2018 Chinese GP Race

[Vettel165]

Calm down guys, even I tried to do that and I feel a little bit better now. This race is done, we have to move on.

[Aussie]

Yeah it was funny for once but now its becoming cringey ....

Harden up its awesome

[Ed Harley]

Well, that was an entertaining race.

[jpalmito]

Harden up its awesome

So we have today a bad race,but..
-our car is able to lock out front grid on merit.
-statisticaly in this formula THIS is a key advantage during a complete season.
-the Diva is still there.
-red bull will win some races but lack in reliability, not a true
contender.
-our car has more developpement coming.

We are in a better shape comparing to last year.

[zike]

So we have today a bad race,but..
-our car is able to lock out front grid on merit.
-statisticaly in this formula THIS is a key advantage during a complete season.
-the Diva is still there.
-red bull will win some races but lack in reliability, not a true
contender.
-our car has more developpement coming.

We are in a better shape comparing to last year.

And we should not trow away good points like today

[darkchild]

One thing I noticed is that Kimi is unable to do any passing with these new cars. I guess its dirty air that affects his drivestyle much more then others, but he doesnt even try.

[Vettel165]

So we have today a bad race,but..
-our car is able to lock out front grid on merit.
-statisticaly in this formula THIS is a key advantage during a complete season.
-the Diva is still there.
-red bull will win some races but lack in reliability, not a true
contender.
-our car has more developpement coming.

We are in a better shape comparing to last year.

Agree its better as it looks now after one bad race. But we have to make sure that bad strategy calls wont happen again. We have a good pace everywhere. We can fight they said. Imagine a 1-2 for Ferrari in Baku, it would make me the happiest man alive. Still we have to go step by step and be humble.

Forza Ferrari, Vettel, Kimi.

PS: I will never stop believing.

[Ferrarichamp]

well the best we can hope for now is a win in Baku of course. But as Ferrari and RBR have now won races, i suppose statistically it would be Mercs turn next. I hope we will prevent that from happening.

[alfaromeo]

Bad luck, but Ferrari have the best car on the grid and will fight for first place on all races this season.

[PURE PASSION]

A really bad result because we clearly had a race winning car. On pure pace we where clearly ahead if Mercs.Nit by much (about 2 tenths) but we where.On softs Seb was managing the race and little by little he open a gap about 4 secs. And on med (supposedly Merc tires) he was again faster then Bottas and stack withing 1 sec for several laps. The BIG mistake was the 1st stop. I try to find an excuse/scenario why to delay so much the stop,and i really cant find one.We stupidly lost track position with the same strategy. I dont know what would had happened if we have done properly the pit stop and exit ib front of Bot.I m pretty sure Seb would open a gap and propably we could see another result!!!!!
So at least we had the best race pace !!!

[Lega Verde]

they do love turning this sport into an entertainment show

Mika Salo, a driver referee on some F1 Races, said today on Finnish TV that there is no pressure from Liberty Media towards FIA referees and Charlie Whiting. This theory was brought up by the commentator Niki Juusela during the race and Salo immediately said it's not true.

[Lega Verde]

And why did they keep Seb out when Bottas pitted? What did they think by that?

Well it's obvious by now, but Seb pitted on following lap. That wasn't enough against the Mercs pit work and the great drive by Bottas. A great undercut.

[Ferrarichamp]

quick points standings comparison 2017/18 after the same first three races:

2017

Vet 68
Ham 61

Ferrari 102
Merc 99

2018

Vet 54
Ham 45

Ferrari 84
Merc 85

[Lega Verde]

First of all, Vettel should not block so aggessively Kimi in Turn one, after the start. This caused Kimi to lose position and therefor Ferrari lost the luxury they had. Race could have been a simple win! Secondly, what a bad strategy of Ferrari. Without a computer or even lap times access by my side, I could see an undercut from Bottas. And what they did to Kimi is painful. He deserve better. I am sure he will question this internally, as a good pro. A last observation: do you think they are happy at Red Bull for making the decission to give Mad Max a long-time contract and by doing this losing Ricciardo?

My thoughts exactly.

