Chinese GP 2011 - Shanghai

[Mr Alcatraz]

I'm all for it.

Nice odds to drop a Tener on Massa

[Pup]

Nice odds to drop a Tener on Massa

Not a chance.

But I could see splitting a bet between the McLaren boys. My best guess as to what happened with Vettel is that he toasted his KERS unit on his second run. That would account for the long faces, etc. and if Webber's form is any indication, the RB is nowhere without KERS this race.

[andrew]

Webber was slow due to being on hard tyres. He didn't get a run on the softs. Some say his team screwed him (yeah right!) he says he made the choice not to use a set of softs.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Nice odds to drop a Tener on Massa

Not a chance.

But I could see splitting a bet between the McLaren boys. My best guess as to what happened with Vettel is that he toasted his KERS unit on his second run. That would account for the long faces, etc. and if Webber's form is any indication, the RB is nowhere without KERS this race.

A lot will depend on the start. At 1% I think it's the best value on the race
I also think Ferrari will be very close to matching McLaren in race trim!

[Dragonfly]

Renault confirmed that Petrov is using another chassis for this race, but I fear that the reason for his problems was same engine and gearbox from damaged chassis they've used to prevent engine/gearbox replacement penalties.

Am I right?

They don't get penalties for the engine as long as they use one from the allocated number for the season.
Preliminary change of gearbox is penalized but only if the car completed the previous race. Those who DNF due to technical reasons can change the gearbox without punishment and the new gearbox enters the 4 race cycle.

[Boost]

Webber was slow due to being on hard tyres. He didn't get a run on the softs. Some say his team screwed him (yeah right!) he says he made the choice not to use a set of softs.

Both McLarens and the RBR of Vettel were also on hards in Q1 and they didn't have any issues getting through.

[2011F1]

Chinese GP Practice 3 Analysis



Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying Analysis: http://www.formula1onlive.com/2011/04/2 ... ng_16.html

Interesting! Fantastic…

[marcush.]

Webber was slow due to being on hard tyres. He didn't get a run on the softs. Some say his team screwed him (yeah right!) he says he made the choice not to use a set of softs.

Both McLarens and the RBR of Vettel were also on hards in Q1 and they didn't have any issues getting through.

strange ..in the interview directly after Q1 he stated in english: tyres is basically a pitwall decision...so Pilbeam made the call?

[godlameroso]

Maybe the importance of KERS here is the reason why Vettel was slow to climb out of the car. They know it's not very reliable, and the KERS helps mask slightly worn tires. The race could play into someone else's hands. I didn't see the post race interview how was the atmosphere in the interview room?

[Mr Alcatraz]

strange ..in the interview directly after Q1 he stated in english: tyres is basically a pitwall decision...so Pilbeam made the call?

You are correct sir, at least according to Horner

"It was the team's call because it looked that another set of primes should have been enough, [judging by] the pace we saw in the car this morning with Mark's short amount of running," he added. "It should have been enough to comfortably make it through, but with the tyres not being up to temperature it obviously compromised him. He's just had rotten luck this weekend but I'm sure he can race very well from there."

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/46312.html

[andrew]

Webber was slow due to being on hard tyres. He didn't get a run on the softs. Some say his team screwed him (yeah right!) he says he made the choice not to use a set of softs.

Both McLarens and the RBR of Vettel were also on hards in Q1 and they didn't have any issues getting through.

strange ..in the interview directly after Q1 he stated in english: tyres is basically a pitwall decision...so Pilbeam made the call?

Don't really know why you are mentioning what language Webber was speaking.

I have just found him being interviewed by Lee McKenzie during the BBC coverage:

LM: Why did you not go onto the option tyre becasue Ferrari were on it, Mercedes were on it as well?

MW: I thought we had enough to get through but it turns out the second set of primes ... [trails off] anyway that's the way it goes.

So it seems he (the use of "I" rather than "we") made the wrong call, but the way he trailed off half way through the answer was very strange. It is not unusual for a driver to make a tyre call, after all they are dring the car.

It seems Webber and Horner are contradicting each other.

[marcush.]

RedBull have not shown any signs of cool or good strategy in my view .They gave Vettel full attack for the finish of the season which cost Webber the title and they were really lucky to still get both titles that was everything but strategy and they always seem to make rather odd calls...
In complicated changeable situations they never come up with clever decisions in fact they tell their drivers different things causing them to crash....I think the pitwall is the second RB weakness -besides KERS-
----
I was referring to him speaking english because usually the translations are
bad in germany so €I wanted to clarify it was his own words .And true he first shrugged the issue off and only gave away that it was a pitwall decision when the interviewer explicitly asked who decided on going for primes..
-----

[andrew]

I'm wondering if the Red Bull PR/media person gave him the "shut-up" signal? It is maybe better to appear to have the team making the decisions rather than the driver.

I don't believe they are deliberately screwing Webber - it makes no sense whatsoever and benefits no one - but it is a bit off that he gets the mucky end of the stick. It doesn't stack up for a team to screw one driver. Who benefits? No one. The driver doesn't. The team doesn't as they need both cars as close to the front as possible.

I read a comment on another site where there were pages of Red Bull conspriacy theories and other daft stuff. Someone mentioned that it was strange that no one is saying that there is a conspiracy against Schumacher despite only him having major problems at Merc.

[raymondu999]

Even if they WERE screwing with Webber, it wouldn't be THAT bad. Yes, ideally you'd want 1 driver to win all 19 races. But you'd want 19 1-2s, not 19 wins and 19 5th/6th places

[Poleman]

Vettel has had his KERS problems too. I think he cooked his in qualifying which sound ominous for the race.

Quoting from the MGP02 thread to avoid polluting it with the off topic stuff:

I agree with you,i just find if not suspicious,at least disturbing that lately Webber gets consistently the bad end of the stick.