Grand Prix 2019 Chinese Grand Prix (1000th GP) Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

It has fallen to me to put together the PQR thread for the 1000th GP.

How to celebrate this historical moment? A reflective thread? An historical thread? A look back in to Chinese history with a tenuous link to F1 in some shape or other? Nah, lets do some F1 by numbers:

1 – Number of constructor’s championship titles won by Vanwall, the first team to win the trophy when it was introduced in 1958.

2 – Number of Formula One races entered by Bernie Ecclestone. He failed to qualify for either

3 – Lowest number of race wins in a career by a driver to have won the world championship (Phil Hill and Mike Hawthorn)

5 – Number of female drivers to have entered at least 1 GP

7 – Number of teams to have won a single F1 world championship race in their racing history.

8 – Lowest total number of wins by a team to have won the world constructors title since its introduction in 1958 (Brawn GP)

9 – Most wins by a team never to have won the world constructors title since its introduction in 1958 (Ligier)

10 – The number of drivers who won 2 races in the 1959, 1961 and 1982 seasons the only seasons where no driver won more than 2 races.

11 – Number of racing laps completed by Andrea Moda during their entire racing history

15 – The most poles set by one driver in a single season (Sebastian Vettel in 2011)

16 – Highest number of race wins by a driver to have never won the world championship (Stirling Moss)

22 – Furthest position back on the grid from which a driver has won the race (John Watson)

31 – The number of teams listed as Formula One entrants but only ever entered the Indy 500 which was part of the F1 World Championship from 1950 until 1960.

32 – Highest number of GP wins by a countries only GP winner (Spain – Fernando Alonso)

68 – Highest number of F1 Championship races held by a single venue (Monza)

69 – The joint position of the 31 drivers who have taken just 1 pole in their careers in a league table of Drivers to start from pole. Charles Leclerc being the latest to join that list.

71 – The total number of circuits to host a championship Grand Prix

76 – The total number of drivers to have won a Formula one championship GP

100 – Percent of races won in a season in 1969 and 1973 by Ford Engines. The only time a single engine maker has won every race in a season

130 – Number of races it took for Mark Webber to win one

214 – Number of races Andrea De Cesaris took to not win any

278 – The highest number of race wins by drivers from a single country (United Kingdom)

322 – Highest number of starts by a single driver (Rubens Barrichello)

417 – The number of times an F1 race has been won from pole

974 – Number of race entries by Ferrari (with 972 starts)

Enjoy the 1000th Race.

 

[F1Brits_90]

what a brilliant end to qualifying, huge credit to bottas brilliant lap im sure he looking forward to Spain & Canada. as he seemingly is amazing in the odd numbered races. but as great performance as that was from bottas I was shocked that lewis didnt take Pole. because -0.067 then -0.107 & so to see 2nd as he crossed the line was disbelief, I can only think that unlike Q2 he took too much ot of the rears in the 1st sector but to lose 2 tenths in that final sector is massive

Vettel & Leclerc look bang equal, only 0.017 & Leclerc says that he had a poor lap, I feel for Verstappen as he says he got punished for being respectful to his fellow drivers & staying in the queue. when he says he had plenty of opportunity to do what vettel did. Gasly is improving which is good he is finally back in the top 6 but he will have to close that 8 tenths gap because if he wants a 2nd season. on improvement thread Kubica looking like he settling in which is nice. & finally any idea why haas didnt in Q3 as it cant be to save or choose tyres

 

[cider_and_toast]

Always enjoy seeing your flaw chart olegg.

No one managed to hook up the perfect lap this time but Hamilton's .4 of a second off suggests there is a lot more to come this weekend.

 

[sobriety]

Unless he nails the start and buggers off into the distance...

 

[Ruslan]

Interesting. Lewis on his first run in Q3 took it easier (and slower) through the first two-thirds and made up time on Bottas in the last third (but not enough). In his second run he was quicker than Bottas in the first two sectors and still ended up behind him. So I gather Hamilton took two different strategies on his qualifying run and neither worked. The race will be interesting.

The question is.....why is Mercedes faster than Ferrari by 0.3 seconds? Isn't this a track that favors Ferrari because they supposedly have a little more speed down the two long straights?

 

[Ruslan]

Well, here is what I am seeing so far: Leclerc's time compared to Vettel

FP1: -.036
FP2: -.281
FP3: -.193
FP1: +.263 (Leclerc ahead of Vettel)
FP2: -.035
FP3: +.169 (Leclerc ahead of Vettel)
FP1: - .256
FP2: - .801

Obviously Leclerc has had a great weekend at Bahrain, and Vettel did not, but you wonder if Vettel does not still have an overall speed advantage. We will know more tomorrow.

