Ferraris already share parts from lower end FIATs. My old FIAT Panda

Love the Top Gear Panda Limo and tring to go through the streets of London.

 

That was an interesting Q3.

I cant wait to see what the car weights are. I would bet my bottom dollar on the top three running low on fuel and starting on the softs. Which would still put the Brawn cars in a pretty good position. But we'll see.

 

You'd be right. Alonso is lightest and the Red Bulls a little heavier but still 15kg lighter than the Brawns.

If the softs work as badly as some (Alonso) think then getting them over early in a blaze of glory could be an interesting strategy. At 2kg a lap, Alonso would be going about 16 laps.

 

If I were a gambler, this is one season I would give up on. I love it.

 

Holy crap, it's already raining in Shanghai -- could be another crazy race!

 

It was.

Wet and surprising...

I'm with you Gromit -- no betting this year -- too tough.

 

Vettel is definitely the new Rain Meister. I don't think he spun once.

 

Vettel did drive a fantastic race. I just cant figure out why he passed Button when he still had a stop to make. Unless he was just worried about Webber catching him.

Perhaps it was the commentators lack of enthusiasm, but that seemed like one of the most boring rain races I've ever seen. I don't get it either because it had all the right elements: crashes, heart-break, great passes and great racing. But it just didn't knock my socks off the way Malaysia did, when they were actually racing. The only thing I can think of, is that the Varsha, Hobbs and Matchett were just a tad on the tired side. I cant blame them, getting up and watching the races the last couple of weeks has kicked my butt.

On a side note, it does look like Webber has finally met a teammate that is a match for him. He's always been quicker than his previous teammates. He would out-qualify them and out-race them....till his car broke down. I do hope Webber is able to log a win this year. I like him because it seems like he works hard. I assume because he has to with his relative lack of sponsorship dollar$.

 

I enjoyed this one. However, I used to just say I like races with rain, but now I think I need to revise that to liking races with changing conditions.....this one was all rain and pretty consistent at that. Caused plenty of action (IMO) but I like it even better when they have to react to changes throughout the race. The most disappointing part to me was the start behind the safety car.

 

I'd agree with that.

If they hadn't imagine Hamilton, with KERS, trying to get to turn 1 first. That could have been very "interesting".

 

Yeah yeah yeah. That's what was missing. Usually there are changing conditions and teams trying to gamble on them. The only team that really gambled was Williams by putting Nico on Inters.

Does it seem like Williams is making a bunch of silly gambles to try and get the win, when they could have just run their strategy and gotten good points?

 

Yep, KERS is an especially "interesting" potential mess maker given it doesn't work until they get past 100kph. So everyone takes off as well as they can without it and suddenly the KERS guys have a burst of new energy to throw them even closer to the already too tight convergence at the front. All too clear watching Alonso's sudden burst of new speed and the passing he did as a result just before turn 1 in Malaysia.....though he did pull it off beautifully.

Perhaps in China they were inspired by the memory of Glock cutting through the field (and maybe even passing Rosberg?) on inters in Malaysia.....

 

I like Webbo as a driver too, but I think his value is overstated. I think the reason he has to work as hard as he does for sponsor $$$ is due to his lack of production on the track. And why does his car break and his co-driver's car doesn't?

At any rate, nothing like a young over-achieving teammate to sharpen your own skills!

I also like Vettel and have since he made his debut, I think he's gonna go far. I like his attitude too. MS Junior here?

The hardest thing Vettel's going to have to do is choose a team to drive for next season - I think he'll pretty much have his choice.......

 

and kudos for Vettel being his own manager too - that's impressive.

 

If I were Vettel, who to drive for next season would be a very difficult choice. Right now, with all the unrest, I don't think I'd want to drive for Ferrari. Constantly being the the FIA's crosshairs, I wouldn't want to drive for McMerc. And with Red Bull being a competitive as they are right now, I'm not sure I'd want to go anywhere. I question whether Brawn will be able to stay out in front next year like they did this year. I even have doubts about them maintaining the gap to the field as the season progresses. I'd think where I moved to....if I moved, would be one of the things to decide at the end of the season.

 

Been kind of quiet here.

I'm kind of downtrodden that Ferrari are struggling so much. I never liked them when Schumacher was driving. I didn't mind so much when Massa won. Now, I think I'd at least like to see them score an odd point here or there. And it doesn't look like it's going to get any better in Bahrain.

