2016 Pirelli Chinese Grand Prix

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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I didn't even realize before you mentioned it that everyone finished.

But as for McLaren and Haas pace, or lack thereof, it might have been down to the tyre pressures they were forced to run. McLaren seemed to really botch their stratrgy today, and they didn't seem to have the performance in the bendy bits. Their straight line speed is alright but they just didn't get the tyres to work, and/or they're running particularly low downforce.
 
This makes just the sixth race in which all the starting cars finished. Looking back, five of those races occurred in the past eleven years.

To think that the typical number of classified finishers used to be around 50-60%, until the last decade.
 
So, apparently Red Bull Racing is about to drop a mixtape :lol:

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Cracking race!!! Still need some time to digest what all happened.

Kvyat on lap 1 was perfectly fine. I understand why Seb is upset, but I think once he watches the tape, he'll understand. That said, I do get his point about Kvyat coming in hot, as if you watch, once Kvyat passes Seb, he still has a lot of speed, pushes wide to the left, and actually almost collects Kimi too. Overall though, I agree with Kvyat response to Vettel's "If I keep going, we crash,"......"So don't keep going" :sly:

Great drive from Ricci, I was crushed for him. I though I saw that rear tire flexing a whole lot in the turns leading onto the back straight, kind of raised one of my eyebrows...the BANG!

It was good to see Button and Alonso actually fighting, Button especially with his clever car placement. These guys need a better car under them so they can take it to the front of the field.

I'm extremely existed to see a RBR engine upgrade. Come some of the less power dependent tracks, I think they will be the ones to really take the fight to Merc. Also, I would love to see the Vettel/Kvyat spat contine :)

Although Lewis faded at the end a bit, he still had some great moves, especially his passes around the outside through 8 and 9. His move on Bottas at T10 was great as well 👍

Qualifying was exciting, the race was exciting....if F1 can keep this wave going, things are looking good.
 
I think Vettel does have somewhat of a point about Kvyat, although he focused on it way too much. Kvyat was entitled to put his car there but he was too fast and it was always on a trajectory to a crash without Ferrari's taking avoiding action.

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He goes from the inside and drifts almost to the outside, and the Ferrari's are in his path.

sems4arsenal
Lewis deserves the bad luck for the stuff he posts on Snapchat to be honest.
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Yeah, because that is totally logical.
 
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@Samus I agree, it's fine going for a gap but you need to be able to get round the corner when you get there, with the speed he had there was no way he was getting round the corner without running wide into the Ferraris. If he'd be a bit more careful the whole first corner mess could have been avoided.
 
Nice breakdown with the photos 👍 like I said before, I get where Seb is coming from, but at the same time, I think it's almost a negative to over analyze the situation in hindsight, as you don't want to discurage drivers from making attempts like Kvyat did.

Also, the way I look at it, even though Kvyat was very fast and was always going to run wide further into the corner, I think he had sufficient overlap to take the liberty of forcing Vettel wide by unwinding the steering lock slightly. Not saying Kvyat did or should have intentionally pushed Seb wide, but I think at that point, it was his corner to do with as he pleased. The unfortunate part of the whole situation was that Kimi happened to be on Seb's left, which I don't think Kvyat would have been aware of.

The whole thing was a chain reaction of somewhat unrelated events, started off by Kimi locking and running wide (not quite sure why Vettel sort of followed him out to the left like he did), which then culminated in basically 3 cars going for the same spot. Like Kvyat said, "That's racing."

Lastly, I think Seb was genuinly spooked when he saw Kvyat. His jink to the left seemed bigger than it needed to be, when there was actually about a tire's width of space between the two cars.
 
twitcher
Not implying that it was offensive or anything, but it was a pretty lame joke....you seem to be the only one laughing at it ;)
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Edit: also, just to add.

I've never been upset or put off by anything Hamilton has put on Snapchat, as I don't follow him on snapchat (actually don't have snapchat, period). I assume you know about his snapchat activity because you follow him? I think that begs the question then, why follow someone who's content you don't enjoy?