As for Ricciardo I am certain that Red Bull will offer a huge salary boost to keep him. Sainz Jr. can't keep up with Hulkenberg so there isn't a proper driver to fill the RB-seat alongside reckless Verstappen.

[barzini77]

One thing I noticed is that Kimi is unable to do any passing with these new cars. I guess its dirty air that affects his drivestyle much more then others, but he doesnt even try.

True, but what I've noticed is that basically no-one can. Seb couldn't do anything against Bottas eventhough he closed on him quite easily.
RedBulls were the only ones capable of overtaking because they had Softs when others were running Mediums.

So it's not just Kimi who has difficulties passing.

[Vettel165]

I hate people who claim to be so called Ferrari fans, but are still bashing Seb. Leave please. You are making Seb a bad boy, he really destroyed Kimis races, the reality is not even close to it. Seb had a good start, Kimi a better one, and Seb was slowly going to the right side in T1, which would any normal driver who would start first do. Kimi was always going to lift there. With running 1.-3. we couldnt expect that Bottas would gain 3,5 second when going into the box comparing to Seb. Remember he went into box just 1 lap later, and Bottas manage to be ahead. After that they should pit Kimi sooner I agree, but the safety car didnt just destroy our race but also the race of both Mercedes drivers. With a perfect strategy I think we would win today, but the luck wasnt on our side today. Without Verstappen crashing into Seb, the end result would probably be like that. 1. Ric 2. Ver 3. Bottas 4. Vet 5. Kimi 6. Hamilton. Its very good to see Kimi so strong in qualy though, so he is really pushing Seb to the limit of car.

[racingbradley]

I guess the old saying "you win some you lose some" applies to us to-day. Cela vie!
Yes it was a pity because we had a race winning car but these things happen.............No one's perfect.
We can console ourselves with "the signs are good".
Come on Baku.

[tifosi1993]

Happy with Kimi's result. Today Ferrari tried to use him as a canon fodder...pretty low I'd say.

The Vettel one hurt me the most, he deserved to win. Thank you Ferrari pit wall for gifting your rival team the win today. Bravo!

[Rob]

Maurizio Arrivabene
“Today’s result was definitely not the one we were aiming for, given that we were starting from the front row. Our race pace wasn’t bad, but this was a Grand Prix in which the many variables made the difference. Kimi made it to the podium and Sebastian limited the damage in a car which, after the collision, was not in the best of conditions for a fight. Now it’s important for us to maintain concentration and determination, already thinking about the next race in Baku.”

Kimi Raikkonen
quote It was quite a painful race and not a very enjoyable one. At the start I had a good jump, but then I had to back off and this cost me a few places. After the pit stop the car was pretty fast and the feeling was good; at that point we were behind, but I could see the other cars at the end of the straight. The safety car helped us, at that time we had fresh tires. I would say it took us back in the race. In the end I had a decent speed with the Mediums against the guys that were on the same tires, but getting close to them and try to follow was really tricky. For sure we were faster than Valtteri, but when you get close it becomes more difficult, you lose so much grip in the process and lose so much downforce, especially in this kind of circuit. I just couldn’t get enough of a run on him. Today we take the third place, but obviously when you start from the first row it’s far from ideal. We’ll try to do better next time.”

Sebastian Vettel
“I was lucky to end my race. After a collision like the one I had, I think we could have even stopped there. Obviously, the lucky thing is that the car was still working, even if the balance was gone. We lost the lead after the pit stop and that was not ideal. We were quite sure we would have come out in front, but we didn’t. The timing of the Safety Car was bad for both me and Valtteri, because we had no chance to react. After that it was clear that Red Bull was faster and I think there was no point to resist much at the way Daniel approached from behind, and then the same happened with Max. I gave him some room just in case he had a bit of tire lock-up, but then obviously he had a big one and that’s why we crashed. I think he realized he was wrong. We were both lucky to continue but it was not necessary. However, I appreciated the fact he came to me straightway because that’s the way to solve things like this, face to face. But obviouslyM this is not the result we were looking for.”

[SilverSpeed]

Watched the race, gutted about they didn't pitted Kimi sooner, gutted when Crashtappen hit SV and only got a 10sec penalty instead a 10sec stop and go...

