2018 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai, April 13-15

[Sevach]

If Red Bull can go long enough and fast enough with those ultras to put mediums and go to the end we can have quite an interesting race.

[Vasconia]

I think this year this track will suit Ferrari better in 2018 than Mercedes- due to the longer wheelbase, compared to 2017.

But it is just speculation.

No longer speculation.

Well done mate though the result is still surprising. What a performance!

[Chene_Mostert]

I just scanned through all the Quali sessions for the year so far and I must say that at the moment the Ferrari has a fundamental pace advantage.

I did call it during pre season testing. My data analysis showed that Ferrari had serious pace and managed to hide it very, very effectively.
F1 metrics interperated the data with too much bias.
Amus, GA ( he was ademant that Ferrari "missed" a trick by not having merc's pedistal suspension mounts), Scarbs & the Renault GPS was also way off the mark with their interpretation.

I hope Merc does not fall too far behind the development curve, we need a tight season. Toto needs to admit that they are no longer the fastest and stop being in denial and making excuses. The first step to recovery is accepting that you have a problem. Same goes for Horner.
Also what i find very disturbing is that the Lewis "magic" quali laps seems to have evaporated with the Mercedes advantage. He will need to up his game, Botas I must say has impressed in the last two races.

Lets see what happens tomorrow!

[NL_Fer]

I still think Mercedes had an advantage on medium tyres like they did years before. Vettel was lucky two times.

[ripper]

I've a question: are 2018 slower than 2017 ones? Last year pole was 1:31.678, done with SuperSoft tyres, After one year of development, UltraSoft tyres (and this year US should be softer than last year ones) pole time was 1:31: 095. Did halo impact so much on lap times?

Hamilton did 1:31:914 on Q2 with soft, that are roughly last year super soft. He could have done a bit bitter in Q3 by pushing more, 0.3-0.4 maybe? More or less same time as last year with "same" compound.

Am I missing something?

[DarkSurferZA]

Hamilton starting next to Verstappen..

Think the start may be the most exciting part of the race then. Let's see that "d***head" in action.

Hope max is in front at the first corner so we can see Hamilton mount the pressure. Would be a great battle

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[matt_b]

+0.663 to -0.166 to -0.530 that is some rate of development from Ferrari in just 3 qualifying sessions.

[Wass85]

If Hamilton doesn't jump Bottas at the start i expect him to drop at least one position by the second lap. He needs to throw caution to the wind and go all out or else the Ferraris will be long gone.

[NL_Fer]

I've a question: are 2018 slower than 2017 ones? Last year pole was 1:31.678, done with SuperSoft tyres, After one year of development, UltraSoft tyres (and this year US should be softer than last year ones) pole time was 1:31: 095. Did halo impact so much on lap times?

Hamilton did 1:31:914 on Q2 with soft, that are roughly last year super soft. He could have done a bit bitter in Q3 by pushing more, 0.3-0.4 maybe? More or less same time as last year with "same" compound.

Am I missing something?

Long straight combined with the halo’s drag. Not much use of a softer tire on the straight. Also the ultra’s are degrading during the first corners already, supersoft would be better.

[Jambier]

This year will be the fall of Mercedes.

Quite funny usually it is when rules change.

I wonder how they will react in 2019

[Bill_Kar]

I think that Mercedes will be closer tomorrow, but damn. Ferrari is clearly now the fastest car. I was really impressed.

[George-Jung]

This year will be the fall of Mercedes.

Quite funny usually it is when rules change.

I wonder how they will react in 2019

I do hope so- it would keep Ferrari being the only one to do 5 in a row..

Whould people here see Hamilton join Ferrari next year- shocking move of the century?

[LM10]

I think the owners of F1 need to get on pushing through those rules. No way will Ferrari walk away from that car. This is the best time to wallop them with the funding deduction.

Before anyone asks YES it is relative on here because it's referencing how good the Ferrari car currently is.

And what are you on about?

[garychopper]

I just scanned through all the Quali sessions for the year so far and I must say that at the moment the Ferrari has a fundamental pace advantage.

I did call it during pre season testing. My data analysis showed that Ferrari had serious pace and managed to hide it very, very effectively.
F1 metrics interperated the data with too much bias.
Amus, GA ( he was ademant that Ferrari "missed" a trick by not having merc's pedistal suspension mounts), Scarbs & the Renault GPS was also way off the mark with their interpretation.

I hope Merc does not fall too far behind the development curve, we need a tight season. Toto needs to admit that they are no longer the fastest and stop being in denial and making excuses. The first step to recovery is accepting that you have a problem. Same goes for Horner.
Also what i find very disturbing is that the Lewis "magic" quali laps seems to have evaporated with the Mercedes advantage. He will need to up his game, Botas I must say has impressed in the last two races.

Lets see what happens tomorrow!

Ferrari since the last season onwards were focussed on themselves, they made a great car but rule changes in the middle of the season, reliability issues and bad luck hampered what was turning out to be a close championship. Ferrari also developed very well throughout the year unlike previous years where they dropped off. This year as soon as the car was released my instinct said that it was a championship winning car and I am sure Vettel will add a ‘G’ to its name.
This came despite all the English speaking media was trying to belittle the Italian engineers and management. I will disagree with you about wanting this to be a close championship, I can’t wait to see a period of utter Ferrari domination, unlike the Merc years, having red cars at the front is never boring even for the people who dislike Ferrari because of their utter bias, disbelief and bitterness, they will start shouting even more about Ferrari and its bonus and how they get more money than other teams. But ok to be politically correct, I want Merc and red bull to buck up so that we can have a close championship.

[henra]

I hope Merc does not fall too far behind the development curve, we need a tight season.

I wouldn't write the Mercs off because of a single Quali session. They had some bad luck the first two races. Here it seems they still struggle to get the tyres switched on. Tyres switched on vs not can make a huuuge difference. That can totally spoil the picture. The aero efficiency of the W09 is probably still very good. Just look where Williams and FI are....
That said it becomes clear that at least Merc apparently isn't massively dominant. Also the pure power advantage seems rather smaller than in previous years or compared to Ferrari maybe even almost gone.
Anyway seems like an interesting season in front of us.