Grand Prix 2012 Chinese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Racking up the air miles now

Going into the third race of the 2012 season and it is still unclear where everyone lies in true race pace over a normal dry race without the intervention of a safety car apart from that McLaren have done the best job of the teams with Red Bull and Mercedes not too far apart but Mercedes seem to be struggling with higher levels of tyre degradation compared to the other front runners.

Despite all the highly publicised problems at Ferrari, Fernando Alonso currently leads the Championship after a 5th place in Australia and an against the odds victory in Malaysia where the rain early on managed to put Alonso in the lead when the others struggled. However this doesn't mean things are rosy in Maranello as when the track dried up Alonso started to fall back and was being hunted down by none other than Sergio Perez in the Sauber who was closing in rapidly on the Spaniard only to make a minor mistake with a couple of laps to go which ruined his chances of a maiden victory, but he was understandably delighted to finish in second place. Lewis Hamilton showed that he is a more rounded driver than he was in 2011 with a second consecutive third place showing he has the maturity to make the best of a bad job when circumstances were against him when he was caught out by the pit stops (like he was in Australia) to not make any mistakes and bring the car home in third place for 15 points which could be crucial at the end of the season.

On the other hand, team mate Jenson Button had a characteristically poor race after running second early on, but after outbraking himself he broke his front wing trying to overtake an HRT who was running there on position after an early gamble for wets paid off as when the red flag fell, Narain was running in 10th place which shocked fans worldwide. The red flag was also (im)famous for the introduction of gazebos all down the grid, something previously pioneered by Mercedes in Canada last season.

2012 has seen (so far) probably one of the most competitive midfields in many seasons with Force India, Sauber, Williams and Toro Rosso all pushing the top teams for points and Sauber have already claimed a podium through Perez and it could be said that on pure one lap pace, most of these teams are as quick as if not faster than Ferrari, certainly faster than Felipe Massa who is really coming under pressure for his seat after 2 mediocre performances so far while Alonso continued to drag the car to places where it shouldn't really be.

Looking ahead to China and it has been a track which has favoured McLaren in recent years with Lewis Hamilton winning in 2008 and 2011 and Jenson Button winning in the rain affected 2010 race. Hamilton should have won in 2007 but famously threw it away in the pitlane after running wide on very used tyres when he was in a position to win the Championship, something with now Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen took advantage of to win the race and eventually steal the Championship in Brazil.

China will also be an importunity to be the first true comparison of Sky and BBC as it is the first race that will be shown live on BBC and it will certainly be very interesting to see where the two broadcasters shape up over a full race weekend and it will show to people in their own minds which one is better and it is pretty clear that it certainly won't be a clear cut thing and will be down more to personal preference than the overall package compared to the other.

For Galahad's brilliant circuit write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/shanghai-international-circuit/

 

[Il_leone]

If Alonso was in the Williams which finished 7th and 8th based on what he can d0with the Ferrari he would in the top 6 at most weekends probably battling for 3rd spot with his relentless pace but the wins are out of reach

 

[tranquility2k9]

I think all analysis after the race has showed the harder prime tyre was the best tyre to be on for raw speed and degradation. McLaren put the soft tyre on both their cars for the 2nd stint when almost everyone else was on hard (In-fact only 4 other cars, 2 being HRT put on soft tyres for the 2nd stint). I think this cost them a little potentially. On lap 20 they were in 2nd and 3rd place, with a 4 and 6 second gap to Nico respectively. However, they then pitted again on laps 24 and 22 as the soft was never going to last that much longer and they'd realised the prime was a better tyre to be on by then. This put them out into traffic, when if they'd had the prime on for the 2nd stint they'd of been able to stay out on it longer, pull a larger gap and probably get back out into relatively clean air. I'm not sure if McLaren had the pace of Nico, but on the prime they were very quick at times when in clean air.

