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.

[Tom Servo]

Ricciardo's pass was the pass of the season, and it'll take something to beat it.

[Godson]

Kamui passing Vettel made my fucking year.


Let's hope Ferrari has something going for them here in a bit and Kimi gets it going.

[overpowered]

If it hadn't been for Hamilton's engine problems in Australia, Mercedes would have gone 1-2 for the first four races in a row. As it is, they've won the first four and went 1-2 in three of those. I don't recall a team starting that dominant since I've been watching F1. Even Ferrari in 2004, Reubens only managed two second places out of the first four races, though he did manage six second places out of the first nine races, so I guess it's not too far off.

WTF happened to McLaren? They looked like they were making a decent comeback in Australia and now not so good.

WTF is with Kimi? Alonso's making him look bad.

[FaultyMario]

Kimi's getting all the bad luck. From the engineering side he's had PU, transmission, cooling, ice cream problems, and then he's been tagged in the races.

And McLaren were suffering from poor tire management, they seem to be in the same position Mercedes where in last year, I think, it has to do with their radical rear suspension design. They're fast, alright, they're just too affected by track conditions.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, what Mercedes have accomplished is really amazing. Maybe they have Honda to thank for... for laying down a good foundation and then leaving just when things are turning up? ;)

It really shows that it's the people that makes a team great. I really thought Hamilton made a huge mistake by leaving McLaren. Now, we know it'd probably be a bigger mistake staying in McLaren!

What's more interesting to me is that it's really difficult to identify who's the best of the rest...

And Webber must've been very happy to see a fellow Australian sticking it to Vettel... :D That's another amazing story. Is Ricciardo that good? Sure look like he is!:up:

[FaultyMario]

Question: who was more of a protegé to Webbo, Davidson or Ricciardo?

[MR2 Fan]

For me the race wasn't nearly as exciting as the others this year.

Vettel needs to quit whining.

[FaultyMario]

The opening laps were great. A shame about Massa's contact, he could have spiced things up inbetween the Red Bulls and Rosberg.

[Godson]

Vettel is a complainer. always has been always will be.

[overpowered]

I really thought Hamilton made a huge mistake by leaving McLaren. Now, we know it'd probably be a bigger mistake staying in McLaren!The fact that it was a good move became apparent very quickly last season as McLaren was sucking right from the start.

Of course, even then, nobody imagined that it was as good a move as it has turned out to be given this season.

Before last season started, yeah, it didn't seem like a good move to those of use who had no idea that McLaren could suck that bad.

Last season, it seemed like Hamilton was only a little bit better than Rosberg. It's starting to seem like he's significantly better this season.

[G'day Mate]

I heard some suggestion that Ricciardo has more experience driving a shitty car (ie. one that can't just go flat out through all sorts of corners) and that might be helping him now that there's less downforce.

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah. SV seems to struggle with the high demand on throttle control out of corners now. Makes you wonder about how important the RB 'traction control' was.

[FaultyMario]

I don't think they [Renault] can unlearn how to thrust vector their engines, maybe it's just more difficult for now.

On SV's difficulites there was an interview with Kimi on Autosport (?) where he suspects they are both being more affected because of their driving style.

[FaultyMario]

It's from espn: http://www.espn.co.uk/china/motorsport/story/155145.html


"I don't think I work the tyres very hard, so when there are cool conditions and wet conditions … for many years it has been hard to get the tyres working. Today it feels that when you have a new tyre it works well until the grip from the new tyres goes away and then you struggle and you have to go slower and the tyres cool down more - everything goes round and round and you cannot fix that.

"It's a thing that everybody hates, but there is not a magic thing and I cannot necessarily change everything with my driving. At the last race I could have done two stops [and gained an advantage] but the safety car changed [the race], so it works for you at some places and then against you at some. We just have to work and find some solutions when we have this and hopefully not end up with similar issues. Once you end up with that it's hard to get out of it, especially in the race."

and then:


"I don't know why you always come up with motivation. If I didn't have motivation I wouldn't be here answering these kinds of questions. It's fuck all to do with that. We have bad races and it's an unfortunate thing, but the aim is to improve and get where we want to be."

[IMOA]

Question: who was more of a protegé to Webbo, Davidson or Ricciardo?

Mitch Evans

I reckon Vettel will figure the car out eventually but it's really starting to look like Riccardo will beat him this year. Kimi I don't think will get there, Alonso will pull the team around him and my impression at least is that if the car doesn't work for Kimi he never really gets on top of it. With red bull while they may give the preferred race strategy to Riccardo I think the development side of things will still be slanted in Vettel's direction.

With Hamilton I was always under the impression that it was this year that he moved to Mercedes for and was assuming that last year would just be a mark out his territory, establish himself in the team kind of thing. It was just a big surprise that last years car was good as well (then again, Rosberg consistently beat Schumacher and Hamilton is consistently better than Rosberg so you have to wonder how good the Mercedes was before hamilton arrived).

[Godson]

But the race strategies were different from when Schumi raced till just recently correct? Instead of banging out super fast laps, they are chasing delta times, I remember Schumi complaining about that in his last season.


Either way, it seems Lewis definitely has the proper driving style/strategy/car to make him pretty much untouchable.





As for Kimi, I think he is suffering with the loss of DF just in the way Vettel is. But if I am not mistaken, hasn't Kimi finished higher than his qualifying every race this year?

[Random]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTvq5aX9VYQ

[Godson]

That is my favorite moment of all time.

[Blerpa]

http://www.crash.net/f1/feature/203473/1/what-we-learned-at-the-chinese-grand-prix.html