Chinese GP - Race Thread

[Tech_Skill]

who did he race then? who did he have to beat with a equal car?

Like you said yesterday, Webber is a liabilty when asked to race...

Therefore 17th/18th to 3rd with no Kers, clearly shows he is a liabilty when asked to race in my opinion, simples....

[Cavallino Rosso]

seeing at hamiltons tyres you see that they are almost gone!!!!!

If you're looking at the tyres when the race ahs finished and the cars are in Parc Ferme, don't forget the drivers run off line on the slow down lap to pick up the "marbles" of rubber that have been discarded through the race. This makes the tyres look far more warn than they are, as the have clumps of rubber stuck to the surface.

On the BBC feed they were saying each tyre looses 1.5kg in weight per stint - thats about 500kg of loose rubber around the track at the end of a race!

Interesting fact - All the left over rubber is collected up and made in to bath plugs for sale in Walmart (Disclaimer, may not be a fact)

[Tehvon]

Good race but 2 stops most definitly lost us podium today. The car isnt as slow as some seem to make out. Its just we couldnt work the hards for as long as we had hoped. The 3 tyre stop would have helped alot.

[hogo]

Ferrari at Turkey: 'Yes, we are working very hard back at Maranello. We don't have the fastest car at the moment, but we are pushing development'....lol

Yeah same old same old, and then the next excuse: wait for new package at Barcelona, we will turn things around! Half the season is gonna pass and then we may catch on... Mercedes. This season is clearly over, it was over after Melbourne as Flavio cleverly pointed out.

[Agron]

Great race from Webber, Hamilton was also very good, but it was more RB's mistake of strategy for Vettel that won Hamilton the race. Too bad Button couldn't overtake Vettel in the end.
Disappointing race for Ferrari, Alonso didn't have the pace even once during the whole race (bad setup? because we know the guy doesn't have off weekends), and Massa did a great race, but the same bad choice of strategy that made Vettel lose the win made Massa lose the podium and went down to an incredibly bad 6th position.

[Raz]

...at least we don't have to see Vettel's finger or watch Lewis with a face like a smacked **** today!

[Greig]

Like you said yesterday, Webber is a liabilty when asked to race...

Therefore 17th/18th to 3rd with no Kers, clearly shows he is a liabilty when asked to race in my opinion, simples....

Who did he race? and he is a liability still unless you can dismiss the past on one race, which would be rather simple in the head

[Ste]

To bad we suck at strategy and that Alonso can´t get of the line. Because Alonso could have won here today. But Ferrari still supports a backstabbing worthless 2nd driver.

Whaaaaaaat....

[Sianellen]

To bad we suck at strategy and that Alonso can´t get of the line. Because Alonso could have won here today. But Ferrari still supports a backstabbing worthless 2nd driver.

You are joking right?

[da_one]

We should have switched strategies from 2 to 3 stops for both drivers. Clearly Massa had the speed to match the Mclarens with the softs. We could have gotten atleast 3rd. As for Alonso, he could have raced Nico and/or Webber for 5th place. Clearly the worn out hard tires did us in as Hami, Button, and Webber were 2-3 seconds faster with fresher tires.

[Suzie]

To bad we suck at strategy and that Alonso can´t get of the line. Because Alonso could have won here today. But Ferrari still supports a backstabbing worthless 2nd driver.

Excuse me? There is not one part of your last sentence that doesn't need explaining to us all.

Please clarify.

[Ferrarichamp]

Well done Massa. Good race Ramilton.
So Felipe has beaten Alonso again, wonder what's up with Fernando? is it just poor starts?

[red power]

Time to get it together or the year is stuffed. Lets hear the bloody excuses.

[Tifosi]

Excuse me? There is not one part of your last sentence that doesn't need explaining to us all.

Please clarify.

All 3 sentences need qualifying for me

[Suzie]

All 3 sentences need qualifying for me

Summat about Nando dude.

[Ferrari_Fanatic]

Massa drove a blinder today too bad for the 2 stopper could have easy got a podium!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scuderiafan]

its all Pirelli's fault

Damn you saying we could do 1 stops. i think Ferrari were suckered in a little there.

[dfunk257]

You are joking right?

He must be joking, cause Felipe was the only 1 in red who did well today. Great job Felipe. You deserved a podium today.

