2012 Chinese Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

Congratulations to Rosberg on completing the double! Hope he's not too hung over from partying still at Bahrain!
If the Mercedes tire management has been sorted, as seems to be the case (although the cool weather was a factor here?), could we see a Championship challenge from Nico?

I say Nico, because although Schumacher obviously still has it as a driver, his good luck is just all used up. I felt that way back in Japan in 2006.
Good on that mechanic for being so desperate; at least for consolation he wasn't the only guy let down by his tools today.

I thought the racing was excellent today, anything but boring through the whole event. No stupid crashes, drivers taking big risks; others pushing things to the limit, and a variety of strategies. All this and no safety car or rain to deaden the pace.

Fantastic display of Formula 1 today in my book.

Well played by the whole grid!

Fantastic race lots of good close action and fight backs with the 3 stoppers.

Well done Nico deserved that one.

To the person a page back, Lewis seemed happy to me it was Button doing all the moaning. He was moaning about hit pit stop I did not hear Lewis once complain about the 5 place grid drop cost him the win as lets face it he started 2 places behind Button when he should have started 2nd.

As for Vettel, he cannot expect the best car all the time, and people had to fight to pass him on the straight even with their DRS open so he could not have been that slow down it. He is not really showing himself in a great light at the moment. Webber is just getting on with the job.

Anyway great start to the year so far on to one of the most boring races next, but a new one for these tyres.

What was strange today was the teams that make their tyres last did not and teams that don't did.

IWE Wrote:
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> Britney Rosberg first woman to win a Formula One race.

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Haha I thought about the whole Britney thing just after Rosberg finished!

Brilliant drive from Nico! Immaculate drive, thoroughly deserved the win and his strong pace throughout the race was a nice surprise too. It looks like Mercedes have finally joined the frontrunners for real. A shame for Schumacher, but it looks like he'll get plenty more shots at wins and podiums this year and knowing the car is finally a winner should give his confidence an extra boost.

Stunning racing all the way through the field in the 2nd half of the race. Can't remember the last time I saw such an epic battle going on for such a high position in the race. If I had to pick a favourite moment it'd probably be the Maldonado/Grosjean battle for 8th.


gav Wrote:
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> That scared the @#$%& out of me. So close to doing
> an American special.

I saw the car hit the kerb and thought "Oh F*CK". You've got to love Webber's tendency to keep having these incidents and his blase attitude towards them afterwards too.

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Yeah, I'm sure it hurt like @#$%&. Heck, it can hurt in a hire kart if you straddle a kerb, but he was like "yeah, well it hurt my shoulders a bit, but I'll have a hot bath later". I'm fairly sure my spine would be in dust right about now.

Webbers the modern Mansell.

He won't know he's bust his spine until 2025.

Also, first three races, 3 different winners. Last time that happened?

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

2010. alonso, button and vettel. then button repeated in china.

6 Different winners in a row, when was the last time THAT happened? Or was it in 1982?

Nice stat

alexf1man Wrote:
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> 6 Different winners in a row, when was the last
> time THAT happened? Or was it in 1982?

Yeah, very interesting!

EDIT: I'm bored, so I looked it up; The last time was 1999/00 - Coulthard (Spa 99), Frentzen (Monza 99), Herbert (Nurburgring 99), Irvine (Malaysia 99), Hakkinen (Japan 99) and Schumacher (Australia 00).

We've had 5 quite a few times since then; in 2009 (Webber, Vettel, Hamilton, Barrichello and Raikkonen), 2004/05 (Barrichello, Schumacher, Montoya, Fisichella, Alonso), 2003 (R Schumacher, Barrichello, Montoya, Alonso, M Schumacher) and 2002/03 (Barrichello, Schumacher, Coulthard, Raikkonen, Fisichella)

1982 had 9 - Patrese, Watson, Piquet, Pironi, Lauda, Arnoux, Tambay, De Angelis and Rosberg

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X (@ed24f1)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2012 04:50AM by SchueyFan.

Frantic Wrote:
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> 2010. alonso, button and vettel. then button
> repeated in china.


I think we'll make it 4 with either Lewis or Michael this weekend, then again IMO I think there is a better chance Button will win, and Nico would beat Schumacher.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Who knows?!

2012 is turning out to be beautifully unpredictable. I never thought that the Mercedes would handle it's tyres well all season let alone make a 2 stopper out do a 3 stopper at China, how wrong was I?

