2014 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX

[FaultyMario]

Here are the results from FP2

1 	44 	Lewis Hamilton 	        Mercedes                         1’38.315 		25
2 	14 	F. Alonso               Ferrari 	                 1’38.456    	0.141 	28
3 	6 	Nico Rosberg 	        Mercedes                         1’38.726 	0.411 	30
4 	3 	Daniel Ricciardo 	Red Bull-Renault 	         1’38.811 	0.496 	30
5 	1 	Sebastian Vettel 	Red Bull-Renault 	         1’39.015 	0.700 	31
6 	19 	Felipe Massa 	        Williams-Mercedes 	         1’39.118 	0.803 	25
7 	7 	Kimi Raikkonen 	        Ferrari 	                 1’39.283 	0.968 	25
8 	22 	Jenson Button 	        McLaren-Mercedes 	         1’39.491 	1.176 	29
9 	8 	Romain Grosjean 	Lotus-Renault 	                 1’39.537 	1.222 	36
10 	26 	Daniil Kvyat 	        Toro Rosso-Renault 	         1’39.648 	1.333 	26
11 	27 	Nico Hulkenberg 	Force India-Mercedes 	         1’39.736 	1.421 	30
12 	20 	Kevin Magnussen 	McLaren-Mercedes 	         1’39.744 	1.429 	29
13 	25 	Jean-Eric Vergne 	Toro Rosso-Renault 	         1’39.759 	1.444 	28
14 	77 	Valtteri Bottas 	Williams-Mercedes 	         1’39.830 	1.515 	25
15 	11 	Sergio Perez 	        Force India-Mercedes 	         1’40.124 	1.809 	32
16 	21 	Esteban Gutierrez 	Sauber-Ferrari 	                 1’40.359 	2.044 	32
17 	99 	Adrian Sutil 	        Sauber-Ferrari 	                 1’40.395 	2.080 	30
18 	13 	Pastor Maldonado 	Lotus-Renault 	                 1’40.455 	2.140 	12
19 	17 	Jules Bianchi 	        Marussia-Ferrari 	         1’42.327 	4.012 	27
20 	4 	Max Chilton 	        Marussia-Ferrari 	         1’43.473 	5.158 	30
21 	10 	Kamui Kobayashi 	Caterham-Renault 	         1’43.530 	5.215 	32
22 	9 	Marcus Ericsson 	Caterham-Renault 	         1’43.679 	5.364 	32

Some rain is expected for Sunday's race. Graining is a concern for tire management.

Pastor crashed on his way into the pits. He didn't blame the wall this time.
Lewis reported problems as did Kimi. Alonso led in P1, as well as being second fastest on P2.

I hope qualifying spices things up in the Williams-McLaren-Force India battle, as that's been the exciting thing so far into the season. RBR appear to have be running well given their power unit limitations, So once we head back to Europe and they have their B-spec car ready, they're gonna take the battle to the Mercs I suppose. But as they demonstrated in the final sprint in Bahrain, Mercedes have a little over 2 seconds of race pace advantage on the rest of the field, that's a mountain of time. Can Newey and Co. make that up in time? Will reliability be a factor in keeping the championship close? Things to watch for in the first part of the euro season.

Anyway, I sincerely hope the Mattiaci affair comes back and bites Alonso in the ass. Hard. I'd be happy with a string of retirements, I'll be double glad if they come from somewhere in the lead. I don't know, some Monaco spectacular first two thirds of the race and bam, DNF. That'll teach the fucker. His moaning and belittling of his team's, although way more refined than Maldonado's, is the most annoying thing in F1 for me. Ferrari gave him a good shot at the title in 2010 and 2012, how much of those two chances were lost to him, we'll never know, but to publicly cry out incompetence since 2009 is a sign the guy's ego has gotten the best of him. Go Kimi, just show him.

As always: Go Guti!, Go Kamui! Go Britney! Go Sauber!

[Godson]

What outcry do you speak of with Alonso and Mattiaci?

