Chinese GP 2011 - Shanghai

[andrew]

I'm not convinced Vettel was on a 2 stop strategy. His 2nd stint was more than pushing it in terms of length, that much was obvious when he pitted. His radio was clearly not working so I am wondering if he wasn't able to tell the team he needed to stop until it was too late.

Either that or Red Bull screwed up.

Horner said after the race that they decided on a 2 stop strategy and were 4 laps from making it work (i.e. Hamilton passed Vettel with 4 laps to go). So it appears to be a RB screw up (in effect)

Yep, just heard that. So I hope that kills all the conspiracies about Red Bull knackering Webber.

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

I've said this for a long time - overtaking is not the key part of what makes a race enjoyable to watch. It's chances to overtake that matters because that's where the driver can make the difference.

Agreed.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Great race by the Boss,
honorable mention to Webber.

[zeph]

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

Really?

[Sean H]

Lewis should buy his team dinner tonight for the strategy that won the race, he should also pick up the check for Vettel's guys as they gave him the victory with their poor strategy... and lack of KERS.

I think Mark has found the new routine, skip qualifying and keep your tires for the race. Had he started closer to 10th he would of won that race, with no KERS.

[beelsebob]

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?

And how many of those cars were actually capable of competing with a RedBull, let alone a RedBull on fresher tyres?

[septerra]

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

Used it where he shouldn't have

Where?

I believe it was right before the final corner.

[Just_a_fan]

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

And then tried hard to dig himself out of the hole. The look on Seb's face was priceless too.

Wish we had a camera in their motorhome immediately afterwards...

[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?

And how many of those cars were actually capable of competing with a RedBull, let alone a RedBull on fresher tyres?

Not gonna argue.

[zeph]

I think Mark has found the new routine, skip qualifying and keep your tires for the race. Had he started closer to 10th he would of won that race, with no KERS.

LOL That's so crazy, it might actually be true!

[andrew]

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.

Actually there is an override button, and DRS won't be activated unless the driver is activating it. Alonso would not have been casually pressing the button at that time.

So a driver can activate the DRS outwith the designated area? I new they could activate and deactivate it within the DRS zone, but I didn't know they could over-ride the system whenever they liked.

[beelsebob]

Have a nice life on the forums. It's obvious you didn't watch a single battle Webber had all day. Not gonna argue the finer points of a guy who crys crocodile tears with someone that has the avatar of the guys helmet. You're biased, not gonna argue.

I'm not arguing that Webber's race wasn't absolutely brilliant, but suggesting that Hamilton's was anything other than just as good is lunacy.

[Ray]

I believe it was right before the final corner.

Yeah, right before the last corner but the world feed didn't show how long it was open. Might have pooped open due to malfunction. Though one of the Speed commentators did say a driver can activate it any time they wish but must answer to Charlie for it. Don't think it helped him pass Schumacher though. Strange it opened there.

[andrew]

Have a nice life on the forums. It's obvious you didn't watch a single battle Webber had all day. Not gonna argue the finer points of a guy who crys crocodile tears with someone that has the avatar of the guys helmet. You're biased, not gonna argue.

I'm not arguing that Webber's race wasn't absolutely brilliant, but suggesting that Hamilton's was anything other than just as good is lunacy.

Hamilton started 3rd finshed 1st.
Webber started 18th finished 3rd.
I think that is what Ray is getting at.
Webber had to overtake more and make up more ground.

[komninosm]

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.

Stop more times? What do you mean? Or the taking 20 seconds, were Webber's stops longer than say Hamilton's?
Sour grapes
PS: If Button's mistake in the pits was perpetrated by Hamilton we would have seen a sh!t-storm hit these forums by now, come on let's be honest.

[beelsebob]

Have a nice life on the forums. It's obvious you didn't watch a single battle Webber had all day. Not gonna argue the finer points of a guy who crys crocodile tears with someone that has the avatar of the guys helmet. You're biased, not gonna argue.

I'm not arguing that Webber's race wasn't absolutely brilliant, but suggesting that Hamilton's was anything other than just as good is lunacy.

Hamilton started 2nd finshed 1st.
Webber started 18th finished 3rd.
I think that is what Ray is getting at.

Started 3rd you mean, but other than that, right, I agree – great drive.

Hamilton had one set of fresh tyres and a faster car in front of him; Webber had 4 sets of fresh tyres and a lot of slower cars in front of him. Both are great achievements.