I still think Vettel has a speed advantage over Leclerc. FP3 is was 0.026. In Q1 it was 0.155, in Q2 it was 0.092 and in Q3 it was only 0.017.

The question is whether Vettel will be able to maintain that edge throughout the season.

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

I have noticed that Verstappen has been quite vocal about the fact that other cars passed him on the outlap in Q3 despite the gentleman agreement between the drivers not to overtake each other on the out lap, the problem is that if the guy setting the pace behaves in a not very gentlemanlike fashion the others are stuck. In another era someone would have had a word or two with Lewis Hamilton, I find his behaviour in such situation extremely unsporty, mind you he's always been doing this so the others should know better and pass him.

Having said that I think that it's really bad that the RBRs and the two Haas were prevented from having a go at the end of Q3

 

[vintly]

According to Vettel in the press conference afterwards, he was given the hurry-up by his team on the last Q3 out-lap, because he was at the back of the queue and close to not making the start-finish line in time for his flying lap. So he started the overtaking game, and I guess he felt he had to. Perhaps the other teams should have been wiser to what might happen.

 

[Titch]

I can’t say that a Mercedes on pole fills me with delight. I have this strong gut feeling that I should stay in bed in the morning.

 

[220]

Always enjoy seeing your flaw chart olegg.

No one managed to hook up the perfect lap this time but Hamilton's .4 of a second off suggests there is a lot more to come this weekend.

Yep interesting chart I enjoy it as well.

Im not sure a perfect lap was possible, it seems the soft tyre couldnt survive a full lap at 100%. Drivers had to make the choice between going hard in the first half and dropping time in the final sector or going a little easier on it at the start of the lap to come home stronger in the final sector.

Im happy to see both Renaults on the 4th row, I think their race pace will be closer to the top 3 than in quali. Not close enough to challenge on outright pace but starting on the soft with most of those in front on mediums a good start could see them mixing it with them for the first few laps.

 

[Titch]

Why is my iPad warning me that the CTA forum is not secure? It doesn’t normally do that.

 

[olegg]

Why is my iPad warning me that the CTA forum is not secure? It doesn’t normally do that.

it is settings of your browser on to http-protocol which is used on the CTA

 

[Titch]

Yes . Thanks olegg . My latest update just explained unless a site is HTTPS it will be declared non secure..

 

[Brogan]

OT: I understand the concern.

The site currently uses HTTP rather than HTTPS, which is the secure version of the protocol.

There is a big push get sites to switch to HTTPS but to be frank, it has no relevance on pissant forums such as this.
Who cares if someone somehow manages to intercept your post (which is actually totally unrealistic and very unlikely to happen).

Having said that, I do intend to update the site (eventually).

 

[Greenlantern101]

Race chat anyone. Chat | Clip The Apex

 

[Titch]

Thanks Brogan . Once I realised why I was getting the message, I was no longer concerned. As you say, do I care if someone hacks my post on CTA. No

 

[Titch]

As for the race ........... normal service has been resumed.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Recorded the race.

Watched the start and first few laps.

Used the fast forward button.

Watched the whole race in about 20 minutes.

Lando and Danny K failing to finish has not helped my Fantasy Team.

Other than that......

 

[F1Brits_90]

dreadful race thought about watching before work but glad i waited til tonight & watched it together with my dad as usual. because was worth getting up. only gave it 3 on that thread. because of the midfield action & that verstappen lunge which was exiting. but we always knew that 1000th gp in Shanghai would be an anti climax. 2018 was dreadful until the safety car. result never in doubt & nearest challengers ferrari living up to their reputation of destroying their from the inside. leclerc didnt finish that far behind on vettel on pace but because of dreadful strategy. i really dont understand what they were trying because told leclerc to save tyres then told him to move aside because he was going too slow

i thought the Kyvat penalty was very harsh that looked like a unlucky coming together on a opening lap no one at fault. Sainz was squeezed, Norris on the kerb wobbling & Kyvat on the inside & gasly he is improving ill give him that he gone midfield & he's in the top 6 where we all expect a red bull to be. not fighting the toro rossos but 8 tenths off in qualifying & over a minute (but more 40secs with extra pitstop) in the race with the same machinery wont be tolerated for long. espically as he didnt come into that seat in a strong position. more because of the young driver drought. i highly doubt they would change mid season but if he wants a 2nd season then he will have to prove he can challenge verstappen

 

[BradMan]

Recorded the race.

Watched the start and first few laps.

Used the fast forward button.

Watched the whole race in about 20 minutes.

Lando and Danny K failing to finish has not helped my Fantasy Team.

Other than that......

lol

 

[F1Brits_90]

also just finished the notebook. ted kravitz having chat with forgien guy working for fox potenially Brazilian or Mexican going to white line that bottas is complaining about & shouting "diego it is quite grippy"

thats my highlight of the weekend