2010 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix

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2010 Chinese Grand Prix

@ Shanghai

shanghai.jpg



Race Date: 18th Apr 2010
Number of Laps: 56 laps
Circuit Length: 5.451 km (3.387 mi)
Race Distance: 305.066 km (189.559 mi)
Lap Record: 1:32.238 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004)

2009 Podium:
1st: Sebastien Vettel(Red Bull Renault)
2nd: Mark Webber(Red Bull Renault)
3rd: Jenson Button(Brawn Mercedes)​

Seeing as no-one had bothered to make a thread yet (have we all forgotten? :p).
To quote Karun Chandhok: "It is sooooooo cold here !! I'd even swap for british weather now".
http://twitter.com/karunchandhok

Its looking like it could be more wet weather for this race, although its not as definite as Malaysia was. Red Bull were exceedingly strong here last year despite being behind Brawn still on pace at the time, so I think its fair to assume a white-wash again here assuming no reliability woes.
Toro Rosso may be in with a shout at points again, last year they were strong here and their chassis' direct relationship with RBR's will obviously benefit them.
It should be noted that someone has yet to win this race more than once, so perhaps its Mark Webber's race to win?

This race also marks the end of the flyaway races, so its the last chance for the teams to make the most of their relative advantages before they all bring major upgrades to Barcelona. All teams from Red Bull down to HRT have major upgrades planned for Barcelona onwards, ranging from new aero-packages to brand new hydraulics systems and gearboxes for teams like Lotus, Sauber and Virgin.

After this race, the focus will be on how quickly McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes reign in the Red Bull pace and whether Red Bull can maintain a development cycle to rival these 3 teams. Last year suggested they can but never underestimate the big teams. There is potential for Renault and Force India in particular to make an advance as well, possibly even catching one of the top 4 should they make a development mistake.
 
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Ha-hah, time for my prediction, but first...

With the ruling on 'adjustable suspension' clarified I will be very interested to see how the Red Bull's and Ferrari's perform in qualifying. It was clearly evident that the Red Bull's achieved an extremely low ride height for qualifying at Malaysia with the car bottoming out where others had visible light underneath.

I would expect the McLaren's to be up there this week, maybe for a front row lock out.

At the finish: McLaren 1-2, pat's on the back and a content looking Whitmarsh.
 
Fastas
At the finish: McLaren 1-2, pat's on the back and a content looking Whitmarsh.
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Every. Goddamn. Thread.

Not gonna happen junior :sly:

Massa all the way :D
 
I'm expecting that Senna won't be too far up on top based on his performance thus far...

Still rooting for him though...
 
I hope for another strong Red Bull finish. I doubt another 1-2, but maybe top 5, if nothing goes wrong! *knocks on wood*
 
Speaking of which, Senna's car finally has a fuel tank with divisions in it to stop the fuel moving about under braking so much, so his performances should be a little better this time compared to Chandhok (who has had the divided tank as far I know).
 
Hamilton win. Red bull second and third. Then Alonso, Button and Rosberg after that.

I don't think Massa will finish, Engine failure.

You heard it here first.
 
Ardius
Speaking of which, Senna's car finally has a fuel tank with divisions in it to stop the fuel moving about under braking so much, so his performances should be a little better this time compared to Chandhok (who has had the divided tank as far I know).
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:lol: Senna was still faster than Chandhok anyway, he outqualified him every race except for Malaysia, when Senna beached it in qualifying.
 
McLaren need to pull this one; at least if they wanna take advantage of their straight line speed, cause after this it's mostly technical circuits.
 
Even with the ride height difference, I think Vettel has a good chance. He might not qualify pole, but depending on weather (and reliability, of course) he has a good chance. Other than that, I'll say Alonso or Lewis taking up the 2nd or 3rd spots.

Although, my eye is on Sutil after his wonderful performance in Malaysia.

Looking forward to seeing the differences in qualifying after all the modifications implemented since Malaysia. Although Mclaren will probably still have the straight line advantage.

Should be a good race. I've always liked this track. Good mix of corners.



;)
 
McLaren would seem to have an advantage here, with their top end speed. Lewis and Jenson should be able to capitalize on this, with little difficulty.
Red Bull do have a slight psychological advantage, with last years performance and a fairly dominant showing in Malaysia.
Ferrari are likely to have a good weekend, I have a feeling this track will suit the F60.
Mercedes is in a good position to gain more valuable points, after strong showing despite MS not finishing. The Benz seems to be improving.
Force India may have wood on Renault at this track, but it will be close. With the front 4 contesting tightly any mistakes in the race are capitalized by these 2 teams, primarily Kubica and Sutil.

