The Official 2016 Chinese Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
Date(s): Friday 15 April - Sunday 17 April 2016
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1, with the Channel 4 highlights indicated below.
Shanghai International Circuit
2015 Grand Prix Results
Pole time: 1:35.782 (L. Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1; Avg Speed: 204.877 km/h)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:42.208 (L31; L. Hamilton, Mercedes; Avg Speed: 191.997 km/h)
Live timing for all sessions available here:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Weather forecast:
Seems like some rain is forecast during the weekend and race day. Hopefully rain appears during the race to make it more interesting.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/cn/shanghai/106577/d...
The tyre choices requested by the teams:
The previous race whilst providing plenty of action in the midfield, disappointed in the battle at the front with Vettel’s Margherita letting him down before lights out and the Iceman’s finger slipping from the single clutch paddle at lights out. So here we are at Race 3 of the season, still wondering if there is going to be a genuine championship battle between the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers. I fear this race will give us more of the same. Happy to be proved wrong though.
Last year at the Chinese GP, the only battle at front we saw was between the Mercedes drivers and even that was managed only too well by the team and Ferrari lacked the ultimate race pace to take the fight to Mercedes. I recall the Soft tyres were going off faster in the Ferrari compared to Mercedes as they were pushing very hard to catch the Mercedes cars, while Hamilton was cruising at the front looking after his tyres awaiting the Ferrari challenge that never quite materialised. Mercedes had nearly 1 second advantage over the best Ferrari last year in qualifying pace.
I’m expecting everyone to tiptoe around in the 1st stint on these Super Softs as tyre wear is high, and throw on a set of Mediums at the first opportunity. Last year even the Softs barely lasted 10 laps on the Ferrari for the 1st stint. Not looking forward to seeing how slow they need to go to get the Super Softs last 7 or 8 laps in this circuit. However, drivers at the front of the Q2 grid will have a good chance with strategy I think, whilst some rain would also be very welcome in the race.
So, some discussion points for this thread:
Do you think Ferrari might have the pace this time around? More importantly, will both of their cars hold up?
Will we see another Grosjean-Haas Special this time?
Will Williams get their act together? 3rd time lucky with the Medium tyres?
Will McLaren deliver on the promise shown thus far and have a clean weekend?
Will the Sauber mechanics have clothes to wear, and chairs to sit?
Will all Team Principals make it to the pre-race press conference?
And last, but not least, what kind of qualifying format will we have? Will you be watching qualifying if it's not back to the 2015 format?
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1, with the Channel 4 highlights indicated below.
| Session | Day | Sky F1 | Channel 4 | Session Start | Local Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Fri | 0245 | - | 0300 | 1000 |
| Practice 2 | Fri | 0645 | - | 0700 | 1400 |
| Practice 3 | Sat | 0445 | - | 0500 | 1200 |
| Qualifying | Sat | 0700 | 1230 | 0800 | 1500 |
| Race | Sun | 0530 | 1330 | 0700 | 1400 |
Shanghai International Circuit
| Number of laps | 56 |
| Length of a lap | 5.451 km |
| Race distance | 305.066 km |
| Race lap record | 1:32.238 (L55; M. Schumacher, 2004; Avg speed: 212.750 km/h) |
2015 Grand Prix Results
| P1 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:39:42.008 |
| P2 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +0.714 |
| P3 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | +2.988 |
| P4 | K. Räikkönen | Ferrari | +3.835 |
| P5 | F. Massa | Williams-Mercedes | +8.544 |
| P6 | V. Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | +9.885 |
| P7 | R. Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | +19.008 |
| P8 | F. Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | +22.625 |
| P9 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | +32.117 |
| P10 | M. Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | +1 Lap |
Pole time: 1:35.782 (L. Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1; Avg Speed: 204.877 km/h)
Fastest Race Lap: 1:42.208 (L31; L. Hamilton, Mercedes; Avg Speed: 191.997 km/h)
Live timing for all sessions available here:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Weather forecast:
Seems like some rain is forecast during the weekend and race day. Hopefully rain appears during the race to make it more interesting.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/cn/shanghai/106577/d...
| Day | Comment | High/Low (?) |
|---|---|---|
| Fri | Rain and drizzle p.m | 17/13 |
| Sat | Rain and drizzle p.m | 18/15 |
| Sun | Rain and drizzle a.m | 21/13 |
The tyre choices requested by the teams:
The previous race whilst providing plenty of action in the midfield, disappointed in the battle at the front with Vettel’s Margherita letting him down before lights out and the Iceman’s finger slipping from the single clutch paddle at lights out. So here we are at Race 3 of the season, still wondering if there is going to be a genuine championship battle between the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers. I fear this race will give us more of the same. Happy to be proved wrong though.
Last year at the Chinese GP, the only battle at front we saw was between the Mercedes drivers and even that was managed only too well by the team and Ferrari lacked the ultimate race pace to take the fight to Mercedes. I recall the Soft tyres were going off faster in the Ferrari compared to Mercedes as they were pushing very hard to catch the Mercedes cars, while Hamilton was cruising at the front looking after his tyres awaiting the Ferrari challenge that never quite materialised. Mercedes had nearly 1 second advantage over the best Ferrari last year in qualifying pace.
I’m expecting everyone to tiptoe around in the 1st stint on these Super Softs as tyre wear is high, and throw on a set of Mediums at the first opportunity. Last year even the Softs barely lasted 10 laps on the Ferrari for the 1st stint. Not looking forward to seeing how slow they need to go to get the Super Softs last 7 or 8 laps in this circuit. However, drivers at the front of the Q2 grid will have a good chance with strategy I think, whilst some rain would also be very welcome in the race.
