[Official] Round 03: Chinese Grand Prix

[frostie]

Taken from my website
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Sepang showed us exactly what the new for 2011 regulations can achieve. It may not have been to everyone’s liking but frantic pitstops, highly degradable tyres and DRS assisted overtaking certainly got Formula 1 back on the forefront of people’s minds. Round three of the season brings the Formula 1 fraternity to China and the promise of more excitement!

The Shanghai International Circuit

China is a nation of contrasts and so is the Shanghai International Circuit. With two high speed straights the average lap speed is quite high even though the majority of the lap is spent with drivers negotiating long slow corners. These corners place a particularly demand on engineers with understeer to be avoided at all costs.

The entire package gets a stern workout in China with the tight and twisty sections placing an emphasis on mechanical grip while the long straights place a premium on aerodynamic performance. Shanghai is also a difficult circuit for engines with low gear torque crucial for when exiting the numerous second gear corners while top speed and power is of concern on the straights. This contrast in requirements makes Shanghai once of the most challenging circuits on the calendar in terms of finding the perfect balance.

Speaking of the challenge facing teams Williams technical director, Sam Michael, said:

“The corners in Shanghai are all heavily loaded on entry, particularly Turn 1” he said. “This normally requires a strong front end for the driver to place the car accurately. Traction is also important with there being four slow speed corner exits around the lap. Track temperatures are cooler again in Shanghai, much like they were during the Australian GP.”

The drag reduction system played a key role in Malaysia with numerous overtaking moves clearly aided by the system. This weekend’s race should see that trend continue with the DRS zone placed on the long back straight where drivers reach speeds of 320kmp/h. The detection area will be when drivers turn into the long banked turn 13. With the DRS to be used on the back straight, one of the longest of the season, it is clear that an efficient KER/DRS combination could be hugely beneficial. This could play heavily into the hands of Mercedes will be keen to avail of a less punishing track in terms of tyre wear.

Shanghai has a much smoother track surface compared to Sepang and while tyre wear will once more play a role in the outcome of the race it is likely that the lower ambient temperatures should give the Pirelli rubber a much easier footing this weekend.

The lap opens with drivers attacking the first part of turn one flat out before the seventh gear right hander tightens into second gear leading into turn three. The track then opens up with the acceleration zone that is turn five.

Jenson Button, last year’s winner, had this to say about the challenging opening section of the lap:

"It's a good modern circuit with a couple of interesting touches” said the former world champion. “The first corner is quite unique: you enter it at full-throttle in seventh gear, then come down through the gears as the corner continually tightens. It's a very long corner – it's all about being patient – and there's a little bump right on the entry, which can make it quite tricky too."

The middle sector of the lap begins at turn six, another second gear corner, which leads onto the thrilling complex of turn seven and eight before drivers tackle turns nine and ten in third gear. This section of corners will prove very important for drivers as they lead into the final sector with the DRS detection zone at turn 13.

The main overtaking place on the track is at the end of the back straight and with DRS enabled it is likely that drivers could enjoy a considerable advantage as they approach the braking zone. We saw in Sepang that DRS is a facilitator of overtaking but this is the first time that a medium speed corner will lead onto a long straight for drivers to use the system.

What are the main talking points before this race?

The Malaysian Grand Prix was dominated by the strategic decisions made on the pit wall with drivers making two, three and four stops in the points scoring positions. Even though there was variety between the leading runners there was also an element of marking cards between them too. It was clear, for example, that a lot of pitstops throughout the race were determined because other rivals had pitted. With teams still understanding the new tyres this was always likely to happen but it is crucial for teams to find the perfect strategy for their drivers and stop concerning themselves with the decisions made by other teams.

The new Pirelli tyres are clearly a handful and perhaps the most important thing for the leading drivers to do is to conserve their allocation of tyres in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel did so in Malaysia; using one less set of tyres in qualifying, and parlayed this into a tremendous advantage in the race. Lewis Hamilton, long regarded as the most aggressive driver in the field, showed a new found smoothness at Sepang but his need to take an extra qualifying two run left him with one less set of tyres for the race.