It looks like several of the other teams made a step or two forward for this race......based on practice times anyway.

Any predictions for this race?

I say Alonso and at least one of the McMerc drivers will be in the points.

I think Red Bull and Toyota will be on the podium.

Brawn and Williams are a question mark. Williams tends to look good in practice and then cant get a qualifying and race together. For some reason Brawn looked off the pace in practice, but that's just it. It's practice. So who knows?

 

Friday practise results, Rosberg back on form! And look where Sutil is compared to Massa and Raikonenenenenen.......

Nico Rosberg-Williams-Toyota1:33.3393627
Fernando Alonso-Renault1:33.5300.191253
Jarno Trulli-Toyota1:33.6160.27737415
Sebastian Vettel-RBR-Renault1:33.6610.32229514
Mark Webber-RBR-Renault1:33.6760.33732622
Jenson Button-Brawn-Mercedes1:33.6940.35535720
Adrian Sutil-Force India-Mercedes1:33.7630.42430810
Timo Glock-Toyota1:33.7640.42537923
Rubens Barrichello-Brawn-Mercedes1:33.8850.546301017
Kazuki Nakajima-Williams-Toyota1:33.8990.56036111
Lewis Hamilton-McLaren-Mercedes1:33.9940.655301221
Giancarlo Fisichella-Force India-Mercedes1:34.0250.686231312
Sebastien Buemi-STR-Ferrari1:34.1270.788371411
Sebastien Bourdais-STR-Ferrari1:34.3661.02726158
Nelsinho Piquet-Renault1:34.4111.07229163
Felipe Massa-Ferrari1:34.5641.22534175
Robert Kubica-BMW Sauber1:34.6051.26631184
Kimi Räikkönen-Ferrari1:34.6701.33128192
Heikki Kovalainen-McLaren-Mercedes1:34.7641.42535206
Nick Heidfeld-BMW Sauber1:34.7901.45133

 

Red Bull is going to beat Brawn for the constructors championship, I think.

They don't have KERS or the better diffusers and they are kicking butt.

Wow, imagine Vettel winning the Drivers Championship!

It's like if last year championship were turned upside down.

This is going to be another great year of F1

 

So far, so good.

I think I just heard Peter Windsor say USF1 has decided to go with Cosworth engines next year. I've heard him say before that it was on their list, but this sounded more like they've made up their mind.

 

I took the pre-race weights given by f1.com and ran them through a spreadsheet which converts them to laps of fuel on board. (Approx working on 2.7kg/lap.)

1. Jarno Trulli 16
2. Timo Glock 14
3. Sebastian Vettel 20
4. Jenson Button 18
5. Lewis Hamilton 18
6. Rubens Barrichello 16
7. Fernando Alonso 17
8. Felipe Massa 22
9. Nico Rosberg 24
10. Kimi Raikkonen 25
11. Heikki Kovalainen 27
12. Kazuki Nakajima 28
13. Robert Kubica 35
14. Nick Heidfeld 34
15. Nelson Piquet 27
16. Sebastien Buemi 27
17. Giancarlo Fisichella 17
18. Mark Webber 19
19. Adrian Sutil 27
20. Sebastien Bourdais 23

 

Looks like the BMW boys are doing a one-stopper.

Alan

 

22 laps on the option tire might be pushing its longevity.

 

Yeah I think the tire regs this year will put an end to one-stop strategies for the most part. I think more times than not, teams will be more likely to do either one long and two short stints or one short and two longs. This all depends on which is the preferred tire of course.

I would have thought that Webber would want a heavier load of fuel than he has. I'd imagine they're going to put that relatively light fuel load and give him the super softs and hopefully he'll get a good start and charge through the field.

 

In other words, other things being equal we should expect Hamilton and Alonso to be pretty quick off the line, and Kovalainen and BOTH Ferraris to be slow, and Heidfeld and Kubica to be even slower. Of course, this year it's anyone's guess. I can't believe that going into race 4, we still have a total realignment of the F1 planets!

 

great race!

I did not anticipate the supersoft tyres playing such a huge role.

McLaren and Ferrari will be back during the European races, so watch out!

I still really like KERS, esp at the start of the races. Wow, check out Hammy!