Grand Prix Rejects

Chinese GP less than 5 days away!
The Shanghai track has a tendency to producing exciting, topsy-turvy races, through weather, the circuit itself (think of the drain-gratings...), teams going for various strategies and the nature of the circuit suiting a specific team, Mercedes being the case arguably since 2010, although China didn't turn out to be their strongest track last year.
Mercedes are looking to make it 4-in-a-row, the other Mercedes teams will be hoping to put a giant-killing result on the board, namely Williams and McLaren, and Red Bull and Ferrari need to do the same or they're out of contention already. Although many are noising that the Prancing Horse is out of it already.
Anyway, looking forward to it, the race won't let F1 down!

If the Mercedes-powered cars are more powerful as some suggest, then teams like Force India, McLaren and Williams could be fighting for the podium.

andrew2209 wrote:If the Mercedes-powered cars are more powerful as some suggest, then teams like Force India, McLaren and Williams could be fighting for the podium.

I think that's been evident since Australia mate

Now I won't be able to watch this live because I'm on holiday starting from Saturday but I'll make posts and observations as soon as I get back.

What I can do now is post some stats ahead of the weekend

Drivers

Wins
Alonso 2
Hamilton 2
Rosberg 1
Vettel 1
Button 1
Raikkonen 1
M Schumacher 1
Barrichello 1

Pole Positions
Hamilton 3
Vettel 3
Alonso 2
Barrichello 1
Rosberg 1

Fastest Laps
Hamilton 2
M Schumacher 1
Webber 1
Massa 1
Raikkonen 1
Alonso 1
Vettel 1
Kobayashi 1
Barrichello 1

Podiums
Hamilton 5 (2 1 2)
Raikkonen 5 (1 2 2)
Alonso 4 (2 2 0)
Button 4 (1 2 1)
Vettel 2 (1 1 0)
Rosberg 2 (1 0 1)
Massa 2 (0 1 1)
Webber 2 (0 1 1)
Barrichello 1 (1 0 0)
M Schumacher 1 (1 0 0)
R Schumacher 1 (0 0 1)
Fisichella 1 (0 0 1)

Teams
Wins
Ferrari 4
Mclaren 3
Red Bull 1
Mercedes 1
Renault 1

Pole Positions
Red Bull 3
Renault 2
Mclaren 2
Mercedes 2
Ferrari 1

Fastest Laps
Mclaren 3
Ferrari 2
Red Bull 2
Renault 1
Brawn GP 1
Sauber 1

Podiums
Mclaren 9 (3 4 2)
Ferrari 7 (4 1 2)
Red Bull 4 (1 2 1)
Renault 3 (1 1 1)
Mercedes 3 (1 0 2)
BAR 1 (0 1 0)
Lotus 1 (0 1 0)
Toyota 1 (0 0 1)
Brawn GP 1 (0 0 1)

Good. A race I won't be absent from watching live and following on Mibbit.

I'm hyped for the race. I think the new regs and Shanghai will get on very well. And I'm excited to see the cars going close to 340 km/h on the straight. If they mamage to get close, that's faster than last year's cars at Monza considering downforce levels here are more than Monza for sure. Possibly time to compare speedtrap times again.

I wonder what Jean Todt thinks of the massages in Shanghai's traditional spas? He appears not to have spoken on the subject for some reason.

Chinese time:

Fri 18 April 2014
Practice 1 10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2 14:00 - 15:30

Sat 19 April 2014
Practice 3 11:00 - 12:00
Qualifying 14:00

Sun 20 April 2014
Race 15:00

UK time:

Fri 18 April 2014
Practice 1 03:00 - 04:30
Practice 2 07:00 - 08:30

Sat 19 April 2014
Practice 3 04:00 - 05:00
Qualifying 07:00
BBC Qualifying Highlights 13:15 - 14:30

Sun 20 April 2014
Race 08:00
BBC Race Highlights 14:30 - 16:30

No-one appears to be giving Ma Qing Hua an FP1 drive this time. What's the point of coming here if no-one is gonna give Ma Qing Hua an FP1 drive?

GwilymJJames wrote:No-one appears to be giving Ma Qing Hua an FP1 drive this time. What's the point of coming here if no-one is gonna give Ma Qing Hua an FP1 drive?

That will be difficult since he will be at Paul Ricard on Friday.

FIA press conference schedule - China
Thursday, April 17, 1500 hours local time (0700 GMT)
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes),
Sergio Perez (Force India), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Adrian Sutil (Sauber)

uh-oh!

