Chinese Grand Prix : Shanghai Circuit

[Robin]

Um.........I must be really tired, or stupid.......but what is a red "X"???......Whats are you going on about!

 

[ND4SPD]

The pic you posted, is a red ''x'' on my screen.

 

[kensei]

So ya.....Race was interesting. The fight between Kimi, Jenson and Rubens was pretty interesting. Seeing Kimi and Rubens stick about 1sec off of each other for 40 or so laps was great. I though jenson might have been on track for his first win but yet again Ferrari were just too strong.

Other impressions;

-Schumi just did not have a good weekend. He looked like he did as Suzuka last season, amatuerish at best. At least he did manage to set the fastest lap of the race on the final one. That is something to take away. We all have our off weekends.

- JV. Ok, I'm neither a JV fan or a JV hater...and I will give him the benefit of the situation being his first race back but I expected more. JV has always been hyped as better then his results. There was always an excuse post 1997, about the car, the setup, the track, the media, the team. Now JV is in a car that can, and should be, in the top 5 even win. He reallyed rocked it home in 11th huh? Sure the renault didn't look that good all weekend but Alonso managed to drag it home in 4th. Sure it is JV's first race back but surely he could have done better than 11th. So he had yet another excuse today but they are running slim. Renault will test this next week and get JV more miles in the car. He SHOULD be top 5 at Suzuka. I'm afraid the rope JV has been given and all the excuses ar erunning out. JV needs to get results. He has the car to do it in.

- Boy...Jarno Trulli's driving abilities have sure been validated now.

- I will say the Shanghai circuit isn't the worst one on the F1 calender (Magny-Cors gets that) but it sure isn't near the top in my eyes. The facilities look bloody amazing though, but that is a given consider it is brand new. The driver's all said they liked it alot but it jsut looks cookie cutter to me. Doesn't seem to have any character. Now Bahrain did to me and I think that GP will grow into a classic.

- Is it just me or is Kimi trying to talk more in the post race interview. I love the guy and think he is the best driver on the grid right now but someone needs to teach him how to change his tone of voice once in a while.


So good For Rubens and good for Ferrari. I hope MS supports Rubens in Brazil and finally helps him win his home race.

Off to Suzuka, one of the best circuits in F1. Nice!

 

[Nasadus]

Not the best shot but the only one i could find within 30 sec.

 

[kensei]

Not the best shot but the only one i could find within 30 sec.

BAR definately needs to stick to their normal white/black/orange/beige identity, which as a professional graphic designer, is proabaly the strongest on the grid IMO.

The 555/blue looks ok on a Subaru but that is about it.

 

[pimp racer]

I like both paint jobs.

 

[ND4SPD]

Whoa, thats like Subaru meets F1.

 

[Sharky.]

It's about time someone else wins, although of course it had to be a Ferrari that won, they are so dominant. Anyhow, Formula 1 is boring now becasue Schumi always wins the races... anybody else agree?

 

[kensei]

It's about time someone else wins, although of course it had to be a Ferrari that won, they are so dominant. Anyhow, Formula 1 is boring now becasue Schumi always wins the races... anybody else agree?

No.

 

[ND4SPD]

Umm just wondering is it just my eyes decieving me or is the blue on those BAR's supposed to look like the universe?

 

[kensei]

Umm just wondering is it just my eyes decieving me or is the blue on those BAR's supposed to look like the universe?

Ya, it is a speckled star shiney thing deal...not the flat blue like the Subarus run.

Extra cheesey. The car would have still been ugly if it was a flat blue, but not that ugly.

 

[kensei]

Now this was the best looking BAR this season...

Not the best picture but I only looked for about 2 mins.

 

[ND4SPD]

That is the best looking so far, makes it look aggresive.

 

[Eagle]

Yeah I see stars and constellations myself. Looks pretty cool, I'm not going to bother reading things into it though.

Can't win them all, Rubens drove fantastically, turned a 9 second defecit into an 8 second advantage there, he's really shining atm, putting in some very measured, tactical and ultimately successful drives. Michael had a weekend to forget but hey, he's world champion again, I doubt he's all that broken up. I see him winning Suzuka and Rubens taking Brazil. Least I hope that's the case.

I don't think F1 is boring. The start of the season was. Spa kicked ass, Monza was great and this too wasn't a bad race. Hopefully this good run will continue. They interviewed Mark Webber recently for Australian TV and he pointed out that Formula 1 has had something of a meteoric rise for the past 15 years, and now it's levelled off somewhat and suddenly we think the sky is falling.

Martin Brundle agrees with Famine that the track lacks character as a result of no elevation changes, there was a lot of potential that got flattened, but there was still quite a bit of overtaking out there on the circuit so it can't be that bad. There's no A1 ring anymore btw, it's being redeveloped last I heard.

 

[Robin]

Ok............Sorry I was really tired last nite....here is the picture of the 555 bar....it looks really cool.......

 

[DQuaN]

Perhaps these will work better..............

 

[Robin]

yeah......thanks, my computer is playing up at the moment........

 

[ND4SPD]

Looks certainly different. Not sure if I like it though.

 

[livemusic]

I see him winning Suzuka and Rubens taking Brazil. Least I hope that's the case.

