Grand Prix 2013 Chinese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Formula 1 just got even more interesting.

After the inter-team shenanigans that unfortunately was the main talking point of the Malaysian weekend, Formula 1 returns to the concrete wilderness that is the Shanghai International Circuit in, er, Shanghai for surely the most anticipated race weekend of the season. Inevitably, the chat will be about team-mates; or more specifically the relationship (or lack of it) between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. It remains to be seen as to whether the two Red Bull drivers will kiss and make up or whether their relationship will deteriorate further. (I don't want to sound dictatorial but it would be useful if we mainly talk about the upcoming race weekend, rather than having this thread hijacked by arguments relating to the team order fiasco of the last one).

But there is much more to talk about. We can't really conclude much at the moment, as we have had two unpredicatble weekends in terms of the weather. But we can conclude that the Red Bulls are rather fast, the Lotii are rather adept at conserving their tyres, Massa has raised his game to Alonso, Mclaren may be showing green shoots of recovery, Marussia Jules Bianchi has impressed and Caterham are nowhere.
However there are still many questions to be answered. Can Red Bull maintain their pace advantage over the others? Can Mercedes win again at the scene of their first victory since the 1950's? Will Mclaren start sorting their season out? Can Marussia catch up to the midfield? Will Force India be able to carry out a pitstop in under a minute? And can Paul DiResta ever give an exciting interview? All these questions will (hopefully) be answered in just over two weeks' time.

If grey is your favourite colour, then the Chinese Grand Prix is the event for you. The expansive concrete paddock, along with the overstated grandstands, the large run-off areas and the ever-approaching city ensure that the Chinese Grand Prix is one of the more corporate events on the calendar. But at least the race can advocate the open, liberal society that is China, so that's alright. A quick word on attendance for the race - they were dwindling but the Chinese seem to have given the event a proper go which is good (for Bernie at least).

However, don't be fooled by the initial uninspiring characteristics- this event has thrown up some brilliant races. How about Nico Rosberg's maiden win last year, in which Kimi Raikkonen went from 2nd to 14th in one lap? Or the tyre-influenced drama of 2011, where Lewis Hamilton overtook Vettel for the lead with four laps to go? Throw in a couple of stonking wet races, and Lewis Hamilton's pit lane heartbreak in 2007, and you have some memorable races. All at a circuit which is flat, soulless, uninspiring and was built to look like a Chinese character (that's true by the way).

Here are these past race highlights (UK users only, although I'm sure that there are some nice videos on Youtube):
2006 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7992260.stm
2007 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7992265.stm
2009 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/8006795.stm
2010 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/8628045.stm
2011 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/13108629
2012 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17719946

It's too early for a weather forecast, although we have had sun, rain and cloud in the past so who knows what type of race we will have.
In terms of coverage, it will the the BBC's first live weekend of the year so for those of us who don't have Sky, remember to get up early!!

For superb circuit write-ups, overtaking stats and other useful stuff, there are some nice clickable buttons at the top of the page, called Race Hub and Overtaking. They won't bite.

All that remains is for me to say Ready, Steady, Discuss!

 

[teabagyokel]

F1Yorkshire - I've just been looking on Twitter. Interestingly, if they get 5 second penalties á la Valencia 2010 then Hamilton will move into 2nd position, but I don't know the full list of drivers under investigation...!

 

[sushifiesta]

Considering the sheer number of drivers involved and the fact that it's an unusual situation that couldn't normally arise if the FIA's systems were working correctly I suspect they'll get away with reprimands.

 

[Kewee]

F1Yorkshire......Probably Autosport will have it first. The Webber penalty came through as a tweet but the others may take a while. I'm in a different time zone F1Yorkshire, I'll wake up to all the drama of penalties in the morning. There will be quite a bit of film to review but if any of the drivers mentioned have passed under the yellow they will be penalized. It will be a time penalty and could reverse the positions of Kimi and Lewis but it's unlikely to have any effect on Vettel he was so far in front of Button.