Jocke1 wrote:

FIA press conference schedule - China
Thursday, April 17, 1500 hours local time (0700 GMT)
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes),
Sergio Perez (Force India), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Adrian Sutil (Sauber)

uh-oh!

Such a coincidence, I think not!!

smile lewis, smile


taken from
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/13320406


hootie

"Yeah, my names Lewis Hamilton, Im kind of a big deal....."

Sutil aggravated: "Can we get on with this, please?"
Perez sighs: "pshh..Nando, you dork."
Gutierrez ponders: "I wonder what would happen if I take that dorks phone and smash it against the wall?"
Ricciardo chants: "mmmmm..no penalties..mmmmmmm..this weekend...mmmmmmmm......"
Hamilton thinks: "U fo real, Bro? Check ma bling."
Alonso whispers: "Get out of the way, Lewis you fool, I'm trying to photo that hot press officer over there."

_________________________________________________


Was I the only one who felt that the first ten minutes of the press conference was like being in a classroom?
Sutil was trying to talk to a reporter while Perez & Gutierrez and Hamilton & Alonso were chit-chating
amongst themselves quite loudly, and for quite a long time.
Adrian tried to get Perez to calm down, but he and Gutierrez continued on anyway.


So someone had to walk over there and physically tell the boys to shut it.


Following this Perez and Gutierrez sat like choir boys, and Hamilton & Alonso tried to look as innocent as they could


I'm sure it must have felt like they were back at school again.

I'm the only who agree with Pastor? http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113501

Despite some very interesting, long corners, the fact that this circuit has a ma-hoo-sive straight means that the Mercedes cars are going to have a big advantage round there and the Ferrari cars will probably struggle. I'm interested to see if the Mercedes cars have such a big advantage at the non-Tilke circuits as that's when I imagine the Red Bulls will come into play and perhaps start challenging for wins.

Dj_bereta wrote:I'm the only who agree with Pastor? http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113501

Well, I don't think the fear is justified. The awful 2008 stewarding decisions didn't hamper racing so I doubt this reasonably reasonable system will manage to do it. In the end, part of racing is not crashing into other people and therefore I think a Formula One driver can be expected to manage that. Anyone who lets the fear of a penalty stop him (or her, for that matter) from overtaking someone has not the mental strength I as a team owner would demand from a driver and henceforth has no business in F1.

Klon wrote:In the end, part of racing is not crashing into other people and therefore I think a Formula One driver can be expected to manage that.

So blindingly obvious, and yet seemingly a radical concept for some. Well said.

It's a pattern of F1 drivers: complain about penalties when they are handed to you while demanding that penalties be handed to other drivers.

eytl wrote:

Klon wrote:In the end, part of racing is not crashing into other people and therefore I think a Formula One driver can be expected to manage that.

So blindingly obvious, and yet seemingly a radical concept for some. Well said.

Racing incidents are one thing, but the expectation that certain drivers should get more latitude because they will insist on pushing through and others on the track should just know to get out of the way (whether it's Maldonaldo at Bahrain in 2014 or Senna at Suzuka in 1990) because that is somehow more exciting driving is completely beyond me.

Looking at those pictures, Nando can safely look into the Mirror that previously belonged to Snow White's stepmother.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall (or sidepod, anyway)

WHO HAS THE BIGGEST HEAD OF THEM ALL? "

Maldonado just did a Hamilton at the pit entry

And into the pitlane... AAAAUGGGGGGGH... Maldonado! I have seen that once before!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF7B6oT ... e=youtu.be here's a video of the accident

"I crash"
"Oh... okay."

Best team radio ever.

Shizuka wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF7B6oTbwnQ&feature=youtu.be here's a video of the accident

I'm kind of surprised that, given how tight the entrance to the pit lane is and the fact we've had several wet races over the years, there haven't been more instances of drivers going into the barriers there.

Enforcer wrote:"I crash"
"Oh... okay."

Best team radio ever.

I think at this point the pitwall registers more surprise when he doesn't.

LionZoo wrote:And into the pitlane... AAAAUGGGGGGGH... Maldonado! I have seen that once before!

I see what you did there.

At least he's willing to take the blame this time! http://en.espnf1.com/china/motorsport/story/154667.html

This was also funny: "There was also an incident in FP1, where Maldonado spun off the track while he was adjusting buttons his steering wheel. Maldonado admitted he simply had "too much to do" on his outlap and simply took his eyes off the road, but seemed reluctant to dwell on either incident."

I'm looking forward to more Maldonad'oh this season!

Enforcer wrote:"I crash"
"Oh... okay."

Best team radio ever.

Agreed. Less is more sometimes.

Maldona DOH!!!!!

