2017 Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai 07-09 April

[bblundell72]

Hopefully the Chinese GP will be competitive. I am a huge Ferrari fan but I am still thinking Malborne could have been a bogey and Mercedes has done very well in China the last few years. My gut feeling is Mercedes at least .5 second clear of Ferrari and Ferrari .3 of a second clear of the rest of the field.

I hope I am wrong.

[iotar__]

I think it should be close again, Ferrari should have been quicker in Q, Mercedes were 0,03 s from Bottas in Q from winning it anyway. Hard to draw specific conclusions about cars from Aus apart from maybe tyre management.Still early days with tyres.

Why would it be different in China? Similar downforce as Aus, big straights, front limited, wide track, easier to overtake, one step harder compounds, one of the weaker tracks in Q for Merc in '16 but maybe related to pressure?

[Stormy]

I just hope Ferrari will show a better form and pace in qualifying. They can't win the WDC if they don't win some poles. Especially now when overtaking is extremely difficult. As for overtaking, we will see what Shanghai will deliver. Australia can't be a good indicator when it comes to overtaking, but it certainly doesn't look good for Shanghai as well.

[zibby43]

A few random thoughts ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix:

- If Mercedes strikes back with imperative form, I have a feeling we'll have a darn good season ahead. The development race between the top 3 teams (Merc, Ferrari, and Red Bull) is going to be vital. Recently, Mercedes and Red Bull have shown to be excellent at finding pace over the course of a season. These top teams may be easily 1.5 seconds quicker by the end of the season.

- Lewis has to be aching for some payback in China after last year's debacle.

- Where Merc is at now reminds me of Singapore 2015. In other words, Merc has the car they need; it has shown pace, particularly in qualifying. However, they need to go back to the drawing board a bit in terms of dialing in the setup, particularly on the softer compounds. With more one-stoppers this year, Merc cannot afford to eat tires.

- Who did the most testing of Pirelli's 2017 compounds? Vettel. The least? Hamilton. And it appears Vettel's hard work has paid off early.

- Bottas showed serious quickness on "softs" in his final stint at Australia. He started reeling in Hamilton (although, at that point, Hamilton had turned down his power unit). For Merc to answer Ferrari, they need that final stint pace and chassis composure to translate to the SS and US compounds going forward.

- The SS, S, and Medium will be available in China. Perhaps overcast conditions and the harder compounds will favor the Silver Arrows? Who knows.

[godlameroso]

I have it as cloudy and cool for the race, no rain so far, but that can all change. The soft tire seems to be the tire of choice for racing, the SS is probably only good for 15 laps around here, the S for 25, and the M can probably do the whole race.

[hichamo]

what i have seen at melbourne , is that Ferrari had more speed than shown.
hamilton never pulled away from vettel, and seb was controlling his speed as needed.
once vettel was in front, it looked soooo easy, managing speed and tires.
dont be surprised if you see Ferrari winging again in china.

[6rotorguy]

It will interesting to see how the cars perform on a dedicated circuit. Red Bull seemingly could not get their set up to work very well in Melbourne.

[Mansell89]

Well the Ferrari had excellent pace on the mediums in the winter so I don't necessarily think cooler track temp and harder compounds will favour a Merc this year.

[Vasconia]

what i have seen at melbourne , is that Ferrari had more speed than shown.
hamilton never pulled away from vettel, and seb was controlling his speed as needed.
once vettel was in front, it looked soooo easy, managing speed and tires.
dont be surprised if you see Ferrari winging again in china.

If Ferrari is capable of beating Mercedes in China, I think that the Germans should start to be really worried.

[hichamo]

Well the Ferrari had excellent pace on the mediums in the winter so I don't necessarily think cooler track temp and harder compounds will favour a Merc this year.

Exactly, their pace over the medium and hard over a race simulation in testing was better than Mercedes.
If Ferrari wins in China, people would say oh let's wait until Bahrain, and so on.
And whenever Hamilton damage his race victory or whatever, there will be always excuses, and the sad part is that they contradict Hamilton's saying.

[zibby43]

Exactly, their pace over the medium and hard over a race simulation in testing was better than Mercedes.

If Ferrari wins in China, people would say oh let's wait until Bahrain, and so on.
And whenever Hamilton damage his race victory or whatever, there will be always excuses, and the sad part is that they contradict Hamilton's saying.

Well, Hamilton did beat Vettel to pole in Australia by over two tenths, and Bottas destroyed Raikkonen in qualifying and the race. So, I think handing the championship over to Ferrari after one race at Albert Park is a little premature, don't you?

What do you make of Ferrari outpacing the Mercs last year (2016) in Australia, before going on to win zero races?

Anyway, Merc has been historically very strong in China. If Ferrari win there on pure pace, then Merc definitely has a fight on its hands.

[zibby43]

Well the Ferrari had excellent pace on the mediums in the winter so I don't necessarily think cooler track temp and harder compounds will favour a Merc this year.

If you look at qualifying and the free practice sessions in Melbourne, whenever it was cloudy/cool, Mercedes had a noticeable pace advantage over Ferrari.

When the temperatures warm up, however, the Ferrari excels and the Merc struggles a bit.

[Mansell89]

Well the Ferrari had excellent pace on the mediums in the winter so I don't necessarily think cooler track temp and harder compounds will favour a Merc this year.

If you look at qualifying and the free practice sessions in Melbourne, whenever it was cloudy/cool, Mercedes had a noticeable pace advantage over Ferrari.

When the temperatures warm up, however, the Ferrari excels and the Merc struggles a bit.

Certainly would not disagree there but I have a very clear idea in my mind that Ferrari are learning from Mercedes and turning their power down in practice, especially with the 4 engine restrictions this year, so I think it's dangerous to use practice as a definitive comparison, although it is still useful of course.

Qualifying is the key for me- if Ferrari get within a quarter of a second of Merc, who we know have a quali mode engine like no other, then the race paces will be very, very close.

[ferkan]

Exactly, their pace over the medium and hard over a race simulation in testing was better than Mercedes.

If Ferrari wins in China, people would say oh let's wait until Bahrain, and so on.
And whenever Hamilton damage his race victory or whatever, there will be always excuses, and the sad part is that they contradict Hamilton's saying.

Well, Hamilton did beat Vettel to pole in Australia by over two tenths, and Bottas destroyed Raikkonen in qualifying and the race. So, I think handing the championship over to Ferrari after one race at Albert Park is a little premature, don't you?

What do you make of Ferrari outpacing the Mercs last year (2016) in Australia, before going on to win zero races?

Anyway, Merc has been historically very strong in China. If Ferrari win there on pure pace, then Merc definitely has a fight on its hands.

Outpacing Merc in 2016 at Melbourne? Don't remember that. They were more then 8 tenths behind in qualis and couldn't shake of Merc in race trim (lewis had horrible luck).

[f1316]

I actually think Ferrari have been comparatively strongER vs Mercedes in China in recent years, so don't expect it to be a bad track for them.

I also suspect we'll see what I consider to be the right difficulty of overtaking in China: it's going to be very hard and require a lot of skill and bravery but it'll be possible; in recent years I think it's been a slam dunk as soon as you're in drs zone on the long straight.