It was to prove pivotal and led to the former champion enduring an extra stint on the slower prime tyres in the race. Hamilton and McLaren will be keenly aware that a repeat of such woes in races this season could be extremely costly so expect them to do as much as they can to avoid using an extra set of tyres in qualifying.

The pace of the McLaren has been one of the talking points of the season thus far and it is clear that the squad have made tremendous progress since winter testing. It is clear that they are the principal threat to Red Bull in terms of ultimate performance and this weekend they should be very confident of adding to their 2008 and 2010 victories at the circuit.

Since the team reverted to standard exhausts it is clear that they have found a much improved package and their Mercedes engine and KERS package should be very strong this weekend. With Red Bull still to prove the reliability of their system this should be a key advantage for the silver cars.

It is clear that team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, sees this:

" I'm extremely pleased that we've managed to achieve 100 per cent reliability in both Australia and Malaysia, and that our KERS Hybrid system, engineered so well by everyone at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, has worked faultlessly during the first two grand prix” he said. “For this race, we know we have to step up the pressure: we're looking to hit the ground running on Friday, maintain that momentum through Saturday, and be in with the best possible chance of taking victory on Sunday."

While the threat posed by McLaren is growing it is also clear that Red Bull still has the fastest car on the grid and with these races coming back to back there is limited scope for upgrades. McLaren will bring some new parts to China which will be evaluated on Friday but it is unlikely that the team will use these parts during the race.

F1 2011 revolves on tyres.....

The Pirelli tyres will once again be crucial this weekend and after the excitement of Malaysia the Italian firm ore confident that they can once more be instrumental in producing an exciting race.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director said:

"So far I'm very pleased with the way that our tyres have helped the show, but I'm always impressed by the way that the teams and drivers learn so quickly: I'm sure they will be finding different solutions to make the tyres last longer all the time” he said. “So far we have accurately predicted two pit stops in Australia and three in Malaysia but we'll have to wait until we see the data after Friday free practice before having a completely clear idea of what to expect in China.

"Unlike Malaysia, where we provided the teams with an experimental tyre for free practice, we will give each team one extra set of the usual hard tyres for Friday's first free practice session just as we did in Australia. We saw then that it worked well, allowing the teams to maximise their track time and prepare as thoroughly as possible for the race, so we'd like to give them the same opportunity again. The first two races have been absolutely thrilling; I'm hoping that we'll see the same again in China!"

Sauber has been the team most able to find the solution to maintaining tyre life with Sergio Perez single stopping in Melbourne and Kamui Kobayashi making one stop less than the majority of the front runners in Malaysia.

The team’s technical director, James Key, spoke about the challenges facing teams this weekend:

“The track has some interesting challenges” he said. “It has a long straight at the back, some quite tricky slow speed corners in the middle of the lap and there are these unwinding and winding in profiles of corners, which are important for traction and braking stability, particularly under lateral load.”

“It will be interesting to see how the tyres cope and the car copes with that, with much depending on how the weather conditions are. I think what we have seen between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur is, with different track temperatures and surfaces, the tyres have behaved in quite a different way to what was expected. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues in China, or whether it will be a bit more predictable. Obviously the hope is we can continue to fight for points and show a decent level of performance."

What to expect in China

Sebastian Vettel has taken pole position in Shanghai for the last two years, and was the first man across the line two years ago, and the reigning champion will start the weekend as the firm favourite once again but he should expect a strong test from within his own team. Mark Webber was badly hamstrung by KERS problems in Malaysia that compounded his poor showing in the opening race of the year. The Australian is sure to be fired up to make amends but another bad showing could be catastrophic to his title hopes.

McLaren should be competitive once more while Ferrari are not to be underestimated after impressive race pace from Alonso in the last race.

Renault has clearly developed a very good car and their starts in the opening races have been superb. After Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld took podiums in the opening two races the team have given themselves a terrific platform with which to move forward with this weekend and while another podium is unlikely they should be able to get another top five finish and head to the start of the European season energised by their performances.