[FaultyMario]

Not about Mattiaci, but since his arrival in 2010 to last week, Alonso has been pretty vocal about Ferrari not giving him the tools to be competitive, they've so far sacked Chris Dyer for his role in the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP mistake (some argue that Alonso had enough car that year to not take the championship to the wire), Aldo Costa in mid 2011 and who's now doing well in Mercedes F1, and lastly Domenicalli, who most agree is a decent bloke who did whatever he could with what was given by upper management, and whose biggest mistake -unlike Todt before- was not being able to throw a big bone to Luca DiMontezemolo so that he would not interfere with the racing team.

IMO, Alonso has been give wide prerogatives at the team and he has failed to deliver, he has shifted some of the blame. I find that unfari. I hope Karma kicks him in the nuts.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Alonso was never my favorite, but to be fair, I think he has been driving quite well. Even with Kimi as teammate, I don't think he has failed to show who is the #1 driver at Ferrari. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Kimi can turn things around soon...

Anyway, considering how old Alonso is and how Vettel has dominated the sport for so long, I can understand Alonso's frustration due to his chances diminishing as every year goes by...

Plus, when you have 2 awesome world champions driving for you and you still managed to finish that poorly, something is wrong with the car/team! Alonso may be whiny, but if you want to find fault with the team not delivering, for sure it's not because of Alonso. Stefano Domenicali's resignation perhaps is a bit too dramatic and I'm not sure how an inexperienced replacement would help... shows how desperate the team is... I'll be surprised to see if Ferrari can win anymore championships in the near future. Perhaps that'll be the karma you're looking fore?

I really think any world champ hungry to win more championships would complain if they're wearing Alonso's shoes.

[Godson]

Not about Mattiaci, but since his arrival in 2010 to last week, Alonso has been pretty vocal about Ferrari not giving him the tools to be competitive, they've so far sacked Chris Dyer for his role in the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP mistake (some argue that Alonso had enough car that year to not take the championship to the wire), Aldo Costa in mid 2011 and who's now doing well in Mercedes F1, and lastly Domenicalli, who most agree is a decent bloke who did whatever he could with what was given by upper management, and whose biggest mistake -unlike Todt before- was not being able to throw a big bone to Luca DiMontezemolo so that he would not interfere with the racing team.

IMO, Alonso has been give wide prerogatives at the team and he has failed to deliver, he has shifted some of the blame. I find that unfari. I hope Karma kicks him in the nuts.

Ok, that makes more sense then. Here is to Kimi out scoring him. I just hope Kimi doesn't get tagged in the first lap (or any lap)...again.

[FaultyMario]

HAM-RIC
VET-ROS
ALO-MAS
BOT-HUL
VER-GRO
RAI-BUT
KVY-SUT
MAG-PER
GUT-KOB
BIA-ERI
CHI-MAL

The RBRs advantage in the first two sectors just got destroyed by the mighty power of the German engines. Riccardo had a tenth on Lewis' time up to S2, but then it shot up to 0.6 in the last sector. A 1,100 meter long straight doesn't sound competitive, but maybe on race pace it spices things up if conditions don't allow for DRS deployment.

[IMOA]

Should be a good race between Vettel and Danny Ric for the last podium spot, they should hold up Rosberg enough to give hamilton the break. The Williams pair should challenge in the first stint but then will go backwards with tyre wear problems and Alonso will slowly drift back.

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah, Smiley-Wiley's been giving the kid a run for his money so far this season.

[FaultyMario]

Chequered Flag's shown to Lewis instead of the white flag. In accordance with the regulations, race is deemed shortened so the official results go back one lap to those registered at the end of L54. Kamui's pass on Jules for constructor money comes undone.

Tony Fernandes must be thrilled.

[Fiat500]

Well, that's just stupid.

...

Vettel is told to let Ricciardo past.
Vettel refuses.
Ricciardo passes him anyway.

That was sweet.

...

Hamilton has apparently found his inner Popstar Buddha.