I hope that too. Actually I hope Rubens wins both But if it has to be only one then for sure I choose Interlagos. It´s his dream to win there, the timing is perfect and he deserves it. Too bad I don´t have the money to go to São Paulo watch it live, cause it will be a great race!

 

[ND4SPD]

Is Takuma Sato japanese? Is Suzuka in japan? I think it is........It'd be cool to see takuma to win Suzuka.

 

[Eagle]

Heh, I'll settle for seeing him beat home Villeneuve. Speaking of which, I was quite impressed with how he yielded to Rubens. He was in a fight for position and still got far out of the way and conceeded several seconds so as not to get in the way.

 

[kensei]

Heh, I'll settle for seeing him beat home Villeneuve. Speaking of which, I was quite impressed with how he yielded to Rubens. He was in a fight for position and still got far out of the way and conceeded several seconds so as not to get in the way.

I highly doubt that was due to JV yeilding to rubens or a ferrari...did you see who was right behind Rubens? Jenson in a BAR. I bet a little voice came on the radio and told JV to let Rubens pass but to hold up Jenson and NOT LET him by.

It make sense.... let the Ferrari out and build more time and hold jenson back as much as they can to try to salvage a few points, instead of letting JB have a chance at winning.

I loved how Schumi just HAD to pass JV right before he went into the pits. No love lost between those two.

 

[Eagle]

Schumi did the same to Ralf, but you do regularly see drivers do that. There are indeed seconds to be gained there, they're not necessarily in a fight for position with the driver they're passing, but every moment counts.

Up until I heard from Rubens I would have agreed about the neat little JV-BAR conspiracy theory, but Rubens said Jacques didn't see him and blocked him earlier in the lap (which I didn't see on TV) and was thus making up for it at the hairpin.

 

[kensei]

Schumi did the same to Ralf, but you do regularly see drivers do that. There are indeed seconds to be gained there, they're not necessarily in a fight for position with the driver they're passing, but every moment counts.

Up until I heard from Rubens I would have agreed about the neat little JV-BAR conspiracy theory, but Rubens said Jacques didn't see him and blocked him earlier in the lap (which I didn't see on TV) and was thus making up for it at the hairpin.

I know drivers do that often, but schumi and JV do have no love lost.

I'm also not saying there is any conspiracy....JV wasn't in the points (like he was supposed to be), the least he can do is hold up Jenson and stop him from getitng evne more points.

BUt I agree, every little bit helps.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I would of thought that Eagle would of created this topic, but he wasn't been on since the 19th, so I decided to start it right away so we can enjoy this new GP. I'll try to make this first post as interesting as Eagle made them...

Last week was a pretty entertaining week for F1. Full of surprising and disappointing events. It was starting to look like this season was going to be exciting! Too bad we're down to the last 3 races. JV joined Renault and signed with Sauber, Jaguar left, and rule changes re-surfaced.

But right now, we have to focus on this GP.

An interesting circuit made by the same artichect who brought us the Malaysian Track. It's a long track (5451 m) with only 56 laps to complete. I'm sure the 305 256 km to finish will make it an interesting race to follow. No F1 driver has any experience at Shanghai. Making it a real "best driver wins" type of track, with a little hint of luck of course.

I'll try to post the pratice times tomorrow morning.

Enjoy!

The guy's name is Hermann Tilke. I'd give just about anything for his job. Well, anything except GT4 that is! Not only did he create Shanghai and Sepang, but he also planned Sakhir (Bahrain), Qatar for the 500cc bikes (I think) and he's had a hand in many major track proposals such as South Africa's Kyalami and Austria's A1-Ring 'Westschliefe' extension (that's why it closed).

Nice touch, designing it in the shape of the symbol of Shang ('great' or 'rising') as symbolism is very important to Chinese culture. I also quite like the downhill turns 1 and 2 - The Corkscrew.

 

[Eagle]

I like that one Chinese journalist asked Michael at his Friday press conference if he had his car painted red because it was a lucky colour (which it is in China), and Michael had to explain that Ferraris have been red for quite a while.

 

[sinner]

I like that one Chinese journalist asked Michael at his Friday press conference if he had his car painted red because it was a lucky colour (which it is in China), and Michael had to explain that Ferraris have been red for quite a while.

Thats classic! but cut my fellow countryman some slack, after all F1 still a relatively new sport in China...

 

[Eagle]

Well when you look at how much success Ferrari has had it's not too hard to attribute it to their livery if you're superstitious. I hear China has quite an extensive audience for F1.

 

[sinner]

Well, I was lucky enough to go to the Shanghai GP... however, I must say that, despite it being a full-house there, the atmosphere wasn't nearly as good as it was in Malaysia in 2000 (from what I saw at least). It seemed like this time, everyone was there for there cuz it was this big event and all, while the fans in malaysia were more 'into it'. most of the Chinese fans (around my section at least) only seemed to know Schumi and Ferrari... whereas in malaysia, the fans were more diverse in terms of who they were cheering for and that they were generally fans of F1... I guess its kinda like how so many people liked the Chicago Bulls (back in the day) and Man United cuz they sort of represented their respective sports...

having said all that, however, with this being the first race there, I know I should give China more time to build their fan base... instead of just having people be ferrari supporters because they are the strongest and most well-known team... just my 2cents