Grand Prix thread 2017 Not606 Chinese GP Chat and Predictions

By the sounds of the radio chatter Vettel is surprised to not be on pole. Hope a Mercedes wins tomorrow and then it'll be Ferrari's turn in Bahrain

 

A damp-ish start and drying as we go along? Should be interesting.

 

Time for f1 to show its not all words. Get one of those rare wet starts and not behind a safety car.

 

Well, Vettel within a tenth and Raikonnen within half a second- Ferrari look very well set on race pace here.

If I were Ferrari I'd seriously consider running Raikonnen on the mediums and playing catch me if you can on a long stint one stopper, provided Vettel stays ahead of one of the Mercs.

 

Phenomenal lap by Lewis, but that Ferrari looks good.

 

A long distance to turn 1, they really need to nail the start.

 

I've gone for Vettel.

 

It's close at the front, but the rest are quite a way back. Red bull looking to fill the gap between the top two and Williams.

 

Williams, Renault, Force India and Toro Rosso all split by around 2 tenths is promising at least for a competitive midfield, just a shame that the gap to the front runners is so big, and Red Bull seem to have put themselves in no-man's land somewhat. Hard to see them breaking out of 5/6th for a while on merit.

 

No surprise that Merc cranked up the engine to 11 for Q3, not a big advantage though and well within the magic .5 seconds. Vettel win.

 

I think what bodes well is that Ferrari are fast here, cooler temperatures on a Merc favoured track. Warmer front limited tracks would logically play more to Ferraris strengths in future races, subject to development.

 

Only disappointing thing so far this weekend is a 2 and a half second gap from 1st......to 10th!!

Should be 2.5s the field IMO.

 

It's a busy lap with these steering wheels

 

Confused to see him toggle DRS off before braking into the hairpin. I thought DRS was meant to knock-off automatically when the brakes were touched?

Or (completely speculating) does doing it manually first somehow help the aero and the car stay settled under braking?

 

Late in, but this has Vettel written all over it again I reckon. Even if Hamilton can keep him at bay, Merc will throw another stragic clanger.

 

It's reconnecting the downforce. With the shorter and harder braking now, I would imagine the chance of downforce disturbance and stability are more likely affected waiting for the air to attach when the drs closes.

 

What a supreme pole lap that was by Lewis. I sense the Ferrari might just be slightly quicker and I was certain they'd get pole today but Hamilton had other ideas. When driver and car are working in beautiful tandem, it's a piece of art. Such a hard, technical track and when it is nailed like it was by Lewis today it is tremendous to watch on tv. Certainly one of the better Tilkedrome's in my opinion. Absolutely loving these new cars - seeing them flicked in to the corner at the last moment, pedal to the metal - extreme!

 

I think the Mercedes is the fastest over a lap, so I don't know why it's such a shock he's on pole as there was no need to put the engine into 'special mode' until it actually mattered. I think the Ferrari will be the faster over the race distance, but whether they get to show it or not is a different matter. I do hope whoever gets away first doesn't pull out a gap.

 

If Vettel gets the jump, I think he'll be long gone. Merc are going to have to get their stops timed properly or back in to Vettel to cause him some headaches if they manage to come off the line first. Could be a good fight if all works out.

 

Going to be close to gambling on slicks, could see some interesting strategies today. Some hero's and some zero's.