2017 Chinese Grand Prix Thread

[mario]

Following on from his withdrawal in the previous race, Wehrlein has now confirmed that he will also sit out the Chinese GP due to fitness problems - he has even raised the possibility of sitting out the Bahrain GP too, which follows on a week later. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/wehr ... ll-889333/

Something tells me that Giovinazzi is going to be the happiest man in the pit lane in China, but it seems that Giovinazzi's fortune might also open opportunities for other drivers too. I believe that, if Giovinazzi does participate in Bahrain as well, he would then no longer count as a "young driver" under the regulations, which would cause problems if Ferrari want to run him in a test later in the year.

There is now talk that, if that does happen, Leclerc might then be promoted to that role instead - so, right now, Wehrlein seems to be managing to potentially advance the career of two of his rivals whilst simultaneously running the risk of putting himself out of an opportunity.

[Fetzie]

I don't think Wehrlein's seat is in danger until the end of the season - he brings a lot of money to a team that doesn't have much.

I do, however, think that Magnussen's drive may be in danger if he doesn't get his act together. And Ferrari may well decide they want to place Giovinazzi at Haas.

[UncreativeUsername37]

With this, Giovinazzi will comfortably have more 2017 car experience than Wehrlein....

[DemocalypseNow]

There are not enough gifs in the world to articulate my joy that Giovinazzi is getting at minimum another race, perhaps even two.

This will have to make do for now.

[Alextrax52]

I'll admit that there wasn't a lot in the way of overtaking in Australia but I'm still willing to give these new rules time and China should provide plenty of it. One thing about Australia is the track isn't exactly the widest for F1 cars and the main excitement usually comes from incidents and accidents decimating the field. Hopefully the wider circuit and longer DRS zone will improve the overtaking part this weekend

[Wallio]

I don't think Wehrlein's seat is in danger until the end of the season - he brings a lot of money to a team that doesn't have much.

NBC is saying there are rumors flying around that none of Pascals money has arrived yet. Hence his "fitness issues".

[pasta_maldonado]

Meanwhile, Hamilton's come out and said that the 2017 mule Pirelli tyre test was a "waste of his time"

A sore foot indeed, Lewis. Maybe this was why Vettel and Ferrari dealt with the tyres better in Melbourne?

[DanielPT]

Meanwhile, Hamilton's come out and said that the 2017 mule Pirelli tyre test was a "waste of his time"

A sore foot indeed, Lewis. Maybe this was why Vettel and Ferrari dealt with the tyres better in Melbourne?

I think that, given that the test was made using 2015 machinery, the amount of learning a driver could do about the tyres would always be limited. Besides, Mercedes ended up participating in the test anyway, so they weren't really disadvantaged in comparison to Ferrari.

I say that the difference of attitude between Vettel and Hamilton is a better indictment of their career paths and achievements and will be even more so in their later years. It is not really difficult to see Hamilton drop out of F1 the moment his raw talent stops making a difference while Vettel will still adapt and grab a few more shiny trophies for his collection in a longer career (even taking their debut age into account).

[CoopsII]

FP1 interupted and FP2 cancelled. Bad for the teams and bloody awful for the poor people sat watching but possibly good for the race?

Hey, maybe that's a solution? Abandon free practice altogether?

[Aislabie]

IIDOTR for Giovinazzi, he set the joint-fastest time of FP2 in a Sauber

[Wallio]

While tomorrow looks fine, Sunday's weather looks bad enough that serious discussions were held about holding the GP on Saturday. Serious enough that the FIA and Charlie released a statement saying the weather report has improved so, it will stay a Sunday race. Which of course means the TV contracts said no lol.

Sunday's combo of rain/fog/dark could lead us to another Malaysia 2009. At least I hope it does.

[sswishbone]

Everyone seems to be figuring if it is worth setting the car up for the wet and gamble. If you're Lance Stroll or Antonio Giovanazzi you might as well since expectations will be pretty low and if everyone else is caught out... Well step forward Markus Winkelhock

[UncreativeUsername37]

Palmer and Grosjean do indeed get grid penalties, but apparently not Giovinazzi.

[Paul Hayes]

Everyone seems to be figuring if it is worth setting the car up for the wet and gamble. If you're Lance Stroll or Antonio Giovanazzi you might as well since expectations will be pretty low and if everyone else is caught out... Well step forward Markus Winkelhock

Ah, for a race like that one today!