My pick even before seeing any practice is Lewis, he needs a front row start though.
 
PJ-FFL
:lol: Senna was still faster than Chandhok anyway, he outqualified him every race except for Malaysia, when Senna beached it in qualifying.
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And in the race, he was a significant distance behind Chandhok, which is what I was referring to ;). Malaysia was their first race where both drivers took part and finished all sessions, and Chandhok came out on top in dry conditions.
 
This will be the last race before the wing mirror change, right? Go RBR, please.. get a cushion up before it all goes away... :lol:
 
Alex.
Every. Goddamn. Thread.

Not gonna happen junior :sly:

Massa all the way :D
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:lol: Massa,.....:lol:

I think the Ferrari team will be happy to get 3 points this weekend. Their engine is looking rough.

I don't know what the rules are on designing new engines but it's looking like they might have to. To have used and lost, in Alonso's case, two of the eight engines for the year suggests a bad year for the team.

Who knows, maybe they'll have a new team boss soon, the Flav 💡 :dunce:
 
This is the most likely round so far to get a Mclaren one-two but I'm sure they'll find a way to bugger it up
 
Alex.
This is the most likely round so far to get a Mclaren one-two but I'm sure they'll find a way to bugger it up
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They are certainly more likely to do it this weekend than any of the previous ones - I agree there.

I think the McLaren team should have managed it in Malaysia but for the meteorological error and they were not so far out in Australia either.

I am not as bias as you might be assuming, son, I am calling it as as see it panning out. Of the three top teams I think the Red Bull car and the Ferrari engine are fragile and if pushed will break. The McLaren has good reliability and a strong power unit, it is not unreasonable to think that once at the front they will stay there.
 
Fastas
:lol: Massa,.....:lol:

I think the Ferrari team will be happy to get 3 points this weekend. Their engine is looking rough.

I don't know what the rules are on designing new engines but it's looking like they might have to. To have used and lost, in Alonso's case, two of the eight engines for the year suggests a bad year for the team.

Who knows, maybe they'll have a new team boss soon, the Flav 💡 :dunce:
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But China is easy on engines, so its not really a factor here.
 
Or rain just in qualifying to mix up the grid a little?:sly:

Last time I purposely did not pick Vettel; so I'll do the same this time, though I think Webber is due 👍
 
yeti
It definitely didn't rain in Malaysia?!?!

C.
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Did we not watch the same qualifying session two weeks ago? For Malaysia, after 4pm it always rains it just can't be predicted when. It was always a certainty at some point in the weekend and it did indeed rain on the Saturday.
For China, it may be dry all 3 days, the rain isn't 100% predicted like in Malaysia - as I quoted in the first post, China is a bit more like England, rain is probable but not a certainty.
 
And the qualifying and race are on at a decent time here on the Canadian West Coast (11:00 p.m.) :dopey: I lost my thumbs up button?
 
Sutil will win.




Yeah, I said it! Someone has to come up with the crazy predictions :p
 
zed300
My pick even before seeing any practice is Lewis, he needs a front row start though.
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With dry qualifying conditions I think this could be Hamilton's first win of the season. I'm more of a Button fan myself, but I feel Hamilton will have the edge for this race. With wet qualifying or even a wet race, who knows, anything could happen (Though i'd bet on a Schumacher win if its wet the entire weekend)

Ardius
And in the race, he was a significant distance behind Chandhok, which is what I was referring to ;). Malaysia was their first race where both drivers took part and finished all sessions, and Chandhok came out on top in dry conditions.
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Chandhok FTW. He's got to me my favourite driver besides Button and Kubica. Infact both the HRT drivers seem to have pretty good personalities, I hope for them both to do well in the future.

niky
This will be the last race before the wing mirror change, right? Go RBR, please.. get a cushion up before it all goes away... :lol:
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I was under the impression the changes had to be introduced for China?
 
niky
This will be the last race before the wing mirror change, right? Go RBR, please.. get a cushion up before it all goes away... :lol:
Click to expand...
Um, I don't think Red Bull success rides entirely upon their wing mirrors ...
 
interludes
Um, I don't think Red Bull success rides entirely upon their wing mirrors ...
Click to expand...

It doesn't.

But of the front-runners, only RBR and Ferrari will be affected by this ruling, and there's some debate as to how much pace per lap the mirrors are worth... with some saying it's possibly half-a-tenth a lap. Whether they can minimize this effect or whether it exists at all, both cars will lose some straightline pace next race, when it takes effect.

I don't think it will hurt that much (knock on wood), and McLaren's pace obviously survived the rear diffuser redesign... so hopefully these front-running teams have enough design flexibility to work around these little rule clarifications... but I'm not betting 100% on it, either.
 

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