2025 Chinese Grand Prix [Shanghai] March 21-23

[TFSA]

Leclerc and Gasly underweight. That's gonna be a double DSQ

EDIT: And Hamiltons plank is also too worn. Ferrari disasterclass.

[bauc]

I wish they could find a super safe way to bring back refuelling, strategies need a shakeup.

Refueling strategies eventually converge and they are super predictable after that point, especially with one tire supplier in place.

[pantherxxx]

Car 44 will be disqualified too? What's going on?

[Vettel165]

They should look at that Mclaren also.

[De Wet]

Also they should look at that Mclaren.

I think the top 3 are checked as a rule. Not sure of all the things they check.

[CjC]

Antonelli driver of the day?? What?

Amazing what being a young, good looking man can do for you

Not that I ever knew

They said he had Floor damage, no wonder he was behind Ocon. Other than that, Max overtaking both Ferrari's is why he's my DOTD

Toto agrees with me if you listen to kimis end of race radio exchange

[bauc]

LEC is disqualified from the Chinese GP


The first stewards' decision is in and it's as expected, Charles Leclerc has been thrown out from the #ChineseGP classification for his car being underweight.
"There are no mitigating circumstances and [Ferrari] confirmed it was a genuine error."

Hamilton also in danger.

[Artur Craft]

I´m starting to feel sorry for Antonelli. When it was announced him as the DOTD, the commentators on my local tv started to mock him.

Toto made a big mistake bringing him up right now, he wasn´t even ready for GP2 (was a midfielder there the whole year while driving for Prema)

[Hoffman900]

Ok, let's talk about having an axe to grind and also about bad reading comprehension.

Regardless of what is demanded from Pirelli, if they made their tyres more durable ,more stable and less affected by thermal degradation, it would be much slower than what it already is ( other than weight, everything in the current regulation_ like big downforce, wide slick tyres, DRS, more Power and torque and etc..._ favours today's car. Yet, despite a new surface, they barely went faster than the race lap record done over 20 years ago with Bridgestone and I can assure you the Japanese manufacturer produces way better tyres today, 2 decades later. )

You seem to be a shareholder of Pirelli or something, which is good, I hope you keep making money with it. I just cannot let you say tyres were different even for team mates, during the tyre war period. They literally had a draw to ensure every driver got the very same tyre from their respective supplier.

Nope, don’t own Pirelli stock.

So you’re blaming the tires for the performance of the entire rule set?

The cars are marginally faster because of the current rules, and also marginal gains. Kind of like MotoGP only being 1-2” a lap faster than WSBK despite MotoGP being lighter, having 50hp more, aero, carbon brakes, and everything else. Shockingly, WSBK is on Pirelli, but don’t get a good rage post get in the way of facts. The faster vehicles go, the harder it is to take chunks of lap time off. Furthermore, the cars today are 200kg heavier, add fuel and it’s near 300kg, with about the same peak power as then. All because rules. That’s not the tires’ fault.

The tires absolutely were for Schumacher and the Ferrari. I even remember Max Mosley making a big stink about it.

[101FlyingDutchman]

I hope they bring in a rule of having to use soft/medium/hard in every race as the default. And that’s me as a Macca fan. This nursing tyres lark and having to whisper them is becoming a serious bore. Don’t change until after WDC though….

Max still lurking and maximising (pun intended)

Russell looking very handy in the Merc

Ferrari… well let’s not go there

[renault rs26]

I wish they could find a super safe way to bring back refuelling, strategies need a shakeup.

2 mandatory stop would be enough, using all 3 compounds.

[Logie]

Boring race but glad Piastri won, good drive by Ocon. I dont think he was shown or mentioned once on Sky TV during the race

[SB15]

I´m starting to feel sorry for Antonelli. When it was announced him as the DOTD, the commentators on my local tv started to mock him.

Toto made a big mistake bringing him up right now, he wasn´t even ready for GP2 (was a midfielder there the whole year while driving for Prema)

Drunk on haterade without realizing he had floor damage.

[Mogster]

I wish they could find a super safe way to bring back refuelling, strategies need a shakeup.

Refueling strategies eventually converge and they are super predictable after that point, especially with one tire supplier in place.

Refuelling was racing cancer in F1. After a couple of years the teams used fuel stops to keep the cars apart on track. As a viewer you had no idea what was going on, no one outside the teams was aware of how much fuel was onboard each car. Even the teams felt it was a boring way to go racing.

I do fell pit stops take too long and restrict strategy too much. Increasing the pit lane speed limit seems unlikely, although I don’t see it being a problem at circuits with wide pit lanes. New circuits could be designed so the pit lane exit formed a short cut, maybe some existing ones could be modified. That way you could reduce the pit delta to 10 seconds or so. That would enable more strategies and stop the leaders driving slowly in worn tyres as we saw today.

[basti313]

I wish they could find a super safe way to bring back refuelling, strategies need a shakeup.

Refueling strategies eventually converge and they are super predictable after that point, especially with one tire supplier in place.

Refuelling was racing cancer in F1. After a couple of years the teams used fuel stops to keep the cars apart on track. As a viewer you had no idea what was going on, no one outside the teams was aware of how much fuel was onboard each car. Even the teams felt it was a boring way to go racing.

I do fell pit stops take too long and restrict strategy too much. Increasing the pit lane speed limit seems unlikely, although I don’t see it being a problem at circuits with wide pit lanes. New circuits could be designed so the pit lane exit formed a short cut, maybe some existing ones could be modified. That way you could reduce the pit delta to 10 seconds or so. That would enable more strategies and stop the leaders driving slowly in worn tyres as we saw today.

I think this is the point, pitting takes to long. I do not think they rise the pit speed limit, but I like the point on track rework.
They could easily pave most of the gravel trap here in China, keeping the outside gravel for the last corner, but making the entry to the pit lane a fast corner with the old layout being a big runout. This would remove several seconds without compromising security. If they want to take it really serious...put the pit entry on the long straight, I think there is nothing in the way. With a nice extra corner they could tune pit delta to 15sec.

Same goes with other tracks. In Bahrain for example they could just go into the Oval for the pit entry and shorten the track by even up to 10sec. There is noting in the way.