[UncreativeUsername37]

Not great, not horrible. There were quite a few epic moments, but it wasn't action-packed. But no long stretches of boredom either. It looks like a good championship battle, though.

[watka]

What does everyone think about the stewards' approach to the race? I noticed that quite a few things were investigated but not reprimanded. I think Perez nerfing off Stroll would have been a penalty last year, but I'm glad it's not this year. On the other hand, not quite sure why Vettel wasn't penalised for the way he took the grid, he was way out of his slot laterally.

[BigG80]

I thought it was a good race. A good mix of errors, raw overtakes and a strategy battle thanks to Red Bull on the super softs.

It's a shame that Kimi had those software gremlins so we couldnt really see what he could do and the strategy on his car was hampered as a result.

I think relaxing the stewarding has to be a positive step. It was getting far too draconian. We want to see people having a go and not being punished if all doesn't go to plan. The new soft approach has the potential to encourage more moves and importantly could make the drivers step up their game in wheel to wheel. We saw some of that today and I hope it continues.

[andrew]

What does everyone think about the stewards' approach to the race? I noticed that quite a few things were investigated but not reprimanded. I think Perez nerfing off Stroll would have been a penalty last year, but I'm glad it's not this year. On the other hand, not quite sure why Vettel wasn't penalised for the way he took the grid, he was way out of his slot laterally.

I think Kmag should have been penalised in Australia certainty, I personally think of you cause another driver to retire and it is almost certainty your fault, then you should be penalised. If you are worse off then leave it. I don't want to see moves like Rosberg on Verstappen at Germany penalised or Rosberg on Rai at Malaysia. Having said that I like the constitency that has been lacking in recent years,

[AndreaModa]

The thing is, 9 times out of 10, the driver who should be penalised suffers from the manoeuvre anyway - Magnussen in Australia being a case in point. A case of "well done sunshine, how did that work for you?" So why then slap another penalty on top? The consequences of dumb moves are almost always punishment enough.

As for the race, pretty good, though having watched Australia live, and only the highlights from China, it's way harder to follow the order when laps are cut out every now and then. I found my attention slipping to other things whereas if it's continuous then it's much easier to follow and I therefore stay more engaged.

Some brilliant passes by a number of drivers - Coulthard's point when he said "remember when we all said Vettel couldn't race wheel-to-wheel" as he got up close with Ricciardo. Old Seb's a changed man. Great to see that proper gutsy, inventive passing.

[CoopsII]

I thought it only 'OK' to be honest. Better than Oz but not a classic. There was plenty of argy bargy yesterday which was great but all this talk of a close championship seems to ignore the fact that Hamilton was very comfortable all weekend.

[pasta_maldonado]

I thought it only 'OK' to be honest. Better than Oz but not a classic. There was plenty of argy bargy yesterday which was great but all this talk of a close championship seems to ignore the fact that Hamilton was very comfortable all weekend.

That situation may have changed in a hypothetical race where Vettel was not held up by Kimi or the Red Bulls, as Vettel's lap times were very close to Hamilton's.

[mario]

I thought it only 'OK' to be honest. Better than Oz but not a classic. There was plenty of argy bargy yesterday which was great but all this talk of a close championship seems to ignore the fact that Hamilton was very comfortable all weekend.

That situation may have changed in a hypothetical race where Vettel was not held up by Kimi or the Red Bulls, as Vettel's lap times were very close to Hamilton's.

There may have been a slight element of Hamilton pacing himself against Vettel in the latter stages of the race, and the fact that he pushed harder when Verstappen passed Ricciardo suggests he did have a bit of performance in hand. Still, I do agree that he would probably have had to have worked harder for the win if Vettel hadn't been held up when he was - even Hamilton himself said as much after the race.

It should be borne in mind that China is a little unusual in that, compared to most circuits on the calendar, it is a front limited circuit - in other words, front tyre wear, and particularly the front left, is more critical than rear tyre wear. That might have helped Mercedes a bit if they are a little harder on their rear tyres than Ferrari, so I think that things will be more evenly balanced across the rest of the season as different circuits may play to different strengths of each chassis and driver.