I saw a few things said about Alonso and him saying he could have been at least 6th. He is actually completely right, when he was in clean air today he was one of the quickest on circuit. For example, between lap 33 - 35 he gained 5 seconds on Hamilton, because Hamilton was stuck behind Perez. BUT, when Perez pitted, the following 2 laps in clear air Hamilton did a 1.41.5 and a 1.41.7. Alonso did a 1.41.9 and 1.41.7. Admittedly, Hamilton's tyres were 5 laps older, but they weren't showing signs of degradation. At this point in time Jenson was in the lead in clean air and did a 1.42.0 and 1.41.8 on tyres 2 laps newer than Hamilton. So this showed 2 things, that Alonso had very solid pace and Hamilton on that 2nd stint, even though he had much more traffic, kept his tyres in better condition than Jenson. This kind of goes against Ted Kravitz's random comments in his Notebook video where he says Hamilton was using his tyres more than Jenson again - which I was really surprised to hear as in this race it didn't appear so at all, he just had more traffic. Anyway back to the original point of Alonso - if he'd of been able to make a few more passing moves and crucially not had that off the track moment then he'd of been in 6th no doubt. He was right behind Hamilton on that last stint remember until he went off track. I think track position was king today, or at least it was much more important than anticipated and overtaking much more difficult. If those guys who went for a long final stint would have kept their tyres in for another 4 or 5 laps then the podium could have been completely different.

My favorite moment of the race has to be Alonso sandwiched with a car either side of him all going for it into turn 1 or the 2 Saubers going hell for leather at the end of the back straight with another 2 cars very close to them! Crazy but brilliant.

Ref:-
http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Documents/chn-race-history.pdf
http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Documents/chn-race-analysis.pdf

 

[soccerman17]

If Alonso was in the Williams which finished 7th and 8th based on what he can d0with the Ferrari he would in the top 6 at most weekends probably battling for 3rd spot with his relentless pace but the wins are out of reach

The way this season is going I wouldn't say a win is out of reach for anybody. Except HRT. They dont count.

 

[Il_leone]

The Williams is not quite fast enough to be a race winner but on a good day could snatch a podium

yes this season could be tight with so many teams fighting for the victory judging by quali

I don;t think HRT and Marussia can win at the the mioment

 

[RasputinLives]

I don;t think HRT and Marussia can win at the the mioment

I'm pretty sure you'd be happy to be proved wrong though. What a race that would be!

 

[ExtremeNinja]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17718482

Awesome little threeway battle.

 

[Jos the Boss]

I still think that's an unsafe release, because had Mclaren released Hamilton into the path on Massa at Malaysia they would probably have got a penalty so what's the difference?

 

[Slyboogy]

Not been here since Saturday, but my thoughts on the race:

It was quite boring from lap 10 to lap 40, processional, not much happening. But got very exciting towards the end.

If Schumacher didn't have the bad pitstop, I do think it would have been a Mercedes 1-2, and it would have been great if it was, for the sport, the team, and the drivers. I'm quite glad Mercedes have won a race, especially when it seemed as if they were on the backfoot, I just hope that they become regular contenders and don't do a BMW, was very disappoiinted when BMW pulled out.

Anyway, Barbie (Rosberg) was great, did he get let off the hook? Who knows. Amazing qualifying lap, but his heart was probably in his mouth when he went off the track losing several seconds while his team-mate was on his out-lap with a fresh set. Very camp how he got out of the car at the end

Button had an electric start, with all the problems he should be happy with 2nd. Same goes for Hamilton who did really well, but what puzzled me, was Alonso, right up there, on Hamilton's gearbox in and out of the pits, then goes and fiinishes in 9th.

I think it was a shame for how Raikkonen's race went, he was right up there, but Lotus's pitstops and strategies have cost the team several points again. I thought he raced really well.

Vettel had a good recovery, from 15th to 5th, like Raikkonen he did well too on worn tyres.

Fair dinkum (Webber) is just anonymous and getting the job done, but I love how he was trying to take off again

Both Sauber's where poor along with Force India's. I think Perez is like Maldonado, he's quite dangerous, I remember Rosberg mentioning this recently, and I still think he was a bit too aggressive with his jink towards Schumacher in Singapore.

Williams are doing well, that car is seriously quick, whether it's because it's two young drivers trying to prove something, or because it's just damn fast, and could be faster with a better driver, we just don't know due to their line up.

It's good to see Mercedes on the top step