[SchumiFan]

Originally Posted by karthik247

Ferrari certainly DONT have a great car at the moment. They've been struggling over the last three races which for sure isn't good.

Anyways, was a nice race although it wasn't as exciting as the Malaysian GP. Great drive by Webber to finish on the podium despite all the issues hes been having. And lets not forget he did it without KERS!


While Ferrari on the other hand!! Whats going on! Massa was purely lucky he didn't get penalized, Alonso wasn't in the best of form, the car was not what most expect from Ferrari!! They better get their scheduled upgrade pack for Istanbul right if they even want to be anywhere near the front runners.

The Ferrari is a good car. The car on heavy fuel was more than matching Rosberg in the MercGP and Massa pulled a move on Hamilton and Alonso on Schumi. One of the two should have been on a 3 stopper. It could have been Alonso since he was hampered by traffic in the mid race.

It is only when the fuel loads decrease, they seem to have a problem. Waiting for Turkey to see if they have resolved this issue and are up for it against the top runners.

RB's pace is scary and they have got an early alert about strategy and will play safe next time around.

It was good to see Schumi mixing it around with the big boys. If Merc can keep up this development, he could have a podium by the end of the year.

[karthik247]

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

The Ferrari is a good car. The car on heavy fuel was more than matching Rosberg in the MercGP and Massa pulled a move on Hamilton and Alonso on Schumi. One of the two should have been on a 3 stopper. It could have been Alonso since he was hampered by traffic in the mid race.

It is only when the fuel loads decrease, they seem to have a problem. Waiting for Turkey to see if they have resolved this issue and are up for it against the top runners.

About a second and a half off the pace of pole sitter is definitely not good IMO. Even the McLarens were a good 0.7 of a second ahead of the best Ferrari. And even in the race, the only reason Alonso and Massa managed to finish 6th and 7th was because of the two stop strategy.

While RBR and McLarens are setting the pace currently, Ferrari just seem to be the best of the rest on the grid

[julupani]

Nobody seems to have yet got the hang of the Pirelli Pzeros. There seems to be a very wide variation in tyre wear and performance with car characteristics, track conditons etc.

Also, the primes dont really have that much of an advantage over the option tyres, neither with respect to degradation, or performance. They dont seem to last much longer than the soft options nor do they have decent performance.

[mgh]

top two teams-red bull and mclaren
next three-ferrari, renault and mercedes
next three-sauber, toro rosso and force india

tyre change strategy is proving to be extremely important

[SchumiFan]

Originally Posted by julupani

Nobody seems to have yet got the hang of the Pirelli Pzeros. There seems to be a very wide variation in tyre wear and performance with car characteristics, track conditons etc.

Also, the primes dont really have that much of an advantage over the option tyres, neither with respect to degradation, or performance. They dont seem to last much longer than the soft options nor do they have decent performance.

The options offer good performance but over a short period of time. The prime (hard) offer durability and the car's setup extracts pace and life out of it. The tyre degradation varies from track to track depending on climate, abrasiveness and the layout of the track itself.

Originally Posted by karthik247

About a second and a half off the pace of pole sitter is definitely not good IMO. Even the McLarens were a good 0.7 of a second ahead of the best Ferrari. And even in the race, the only reason Alonso and Massa managed to finish 6th and 7th was because of the two stop strategy.

While RBR and McLarens are setting the pace currently, Ferrari just seem to be the best of the rest on the grid

As I said previously the car is good in the race. They seem to match Macca and beat Mercs on full fuel load. If they had gone for a 3 stopper for Massa he would finished higher.

The two stop was a fault and not the reason for strong finish. One of them should have been on a 3-stopper when it has been the routine for other drivers.

Alonso was involved in a lot of duels with Schumi and lost out on the front runners to make the two stop work. Ferrari's pitstops are cruelly slow and it loses them about 4-6 secs each race to the front runners. RB are able to do 3-3.5s stops and Macca do sub 4s stops.

Hope their upgrades for Turkey work. RB will want the next race ASAP for they can continue to have the huge pace advantage over other cars.

Vettel seems on track to get his 2nd WDC!

[PAVAN KADAM]

All said and done.

Webber was FANTASTIC, 18th to Start and On Podium. What a race it must be for him.

Second driver who made the Best was Schumi without doubt. 13th to start and finished 8th. Just good to see him do that.

As of now, RedBulls and Mclarens are untouchables...

[SchumiFan]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Mclarens are untouchables...

McLaren, untouchable? Merc and Ferrari seem to match their race pace and are in the fight as well. The only untouchable if there are no variables, is the RB. Just waiting to see what will happen when they sort out the KERS trouble

[karthik247]

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

Ferrari's pitstops are cruelly slow and it loses them about 4-6 secs each race to the front runners. RB are able to do 3-3.5s stops and Macca do sub 4s stops.

