2014 UBS Chinese Grand Prix

[Dhalism]

Pity China produced quite a boring race this year. I see the 'Tough Luck' thing becoming another Mutli 21 gate. Totally looked like he ignored orders and ran wide to me, Horner trying to cover it up.

On a side note, does anyone think the new on track superimposed graphics look lame? Like where they have the gran prix country written across the start line and even some sponsors like the large logo's on the grass and billboards are now CGI.

I guess trying to save money on printed tarpaulin these days.

I would have agreed with the idea of a cover up if i didnt see him run wide and get overtaken by a Caterham.

Besides Brundle said it looked like Vettel was letting Ricciardo through immediately after the fact, way before the radio message came up.

btw did anyone notice HOW FREAKING FAST CHILTON IS

http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2014/917/7335/fastest_laps.html

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Life's good for Hamilton right now. Nice recovery from Rosberg, but he has got to beat Hamilton to a win in Spain if he wants to hang onto his championship lead. Happy to see Alonso finish on the podium too and Ricciardo out pacing Vettel once again was a nice sight, I'm sure Vettel will get on top of things soon though and will surely make things a bit tougher for him though. Hulkenberg needs some recognition too, consistently raking in the points, surely he can't be far off from a podium now!

On a side note, weren't we (or was that just me who got tricked? ) lead to believe there would be a few more power unit related retirements in this phase of the season?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

On a side note, weren't we (or was that just me who got tricked? ) lead to believe there would be a few more power unit related retirements in this phase of the season?

Shanghai does seem to be unusually gentle on cars.

 

[m8h3r]

Considering the massive straight and long corners which put a lot of sideways force on the cars you'd thing some other cars would fail.

 

[Rich S]

Well, that was rather drab...certainly a terrible one compared to that smashing Bahrain race.


Some parts in the beginning and the middle were not too bad..

Bahrain is just a great allround racetrack with long straights to run up on a car ahead. Shanghai only has that one really long straight. Sunday's race certainly wasnt as good as Shanghai 2004 where the top 3 blanketed by 1.4 secs after 56 laps!

 

[Peasantslayer]

They look so much quicker there, it looks so easy compared to 2014.

 

[Samus]

A rather ominous stat...

For Mercedes this was their 17th race victory, giving them as many as BRM and putting them equal tenth in the all-time winners list.

They have dominated the first four races of the year in a manner never before seen in Formula One: they have taken every pole position, fastest lap and race victory, and led every lap. The Mercedes W05 has achieved something the Ferrari F2004, Williams-Renault FW14B, McLaren-Honda MP4-4 or any of F1′s other great cars did not do.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/04/21/mercedes-dominant-start-record-breaking/

 

[Wardez]

It would be insane if they won every race. Wouldn't be too good for the sport of course, but it'd be crazy to see. A whole different level beyond what RBR did and at least we'd get pretty decent action happening behind the first two positions.

 

[sems4arsenal]

It would be insane if they won every race. Wouldn't be too good for the sport of course, but it'd be crazy to see. A whole different level beyond what RBR did and at least we'd get pretty decent action happening behind the first two positions.

They have the drivers to do it aswell, although maybe during the 2nd half of the season the battles will be more intense.

 

[PeterJB]

My guess is teams like Red Bull and Ferrari will begin to close in later on. Red Bull tend to get faster as the season progresses, and Vettel gets really strong after the summer break.

 

[BHRxRacer]

Where has he gone wrong? With the exception of Bahrain when he challenged him Hamilton has had the edge on Rosberg in every race.

You're kidding right? You just named something where he had gone wrong yourself ffs. Would you like a run down of the races? The only sessions Hamilton looked like he was faster than Rosberg were Q3 and the race at Malaysia, and it's apparently a tyre pressure issue.

Australia qualifying: Track was drying fast, and Hamilton crossed the line more than a minute after Rosberg.
Bahrain: Covered
China qualifying: Nico had pole by half a second until the last corner.
China race: No telemetry = > bad start => traffic. Despite that, Rosberg's laps were matching or bettering Hamilton.

 

[Ninners]

Nico's delta was against his own lap, not Hamilton's so even if he had completed the lap normally, he still wouldn't have got pole. Telemetry doesn't slow you down but it makes the team blind as to how the car is running in terms of temps and fuel.

 

[BHRxRacer]

Nico's delta was against his own lap, not Hamilton's so even if he had completed the lap normally, he still wouldn't have got pole.

His own delta, that lap he backed off after locking up. If he didn't let Hamilton get into his head, he would've gotten pole. Sure, it's his fault, but it doesn't mean Hamilton "blew him away" or whatever the **** that guy was implying. Half of you make it sound like anyone on the grid to Hamilton is Max Chilton to Bianchi last year.

 

[Ninners]

It doesn't go against the lap he backed off on, the delta is always against his fastest lap in the session so if you blow it you can't reference that lap since he didn't improve. It's only against the fastest lap you complete so it was only 0.5 up on the time he had before(and finished with).

