Grand Prix thread 2017 Not606 Chinese GP Chat and Predictions

Logical thing to do. Just let seb pass, and box Kimi in for the tyres he wants. Or keep him out till the end. None of this happened.

 

Don't think they'll make that mistake again if they're in a similar situation.

 

I agree.

 

How do, Cosi?

 

A very good race. Looks as though it could be a fascinating season.

Ferrari should really have won this race. They have the (slightly) better car at the moment, Mercedes having had a difficult time during the off-season – not least due to Rosberg's departure. But Ferrari need to capitalise upon the moment. Mercedes dropped the ball and Ferrari have done a superb job. The result, in my opinion, is that Ferrari have slightly (two or three tenths, dependant upon driver and circuit) the better car!

That said, Ferrari can be forgiven for not winning. Changeable conditions, such as at the start of the race, can become a roll of the dice. In retrospect, it's easy to criticise Vettel's (and team's) decision to pit very early, but it could have worked as a master-stroke in only slightly different circumstance. Similarly, I admire the extremely uncharacteristic decision by Ferrari to allow their drivers to actually race!* Of course, if Vettel had got past sooner, he would probably have threatened Hamilton far more than he did.

*How long must we look back through the annals to find this, for real? Off the top of my head, I'd say the best part of three decades! If they've truly had a change of heart, I'll celebrate it almost as if I were a member of the tifosi … Err, hang on a mo', is this a case of excess alcohol ociffer…?…

 

See above post please, ociffer Jhabi.


Just had a quick perusal and glad to see so many of the stalwarts are keeping this pace going. Even McFerrari appears to have resurfaced!

 

While I totally get your point, I can't help but think it was utter bonkers on their part. Had they been truly racing and doing comparative times, let them have at it, but when Kimi is so far off the pace, they just need to get him out of the way (and maybe some of that will kick Kimi up the backside). They have a real chance at the drivers championship this season and need to take every chance they can get with both hands imo.

 

Yeah. Totally get your point, Bhaji.

I'm just pleased to see Ferrari beginning (or at least, appearing) to consider the public reaction to its contribution to the sporting spectacle. I'm totally with you on the 'what might have been' with Vettel and that he had a realistic chance of challenging Hamilton, had he passed his team-mate sooner; but there is a very big picture which Ferrari have consistently scrawled upon in the past and this history had to come back to haunt them at some stage.

Mercedes re-wrote (or at least, reverted to an historic version of) the corporate racing rule-book when they decided right from the outset with Schumacher and Rosberg, that there would not be team orders in the manner employed (and publicly resented) by Ferrari. The reason was because they saw a very big political positive in being seen to become more of a sporting entity. I sincerely hope, for the good of our sport, that the Ferrari racing team has seen the error of its ways, which did nothing to endear a wider public; and that they will no longer contrive results when the competition does it very much less!

 

I don't agree with that at all . He has the chance to prove himself in the best team and against the best driver ? He signed a 1 year contract . Hell of a risk IMHO , he could be out of F1 next year , not the thinkings of a mercenary !

 

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

Ha ha, looks more like the kind of overtake you do on the consoles!

 

Forgot to raise this earlier, but there is going to be a discussion re the quali penalties for Gisjean and Palmer.

For me the yellow flag issues have been raised by some key events, for differing reasons. Bianchi is the obvious one and Nico in quali last year was similar to last weekends incudent.

The question is this, if they expected the drivers to abort their lap, why didn't they red flag it?