F1 Championship 2018 - Round 3 - China

Mar 20, 2007
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Back to Back F1 Races, this time in Shanghai. Last week it was Vettel from pole position who held off a fast finishing Bottas that just couldn't quite get the move done (a bit has been said about this during the week). A look at how each team did last week.


Ferrari - Vettel was immense to get that set of soft tyres to the end of the race, although Ferrari will have to worry that they almost lost the race by getting strategy wrong. Expect a few nervous pitstops as well after the Kimi incident last week (and their safe release issues last year too).
Mercedes - It was strange to see them not have the qualifying pace last Saturday, so it will be interesting how they go this week. Historically its a pretty good circuit for them (have won 5 of the last 6). There seems to be a bit of extra pressure on Bottas this week, after his failure to get past Vettel on better tyres. A few drivers have had their say
Red Bull - Couldn't have had a worse race weekend last time out. Daniel with engine trouble, and Max being Max (honestly I dont think the move he tried was unreasonable, he just got squeezed out of room). Verstappen needs a few incident free races to shut a few people up.
McLaren - Currently ahead of RBR on points, this is a pretty big year for them. They had a disappointing qualifying in Bahrain but like most Renault engine cars, they seem to be far better suited to race pace than flying lap pace. The gap between Alonso (4th) and Vandoorne (11th) is already 10 points.
Haas - I reckon these guys are the pick of the midfield bunch after the big 3. Obviously did not get the points they wanted in Australia, but their early pace in that race as well as Magnussen on the weekend showed that they have a seriously strong car this year. I predict a few heated arguments between team mates this year.
Renault - I see these guys being on pace with McLaren, and well within that midfield battle. The car is more suited to race pace and without Jolyon Palmer clogging up a grid spot they should be aiming for double points finishes every race weekend. Sainz only has 1 point from 2 races so far, not exactly the way to audition for a potential Red Bull seat next year.
Torro Rosso - Arguably the talk of the race last week with Pierre Gasly with a Top 5 finish. Honda have surprised just about everyone with the competitiveness of their engine this year. Hartley had a few contact issues and penalties that pushed him back last week, but these guys should be aiming for points.
Sauber - The Gasly news kind of overshadowed Ericson scoring points last week, which was a massive effort given just how inferior that car is compared to the rest on the grid. Leclerc has impressed me so far, and definitely has a strong future in F1.
Williams - Remember a couple of years ago where Williams were the 3rd best constructor behind Mercedes and Red Bull and the combination of Massa + Bottas were scoring podiums. It has been a stunning fall from grace from these guys, who are alongside Sauber as the cars you expect not to see in Q2. Stroll is now the lead driver in a very inexperienced driver lineup.


Anyway to China
Time:
Qualifying - Saturday 4pm EST
Race - Sunday 4pm EST

Laps: 56
Tyres: Ultra Soft, Soft, Medium (interestingly no supersoft, could make strategy a bit more interesting, or just make it an easy US+S 1 stop race)
 
Mar 20, 2007
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Red Bull Honda 2019?
With the new regulations they are negotiating for 2021 onwards, RBR are pushing hard for more engine suppliers in the sport.
Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo have been talked up as possible entrants. I think Honda's return has been a good talking point for the sport (with their lack of reliability last year, and now their new found strength this year) so I say the more engine suppliers the better.
 
With the new regulations they are negotiating for 2021 onwards, RBR are pushing hard for more engine suppliers in the sport.
Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo have been talked up as possible entrants. I think Honda's return has been a good talking point for the sport (with their lack of reliability last year, and now their new found strength this year) so I say the more engine suppliers the better.

Aston Martin don't even make their own road car engines.

They'd definitely need support. (Cosworth maybe)??

Anyway I don't think Aston Martin will enter the sport in 2021. All the talk is most likely a publicity stunt.
 

Klyntonius

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With the new regulations they are negotiating for 2021 onwards, RBR are pushing hard for more engine suppliers in the sport.
Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo have been talked up as possible entrants. I think Honda's return has been a good talking point for the sport (with their lack of reliability last year, and now their new found strength this year) so I say the more engine suppliers the better.

This would be great. I'd love to see something whereby there are less restrictions on new engine suppliers and those who haven't won a dry race in the last two or three seasons to be able to develop through the season to allow them to be competitive more rapidly.
 
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This would be great. I'd love to see something whereby there are less restrictions on new engine suppliers and those who haven't won a dry race in the last two or three seasons to be able to develop through the season to allow them to be competitive more rapidly.
Less restrictions would be great. Would be perfect if they just gave a hp limit and MGU hp limits but said you can do turbos or or V8's or something like that
 

Simon_Nesbit

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This would be great. I'd love to see something whereby there are less restrictions on new engine suppliers and those who haven't won a dry race in the last two or three seasons to be able to develop through the season to allow them to be competitive more rapidly.

F1 was supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport engineering - I don't like any restrictions, but understand the intention to maintain a field of cars rather than just 2-3 teams.

This is the first idea I've seen that fulfills both objectives - brilliant in it's simplicity.

Basically limit budgets ONLY for those teams that have won a race in the last two seasons - everyone else just have the financial obligations of being able to meet their liabilities.
 

Klyntonius

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F1 was supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport engineering - I don't like any restrictions, but understand the intention to maintain a field of cars rather than just 2-3 teams.

This is the first idea I've seen that fulfills both objectives - brilliant in it's simplicity.

Basically limit budgets ONLY for those teams that have won a race in the last two seasons - everyone else just have the financial obligations of being able to meet their liabilities.

It's a rip off of the system in place in MotoGP but it's a system that has proven to work well.
 
How incompetent are Renault?
Imagine not supplying an engine in race ready condition.
Mind you, RB need to look at their processes if they haven’t identified the issue on delivery.
Much finger pointing will go on here no doubt....

At the end of the day however, when you buy a product with the expectation of a certain level of completion must be met.

RBR will throw Renault under the bus and rightly so on this one. RBR will now change protocols I imagine to include checking Renaults work one their stuff when it arrives.

******* frogs.

Go ADR
 
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They could end up running away with it tbh, RBR might catch the Mercedes and widen the gap further towards seasons end.

Go join Vettel at Ferrari next year Daniel.
We thought similar things last year but the development cycle of the Ferrari fell away badly.
If Ferrari are still doing this by Montreal they are the real deal.
 
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