I have to agree, Ferrari pit stops are usually pretty messed up. And so are their strategy calls.

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

Vettel seems on track to get his 2nd WDC!

Well, its TOO early to say that isn't it. And i doubt if it will be all smooth for RBR throughout the season. McLaren have caught up, and its just a matter of time before the others (Ferrari, Mercedes & Renault) do as well.

[julupani]

@Schumifan

The options offer good pace, but only for like 4-5laps. By the time they are at the 10lap mark they are almost 1.5sec off the pace.

The primes offer less pace, but they still dont seem to be able to last even for 10laps of good pace. I dont think any car on the grid can do 20+ decent laps on these Pirellis. 1 or even 2stop strategies will be very very rare this year, especially after todays race.

Also, I may be really hated by some for saying this, but the DRS is just too much. Overtaking has become just too easy. Both Malayasia and China have shown that sometimes even a slower car can end up overtaking a faster one, thanks to KERS+DRS. The DRS wasnt even enabled for the whole straight in China, even then we had so many overtaking maneuvers. Two evenly matched cars, will be playing cat and mouse exchanging positions lap after lap with this system. I really cant see anybody being able to defend a place with pure driving talent, with the DRS+KERS systems in place. Overtaking was less before, but I fear we have jumped to the other extreme. Driver talent seems to have been taken out of the equation with regard to overtaking. And with Pirellis degrading so badly, the talent of taking care of your tyres doesnt seem to be of much value either. The Pirellis just dont provide much ability to vary your race strategy.

I remember, Schumi winning two consecutive races, I think in 2004, one with a one stop strategy and the next with a 4stop strategy. Even last year the Potenza softs allowed you serious pace for a few laps and the primes allowed you to sustain decent pace sometimes for 30-40laps.

[bikxsans660]

One of the best runs by Webber. That's just 7 secs behind Hamilton.
For Vettel the pit stop strategy by RS was not upto the mark.
MS well again he showed what he has within him still.

[shibujp]

Christian Horner : hey guys, whats the latest on our KERS system

RB Engineer : it's a three out of three for the system

Christian Horner : it is?

RB Engineer : Yeah, we've managed to get it fully charged in all three races!!

Christian Horner : Thank God for Adrian Newey!!

Jokes aside for me, the Chinese GP was a testament to the engineering genius of Adrian Newey. Even though hobbled by the lack of KERS the RB cars are awesome. Having him on a team is equivalent or more than having the world's best racing driver. The aerodynamics of the RB cars and the performance differential they are able to extract from that.

Drive on,
Shibujp

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

McLaren, untouchable? Merc and Ferrari seem to match their race pace and are in the fight as well. The only untouchable if there are no variables, is the RB. Just waiting to see what will happen when they sort out the KERS trouble

Well, the +ve about Mclaren is Both the drivers are complimenting each other and on Equal grounds.

Ferrari's - Both the drivers are driving their Own race.

Mercedes GP - Well, they still need to get their act together, they still lost a podium finish today.

I wonder, if i will ever see Schumi on the Podium ever.......I just hope.....

[myavu]

@ PAVAN KADAM : If Schumi was not held back by yesterdays DRS issue he could have been there. What a beauty to see Schumi fighting for places and great overtaking using KERS & DRS. He gained 5 places before first corner itself. His time is around. Wait for few more races.

Cheers!

Vinu

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by myavu

@ PAVAN KADAM : He gained 5 places before first corner itself. His time is around. Wait for few more races.

Cheers!

Vinu

I agree. And based on what he did in Ferrari, I believe Michael is the kind of driver who builds teams around him. Those kind of drivers are few and far between. This is what he and Ross Brawn seem to be doing at Mercedes. While I am sure we will see him on the podium before the year is out, I don't see Merc challenging for the championship this year. But in the next year they are going to.

Yes he is the dominant driver, yes he is controversial. But he has a vision the involves the whole team and that is why he has a fan in me.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[sarmarishi]

All in all.. A Great race. I thoroughly enjoyed it with all the overtakings and the goof-ups

Great to see Webber do a Schumi of yesteryears. He came from 18th to 3rd.. which is a big achievement.

Good to see Schumi racing as well and getting back to where he needs to be. I have always told my friends that Schumi has not been brought in to win races for Mercedes but to build the team and get the car right. Everybody knows that he is one driver who can do it without any problems. I am very sure once the team is ready and all set, Schumi is going to take on a consultant role just like he did in Ferrari!