 

[BHRxRacer]

It doesn't go against the lap he backed off on, the delta is always against his fastest lap in the session so if you blow it you can't reference that lap since he didn't improve. It's only against the fastest lap you complete so it was only 0.5 up on the time he had before(and finished with).

His fastest lap was the one where he backed off, wasn't it? I remember thinking if he hadn't backed off he'd at least be 2nd. Let me check.

 

[Ninners]

He went deep at the hairpin and backed out of it entering the last turn to get a better exit and ended up doing a 55.6 which was 0.6 off his fastest in the session and he spun on the next lap

 

[SilverArrow]

His own delta, that lap he backed off after locking up. If he didn't let Hamilton get into his head, he would've gotten pole. Sure, it's his fault, but it doesn't mean Hamilton "blew him away" or whatever the **** that guy was implying. Half of you make it sound like anyone on the grid to Hamilton is Max Chilton to Bianchi last year.

The only one who's let Hamilton get into their head is you...No one said anything about blowing him away, you're working yourself up over nothing.

 

[BHRxRacer]

That's the lap where he went deep. Do the math. Had he done ONE clean final sector, he'd have at least gotten a 1:53.912. That's half a tenth away from the pole lap.

The only one who's let Hamilton get into their head is you...No one said anything about blowing him away, you're working yourself up over nothing.

Did you not read what @IceMan PJN posted?

 

[King1982]

His fastest lap was the one where he backed off, wasn't it? I remember thinking if he hadn't backed off he'd at least be 2nd. Let me check.

Nico wouldn't have matched Lewis time in anyway. He would've still be behind Ricciardo at best.
Lewis was better this weekend end of story.

 

[BHRxRacer]

Nico wouldn't have matched Lewis time in anyway. He would've still be behind Ricciardo at best.
Lewis was better this weekend end of story.

That 0.05x is so far away isn't it.

 

[King1982]

That 0.05x is so far away isn't it.

Fact is he was 1.2 seconds behind Lewis and had two Redbull in front of him. And if it were not for Lewis, despite their huge advantage, Mercedes would only have one pole this season.

Kimi waving like a boss. As usual.

In his ear.

 

[VolkswagenX]

Lol, here we go again. Nico gets out performed by Lewis but only because Lewis cheated. Lewis put oil on the track to screw up Nico's qualifying session...

 

[Akmuq]

You're being harsh here, Rosberg clearly had the speed to at least match Hamilton (probably beat him IMO) but was too sloppy in qualifying to do so.

It was 2 bad mistakes but it was worth gambling on as he could easily make his way up the grid on Sunday to finish second, whereas he would have arguably achieved the same result had he not took the "risks" in quali and qualified ahead of Dan.

Hamilton won the inter-team battle this weekend but not by a million miles.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Alonso's got a new way for dealing with the media:

 

[niky]

That 0.05x is so far away isn't it.

Theoretically. Against a lap in which Lewis was also slip-slip-sliding in the rain.

The difference is, Hamilton kept it together on his timed laps. Nico didn't.

You can go blazingly fast in however many sectors you want, but if you're leaning on the car too hard in the rain and can't stay on top of it, you're going to get bitten.

 

[King1982]

You're being harsh here, Rosberg clearly had the speed to at least match Hamilton (probably beat him IMO) but was too sloppy in qualifying to do so.

It was 2 bad mistakes but it was worth gambling on as he could easily make his way up the grid on Sunday to finish second, whereas he would have arguably achieved the same result had he not took the "risks" in quali and qualified ahead of Dan.

Hamilton won the inter-team battle this weekend but not by a million miles.

No chance, lewis was on an even faster lap in the last run. the closest Nico would've got was still behind Ricciardo. Stop making things up to suit your agenda.

Redbull inspects the competition..

 

[Samus]

Ha, I knew BHR would go into ultra defense mode again. It's funny.

 

[King1982]

Alonso did well in that Ferrari. Kvyat again with a points finish.

 

[Rossell2]

Redbull inspects the competition..

Rest of us are inspecting the Red Bull.

 

[Akmuq]

No chance, lewis was on an even faster lap in the last run. the closest Nico would've got was still behind Ricciardo. Stop making things up to suit your agenda.

You're misinformed here, either you don't understand how qualifying works or you didn't read my post properly.

Rosberg was 4 tenths of a second up on Hamilton's 54.3 going into Sector 3 before messing up, he could have very easily ended up with a 53.8 or 53.9 had he not messed up. Hamilton's lap ended up as a 53.8 so yeah, he may not have beaten Lewis(not sure if there was much time to be made up in S3) but he certainly had a chance.

He would not have been behind Ricciardo however. There is absolutely no way that the Mercedes, which is 20kmh quicker than the Red Bull down the straight, would lose half a second to the Red Bull in the sector containing that straight.

But of course since I'm 'making things up', you won't bother actually reading this post thoroughly and disregard this as all made up so to suit my agenda.