blog, there is one thing quite interesting.
In Q2 when everyone was on the lowest fuel level, the Brawns are about 0.4s off the RBRs pace. But in Q3, where the Brawns are about 15kg heavier than the RBRs, nevertheless the Brawns are still only 0.4s slower.
Whats going on? Brawn sandbagging?

[ISLAMATRON]

What is going on is that they dont award the pole in Q2, it is awarded in q3... the Brawn put there laps in a little earlier and probly not as "on the edge" as the RBR's. Vettle's youthful exuberance makes him want that Q2 pole every time.

[nudger]

where is this figure 0.03 coming from though. i know they say its an average of 0.3 seconds per 10kg....but then somewhere like silverstone is considerably higher than that...a lot higher.
i do think hamilton probably had a rubbish lap too though....nearly two and a half seconds is massive margin.

[Conceptual]

What is going on is that they dont award the pole in Q2, it is awarded in q3... the Brawn put there laps in a little earlier and probly not as "on the edge" as the RBR's. Vettle's youthful exuberance makes him want that Q2 pole every time.

Been a while since I agreed with you, but here it is at last!

Vettel undoubtedly has an overachiever attitude, but then again, he only has one timed lap in Q2 and one in Q3, so he wasn't left with much choice...

where is this figure 0.03 coming from though. i know they say its an average of 0.3 seconds per 10kg....but then somewhere like silverstone is considerably higher than that...a lot higher.
i do think hamilton probably had a rubbish lap too though....nearly two and a half seconds is massive margin.

Is it possible to take the 2.55kg/lap at China figure from Williams, and apply that to the Williams Q3 time with a known fuel quantity to get an exact number (for Williams at least)?

I am no mathmetician, but God (who is probably Manchild in disguise) seems to have a handle on Microsoft Excel, so possibly he can put that into his spreadsheet and find out?

[scarbs]

its midday in China, the weather is cool, damp, with drizzle in the air. the locals tell me it wil rain this afternoon.

Scarbs (live from china!)

[ISLAMATRON]

its midday in China, the weather is cool, damp, with drizzle in the air. the locals tell me it wil rain this afternoon.

Scarbs (live from china!)

I guess the deep fueled drivers might be in the advantage now., as they usually are.

[scarbs]

heavier rain and strong wind, expect a start on full wets, or at least inters.

[xpensive]

This should be good, when rain is to my mind the great car-equalizer, only favouring the best drivers?

[ringo]

Any pics of Hamilton 3 wheeling in the slightly banked turn?
I found that pretty interesting, he was really putting in some "hardcore" laps for sure
about his time being 2 seconds slower; traffic prevented him from putting in a good final lap. He did not better his previous time.

[vasia]

If it rains, expect Glock to move up the order.

As for qualifying, just as I thought; both Red Bulls were running light, and Alonso was extremely light. People are jumping to conclusions now that Renault's new diffuser has given them a "quantum" leap in performance, which is simply not true.

Based on fuel levels, the Brawns are still the fastest, and Toyota is up there as well.

If it remains dry, the Brawns and Trulli will do well. Interesting to note that the Toyota cars were the only other cars apart from the Brawns that were able to make the soft tires work well on long stints during practice.

[ISLAMATRON]

Any pics of Hamilton 3 wheeling in the slightly banked turn?
I found that pretty interesting, he was really putting in some "hardcore" laps for sure
about his time being 2 seconds slower; traffic prevented him from putting in a good final lap. He did not better his previous time.

Actually that 3 wheeling shows how stiffly the car was setup... and that would be terrible in the rain.

[fenix4life]

heavier rain and strong wind, expect a start on full wets, or at least inters.

it's wet but not that wet.
Presumably intermediates.

The track is drying up even though it's cloudy.
Alonso would like to have suck a track.

[ISLAMATRON]

heavier rain and strong wind, expect a start on full wets, or at least inters.

it's wet but not that wet.
Presumably intermediates.

The track is drying up even though it's cloudy.
Alonso would like to have suck a track.

Why, to put it in the Kitty litter like he did last week or better to put it in the wall like he did in Japan a couple years ago?

[MattF1]

No need for the super-soft tyre then.

[ringo]

Any pics of Hamilton 3 wheeling in the slightly banked turn?
I found that pretty interesting, he was really putting in some "hardcore" laps for sure
about his time being 2 seconds slower; traffic prevented him from putting in a good final lap. He did not better his previous time.

Actually that 3 wheeling shows how stiffly the car was setup... and that would be terrible in the rain.

Yeah it was pretty stiff at the front, i was thinking it was more of an experiment, but he went into the pits after that, probably got it changed.
It was still pretty to watch none the less, shows how hard he was pushing too.