Grand Prix 2011 Chinese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So on to China, with the teams only having a few days rest after Malaysia. Last year Red Bull dominated qualifying with Christian Horner describing Vettel’s pole lap as “phenomenal”.

Come the race, however, changeable weather caught out both the Red Bull drivers and Lewis Hamilton as they pitted early expecting heavy rain. This left Jenson Button, who chose not to go in for inters, in the lead and he, along with Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica who also stayed out on slicks, showed that it’s all about being on the right tyres at the right time.

The race should also be remembered for what looked like an astonishing start from Fernando Alonso. I watched it in an Italian hotel and the crowd literally went wild, only for the assembled throng to mope to the bar a few minutes later as Alonso was given a drive through penalty for jumping the start.

Button’s more mature tyre strategy won him the race, although he was under pressure late on from Hamilton, and the team scored their first 1-2 since Monza 2007 with Rosberg taking third for Mercedes.

2011 has been a Red Bull Fest, or perhaps more accurately a Vettel Fest, so far with the young German taking pole and race wins in the first two Grands Prix whilst his team mate has struggled with various car problems and, might I postulate, some psychological scarring from last season. McLaren are much closer than pre-season testing indicated they would be and Renault have surprised everyone with 3rd spot at both races and an ability to get off the start line reminiscent of the Benetton launch control system.

Ferrari are nowhere near where they feel they should and there will be many tired faces in their pit garage as managers and engineers flit backwards and forwards between Europe and the Far East trying to understand what is going on. Similarly Mercedes are still not even close to where they expect to be whilst Sauber and Force India are looking good for minor placings, dicing with the Toro Rosso’s.

Toward the back, Williams (it hurts me to say) look to have taken 1 step forward and 2 back with their new car and are now competing with Team Lotus to be the best of the worst. Virgin appear not to have moved any further forward compared to 2010 and HRT, despite no pre-season testing, look to have a car which, once a bit more sorted, might get ahead of them. I suppose the question there is can they sort the car?

Oh, I nearly forgot tyres. 55 pit stops in Malaysia, more marbles than a game of KerPlunk and rubber wearing out faster than Russell Brand’s bed sheets. No sign of the wet tyres yet, will Shanghai throw us a surprise (sorry, had to slip that in)

For Galahad's excellent circuit write-up, see here: http://cliptheapex.com/pages/shanghai-international-circuit/
 
Drivers are allowed to cross that white line if it's still technically in the pitlane i.e before the white line that cuts across the track.
I thought perhaps it was that - but doesn't that raise the question of why there are two lines at the same point on the track?
 
Well done to HRT in general, both made it to the flag, they are proving a lot of people wrong, (me included). They really do need investment though.
 
As no-one else has said it, Well done to Karithkeyan for a one-stopper.
I believe I did give a mention somewhere to both HRT's for finishing, but I hadn't realised that Karthikeyan had one-stopped. That's quite a feat if he did, but one would have to wonder why, given that three stops seems to have been the optimum strategy.
 
Its more about the driver than the car as it doesn't matter if you have the best car if you destroy the tyres within 5 laps, its about finding the medium of pace and preservation which Hamilton found today, without compromising on track battling.
 
Oh, just thought I'd mention Vettel's start.
Perhaps now he'll focus on just driving straight towards the first corner, instead of trying to chop not one, but two cars.
 
I thought it was quite dangerous from Vettel again. He is becoming Schumacher-esque in his desperate attempts to keep people behind.
 
Its more about the driver than the car as it doesn't matter if you have the best car if you destroy the tyres within 5 laps, its about finding the medium of pace and preservation which Hamilton found today, without compromising on track battling.

Hmm...i see your point, but the fastest car is still more likely to win than the driver who takes care of his tyres the best. Otherwise Karithkeyan would've won.
 
The thing is, there wasn't any crashes, no mechanical issues, no spins (pretty much) and no rain with only 1 retirement. We have finally got to a situation now where we don't need rain or anything like that to provide excitement, (which will hopefully put the sprinkler farce to bed)
 
I believe I did give a mention somewhere to both HRT's for finishing, but I hadn't realised that Karthikeyan had one-stopped. That's quite a feat if he did, but one would have to wonder why, given that three stops seems to have been the optimum strategy.

Maybe HRT are selling their un-used tyres back to Pirelli?
 
Today, for me, had something of that edge-of-the-seat excitement; both with Lewis passing Button, Rosberg and Massa then chasing down Vettel, and with Mark Webber storming through from the back to chase down Button for a podium place. A thrilling, rather than confusing, race.

Completely agree. I really can't understand anyone who wasn't thrilled by that race. Best dry race i can remember. It was better than Canada last year, which was the model for what they wanted this season.
 
I had a bit of a lie in this morning and missed most of the pre-race magazine show so I'll watch that later.
I still don't know what the issue was with Hamilton before the race, although I understand he was lucky to make it to the grid just in time?
 
He made it by 36 seconds and with some of the aero covering not on. It was a fuel leak which flooded the rear of the car.
 
I had a bit of a lie in this morning and missed most of the pre-race magazine show so I'll watch that later.
I still don't know what the issue was with Hamilton before the race, although I understand he was lucky to make it to the grid just in time?
Are you kidding?
They had flooded the engine and couldn't start his car. With two minutes left before the grid closed they still had the engine cover and airbox off in the garage and were mopping out fuel from the car with huge rolls of tissue paper. Hamilton left the garage with 35 seconds to spare, still without the top engine cover on, and they finished off putting the car back together on the grid. 36 seconds longer in the garage and he would have been starting from the pitlane.
 
I missed quite a bit of drama then - something to look forward to later, although it won't be half as exciting knowing he makes it :D
 
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