The Official 2016 Chinese Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[glazbagun]

scubadude said:

Bad marks to Hami for not slipping the waiter his card and pulling status as WDC IMO :-)

"You get the next one boys, got a WDC bonus cheque burning a hole in my pocket you know..."

Isn't Fernando drowning in more cash as a reward for driving a dog around the track for three years.

[suffolk009]

glazbagun said:

scubadude said:

Bad marks to Hami for not slipping the waiter his card and pulling status as WDC IMO :-)

"You get the next one boys, got a WDC bonus cheque burning a hole in my pocket you know..."

Isn't Fernando drowning in more cash as a reward for driving a dog around the track for three years.

£30m p.a. seems to be the widely reported number.

[HustleRussell]

I'm not joining that jumped up little Herbert's band wagon but £30m just made Vandoorne look pretty appealing

[Flooble]

Don't forget the time on track is a tiny part of the reason for the driver's salary.

Although what sponsors Alonso has attracted to Mclaren I'm not sure.

[anonymous-user]

I hope that Ferrari pace is genuine and that the Mercs aren't sandbagging again. I so want Kimi to win another race or even a WDC! Hamilton is a great driver, but he's won enough for now. My money is on The Kimster to spring a Shanghai surprise!

[JontyR]

scubadude said:

noell35 said:

Heard on Radio 2 that Hamilton said they split the bill 17 ways.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/15202281/lewis...

Bad marks to Hami for not slipping the waiter his card and pulling status as WDC IMO :-)

"You get the next one boys, got a WDC bonus cheque burning a hole in my pocket you know..."

From all accounts he tried to pay the bill and others said no...so the only thing left to do was to split the bill 18 ways with 18 credit cards.

[Dr Z]

FOM are doing well with these useful tyre usage graphics. Pairing this with the FP2 lap times and disregarding the headline times for a moment, Raikkonen put in a very impressive stint on a used super soft. It must be something to do with his driving style as only he could make that peaky tyre last for 10 laps, maintaining a consistent degradation rate. If that was a 1st stint simulation, game on in the race as it compared very favourably to Rosberg's and Hamilton's simulations, but none could put in 10 laps that consistently!

Red Bull and Force India look faster than McLaren and the super soft tyre is all over the place for RB and McL. They seem more comfortable on the soft, however.

[deadslow]

suffolk009 said:

glazbagun said:

scubadude said:

Bad marks to Hami for not slipping the waiter his card and pulling status as WDC IMO :-)

"You get the next one boys, got a WDC bonus cheque burning a hole in my pocket you know..."

Isn't Fernando drowning in more cash as a reward for driving a dog around the track for three years.

£30m p.a. seems to be the widely reported number.

yeah, but is £30m enough to be seen in that car

[Leithen]

JontyR said:

scubadude said:

noell35 said:

Heard on Radio 2 that Hamilton said they split the bill 17 ways.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/15202281/lewis...

Bad marks to Hami for not slipping the waiter his card and pulling status as WDC IMO :-)

"You get the next one boys, got a WDC bonus cheque burning a hole in my pocket you know..."

From all accounts he tried to pay the bill and others said no...so the only thing left to do was to split the bill 18 ways with 18 credit cards.

Amateur hour - go the 'toilet' at the appropriate moment, pay the bill, come back and should anyone ask - "Already paid".

[glazbagun]

Flooble said:

Don't forget the time on track is a tiny part of the reason for the driver's salary.

Although what sponsors Alonso has attracted to Mclaren I'm not sure.

Also that Alonso was driving for Ferrari and getting paid bucketloads. Now he may have been unsatisfied there and his ratio of jumped/being pushed might vary according to reports, but asking possibly the best driver on the grid to leave his mega salary, second placed & well funded team and join your big unknown quantity who were in the process of finishing fifth with the best engine on the grid would have taken some incentive.

Personally I think he got a bum deal & am surprised at how philosophical he's been at McLaren. He certainly looks happier than Button a lot of the time. I guess being at the back of the grid reduces friction- Lewis & Nico certainly seemed to get on better before they were fighting for the title- I still remember the glee they had getting out of the cars at Bahrain 2014 and realizing they were going to slaughter everyone else.

[Vocal Minority]

JontyR said:

scubadude said:

noell35 said:

Heard on Radio 2 that Hamilton said they split the bill 17 ways.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/15202281/lewis...

Bad marks to Hami for not slipping the waiter his card and pulling status as WDC IMO :-)

"You get the next one boys, got a WDC bonus cheque burning a hole in my pocket you know..."

From all accounts he tried to pay the bill and others said no...so the only thing left to do was to split the bill 18 ways with 18 credit cards.

Ha! It is a touch absurd - like being students again!

[VolvoT5]

leglessAlex said:

I wonder whether Kimi has proper pace in this years Ferrari, or if he's still missing few tenths compared to Vettel. I'd love to see him get a bit more comfortable in the car just for the sake of close racing*.


*If, of course, Ferrari let that happen. I like to think that because it's so early in the season they'll hold off choosing a clear number one driver. Maybe that's naive though.

I think Kimi is far more comfortable with the car this year and driving better as a result. However at this stage in his career I predict Vettel will maintain a 2-3 tenth gap over the season ; less than the 6+ tenths last year but still enough that Ferrari do not have to worry about artificially selecting a no 1 driver, the results will determine that.

However if Kimi maintains this form throughout the season Ferrari will have a hard choice over who to select for 2017........... not such an obvious decision to your no.2 in favour of Bottas, Grosjean or Verstappen if your no.2 is the best mate of your no.1 and actually doing quite a decent job.

[suffolk009]

I suspect the Mercs turned their engine maps right down. Unit longevity and all that.

Tomorrow, will probably be another Merc 1,2. Or 1,6 - as it would be.

[Jonnny]

Brakes on fire, surely using the leaf blowers on them was only fuelling the fire.. Whilst using an extinguisher on it from the other side?

[Dr Z]

Who's watching Quali? Pascal just slid and smacked in to the barriers. Lewis having some PU problems.

[Paul_M3]

Not a good start for Manor and Wehrlein.

Considering 99% of the track is dry, those wet patches on the straight appeared to have quite a bit of standing water left.

[llewop]

Dr Z said:

Who's watching Quali? Pascal just slid and smacked in to the barriers. Lewis having some PU problems.

Bet he's regretting opening the DRS!

[TheOversteerLever]

Can't believe they're actually drying the track. WTF! Just get some cars out - everyone is going to take it easier and leave DRS till later on the straight after seeing Wehrlein going off - it'll soon dry.

It's proper wet. Pun intended...

[TheOversteerLever]

What if it rains again? Would they push qualy back till tomorrow morning?!

[allegerita]

red flag and mopping the track. German RTL commentators going wild about how strange this is: after all, these are the best drivers in the world and should be able to cope with changing track conditions.