Meh what a race to fast to forget if you ask me.

[Giallo 550]

I hate to say it, but the first turn set the tone for the entire race. This should have been a Ferrari 1-2. Vettel was too aggressive with his teammate at the start, which allowed Bottas to get through. Ferrari left Vettel out too long and should have matched Botttas's pit entry. This was not the Ferrari that showed up in Australia and Bahrain and the pit wall dropped the ball. Very disappointed with everyone except Raikkonen, and I am a Ferrari fan first.

[bonzo]

Happy with Kimi's result. Today Ferrari tried to use him as a canon fodder...pretty low I'd say.

The Vettel one hurt me the most, he deserved to win. Thank you Ferrari pit wall for gifting your rival team the win today. Bravo!

It happens so often - when we have a clear advantage to win a race, our pitwall crew makes mistakes.

[Giallo 550]

Call me cynical but I thino the SC was deployed at that particular moment to spice up,the 'show'.

I'm by no means a conspiracy theorist, but it felt like the safety car was out for like 10 laps, when the track easily could have been dusted off in two.

[bonzo]

I'm by no means a conspiracy theorist, but it felt like the safety car was out for like 10 laps, when the track easily could have been dusted off in two.

It should have come out 2 laps earlier. Obviously LB were successful to spice up the season in favor of RB and against Ferrari and Merc.

[mizf1]

Call me cynical but I thino the SC was deployed at that particular moment to spice up,the 'show'.

Bottas and Vettel could nOt react quick enough due to how close they were to the pits, it was to give the cars behind a chance of the victory, RB reacted but Merc or Ferrari didn't with their second cars.

The debris was out for a few laps so as Paul Di Resta suggested why was the lead car not tracked before deploying the SC as they did have a few laps to think a out it?

Seb thinking the same as well

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...-was-not-right

[Deephouse]

I have noticed though that Hamilton seems to be completely off this season so far. He is so used to winning that whenever it doesn't go his way he starts getting moody and it affects his race performance. Same thing happened with Vettel after Red Bull.

Baku has long straights like China so hopefully we can get the job done.

[brawnydog]

Verstappen... I don't understand how Vettel could remain so calm. I would have punched him in the face as soon as I got out of the car. The 10 seconds penalty was a joke. This guy needs a freaking race ban. Every season he's costing Vettel big points by crashing left and right.
Good job by Kimi even if he was awful in the first stint.

I know, right? Vettel must have just been expecting Vettel to do something stupid and perhaps that's why he was so calm. That's not to say he should have conceded the place so easily as to go completely wide to let him through. It was almost funny how calm he was. Haha.

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[Tony]

The solution to this is simple... Vettel needs to stop chopping his teammate at the start of the race and Ferrari need to react to cover everyone else when they all go on the exact same strategy.... this would have avoided all of the rest of the incidents that happened to them....

[jgonzalesm6]

Call me cynical but I thino the SC was deployed at that particular moment to spice up,the 'show'.

Bottas and Vettel could nOt react quick enough due to how close they were to the pits, it was to give the cars behind a chance of the victory, RB reacted but Merc or Ferrari didn't with their second cars.

The debris was out for a few laps so as Paul Di Resta suggested why was the lead car not tracked before deploying the SC as they did have a few laps to think a out it?

Seb thinking the same as well

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...-was-not-right

After the Hartley Gasly incident.....Sainz radioed there was debris on the track...We all could see the pieces/shards of carbon fibre front wing lying on the track.....so an SC was deployed so the track marshalls can clean up the track (I have to admit it took awhile).

[brawnydog]

I have noticed though that Hamilton seems to be completely off this season so far. He is so used to winning that whenever it doesn't go his way he starts getting moody and it affects his race performance. Same thing happened with Vettel after Red Bull.

Baku has long straights like China so hopefully we can get the job done.

He seems very dejected, doesn't he? All the ambitious talk about winning number 5, party mode, and then 3 races of being left behind - those are all the ingredients for a defeated Hamilton that we've seen in the past. He's very predictable in that way. I still wouldn't discount a Mercedes comeback, but maybe the charge will come from Bottas? Hmmm.

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