Edit: my edit was a fail...sorry :(
 
twitcher
Edit: also, just to add.

I've never been upset or put off by anything Hamilton has put on Snapchat, as I don't follow him on snapchat (actually don't have snapchat, period). I assume you know about his snapchat activity because you follow him? I think that begs the question then, why follow someone who's content you don't enjoy?

Edit: my edit was a fail...sorry :(
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Yeah lets just move on mate 👍
 
While the races may have featured a lot of action so far, the overall result has been the same. One guy has won every race for the last 6 months, and now has a massive championship lead.
 
Funny how the traditionally uneventful, "boring" tracks (like China and Bahrain) have now been presenting better and better races each year. This season in general is feeling really good! I bet now though, that good-racing tracks will be subpar this year. To balance things out, in the Racing Gods eyes.

Also, how how we almost never seen any other occurrence of people being overtaken on the way to pit lane? I imagine there never really is a reason for it, as it is risky to begin with, but seeing as there apparently are no rules against it, I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen it.
 
Samus
An image to highlight how crazy things were at the start, all the position changes.

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Rio was at 8th before finally dropping to 16th, that alone just says it all :lol:

GroupB
While the races may have featured a lot of action so far, the overall result has been the same. One guy has won every race for the last 6 months, and now has a massive championship lead.
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Welcome to F1
 
GroupB
While the races may have featured a lot of action so far, the overall result has been the same. One guy has won every race for the last 6 months, and now has a massive championship lead.
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At least it is the team member I can get behind. I've kinda always liked the team too. But even then, I agree that repetition gets old, and the novelty of even best drivers ware off! Even if Raikonen one every race in a season, I would get a bit less excited, almost used to it and indifferent, after like 8-9 races. It's like listening to your favorite band, and only your favorite band, or more specifically, one album of theirs, for months on end. After a while variety is begged for!
 
GroupB
While the races may have featured a lot of action so far, the overall result has been the same. One guy has won every race for the last 6 months, and now has a massive championship lead.
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You mean like since, forever? :lol:
 
Whodoyouthink
Funny how the traditionally uneventful, "boring" tracks (like China and Bahrain) have now been presenting better and better races each year. This season in general is feeling really good! I bet now though, that good-racing tracks will be subpar this year. To balance things out, in the Racing Gods eyes.
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To be fair, Shanghai produced brilliant races in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. A good race is nothing new for this circuit.
Whodoyouthink
Also, how how we almost never seen any other occurrence of people being overtaken on the way to pit lane? I imagine there never really is a reason for it, as it is risky to begin with, but seeing as there apparently are no rules against it, I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen it.
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Usually, drivers entering the pit lane are driving as fast as they can, the only reason to drive unnecessarily slowly is in anticipation of stacking during a safety car. And even in those unusual instances, usually the pit lane isn't wide enough for trailing drivers to overtake.
 
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Whodoyouthink
Also, how how we almost never seen any other occurrence of people being overtaken on the way to pit lane? I imagine there never really is a reason for it, as it is risky to begin with, but seeing as there apparently are no rules against it, I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen it.
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Two reasons really, firstly not all pit entries are wide enough for two cars but more importantly all drivers are usually attacking the pit entry as fast as they can, so there is no opportunity. On this occasion Hulkenberg was driving slower on purpose since his team mate was already in the garage, and he got a penalty for it.

The rule came in after more blatant stuff like this happened:
 
I'm actually starting to warm up to the Shanghai circuit. It has a few really good corners, a good variety of corners, contrasted by the long straight, which exposes strengths and weeknesses of various cars. It also tends to produce good racing, for F1 at least. Limited elevation change is the main weekness I suppose, but you can't always have everything. I used to think the surrounding area was rather ugly as well, but it seems to be growing in nicely, and if it wasn't for the smog, it actually starting to look pretty good.
 

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