Chinese GP Qualifying Thread

[Ken]

On a more humerous note, what fun it was to see Lewser Senna Ramilton looking so peeved at being beaten by Button In Qualy.

However on the upside our racing pace is allways better than our qualy pace so I hold on to hope for some good points tomorrow

Its not over till the fat lady sings

[Ferrarichamp]

Will Ferrari try a one-stopper?

[Alonsomaniac]

Indeed , the racepace is quite okay, so nothing is really lost with todays qualy.
We need to take Rosberg asap, and hope for Button to get past Vettel (unlikely I know) , and then we can have a race in which again a podium is very well possible.
Last week we had some bad luck with that, but it is possible again and it would be a boost for all of us.

[FFFerrari]

The Good:

+ Both drivers got everything out of the car during the flying laps

The Bad:

- 1.4 secs behind Vettel, 0.7 secs behind both McLarens
- even pace with Mercedes and Renault (if they didn't have all the problems they did)

The Ugly

* Mark Webber - their team really seems to fumble everything related to him (non-working KERS, not giving optional tyres for Q1, etc.)
* Petrov destroying the chance for a lot of drivers to have a clean Q2 session

[Alonsomaniac]

Hamilton could have been faster: "I was just saving tyres". Yeah, right........

[Tifosi]

He needs them more than most

[vcs316]

How much time do you think we can gain by bolting on a flexi wing on the front end? and other than the wing, does anyone know of any other aero updates that are in the pipeline?

We are working on a nitrous oxide fuel alongwith Shell. We will debut it in Turkey, This fuel will ignite the turbo charger and deliver an extra 90kmph speed. After we have this who needs the flexi wing anyway?

[Alonsomaniac]

We are working on a nitrous oxide fuel alongwith Shell. We will debut it in Turkey, This fuel will ignite the turbo charger and deliver an extra 90kmph speed. After we have this who needs the flexi wing anyway?

Great news! Will this turbo charger, once ignited, burn a whole race distance or do we have to make pitstops to put a new one on? And do we have hard and soft ones?

[racingbradley]

And Webber has shown he is a racer? come off it LOL he is a liability when asked to actually race.
Massa is better on every level for me

Agree

[vcs316]

Great news! Will this turbo charger, once ignited, burn a whole race distance or do we have to make pitstops to put a new one on? And do we have hard and soft ones?

Tyres wont matter!! Did I tell you about the special grease that can be rubbed on the Pirellis which make them last the whole race distance.

Will get back to you on the turbo charger, have to confirm with Maranello

[scuderiafan]

The encouraging thing is that we were actually faster than McLaren and a shady shy of the RBs in the long runs in friday. so for that to bear fruit, we need to pass Rosberg. The Merc is now fast, but it still eats up its tyres. So if both boys can get by befor lap 5 podium is on.

[scuderiafan]

Speed Traps: http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre...fying-trap.pdf

Rosberg doesn't have as much advantage as i thought, so that is good.

[Cavallino Rosso]

Speed Traps: http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre...fying-trap.pdf

Rosberg doesn't have as much advantage as i thought, so that is good.

Whenever I see data like this it never ceases to amaze me how two cars (albeit by the same constructor) set up differently, with different drivers can be so close. Look at the team mates, and they are all sooo close toeach other (webber / vettel exception due to webbers problems).

[scuderiafan]

and looks to me that McLaren may have put more wing on, as normally their car has good speed.

[Nova]

I think we got as much as we could for Q, lets hope the race is better, as we do have good pace...
now, since Ham has a problem w/these tires, Im hoping we can get by both him and Rosberg, who
seems to have replaced Petrov for this race..ie: someone in the way...

I mentioned b4, Vettel is RB's golden boy, Weber?? well, he should start looking for a drive for 12..the team belongs
to Vettel. The only thing RB fear is when they start falling, and they will, happens to everyone...

And yes, Id rather have Massa than Weber..he better..but I gotta also feel for Weber being in that position..

My best wishes to the Ferrari mechanic who fell ill.

