[narayans80]

Lousy race! And am guessing its only going to get worser through the season. I wish Max had a better partner. 2nd place in Constructors is all for the taking, given Ferrari is hell bent on screwing Leclerc over race after race.

[fz_rider]

What a snooze fest. What's depressing is 57 points lead of Mercedes. 3 races into the season and Mercedes already have a race advantage.
Great drive from the old man Kimi and rookie Albon. Albon into points, starting from pits. Racing point again into points again, the midfield looks awfully tight.

[Hayek]

Have found F1 really boring over the last few seasons. May be because I am not a Hamilton fan - I was quite happy when Schumi was dominating in the 2000-2004 period. Have not watched too many races from start to end in the last few years - but watched this one, because it is the 1000th race. At one level, it was what F1 is all about - the best driver (by a mile) in the best car won easily. At another level, it was boring except for some mid field or rear field blunders. Don’t think I will be watching F1 until some bright new talent with a good enough car comes to challenge Hamilton.

[jpcoolguy]

Except for that great recovery drive by Albon and the old Kimi's fantastic drive (he is making that Alfa Romeo looks better than the faster Haas cars), the race was really a snooze fest. Leclerc must have felt hard done by, but Ferrari didn't have choice with Vettel ahead of Leclerc during almost all the sessions during the weekend.

Hamilton returns the favour to Bottas for Australia almost in a similar fashion. Good strategy by RBR asking Gasly to put down the hammer in the final laps, shodding him with the Softs and he duly obliged with fastest lap of the race and that extra point has taken him past Kimi in the driver standings.

Ricciardo finally finished a race and was best of the rest. Perez had a strong start which helped him finish eighth, with Kimi trying to sneak through in the final laps.

Ferrari had a much stronger start to last season but ended up behind Mercedes and this year they are disastrous. Hope they recover in time for Baku else all the upcoming races are going to be boring to watch with Mercedes dominating. Finally, Congrats to Mercedes on achieving three consecutive 1-2 finishes after Williams' in 1992 season.

[GTO]

I hate how Ferrari treated Leclerc. For all the talk of Vettel being faster than him and forcing him to let Vettel overtake him, he kept up pretty well. The gap was 1 second even after the overtaking. And then they kept him out for way too long on his old set of tyres, despite him being 1+ second off the pace. So much for strategy! They ruined it for Leclerc and poor chap fell from 3rd to 5th for no fault of his. Ferrari is the master of demotivating its drivers.

Hamilton's drive was .

[sgiitk]

I think Ferrari need a better strategic planner. Seems they are at least up to Merc in bhp.

Ferrari's optimization was different. They chose a lower downforce for better straight line speed with a reduced cornering ability. On the other hand Merc chose better cornering for a lower straight line speed. Maybe Ferrari needs Todd back!

[ajmat]

The Mercedes double stack pit stop was the icing on the bland cake of a race!

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by GTO

I hate how Ferrari treated Leclerc.

Hamilton's drive was .

I didn't get that either. The first call came in the initial laps only, didn't it? Wasn't that too soon both in the race AND the season to be deciding the number 1? I think going by the performance of the two, Ferrari would be better off betting on Leclerc to bring home the points.

And what a stomper by the Hammer!!!

[myavu]

Since the introduction of V6 Turbo era there was 2 major regulation change and still Merc is the team to beat. All except Hamilton fans are shouting boring race after race. Now what if Merc is still on top after 2021. One thing is of sure, it is not the engine anymore. The engineering excellence of the total car package along with a dynamic team under Totto. No need to mention Hamilton and Bottas 2.0 (with beard )

Originally Posted by ajmat

The Mercedes double stack pit stop was the icing on the bland cake of a race!

True, watched many double stacking under safety car previously. But first time watching it in a normal racing condition and that too for the leading drivers. The perfection was such that Bottas didn't even slowed 1 kmph under 80 kmph which is the pit-lane speed limit.

Kudos to the mechanics

Cheers!

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Don’t think I will be watching F1 until some bright new talent with a good enough car comes to challenge Hamilton.

How about Max verstappen to replace vettel in a Ferrari? Bring it on. That is one driver on steroids who really drives the nuts off anything you give him.

[RM Motorsports]

Chinese Grand Prix: Race Highlights

With new technical regulation for this year to improve overtaking by 50 %, there were hardly any exciting overtaking moves throughout the race. This season too looks like Advantage Mercedes, unless few circuits like Monaco where Redbull has chassis advantage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKfmiAYiC-M

[motorworks]

Getting frustrated with Ferrari now. Their start to this year has been far worse than last year. Have been waiting for a decade for Ferrari to win the championship and looks like this year is a repeat of the the last 2 years. Great promise, but no deliverance! On a track that is supposed to suit Ferrari, they were 0.3s behind Mercedes in qualifying and they lost the race there. And plus, their strategy of letting Vettel past Leclerc cost them the 4th place on the grid. Was there not any other way they could have defended Verstappen? Back to back pit stops in the consecutive laps could have at least helped leclerc to be close to Verstappen.

Bottom line is that Mercedes seem really unbeatable in this hybrid Turbo era. So most probably status quo until the end of 2020. Mercedes will continue to dominate, with some odd races for Ferrari and Redbull.

But even in the 2021 regulations, the engine component remains the same, so would not be surprised if even in 2021 Mercedes turn up and win!

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

How about Max verstappen to replace vettel in a Ferrari? Bring it on. That is one driver on steroids who really drives the nuts off anything you give him.

I will be very surprised if Schumi Junior is not in the Red Overalls very soon. So both Vettel and LeClerc better watch out. Schumi Jr may spend a year in a Sauber or some other Ferrari engined car but, take it from me Schumi Jr is destined to be in Ferrari soon. Yes, if Max also comes then the total configuration will change.

[aghate]

What a brilliant pit stop this was..
Team Mercedes AMG F1 - kudos for this amazing effort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PApmN0gK-E

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I will be very surprised if Schumi Junior is not in the Red Overalls very soon. So both Vettel and LeClerc better watch out. Schumi Jr may spend a year in a Sauber or some other Ferrari engined car but, take it from me Schumi Jr is destined to be in Ferrari soon. Yes, if Max also comes then the total configuration will change.

I think schumi jr will arrive only in 2021 or whenever the new rules take effect. Even if he comes in earlier, he will be drafted into sauber for a year before the move to Ferrari.

Ferrari need a championship win NOW. And i think only max can deliver that for them with his level of aggression to drive anything you give him to the best any driver can, no excuses. I think vettel is burnt out, there is just no more passion there. Hamilton has just driven the stake too far into the ground now, and i think vettel will have a tough time even battling for second alongside bottas. He is just fulfilling his final year contract. Charles is a bright spot, but having max alongside will push him to drive better and faster with no team rules.

But the way the car is looking now and the pathetic strategy calls, i dont think any A level driver will contemplate ferrari until the management including binoto is sent home. Really sad state of affairs.

Toto is just another league. He owns the sport, just like ross brawn did.