So, some discussion points for this thread:
Do you think Ferrari might have the pace this time around? More importantly, will both of their cars hold up?
Will we see another Grosjean-Haas Special this time?
Will Williams get their act together? 3rd time lucky with the Medium tyres?
Will McLaren deliver on the promise shown thus far and have a clean weekend?
Will the Sauber mechanics have clothes to wear, and chairs to sit?
Will all Team Principals make it to the pre-race press conference?
And last, but not least, what kind of qualifying format will we have? Will you be watching qualifying if it's not back to the 2015 format?
Edited by Dr Z on Tuesday 5th April 13:46
God, turn 2/3 looks horrible! Won't be watching qualification this time but will tune in for the live race. I'm hoping for another Nico victory with Vettel second (don't think it's likely) so we can have some of the interest that 2014 had. Hamilton was in a very good place last year & Nico was definitely not until the end of the season, so it would be good to see some ebb & flow in the title race.
Dr Z said:
Seems like some rain is forecast during the weekend and race day. Hopefully rain appears during the race to make it more interesting.
Judging by what I've read, if we want Ferrari et al challenging Mercedes we need hot dry conditions. Not that I don't love a wet race, It might assist our Renault powered pilots.
HustleRussell said:
Judging by what I've read, if we want Ferrari et al challenging Mercedes we need hot dry conditions.
Not that I don't love a wet race, It might assist our Renault powered pilots.
Yes, last season that was a pattern with Ferrari doing well in hotter races, but I don't think we've a truly hot race yet. And the forecast for this GP also looks fairly mild.Not that I don't love a wet race, It might assist our Renault powered pilots.
Sector 3 is an abomination and the turns 11/12/13 are the worst...hard to know what the architect was thinking when he conceived of this design. Anyhow, it seems a Mercedes track and running in clear air gives you the added advantage of being able to keep the tyres in good shape.
I had the stint data from last year's race between Mercedes and Ferrari lying around; revisiting it, seems the Mercedes in clear air likely had an advantage of ~0.4s/lap in the first stint over Ferrari. In the 2nd stint, Ferrari were matching Mercedes in the early laps of the stint but the tyres start to go off quicker than the Mercs. Again, Hamilton in clear air probably had a reserve of 0.4-0.6s/lap, hence his second stint data set forms a nice downward curve with two very fast laps in succession at the end, giving the game away. By the start of the 3rd stint, you would have to say the race was over with the Mercedes cars having a clear cushion to the Ferraris.
Looking at the tyre choices, Ferrari are up for a fight aren't they? Seems even McLaren want to have some fun. My predictions is, in qualifying if Mercedes are only ahead by <0.5s then it is game on in the race. This is why I'm even more annoyed at them tinkering with the qualifying! It takes a lot away from me as a fan, in forming an opinion about the relative strengths of the competitors if the competitors are given a reason to not go for their ultimate pace in Q3. In any case, I won't be watching if it's an aggregate format.
In the race, if Ferrari can recreate the Melbourne start, that would be good. I'll be interested to see how the strategists play it too.
Mr_Thyroid said:
What do you mean by this? I don't remember anyone criticising this circuit before.
I was thinking in the sense that, if you are defending from someone who's faster, no matter how well you position the car in the 11/12/13 sequence, it allows the attacker with superior grip to really line you up through those three turns before the main straight. This is pretty bad, if you then also have one of the longest straights in the calender to complete the overtake in. It becomes too easy for the attacker, IMO.Also, you have a short straight before that 11/12/13 complex and if you made a compromised entry to 11, you can still recover before the main straight/turn 13, so it doesn't look like a particularly challenging corner sequence before the main straight that rewards precision.
Feel free to tell me that I'm talking rubbish though.
Mr_Thyroid said:
Dr Z said:
Sector 3 is an abomination and the turns 11/12/13 are the worst...hard to know what the architect was thinking when he conceived of this design.
What do you mean by this? I don't remember anyone criticising this circuit before.The architects were thinking of the Chinese character Shang, meaning 'high' or 'above'. That's where the shape is derived from.
You didn't think they were thinking of what would make a good racetrack did you?
Good news!
https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/some-go...
Joe Saward is reporting 'rumours' that the F1 overlords will decide to go back to the 2015 qualifying format from this GP forwards.
https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/some-go...
Joe Saward is reporting 'rumours' that the F1 overlords will decide to go back to the 2015 qualifying format from this GP forwards.
Dr Z said:
Good news!
https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/some-go...
Joe Saward is reporting 'rumours' that the F1 overlords will decide to go back to the 2015 qualifying format from this GP forwards.
Seems official now: http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/10233646/f1...https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/some-go...
Joe Saward is reporting 'rumours' that the F1 overlords will decide to go back to the 2015 qualifying format from this GP forwards.
Thank god for that.
Paul_M3 said:
Whoever Really it was inevitable after all the chat at Bahrain. The teams are always moaning about the tyres, we know that after 2 qualifying runs they've pretty much had it, so they must be nursing something chronic throughout the race pulling 20-30 laps from a new or slightly used set. I'm rather glad of this at the moment as its keeping them close together, they can only go as fast as the tyres will allow. I think tyres that were less fragile would see merc running further away.
Merc can now reliably run the engine at full power for much longer but probably dont do it because the tyres wont allow the abuse, treading that fine line now that it keeps Ferrari in touch.
As an uninformed bystander this could be completely wrong
Merc can now reliably run the engine at full power for much longer but probably dont do it because the tyres wont allow the abuse, treading that fine line now that it keeps Ferrari in touch.
As an uninformed bystander this could be completely wrong
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