LionZoo wrote:"There was also an incident in FP1, where Maldonado spun off the track while he was adjusting buttons on his steering wheel. Maldonado admitted he simply had "too much to do" on his outlap

I watched FP1 and FP2, and Maldonado definitely provided the best highlights. Him and Max, for Chilton also spun off in FP2.
Can't wait for FP3 and see the mayhem that will ensue. Go Pastor!

If it's going to rain then I expect Williams to be compromised yet again as their car struggles in these conditions. This team really needs a break i.e. some more luck and consistency from the team themselves. It's rained in all the qualifying sessions this year so far and in the weekend where it hasn't done so, Williams blew it/lost out when the SC came out.

good_Ralf wrote:If it's going to rain then I expect Williams to be compromised yet again as their car struggles in these conditions. This team really needs a break i.e. some more luck and consistency from the team themselves. It's rained in all the qualifying sessions this year so far and in the weekend where it hasn't done so, Williams blew it/lost out when the SC came out.

Both Williams have done much better than I expected in the wet in Q1, so hopefully Williams are getting on top of their wet weather issues - although this may have something to do with not messing around on inters as in qualifying in Malaysia.

Gutierrez, please give your seat to #GiedoVanDerGod. He deserves it so much more than you do.

GROSJEAN YOU HERO.

What the hell has happened to McLaren since Melbourne?

With both their drivers having been eliminated in Q2, I get the feeling that McLaren are now even less competitive than last year! They may as well not finish the race tomorrow at this rate.

East Londoner wrote:GROSJEAN YOU HERO.

What the hell has happened to McLaren since Melbourne?

With Grosjean, Hulkenberg and both the Williams through to Q3 I'm pretty happy with Q2. Those Toro Rossos go all right in the wet, don't they?

Anyone else think Lewis is in Nico's head just a little? Uncharacteristic mistakes two laps in a row by Rosberg, all while he was trying to push to beat Hamilton.

Wasn't this the site of Button's "Ricciardo, wow" radio message last year or the year before?

Dan's done it again. For me this was even more impressive than Australia because he was way off Seb in Q1 and Q2 but he pulled something out of the bag in Q3 when it mattered. Rather like what Vettel himself is used to doing.

East Londoner wrote:GROSJEAN YOU HERO.

What the hell has happened to McLaren since Melbourne?

They have been falling back down the grid at a vast rate of knots, such that their podium in Melbourne currently looks more like a fluke result than a true reflection of their performance. So much for Ron Dennis and his boasts that McLaren would be more competitive in Malaysia and would be winning races this year - with Mercedes out front, Red Bull rapidly gaining, Ferrari making a few small gains and even Force India and Williams nipping at the heels of the larger teams, McLaren seem to be falling back to where they were in 2013.

Whilst they looked competitive in pre-season testing, they were unable to build upon that when they had to postpone their Melbourne spec upgrade package and now it seems that the larger upgrades have been postponed until they get back to Europe.

LionZoo wrote:Anyone else think Lewis is in Nico's head just a little? Uncharacteristic mistakes two laps in a row by Rosberg, all while he was trying to push to beat Hamilton.

Whilst I wouldn't have thought of Rosberg as the sort of person who would be easily rattled, he has been a little more error prone than you'd expect today.

I'd agree that, possibly, he is feeling a bit of pressure from Hamilton - given Nico's reputation as a bit of a specialist around this circuit (having picked up a podium in 2010, having been in the frame for victory in 2011 when leading the race and winning in 2012), he might have hoped to put Hamilton under more pressure given that Hamilton has been slightly on the back foot after losing practise time due to his suspension issues.

However, when it has come down to it, once again it looks as if Hamilton's slight edge in single lap pace has paid off - perhaps the gap in Q2 might have unsettled Rosberg a bit, or perhaps it was also the impact of the two Red Bull drivers entering into the picture too, but either way something seems to have slightly upset his rhythm.

eytl wrote:Wasn't this the site of Button's "Ricciardo, wow" radio message last year or the year before?

Dan's done it again. For me this was even more impressive than Australia because he was way off Seb in Q1 and Q2 but he pulled something out of the bag in Q3 when it mattered. Rather like what Vettel himself is used to doing.

And that is what might especially hurt for Vettel - whilst normally he is the one used to upstaging his rivals with a major upset, instead this time around he couldn't improve whilst Ricciardo made major advances. The fact that it came in wet conditions too - conditions where Vettel had made a name for himself as a competitive driver - might make it all the slightly more galling for him. If Vettel struggles for a few more races, I can see him coming under increasing pressure from a press that may start questioning his achievements.