[Lithium]

I suppose the only positive I can draw from the race was that it wasn't Vettel who won... finally!
As for the Scuderia... I can't believe it. It looked liked Massa was going to be on the podium and then BAM he falls back right next to Alonso... It looks like the 2 stopper didn't work for us, although I'm not sure if we would have been much better on a 3 stopper. Ferrari should have been more flexible with their strategies, they should have put at least Alonso on a 3 stopper (didn't have much to lose there!), instead of him being stuck and losing tyres behind Schuey and whatnot. Look, it worked for Webber!

[Grinsomx]

Well done Massa. Good race Ramilton.
So Felipe has beaten Alonso again, wonder what's up with Fernando? is it just poor starts?

i don't think it's fernando losing out but massa getting back into form.
Alonso had a terrible weekend in China so we probably don't see the actual picture.
we can have both drivers fighting for wins if the turkey update is worth the time it takes.

[Hornet]

Well done to Pirelli for making this race exciting. In the past, overtaking was mostly done on the straight. This year, there's a lot of it done in the mid section, so this is great.

Shame though that we're unable to get the tire right this time. I personally disagree with 2 stopping, as we've seen, its not just a matter of pace, even Vettel was caught out by a 2 stop strategy. Mark Webber showed us that Red Bull were no slow cars, but when you get the tires wrong, everything goes out the window. The speed advantage our competitors got just by pitting earlier and put on fresh tires is staggering, let alone having to drag our final stint set far longer.

I think both our drivers did well within the circumstances. Felipe did well for as long as the tires held up and after that you cant break the law of physics, and Alonso was not even able to get a proper setup this weekend after our Friday practice which serve to remind us that our reliability is not bullet proof.

Driver of the day goes to Mark Webber. From P17 to a podium finish, and with KERS problems, best drive so far out the first 3 races.

[Suzie]

I enjoyed that race a LOT - but I'm knackered now!

Really thought Felipe was going to get a podium at one point, but I don't feel too despondent about his 6th place. He drove brilliantly, I am such a proud Massa fangirl today Good start yet again, kept up with the leading pack, was right up there with Vettel at one point - fab. It's almost like his 'excuses' about having tyre issues last season were true, shock horror!

Not sure what the craic was with Fernando but it seemed to be a tough race for him.

[Tifosi]

Can we have a round of applause for Sauber please? They are like "The Dangerous Brothers"! Most entertaining

[Tech_Skill]

Who did he race? and he is a liability still unless you can dismiss the past on one race, which would be rather simple in the head

Nah, your right again, webber didnt race anyone, he is a liabilty when asked to race as you have already stated.

I would cite last weeks and todays race as further proof of this.

right, lets see what autosport forums are saying about webber today, no doubt there will be tons of threads from well informed posters saying ''who did he race, who did he race''. oh no...my bad, thats just one person on here.

[Mrs.Domenicali]

I seem to have stumbled across a fishwives moaning convention by mistake

"sack the team" "My life is over" "the season is over" "ferrari never do anything right" "sack the team" "i'm the best armchair expert there is even i could do better" "sack the team" "I need prozac after that" blah blah blah blah

Like a bunch of middle aged women!

[FFFerrari]

Massa had a decent race pace on the softs, which was a good sign. He did what he could on the hard tyres, but Nando was really strugling on the harder ones. And he was also really crap from the line, again. With a 3 stop strategy, I guess Massa could have been on the podium, maybe even 2nd. On the other hand, even with a proper strategy Fernando would have likely ended behind Webber and Rosberg.

And the positive, Fingerboy didn't win!

[Kyss4k]

I just realized that in the first half of the race we were as fast as the Bulls and faster than Maccas. But as the race was coming to the end we were slower and slower and slower... It looks like our car works in acceptable way when it's heavy but it is deadly slow on low fuel. This is not just because of the front wing.

[Katu]

Can we have a round of applause for Sauber please? They are like "The Dangerous Brothers"! Most entertaining

ever since sauber got kobayashi in team i've liked them. seems like perez is a good addition to the team..

[SanderV]

Good drive by Massa, but a diappointing result for the team. Looking at the championship we need to react with agressive development but I'm sure the team is working on it. We have to stay in front of Renault and Mercedes.

[Katu]

i say plan b, c, d, e whatever they call it should be in action asap, current one doesn't seem to work.