Chinese GP 2012 - Shanghai

[raymondu999]

[size=150]2011[/size=150]




[size=150]Strategy[/size=150]
2012 tyres - medium (prime, white) and soft (option, yellow)
2011 tyres - hard (prime, silver) and soft (option, yellow)

2011 pole lap:

[King Six]

Ah damn, when are we gonna see the Super Softs? I guess this circuit is abit too big and heavily loaded for them, however.

Last years race was pretty good. The field is so close now, this is gonna be a fantastic season. Can't wait to see what upgrades the teams have lined up for this race. I'm expecting big things from Ferrari, especially the boost they just got from winning Malaysia.

[raymondu999]

I think possibly Bahrain or Monaco.Pirelli usually bring the supersofts to circuits with more slow-speed traction demands

[beelsebob]

We won't see the super softs at Bahrain – way too hot, it'll be hard/medium there. Until we get back to europe the super softs won't appear.

[raymondu999]

Something strikes me as just weird about the circuit. Really the quickest car of the year just about has never won here - other than 2004.

2005 - Alonso won - McLaren/Raikkonen quicker
2006 - Schumacher won - (arguably) Alonso maybe quicker. Maybe.
2007 - Raikkonen won - McLaren quicker
2008 - Hamilton won - Ferrari quicker
2009 - Vettel won - Brawn quicker
2010/2011 - McLaren won - Red Bull quicker

[Hail22]

Something strikes me as just weird about the circuit. Really the quickest car of the year just about has never won here - other than 2004.

2005 - Alonso won - McLaren/Raikkonen quicker
2006 - Schumacher won - (arguably) Alonso maybe quicker. Maybe.
2007 - Raikkonen won - McLaren quicker
2008 - Hamilton won - Ferrari quicker
2009 - Vettel won - Brawn quicker
2010/2011 - McLaren won - Red Bull quicker

Would that mean this fight will be between:

Lotus
Ferrari
Mercedes?

[SiLo]

You say that, but in the race last year Hamilton saved up those tyres and got past, he was also very quick all weekend. 2008 he was simply faster than the Ferrari's and didn't put a foot wrong. 2010 was wet so I would discount that.

Predictions for quali -
Hamilton
Button
Anyone else.

I will be surprised if the Mclarens don't lock the front row out again, although Button has gone well here so he may pip Hamilton.

Race:
Can't call this, but I think Button will have the best shot at winning, although I don't know what the tyre degradation is like there.

[raymondu999]

You say that, but in the race last year Hamilton saved up those tyres and got past, he was also very quick all weekend.

Yes but the REd Bull was the quicker 2011 car. My point is not that the weekend's fastest driver+car doesn't win, it's that the fastest car of the year rarely wins here.

I don't know what the tyre degradation is like there.

Generally the front left gets a beating. Turns 1 and 2 will grain the life out of it; before the driver has a fast entry trailbraking job into the fast right tightening corner; and then the front left will be under stress again through the second snail.

Would that mean this fight will be between:

Lotus
Ferrari
Mercedes?

I wouldn't discount Red Bull

[RB_[Gnx]]

Red Bull will show another "face" in Quali' I think they know right now how dangerous the situation is ..

I Bet Vettel will be in the top 4 in Qualifying ( to hope for an eventual win Sunday ) with another pole for Hamilton

[ParanoiD]

I hope I won a local competiton which reward attending this race! Announcement on the 6th of April. *fingercrossed *praying

[n smikle]

Those long straights.. Mercedes is good pole bet.

@Paranoid. sounds good.

[raymondu999]

I hope I won a local competiton which reward attending this race! Announcement on the 6th of April. *fingercrossed *praying

Menang undian Global TV?

Back to English!

Those long straights.. Mercedes is good pole bet.

Malaysia probably has a greater percentage of the lap as straight though. The way I see it the Mercedes f-duct/fandango super duct isn' necessarily good for the straights. In quali it just means you have a super-efficient rear wing; as Mercedes could always choose to go for a bit more downforce, or a bit less drag. Most probably we'll see them shine in places like China, Sepang, Catalunya where you have demands for both high downforce as well as low drag.

[scarlet]

Mercedes DRS advantage is more abouto being able to open it earlier whilst maintaining balance I thought? In which case they'd get the most advantage on tracks with lots of short straights.

[raymondu999]

Mercedes DRS advantage is more abouto being able to open it earlier whilst maintaining balance I thought? In which case they'd get the most advantage on tracks with lots of short straights.

There are several theories on what it does. But the advantage will lie in corners where the car clearly has more than enough downforce; but opening the DRS would cause too much twitchiness.

[scarlet]

Mercedes DRS advantage is more abouto being able to open it earlier whilst maintaining balance I thought? In which case they'd get the most advantage on tracks with lots of short straights.

There are several theories on what it does. But the advantage will lie in corners where the car clearly has more than enough downforce; but opening the DRS would cause too much twitchiness.

Agreed, but these corners are few and far between. Were they running with DRS open on t13 Sepang? McLaren were.

My point was more along the lines of more corners per lap leading directly onto straights = more chances to open DRS early = greater gain. IE lots of short/medium length straights. At China there's only really 6 chances to open the DRS to gain this advantage (t4, 6, 10, 13, 14, 16) compared with somewhere like Melbourne which has more.