I think that as long as we get some variation in temperature conditions then most races will be wide open to different teams and drivers now, although I'd still expect McLaren who've consistently been up at the sharp end and Red Bull to get most points.

But there's so much potential for a major upset, podiums are now a realistic chance for all teams down to Toro Rosso if a race goes their way, We can't rule any of the midfield out of having that one race where they own all.. (I have my fingers crossed for Williams ).

This championship at the moment is going to come down to consistency rather that outright pace, so far the most consistent has been Hamilton and Webber who've scored the same positions in each race so far, but Button is also a real threat of he continues to score heavily and not have the odd howler like Korea 10 or Malaysia 12.

Another thing for certain now is that we can expect to see several Merc Double DRS copies to spring up, since it seems qualifying up front and having a clear track infront is a major boost to conserving tyre life, but if things don't change too much then you have to fancy Merc at Montreal, Spa & Monza.

This season is a ripper!

The last time we had 6 winners in a row was actually in the middle of 2009: Button, Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Barrichello and Raikkonen from Turkey to Belgium,
then Barrichello won again in Italy.

Another interesting fact is that Massa is the only driver yet to score a point except for the ones driving for the 'new teams'.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2012 04:44PM by RAC5.

chet Wrote:
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> Frantic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 2010. alonso, button and vettel. then button
> > repeated in china.
>
>
> I think we'll make it 4 with either Lewis or
> Michael this weekend, then again IMO I think there
> is a better chance Button will win, and Nico would
> beat Schumacher.

i hope Michael wins! that would be awesome, we haven't been really able to see his race pace, hopefully he'll have a clean race this weekend.

wouldn't it be ironic? a clean race in Bahrain, and let's face it, the guy is a controversy magnet, winning Bahrain will probably involve some controversy on the media.

Quote
chet
I think we'll make it 4 with either Lewis or Michael this weekend

Not a hope in hell that Lewis will win.

Lewis is destined to once more finish 3rd, becoming the first person to win the championship finishing every race in 3rd place, proving everyone wrong that he is far and away more consistent than Button and moaning throughout heck that "consistency is boring as @#$%&".

LOL.

Bahrain would be a terrible race for Michael to win. Imagine winning for the first time on your comeback after so long away, but being crucified for insensitivity/bad taste if you celebrate it. :S

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RAC5 Wrote:
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> The last time we had 6 winners in a row was
> actually in the middle of 2009: Button, Vettel,
> Webber, Hamilton, Barrichello and Raikkonen from
> Turkey to Belgium,
> then Barrichello won again in Italy.

Yes, good point, I did my stats too quickly!

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X (@ed24f1)

Great job by my birthday buddy! And Congrats to Frank for his 70th Birthday and double points! I hope the best for both of them for the rest of the year and years to come :D

Quote
loque
One thing which concerns me is how dead these forums are through races now. I know it's early, but sheeesh. Where's Dave Ellis gone anyway? I always valued his (often hilarious) input

I was thinking about this post a few nights ago as I was falling asleep. It's weird the stuff you think about when you're going to sleep, but even for me this is bad!

I guess people are just getting older. We're not a site that will draw in many new users, so generally it's same user base that it was 5+ years ago. We're moving on in life. You lose a bit of the raw passion for F1 as you get older (I guess most are the same as me, where I could feel my heart beating at the start of a race, though as you get older it doesn't have quite the same thrill). And people are settling into long term relationships, starting families and generally have more things on now than they would have done as a student, as many of us were 5-10 year ago.

I used to watch F1 sitting at my computer, watching it in Media Center in one corner of the screen while chatting about it on MSN with loads of guys from here and posting on forums. Now, while I still watch it in Media Center, I can't be bothered to post about it. I just enjoy taking the race in, especially now the field is so close and more is happening with tyres and lots of cars end up out of position. I think most of those from the old MSN convos are the same.

Plus, and this started with ITV, I started watching the races 10-20 minutes late so I could fast-forward doing the adverts. I still do that, so if there's an uninteresting piece I can skip it (though it's rare on the Beeb), and if it's an early race, I can switch my computer on so it starts recording it, then go back to sleep and watch it when I get up. As a result, the last thing I want to do is check the forums and post throughout a race.

As for Dave, he's got a heck of a lot going on right now. Perhaps when things settle down his posts might pick up again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2012 11:21AM by gav.