 

[Kewee]

sushifiesta.....Your probably right though Martin Brundle said your meant to be taking extra care under the yellows, if you've got your DRS wing open your obviously not. They should be penalized because it's a safety ruling.

 

[Quintessentially]

Strange race to be honest but EJ called it a classic. Anyone know what he was smoking or drinking for that matter. Big up to Alonso - top drive. His new squeeze seemed very pleased.

 

[ramilas1]

Vettel was told to push, Button to defend. Who knows how many corners Seb's tyres had in them - I'd say the position at the line was definitive if Kimi and Seb weren't under investigation....

Button was told to defend before his 2nd stop, but not once he'd gone onto the new softs on lap 49 that I heard.
Would have been interesting if Vettel had pitted then, passed Lewis/Kimi, then had to defend on shot softs on a final lap.

 

[tooncheese]

Benson says the drivers who used DRS under yellows have not been punished.

 

[racecub]

Yeah I've just heard that. Sigh. I was hoping Lewis might have sneaked 2nd. I wonder why no penalties? They usually do.

 

[siffert_fan]

According to Autosport, the "DRS use" was actually a telemetry problem that was common along the entire pit lane

 

[Brogan]

Any more news on penalties yet? Where is the best place to keep an eye out for them?

The definitive list will be here: http://www.fia.com/championship/events/fia-formula-1-world-championship/2013/chinese-grand-prix

Why oh why oh why do they no longer investigate incidents during the race?
Bloody useless.

 

[Josh]

It makes sense in this case, Webber was out and the sheer number of drivers involved in the DRS use investigation made it obvious that something somewhere had gone wrong.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

At least it's all sorted now. How long until ff1 results are posted.

 

[Kewee]

There's the possibility that they decided not to apply penalties in the interests of fairness. A penalty would have cost Kimi a place but had no effect on Vettel yet they were both guilty of the same infringement.

 

[sushifiesta]

Kewee It's only a safety issue if they are using DRS on the straight leading to a corner under yellows, and still only then if the DRS fails to close, although the regulations do now state that you can't use the DRS if there are yellows anywhere.

 

[Brogan]

The results are still showing as provisional on both the FIA and F1 websites.

I won't update them until I'm absolutely sure they are finalised as there is no rollback option in the software in the event they need to be amended and any team changes reverted.

 

[Kewee]

sushifiesta......The point was made by Martin Brundle not me. He pointed out that if they have their DRS open they're trying to go faster when under the yellows they should be exercising caution.

 

[siffert_fan]

I almost forgot: KIMI!!

 

[Brogan]

Poor old Mark.

Not enough fuel in qualifying and yet another "mistake" during the race when his right rear tyre wasn't fitted correctly, despite having 12 seconds in which to do so.

Really, really "unlucky".

 

[sushifiesta]

Yep I heard that too and I'm disagreeing with him and the regulations! The drivers are only required to be cautious through the yellow flag zone, there's no reason for them to be going anything other than flat out for the rest of the lap - that's the point of yellow flags as opposed to a red flag or safety car.

They changed the regulations last year because of Schumacher using DRS leading up to a yellow flag zone if I recall correctly, but I think it's a bit stupid. If the yellow flag is on the straight then ok maybe disable DRS, but otherwise DRS has no bearing whatsoever on normal yellow flag rules through a corner, i.e. single file, no overtaking, be prepared to take avoiding action. The only time DRS would effect this is if it fails, but the same can be said for any other part of the car and how often have we seen DRS fail? Less often than we have seen wheels come off recently I would wager and that would be much more detrimental to behaving correctly in a yellow flag zone!

 

[GeoffP]

Button was told to defend before his 2nd stop, but not once he'd gone onto the new softs on lap 49 that I heard.

The radio message I heard was just after he had finished his third blue sector, so could have been why he dropped off so much, then again, with the delays could have been from Brazil.... So - no idea for sure why Button's speed dropped off so much