Chinese GP 2011 - Shanghai

[volarchico]

It doesn't really seem that much like luck...it's learning the proper strategy to make these tires work! McLaren learned their lesson last week, and had an improved strategy this week. Next race, even more teams will find the right strategy. And I shouldn't have lumped andrew and Ray in one post...sorry. It was only Ray rolling his eyes at myurr...

[tinvek]

interesting to hear horner say that if they had gone with a 3 stop strategy they would have finished behind both mclarens, great drive by hamilton and webber, both benefitted from having more fresh tyres,

webber's end of race speed was remarkably like autosport's editor's pre season fictional account of how alonso gets caught in a race from almost a lap behind by schumacher who deliberately doesn't use his new tyres in qualifying.

[beelsebob]

@Ray and @andrew...sheesh, the hatred and bitterness! Your team finished 2nd and 3rd...be happy! So what if myurr thinks Hamilton drove well? You don't have to agree with him, but no need to be rolling your eyes at him. And yes of course Webber drove really well! Geeze...relax all and enjoy the race.

I'm not hating. Lewis drove a great race no doubt, but Webber finished 7.5 seconds behind him. More sets of tires or not, with the double whammy of broken KERS in qualy, buried down in 18th position at the beginning of the race and battling without putting a single wheel wrong how in the hell can anyone say that his wasn't the drive of the day? Makes no sense.

Hamilton was gaining a second a lap on Vettel on the better tyres. Given that Webber had better tyres than Hamilton for about 40-45 laps you're talking about more like a 52.5 second difference.

[septerra]

What happened with Alonsos DRS? Didn't see that on TV.

Used it where he shouldn't have

[Tamburello]

LOL Webber said it was good that Hamilton won in the press conference! LOL

[hollowBallistix]

For me, F1 has gone from overtaking being rare now it is over the top.

Over the top ? are you mental ! that's what it's all about !!! it's racing not a procession !!!

Yes and no – it has to still be hard to pass for a pass to be exciting. Personally, I think the balance is dead right at this point.

For me too, the balance just seems right.

it's just amazing that had years of people moan about no overtaking & now we have it their still moaning ! no pleasing some I guess.

in a series that currently is dominated by aero performance rather than mechanical grip, overtaking is always going to be difficult, it'll be interesting when ground effects return.

[Ray]

The guy who started 18th with no KERS but fresh tyres for *every* stint.

Yeah, only had to pass 15 cars without it, stop more times taking easily 20 seconds every time he did so, and didn't put one wheel wrong all day. What a ho hum drive compared to a guy at the front of the pack all race and effectively passed 3-4 people, one who couldn't communicate with his crew at all about his tire condition, in route to a win. By God, if he didn't have a new set of tires every stint he would have never been able to do anything with this race. Yeah. Uh huh.

[zeph]

That was fun! Hamilton was great today, helped by a better strategy. But Webber clawing his way back up from 18th to 3rd, wow.... Massa and Rosberg were solid, as was Button except for that inexplicable pit blunder.

I am a bit of an Alonso supporter and I hope there was some technical problem that explains today's results. Is it me or has he lost his ability to start well? 3 sucky starts out of 3 is certainly not the stuff of champions.

[Just_a_fan]

What an amazing race after a while. Im hoping Alonso is investigated for the DRS incident.

Why? It is race control that control where the DRS is activated.

There's a button on the wheel which the driver presses. Now, Alonso may have pressed it out of despair (knowing that it doesn't work but then it's a bit like shouting at someone who cuts you up it makes you feel better). But the wing shouldn't have operated. If the stewards look at the telemetry and the wing activates when is also pressing the button then they'll penailse. If it activates without any driver input then he'll be ok.

The important thing is - if it operated on its own then there is a real safety issue - imagine that happening mid-corner at somewhere like Canada with the walls next to the corners...

[MrBlacky]

What happened with Alonsos DRS? Didn't see that on TV.

Used it where he shouldn't have

Where?

[myurr]

@Ray and @andrew...sheesh, the hatred and bitterness! Your team finished 2nd and 3rd...be happy! So what if myurr thinks Hamilton drove well? You don't have to agree with him, but no need to be rolling your eyes at him. And yes of course Webber drove really well! Geeze...relax all and enjoy the race.

I'm not hating. Lewis drove a great race no doubt, but Webber finished 7.5 seconds behind him. More sets of tires or not, with the double whammy of broken KERS in qualy, buried down in 18th position at the beginning of the race and battling without putting a single wheel wrong how in the hell can anyone say that his wasn't the drive of the day? Makes no sense.

For me it's because Lewis finally managed to beat a Red Bull fair and square on track. Yes Red Bull messed up the strategy but a part of that is because they weren't able to just lead from the front. Whether it is car, driver or strategy they don't seem to find it easy if they are not leading the race.

Webber drove a fantastic race but at least early on he was in no mans land. It was as others were trying to make their tyres last and he had fresh tyres that he started making a big difference. I don't want to take anything away from him as he did drive fantastically well and made some great overtakes, and I listed him as a very close second to Lewis in terms of driver of the day, but I personally believe there were some mitigating circumstances which contributed to his pace.

[Tamburello]

interesting to hear horner say that if they had gone with a 3 stop strategy they would have finished behind both mclarens

He's making excuses for the blunder. Vettel had already passed Hamilton at the first stint, showing that he had better tyre management and pace over the Macca. All he had to do was cover Button and Hamilton from there on and he would be ahead now.

[myurr]

What happened with Alonsos DRS? Didn't see that on TV.

Used it where he shouldn't have

Where?

On the short straight before the final corner, but after the hairpin.

[beelsebob]

The guy who started 18th with no KERS but fresh tyres for *every* stint.

Yeah, only had to pass 15 cars without it, stop more times taking easily 20 seconds every time he did so, and didn't put one wheel wrong all day. What a ho hum drive compared to a guy at the front of the pack all race and effectively passed 3-4 people, one who couldn't communicate with his crew at all about his tire condition, in route to a win. By God, if he didn't have a new set of tires every stint he would have never been able to do anything with this race. Yeah. Uh huh.

Yeh, you're right, Hamilton lead from the start and didn't stop for 20 seconds the exact same number of times as Webber. I concede the point.

[Ray]

Hamilton was gaining a second a lap on Vettel on the better tyres. Given that Webber had better tyres than Hamilton for about 40-45 laps you're talking about more like a 52.5 second difference.

A second a lap? Okay. How many cars did he have to pass and how many were between the two for Hamilton to work his way through to get to Vettel?