Edax wrote:Interesting race. It is strange to see everyone happy because mercedes "lost" including Mercedes themselves.
I agree that the special conditions and the SC flatter the situation a bit, I don't believe Ferrari is there yet. I also wonder whether Mercedes strategy was really aimed at winning the race or that quickly they switched to a more conservative one aimed at securing 2nd and 3rd. If they really wanted to win, they would have switched to the softs at the end. The risk was small, if they would not have made it to the end they could have gotten away with an extra pitstop. They had 53 seconds on 4th place.
But it is clear that Ferrari has made a big step forwards and will keep Mercedes honest.
Big losers today are Red Bull and Mclaren.
- For Red Bull I think that all hopes of regulation changes are out of the window, without the support of Ferrari.
- For Mclaren it is quite sad to see. Last year they we're complaining that they did not belong fighting in the midfield. Now they are celebrating that they were gaining on the rear of the midfield.
On the drivers side I am wondering what this is going to mean for Rosberg/Hamilton. So far Mercedes has been cultivating the story that both drivers are equal. But that is easy said when you are miles ahead of everyone else. I wonder whether that still holds when the competition starts pushing.
I disagree with your opinion that McLaren are the biggest loser's from today's grand prix. Firstly yes I know they didn't finish but the circuit temp here is probably the hottest they will encounter all season? also remember this is only there second grand prix and effectively team are still testing the car to make it more competitive. For me Alonso was in the top 10 before he retired so that is positive that car show's good race pace and also Button was on the verge of breaking into the top 10.
Overall a double DNF doesn't look good to anyone, however the team are still learning and the team have another race distance with Alonso and Button's Lap's together. When you look at how much McLaren have gained between Australia and sepang the team has done a good job imo. I think most people have cut the team some slack, this is going to take time but improvement will come thick and fast.