Chief F1 Fan

the first two races don't usually tell what's going to happen the rest of the season. Wait and see.

Edward'TLS

I'm still waiting for the resurrection of the Mercedes team, under the F1 wizard Ross Brawn.

Chief F1 Fan

me too

CanopyFlyer

No, I think he's pushing as far out as he can be, and still keep the car reliable. Ok, so that does mean he's holding back a little, but I doubt he's just cruising around the track.

Vettle has the advantage of being excellent in qualifying, and being a really good starter. If RB can keep him out there, no one will catch him. However, if for some reason he gets in the middle of the pack, I think he'll have a hard time.

It's time for some of the other drivers to take their ball's out of their wife's/gf's purses and give RB a race.

F-C

China Practice 1:

Times
01. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:38.739 23 laps
02. Mark Webber Red Bull 01:39.354 27 laps
03. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 01:40.845 21 laps
04. Jenson Button McLaren 01:40.940 22 laps
05. Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:40.987 5 laps
06. Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:41.046 25 laps
07. Sergio Perez Sauber 01:41.189 20 laps
08. Pastor Maldonado Williams 01:41.222 20 laps
09. Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:41.231 16 laps
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 01:41.328 21 laps
11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:41.361 23 laps
12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:41.434 15 laps
13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 01:41.494 20 laps
14. Heikki Kovalainen Team Lotus 01:41.579 13 laps
15. Paul di Resta Force India 01:41.610 18 laps
16. Daniel Ricciardo Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:41.752 20 laps
17. Rubens Barrichello Williams 01:41.439 25 laps
18. Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:42.301 23 laps
19. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 01:43.792 20 laps
20. Jerome d' Ambrosio Virgin Racing 01:44.089 20 laps
21. Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT F1 Team 01:44.359 18 laps
22. Timo Glock Virgin Racing 01:44.438 11 laps
23. Luiz Razia Team Lotus 01:44.542 9 laps
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT F1 Team 01:45.019 23 laps

F-C

China Practice 2:

Times
01. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:37.688 34 laps
02. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 01:37.854 22 laps
03. Jenson Button McLaren 01:37.935 31 laps
04. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:37.943 34 laps
05. Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:38.105 29 laps
06. Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:38.507 38 laps
07. Adrian Sutil Force India 01:38.735 35 laps
08. Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:38.805 28 laps
09. Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:38.859 31 laps
10. Mark Webber Red Bull 01:39.327 33 laps
11. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 01:39.538 33 laps
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams 01:39.867 37 laps
13. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 01:39.771 18 laps
14. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:39.779 17 laps
15. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 01:39.828 25 laps
16. Rubens Barrichello Williams 01:39.925 32 laps
17. Sergio Perez Sauber 01:39.953 30 laps
18. Heikki Kovalainen Team Lotus 01:40.476 30 laps
19. Jarno Trulli Team Lotus 01:41.482 32 laps
20. Narain Karthikeyan HRT F1 Team 01:42.902 25 laps
21. Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT F1 Team 01:43.850 3 laps
22. Jerome d' Ambrosio Virgin Racing 01:44.008 35 laps
23. Timo Glock Virgin Racing 01:44.747 12 laps
24. Paul di Resta Force India no time

F-C

I guess Button really likes this track. First time out qualifying Hamilton this year.

What happened to Webber?

Bearcat94

I don't know. Webber seemed to have nothing but trouble the first couple of practice sessions, then got almost no laps in during the 3rd. Then in quali, he never found any more speed.

Vettel surprises me. Q2 to Q3, most drivers gained, at most, a tenth or two, he gained almost a whole second.

speedemon90

I wont mention anything yet

That was one of the best races I've ever seen!!! Such a great race! There was never a time when there was no one battling!

Bearcat94

These guys are freakin' killin' me.

West6MT

That was quite the race!!!

Chief F1 Fan

Yes it was quite the race-Pirelli, DRS and KERS have really spiced the show up.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I download the race but it's in arabic FML!

F-C

It's getting difficult keeping up with the race since every driver seems to be on a different strategy. I must imagine that the race engineers must be scratching their heads trying to keep up with the competition during the race.

jwong77

Button's excursion into the RB pit area was hilarious.

F-C

With all the things happeneing in the race, I forgot all about that. I was wondering if Button would get a penalty.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Was lucky that they do the airlines over the car. if it was indy racing he would have driven over the left front tire mans airline and incured a stop and go.

Was hilarious though.