The midfield fight was intense in Malaysia and China should continue to show exactly how closely matched the teams are in Formula 1 at present. Sauber have clearly performed above expectation while Mercedes has struggled. This weekend should offer Sauber another opportunity to score points and with their car clearly enjoying a tyre advantage they could, once again, spring a strategic surprise. Sauber has also been exceptionally fast on straights with the team topping the speed figures in qualifying at both opening races, another area for the Swiss squad to exploit throughout the weekend.

Mercedes have had a disastrous start to the season with the team clearly all at sea with the new car. It seemed that every time an onboard shot of Schumacher was shown in Malaysia that he was fighting a wayward backend. The seven times champion performed well in the second race of the season and easily outperformed his teammate, Nico Rosberg, but after the heightened expectations of the final test it is clear that the team is yet to find a formula for competitiveness; there is little to suggest that this weekend will offer a stronger showing.

One of the most interesting elements of Malaysia was the performance of Team Lotus. After struggling in Melbourne they bounced back at Sepang and were very competitive in relation to the tail end of the midfield. The team made ambitious steps in the off season to increase their competiveness and the last race showed how much progress they have made. It is crucial for the Tony Fernandez run team to continue this progress this weekend.

Strategy for this weekend

Two stops looks likely to be the strategy of choice for the leading runners but a lot will depend on how the Pirelli tyres perform in China. There is no doubt that they will be considerably more durable than in Malaysia but with a short pitstop, 23 seconds total pit time, it could be beneficial for a driver to try a contrary strategy. This would be a risky strategy but could provide McLaren, or indeed Ferrari, with an opportunity to challenge Red Bull.

The race pace of both teams in Malaysia was very impressive and when you look at both races it is clear that they are very competitive in terms of their ability to perform on Sunday. Ferrari are clearly struggling in terms of qualifying and outright speed but in the current era of no refuelling it is much more important to find a balanced setup that works on heavy tanks; Malaysia showed that they have found such a balance. Alonso is a past winner in Shanghai and Massa has always gone well at the track so this could be a potentially strong race from the Italian squad.

Shanghai weather forecast

The threat of rain hung over the second race of the season but this weekend the local forecasts are quite promising. There is a chance of rain prior to qualifying but race day should be warm and dry with temperatures of the mid 20s expected. This should give the tyres a much easier time than in Malaysia but with rain having played a part in four of the seven races in China it is clear that nothing should be taken for granted when the cars form the grid for the latest round of 2011.

BBC Schedule

Session	Time	Channel
Friday 15 April
Practice one	0255-0435	Red Button
Practice two	0655-0835	Red Button
Saturday 16 April
Practice three	0355-0555	Red Button
Qualifying	0600-0830	BBC 1
Qualifying Repeat	1300-1430	BBC 1
Sunday 17 April
Race	0700-1015	BBC1
F1 Forum	1015-1115	BBC1
Race repeat	1400-1600	BBC1
Highlights	1900-2000	BBC Three

Key points to keep in mind

Total pitstop time	23s
Average margin of victory	6.5s
Average Finishing %	78%
Average starting position of winner	2nd
Seven different winners in seven races

Year	Driver	Team	Grid Position
2010	Jenson Button	McLaren	5th
2009	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Pole
2008	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	Pole
2007	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	2nd
2006	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	6th
2005	Fernando Alonso	Renault	Pole
2004	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	Pole

Misc

Weather

Chatroom

[Born Racer]

Great intro Frostie.

[Sodemo]

*Does a rain dance*

[stripedcat]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

*Does a rain dance*

I agree with you. We need a wet race to spice things up. Otherwise Vettel looks likely to run away with this championship.

Great intro, Frostie, as always.

[Marbot]

Great intro. Rain possible for Friday and Saturday, dry on Sunday.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by stripedcat

Otherwise Vettel looks likely to run away with this championship.

That's a brave prediction for two races in!

2009 was much closer than the first *6* races would have indicated.....

[Andy77]

Don't forget to join in to 10 Tenth Chatroom for all the action of practice session 1 tonight from 2200 EST / 0200 UTC / 0300 BST / 0400 CET

[ghinzani]

So BBC you told me 2nd practice starts at 5.55, when you meant 6.55...AM too!! Thankfully I'm tucked up on the sofa, but grrr..

