2013 Chinese GP - Shanghai

[SilverArrow10]

I think Alonso will be next to Hamilton for the first corner. That Ferrari is a monster off the line. But having the correct line for that corner is important and I think Hamilton will squeeze him and lead after turn 3. A safety car will help the guys in front, which is likely although I haven't checked myself. Only assuming.

Safety cars are rare at china. You can usually tell simply based on the size of the runoffs. Tilke == less likely to get safety cars.

ahh thank you I didn't check. It would be lucky for the front drivers for one though.

[WhiteBlue]

Webber left the pits with roughly 13:00 remaining, started his FL with roughly 11:03 remaining and stopped at roughly 7:10 after a very slow in lap. There was no second warm up lap, just an underfuelled car.

Lol, how do you come to that rather surprising statement. The restriction wasn't time obviously but the low amount of fuel that the team apparently elected to use in Q1. How can you claim that Webber wasn't told as Vettel was? Do you have access to the private team radio channels?

This episode has all the signs that someone screwed up. Only we do not know at this time who.

[MOWOG]

None of us can know for certain what happened with Webber's car. But I found his body language afterwards peculiar. He did not seem at all perturbed. In fact, he was positively placid about it.

Could it be that he deliberately ran the car out of fuel? We do know that the constructor's championship is of paramount importance to the team. Starting from the back of the grid is not the ideal way to score championship points. Is this Webber's way of paying the team back for the flap at Malaysia?

:-"

[fiohaa]

They were doing both in both scenarios. Both in the 90s, and now, the teams were waiting for the perfect time to use their one run. If it were simply being afraid of the tyres the teams would go out at any moment they felt like – e.g. when they felt that there was the least traffic. No, today, they were waiting for the ideal track conditions.

you take the Tyre apologist routine to another level.

Fact: webber and Hamilton both said it was effectively rubbish (regarding tyre situation), who both finished in top 3 last race.
fact: qualifying today was a joke.

what are you talking about, in the 90's - they used to have 4 runs available to them (12/3 normally) to set the ultimate lap time. Yes normally the first 20 minutes would be pretty quiet but they still did all 4 runs.....and the last 20 minutes would be full of action as the 2 best drivers would fight it out for pole, not once, but 4 times. And because they had 4 goes, they'd be on the ragged edge pushing everything. At least in the quiet moments at the beginning you'd have a few backmarkers running about, the anticipation would build, and we'd watch some onboards of cars that you normally don't see at all in the race.

what happened today cannot even Remotely be compared to the 60 min shootout of the 90's, or any of the qualifying formats to mid 00's. what nonsense.

[beelsebob]

No, today, they were waiting for the ideal track conditions.

Allow me to disagree. I understood that today, perhaps more than in any other race I've ever watched, they were afraid of using up their soft tires.

We already know that the likely strategies are OPPP, so they need exactly one set of options for tomorrow – the set they qualify on. If your explanation were to make sense, teams like Mercedes would need to have used up their option tyres during qualifying – they didn't, they could have done an extra two runs to make sure of things, but chose not to, because they were simply waiting for the ideal track conditions to use the ideal tyres.

[Jonnycraig]

Webber left the pits with roughly 13:00 remaining, started his FL with roughly 11:03 remaining and stopped at roughly 7:10 after a very slow in lap. There was no second warm up lap, just an underfuelled car.

Lol, how do you come to that rather surprising statement. The restriction wasn't time obviously but the low amount of fuel that the team apparently elected to use in Q1. How can you claim that Webber wasn't told as Vettel was? Do you have access to the private team radio channels?

This episode has all the signs that someone screwed up. Only we do not know at this time who.

You've missed the point, the timings are to show Webber ran out lap, flying lap, in lap instead of a second warm up lap which you claimed he had done.

He ran out of fuel because not enough was put in by the team, but then I don't think anyone is denying that.

[OppositeLock]

I was expecting someone to try starting from the pit lane. It still could happen. It's a real shame for F1 that these tires are so extreme.

[Phillyred]

Being a LH fan I'm a little nervous for the race. So we think he'll get 8-10 laps on the first stint? Will he be going full out on those tires to open the gap or will he take it easy to stretch another lap out of them? I'm guessing he will be going full out.

[andartop]

We already know that the likely strategies are OPPP, so they need exactly one set of options for tomorrow – the set they qualify on. If your explanation were to make sense, teams like Mercedes would need to have used up their option tyres during qualifying – they didn't, they could have done an extra two runs to make sure of things, but chose not to, because they were simply waiting for the ideal track conditions to use the ideal tyres.

The problem being that the softs were only good enough for one single flying lap. Which makes them an entirely inappropriate tire to be obliged to use in the race:

"The soft is hardcore," Hamilton told reporters at Shanghai after the second free practice session. "I don’t know why, but it doesn’t feel like the right tyre for this circuit. I did a couple of laps and the tyres just disintegrated. It was quite unusual."

Still, no point to keep arguing around this. Obviously you are happy with what you watched today. I am not.

[Jonnycraig]

Being a LH fan I'm a little nervous for the race. So we think he'll get 8-10 laps on the first stint? Will he be going full out on those tires to open the gap or will he take it easy to stretch another lap out of them? I'm guessing he will be going full out.

Button said yesterday that it doesnt matter if you push or not they still go off. Coupled with the expected low temperatures tomorrow those starting on the medium could be laughing.

[Rikhart]

Being a LH fan I'm a little nervous for the race. So we think he'll get 8-10 laps on the first stint? Will he be going full out on those tires to open the gap or will he take it easy to stretch another lap out of them? I'm guessing he will be going full out.

Button said yesterday that it doesnt matter if you push or not they still go off. Coupled with the expected low temperatures tomorrow those starting on the medium could be laughing.

Why would they be laughing? They still have to use them, and start much further down the order.

[Phillyred]

I'd feel better pushing on the softs toward the end of the race with a lighter fuel load. Timing is gonna have to perfect for Hamilton. I think he'll be on the podium, but probably not first.

[Jonnycraig]

Being a LH fan I'm a little nervous for the race. So we think he'll get 8-10 laps on the first stint? Will he be going full out on those tires to open the gap or will he take it easy to stretch another lap out of them? I'm guessing he will be going full out.

Button said yesterday that it doesnt matter if you push or not they still go off. Coupled with the expected low temperatures tomorrow those starting on the medium could be laughing.

Why would they be laughing? They still have to use them, and start much further down the order.

They will have to use them on much lower fuel later in the race whilst everyone else is likely to be stretching their mediums out. Of course that may end up like Sutil in Australia where they just wouldnt turn on, but I'd wager if you offered everyone their choice of starting tyre most would take the medium.

[Phillyred]

I know it's been said before, but I'd like to see some points awarded for qualifying in addition to the current points system. Because, you wonder if some of the teams deliberately qualified on mediums to start the race with them.

[myurr]

I know it's been said before, but I'd like to see some points awarded for qualifying in addition to the current points system. Because, you wonder if some of the teams deliberately qualified on mediums to start the race with them.

Errr... I don't think anyone is wondering that. They did do that.