[Rishu]

Yes, our car is dissapointing. Yes despite having two fantastic drivers, shame our team is not able to give them a winning car, but I was pleased to see Ferrari making good pit wall calls.
Using options in Q1 was right thing to do. Sending both Felipe & Fernando after Red flag in Q2 was again correct. Even in Malaysia pit stops were called at right times (although stops were lousy). All in all something postive to look up to

[Raz]

OMG Cat saw Q1.. and here's the reaction..
http://lukehmuse.posterous.com/omg-c...ese-gp-qualify

[Fiondella]

[Katu]

OMG Cat saw Q1.. and here's the reaction..
http://lukehmuse.posterous.com/omg-c...ese-gp-qualify

i think if i had seen Q1 my reaction would have been similar

[Rob]

The encouraging thing is that we were actually faster than McLaren and a shady shy of the RBs in the long runs in friday. so for that to bear fruit, we need to pass Rosberg. The Merc is now fast, but it still eats up its tyres. So if both boys can get by befor lap 5 podium is on.

our fruit will ripen tomorrow. Merc, yeah shown bit speed in qaulie, but hasnt had the race pace. As you said mate, our long runs have been really encouraging. That first corner goes on long time and tightens, got lewis behind his team mate and vetts. Now if that isnt a recipe for spins or crashes, dont know what is

[scuderiafan]

our fruit will ripen tomorrow. Merc, yeah shown bit speed in qaulie, but hasnt had the race pace. As you said mate, our long runs have been really encouraging. That first corner goes on long time and tightens, got lewis behind his team mate and vetts. Now if that isnt a recipe for spins or crashes, dont know what is

yeah I think it is pretty much a given that ham will have a good star. now if that makes a difference, I don't know.
oh and Rosberg has had starts just as bad as fernando inthe last 2 gps so that is good. so I'm hopig for the best, mate

[Ferrari Man]

Damn where does Vettel pull that speed out of?? Surely this plan b or upgrade for turkey isn't gonna bridge a 1.4 second gap??

[scuderiafan]

coupled with Hotter conditions it might. and it might be a bigger update than we thought. And Gene said they have found out the wind tunnel issues, now they have to solve them, which is a lot easier than finding them in the first place.

And then, they have three weeks now, to then get cracking with the wind tunnel, and make as many parts as they can, and get as much downforce as they can.

I've got to say i am extremely impressed with that. Before if teams had Wind tunnel problems, it would take half a year at least, even with testing, but now theyve managed to sort it out in about 3-4 weeks. Great job!!

I hope we can get by this, Merc Renault nonsense at Turkey, and leave the Macs fighting them, then RB by midseason as we surge ahead.

[Ferrari Man]

coupled with Hotter conditions it might. and it might be a bigger update than we thought. And Gene said they have found out the wind tunnel issues, now they have to solve them, which is a lot easier than finding them in the first place.

And then, they have three weeks now, to then get cracking with the wind tunnel, and make as many parts as they can, and get as much downforce as they can.

I've got to say i am extremely impressed with that. Before if teams had Wind tunnel problems, it would take half a year at least, even with testing, but now theyve managed to sort it out in about 3-4 weeks. Great job!!

I hope we can get by this, Merc Renault nonsense at Turkey, and leave the Macs fighting them, then RB by midseason as we surge ahead.

Here s hoping they may be on to something.. Can't let Vettel get too far ahead.. Is it a new wind tunnel or have we used it in years previous??

[scuderiafan]

Here s hoping they may be on to something.. Can't let Vettel get too far ahead.. Is it a new wind tunnel or have we used it in years previous??

Well i heard they had upgraded it. maybe that is why they had the problems. But i think it is the same one. Maybe they shouldn't have used toyota's wind tunnel . but i think we will see hopefully a Hockenheim 2010 style gain come turkey.

[Ferrari Man]

but i think we will see hopefully a Hockenheim 2010 style gain come turkey.

I l drink to that...

[FFFerrari]

Damn where does Vettel pull that speed out of?? Surely this plan b or upgrade for turkey isn't gonna bridge a 1.4 second gap??

This was the first Quali where he had a working KERS and it showed. And when they showed the lap from incar view, you could see he really nailed the whole lap. We aren't really that much behind in race pace, but it all adds up in quali.

[Ferrari Man]

This was the first Quali where he had a working KERS and it showed. And when they showed the lap from incar view, you could see he really nailed the whole lap. We aren't really that much behind in race pace, but it all adds up in quali.

How is it that the car is quicker in race trim than in qualifying setup? Surely as the race progresses and the fuel is burnt off we are getting back to quali config and then be down 1.4 secs a lap to vettel. Or am i talkin crap..

[scuderiafan]

by then the tyres would be heated up. i think ther lies one of the main problems, and we are less hard on them, so they may be conserving tyres while we can go all out.

[Kyss4k]

by then the tyres would be heated up. i think ther lies one of the main problems, and we are less hard on them, so they may be conserving tyres while we can go all out.

I don't buy the tyre heating issue anymore. In the pre-season test on much cooler tracks they said there no more problems with getting the tyres to the right temperature... And when the season starts it is back? Or if it is the case we are doing something seriously wrong between pre-season tests and actual start of the real racing.