Grand Prix 2014 Chinese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Ni hao!!

Welcome to the discussion for the 11th running of the Chinese Grand Prix, in 'Shanghai' (i.e. the middle of nowhere). The imposing circuit, with its 200,000 capacity grandstands, stand tall and large in the middle of marshland. Unfortunately, there is very little danger of anything like 200,000 people entering the circuit (despite whatever the Chinese government claims!!) This was the scene of Nico Rosberg's win in the Mercedes in 2012, and, given the form of the Silver Arrows this season, who says that the team can't repeat that feat?

As I'm sure you all know by now, thanks to previous Chinese discussion threads, the circuit, designed by Hermann Tilke, was created in the shape of the Chinese symbol 'shang', which means up/above/on top of. Whilst the circuit may not be the most thrilling in the world, it does often produce great races, mainly down to its tight hairpin preceded by a 1km long straight at the end of the lap. Most notable of these was perhaps in 2007, where Lewis Hamilton's title hopes were postponed and eventually crushed in the Chinese gravel in the pit lane.

After the thriller in the Bahraini desert, the pressure will be on the F1 circus to continue to provide the thrills and spills for the Chinese Grand Prix. With the teams sure to be closely matched (apart from the Mercs, obviously), there is little to suggest that it won't be a competitive event, with many questions to be answered. Will the team-mate grudges continue? Will Maldonado stop driving like a nutter? Will a Sauber finish the race? And, most importantly, will Chilton not finish last?

All that remains for me to say is..... Ready, Steady, Discuss!!!
 
It seems to me a procedural issue and FIA need to tighten up processes behind the scenes. You can imagine a driver pulling off a last gasp overtake after the flag has been erroneously waved only for it to be discounted. The results should align with the right race distance.
 
It would be even more unfair, however, for a driver to lose points after being effectively told by the FIA that he'd won. As Giancarlo Fisichella will tell you ;), a race can be stopped and not restarted at any time. It'd be better to run for 56 laps, but Hamilton finishing 10th because his race stopped on lap 55 would be all the more unjust.
 
I think the only other previous instance I can think of was the 1985 British GP when the flag was waved a lap too early and on that occasion it did prove costly. Laffite was third but ran out of fuel on the last lap. Another driver, can't remember who, should therefore have taken third but since the checkered flag had been waved Jacques kept his podium and the other guy missed out.
 
There have been a few instances of races not ending correctly:
  • 1985, Great Britain - The race was stopped 1 lap early on lap 65 in error.
  • 1991, Australia - The race was stopped as Ayrton Senna started lap 17. The race officials decided to count back to lap 14 despite the 1991 ruling that early race stoppages should have been counted back 1 lap. If the results had been taken from lap 16 then the order would have been: Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Gianni Morbidelli, Andrea de Cesaris, Alessandro Zanardi and Stefano Modena.
  • 1995, Canada - The race was stopped 1 lap early on lap 68 due to a circuit invasion.
  • 2002, Brazil - Footballer Pelé waved the chequered flag too soon technically making Takuma Sato the race winner, despite being 1 lap behind the leader. When Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line, Pelé was talking to someone and forgot to wave it again.
 
article-2608780-1D37079200000578-49_634x417.jpg
 
Last edited:
Anytime that Lewis is comfortably leading a race for me is hardly a snooze fest or boring, because of the potential problem of mechanical failure rearing up it's ugly head. This win at China is all good for me, and adds to the reasonable chance of Lewis securing his second WDC this season
 
Well I'm glad it was Easter Sunday. Watch the race (dull) early. Then have a really fun day looking for Easter Bunny eggs, and making up rubbish stories for small people. It made the boredom of the race , just fade away.
But I do hope that the next race is more exciting.
 
Can we rename this thread the "2014 Chinese Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Parade Discussion"?

On a serious note why no Oxford comma? Not really needed but it never hurt anybody.
 
On a serious note why no Oxford comma? Not really needed but it never hurt anybody.

The Oxford comma would not be required in this case anyway as it is not a paired list.

For example.

These items are available in black and white, red and yellow, and blue and green.

The comma is used before the second to last "and" to give the list of pairs a clearer meaning but even then it is hardly ever used...
 
Last edited:
I loved Seb's response to the pit wall. Nobody wants to see a 4X WDC regularly shuffling aside for a teammate. And I think he just got out wide into the marbles and had no choice at that point but to cede position.

The Shanghai International Circuit was suited perfectly for the Mercedes engined teams to exploit their advantage. Having a Km straight like that was basically a second per lap gift. The Red Bull's were the only cars under 300 Km/h in qualifying, and were still the second fastest cars of the meeting.

Sepang also features the longest straights on the F1 calendar, so there are better days ahead for RBR.
 
Back
Top Bottom