F-C

Maybe he was trying to audition with Red Bull.

speedemon90

I wonder what made him do that haha

And great job to Webber. I dunno how he did it. Seriously. My only theory is he was able to use DRS on a lot of laps since he was close by to so many people so that would let his lap times be up there with the top. That and tire management. I thought I had a great pick till Webber went up the field and passed up Rosberg a;oifjaw;oijfeeaw

F-C

Not getting out of Q1 meant he had more tires to work with during the race as well.

jwong77

Agreed, though I need to rewatch the race. I had lost track of Webber after Berichello passed him up in the beginning of the race. He must have passed a bunch of cars while they pitted. Anyways, it was very entertaining race.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Doesn't matter how many sets of tires you have when you stop 3 times, your only use 3 sets of tires. Even if they have 3 or 4 fewer laps on them I don't think there will be much impact.

Chief F1 Fan

It does matter, especially if you saved a set of the tire that is working the best at that particular circuit, ie-an extra set of softs here would've been killa and I think that's what Webbo did.

speedemon90

but most everyone stopped 3 times, running 1 hard, 2 softs. Only thing is webber started with hards. He also pitted earlier than the people with the softs. So I dont think the extra set helped him out in this race. Or wait. The people that made it to Q3, they have to use the same tires at the start right? So that may be something actually. They start with already worn soft tires and Webber gets to new soft tires.

West6MT

It doesn't matter much if Webber and everyone else all stopped the same number of times if Webber had extra new sets of tires over most of the other drivers.

A brand new set of tires > than a set used in qualifying/testing etc already (ie partially scrubbed).

In a 3 stop Scenario

Webber
stop 1 - new tires
stop 2 - new tires
stop 3 - new tires

vs

driver x
stop 1 - partially used/tires
stop 2 - new tires
stop 3 - partially used tires

Guess who's tires will provide better performance longer before dropping off.

speedemon90

wait why would driver x have two partially used tires? Shouldnt they have two new tires and the first one be partially useD?

Chief F1 Fan

exactly my point Steve. Since he didn't make it out of Q3 he had more new sets of tires vs. everyone else at the front who is a serious podium contender.

Legend2TL

I was amused how the Red Bulls pit crew took it in stride and Button causually drove up to his pits. Considering I've nevere seen it happen before it's amazing how quick they moved out of ttehway and he drove up to the next McLaren pit.

Would have loved to heard/seen the post race driver review in the McLaren lodge.

Bearcat94

Turkey Practice 1 (Wet)

Pos Driver Team Time/Retired Laps
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:38.7 13
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:40.1 14
3 Michael Schumach Mercedes 01:40.1 18
4 Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:40.3 9
5 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:40.4 10
6 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:40.4 16
7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:40.7 14
8 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 01:41.1 18
9 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:41.2 22
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 01:41.3 16
11 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:42.6 5
12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:42.6 7
13 Paul di Resta Force India 01:43.5 11
14 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:43.9 5
15 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 01:44.0 6
16 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 01:44.8 20
17 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:45.0 4
18 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:45.2 15
19 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:45.2 11
20 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:48.5 8
21 Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault 01:51.7 6
22 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:55.8 13
23 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 02:00.7 4
24 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes No time 1

Bearcat94

Turkey Practice 2 (Dry)


Pos Driver Team Time/Retired Laps
1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:26.5 26
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:26.5 29
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:27.0 31
4 Michael Schumache Mercedes 01:27.1 21
5 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:27.1 31
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:27.3 37
7 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:27.5 37
8 Paul di Resta Force India 01:27.7 37
9 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:27.8 32
10 Adrian Sutil Force India 01:28.1 37
11 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:28.1 27
12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:28.2 36
13 Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:28.5 35
14 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:28.8 32
15 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:28.8 19
16 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:28.9 20
17 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 01:29.4 39
18 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:29.6 27
19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 01:30.3 37
20 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:31.0 28
21 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:31.2 22
22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:31.3 29
23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 01:32.0 30
24 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault No time 0

F-C

So does Vettel become the favorite for the race now that he didn't use any dry tires today?

Chief F1 Fan

no, he becomes the least of the top usual faves because he has no set up information for dry running, especially since Webbo won't share with little Sebby.

F-C

Amazing qualifying by Red Bull. Let's see if they can keep it up during the race.

speedemon90

i think after the first couple turns it will run, vettel, hamilton, rosberg, webber

Chief F1 Fan

it's the last turn that matters

speedemon90

Spoiler

Good race again, I think this whole championship will basically be vettel 1st. And its basically a fight for every other position.

Wonder what happened to schumacher, he was doing pretty good before the race. Even rosberg lost it a bit towards the start but his strategy played out.

F-C

Schumacher had a brain fade when he ran into the back of Petrov, and he sort of lost confidence after that.

Another flag to flag win for Vettel. It's going to be a good year.

speedemon90

Also how did button and Hamilton fall so far behind the podium finishers? I know Hamilton had that mishap in pit lane but still they were a good 40 seconds behind them?

Chief F1 Fan

Hamilton lost the race in the third turn, 1st lap.

F-C

All the teams stepped up, except for Mclaren.