Chinese GP 2009 - Shanghai

[meves]

So who will have the new diffusers to join Williams, Toyota and the ever popular Brawn?

Will anybody get within a second of the Brawn, as at the Malaysia the fastest lap times for were;

1 22 Jenson 1:36.641
2 23 Rubens 1:37.484
3 9 Trulli 1:37.591

Will Mclaren still be in the championship? When will Nelson Piquet be replaced (just thought I'd throw that one in)

[Roland Ehnström]

So who will have the new diffusers to join Williams, Toyota and the ever popular Brawn?

I guess new diffusers won't be in place before the start of the European season.

Will anybody get within a second of the Brawn

In qualifying definately yes, Brawn do not have a full second advantage there, more like 3 tenths (look at Q2 times from Sepang). In the race their advantage is maybe a little bigger, but more like half a second than one full second a lap. But they are favorites for the win, no doubt.

Will Mclaren still be in the championship?

Yes, minus Ryan.

When will Nelson Piquet be replaced

Possibly after the summer break ahead of the German GP, but if Renault will pull out after 2009 they may not bother.

[mx_tifoso]

[nudger]

i think mclaren may have a mk I version of the diffusor. and yes they will be in the championship there...not so sure about europe though... depends what max wants id guess.

brawn clear favourites, but with a glimmer of light for the chasing pack.

[ESPImperium]

New Diffusers, there will be at least one new one, Force India or BMW Sauber will be my bet.

Brawns advantage, isnt that great in Quali now, Toyota will be definately in there, ill say that Brawn have the advantage in race trim, Toyota and Williams are starting to get closer tho, Red Bull are always close to theese guys, so are best of the rest.

McLaren will take part in China and Bahrain, but i can see them getting a 5 race suspension as a team from Barcelona tho, as they will loose television revenue and posibly sponsorship money from those races.

As for Piquet, i can see him getting replaced arround the middle of the season, posibly as early as Silverstone or Germany. However, i dont see that being the only replacement for this season, i can see at least 3 or 5 mid season replacements, i can see theese:

Renault: Nelson Piquet OUT - Romain Grosjean IN (Piquet being sacked for performance, Grosjean coming from GP2)
STR: Sebastian Bourdais OUT - Nelson Piquet IN (Bourdais quitting F1 for ALMS with Peugoet, with STR needing a replacement quick, them chooseing Piquet)

Those are 2 i can definately see. I can see others involving Fisi, Nakajima and Kimi as well. But a couple of them may be announcing their retirements, Nakajima could be replaced by Kobayashi as the "Toyota Hire Driver" there as Nkajima will show he is still a moving chicane and incedent prone driver. (wishing i chose Glock now over Nakajima in my F1 fantasy team as a side note there)

[Callum]

@ESPImperium:

Do you think anyone will give Bruno Senna a seat...Would be good publicity.

[ESPImperium]

@ESPImperium:

Do you think anyone will give Bruno Senna a seat...Would be good publicity.

Force India are talking to him from a couple of Malya interviews ive read, he could be the replacement for Fisi as i think that he could retire at Monza, his home race.

Another bet for him to go to could be STR, if they decide against Piquet, or have more time to decide on a new driver. As i think Bourdais will go after a couple horrid races, as from what ive heard from him over the radio is just whine... whine... whine... "theres no grip", "theres something wrong", "theres no kitchen sink" as he is raceing/testing the Peugoet in the weekends he is off racing his STR4, the guys on BBCi have all-ready commented on it during free practices at both Sepang and Albert Park.

[meves]

Does anyone know how many of hte non-diffuser 3 teams have a new diffuser waiting for the Chinese GP? Renault have said they do, any news on the others?

[ringo]

i was thinking about sato getting a seat if anything; anybody remember that guy?

[Callum]

i was thinking about sato getting a seat if anything; anybody remember that guy?

i remember him clashing with Schumacher, was it at Spa?

[donskar]

Anyone want to bet AGAINST a DDD team winning in China?

[jamsbong]

i was thinking about sato getting a seat if anything; anybody remember that guy?

i remember him clashing with Schumacher, was it at Spa?

Ya I remember that clown. Always erratic in driving. I wonder how he manage to stay in F1 for so long?

[djos]

Anyone want to bet AGAINST a DDD team winning in China?

The only non-DDD cars capable of winning are the the 2 RB5's of Webbo & BoyWonder but I suspect even they would need to benefit from some BrawnGP misfortune.

[ringo]

I find sato a pretty good driver, though he was never the one to care for the well being of the car. He blew engines nearly every race. I got to hand it to him for being very aggressive though, its the same reason the car cannot survive the torture he lays out. One thing i will always remember though is that crazy drift he did in canada 200x? in the rain at the chicane coming round to the start/finsih line.

[ben_watkins]

The thing that might be a real big player this weekend, DDD apart is the tyres.

FA makes a really big deal about the super soft compound to be used this weekend..

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74490

Q. How worried are you about the super-softs this weekend?

FA: I am very worried. I think it is the worst decision they made in a long time, because it is a ridiculous tyre for here, for Shanghai. I don't if Bridgestone made the decision or the FIA, but they have to reconsider this type of decision because we look ridiculous on TV and we look ridiculous for the spectators and it is a joke to be in front of TV six seconds slower.

We need will to change the tyres after five or six laps is our calculations because this track is harder than Melbourne and in Melbourne we only did eight or nine laps. And if they want to be funny and mix the results and having these overtakings they can do a better job. A funny solution, maybe they can put us on the wet tyres or something, like this it looks more spectacular – the difference in the speed. I don't know...

I'm very worried about this and I'm very sad about this, because we look strange in front of people.

The other interesting thing is that Ferrari will not run KERS this weekend! This is odd as it was the only thing keeping them near the front!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74492