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

*Does a rain dance*

Whilst I'm not a fan of the DRS/KERS I really can't see why you'd want rain. We've already got all the juggling from the tyres etc.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Whilst I'm not a fan of the DRS/KERS I really can't see why you'd want rain. We've already got all the juggling from the tyres etc.

I see your point. I'd also like to add to that the strong possibilities of a safety car if it's wet.

I can't help but feel that wet racing's slowly being phased out of F1. At least full speed wet racing, anyway.

Selby

[Bononi]

Thanks frostie, nice job as always !


Hopefully it will be a great race.

[Ralf's Girl]

Great intro as ever, frostie.

With those mammoth straights, the race - assuming it's dry - has to be all about KERS and DRS. Could be very interesting if Red Bull are still suffering from KERS issues.

[broadrun96]

Looked like Virgin was a second plus behind the HRT, maybe they shouldn't be there? Does show HRT wasn't stretching things when they said the 2011 front wing would help them move up the field, although they are a good bit back of the Lotus guys but doubt they will miss an event the rest of the season.

[Marbot]

TBH, if you had to point a finger at a team that was performing poorly, you would have to point it at Williams. Neither car has yet finished a race!

[frostie]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Looked like Virgin was a second plus behind the HRT, maybe they shouldn't be there?

Yeah Virgin are having an absolute nightmare, am I right in thinking that they are going to do some wind tunnel testing on the car in the near future?

I've been quite critical of HRT, mostly to the owners and not the team, but their performance in Malaysia was quite solid and it would be little surprise to see them qualify ahead of both Virgins in the near future.

On a side note I had an absolute nightmare trying to watch practice, SKY was playing up and I had no internet! I'll be lucky to watch it this evening I think!

[Andy77]

Originally Posted by frostie

Yeah Virgin are having an absolute nightmare, am I right in thinking that they are going to do some wind tunnel testing on the car in the near future?

I've been quite critical of HRT, mostly to the owners and not the team, but their performance in Malaysia was quite solid and it would be little surprise to see them qualify ahead of both Virgins in the near future.

On a side note I had an absolute nightmare trying to watch practice, SKY was playing up and I had no internet! I'll be lucky to watch it this evening I think!

hey frostie,
Do you have satelite, aerial or cable TV ?

Don't miss to join 10 Tenth Chatroom for the 3rd session and qualifying later on.
P3 starts from 2300 EST / 0300 UTC / 0400 BST / 0500 CET
and Qualifying from 0200 EST / 0600 UTC / 0700 BST / 0800 CET

[bjohnsonsmith]

An excellent intro as always.

Apparently there could be a one stop race, as opposed to the plethora of stops at Sepang according to this article:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90734

[Marbot]

So much better than last seasons: soft tyre - pit around lap 20 - hard tyre - sprint to flag monotony.

No rain forecast for qualifying or the race.

[Peter Mallett]

Peobably a point for a separate thread but having every race a lottery, at least behind the Red Bulls, is just as bad as Bernie's randon water spray joke.

We seem to have gone down the, "if the drivers can't do it, we'll do it for them" route.

[Peter Mallett]

Red Bull suffering KERs problems again. Whilst I'm sure this is all a challenge it is making the racing a complete farce. Webber not a happy bunny today.

Seb V fastest with Button second, the Rosberg Merc going well but Lewis is struggling although with his pace that's a relative term.

Ferrari not doing so well either. Bet they can't wait to get back home. Wonder who'll be shot this time?

[parkingjedi]

Mark Webber Out in Q1!!!! only running on the hard tires, what a muppet! P18 in the race.
Unbelievable!

[frostie]

Originally Posted by parkingjedi

Mark Webber Out in Q1!!!! only running on the hard tires, what a muppet! P18 in the race.
Unbelievable!

That was ridiculous from Webber and Red Bull. I know that they have a clear speed avadvantage but if you are in any doubt at the end of Q1 surely you have to use the option tyres. The lack of KERS cant be blamed solely for this effort but it was definitely very costly

[delta]

Sounds like the Lotus has run out of fuel

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by delta

Sounds like the Lotus has run out of fuel

probably a gear box problem, they could'nt push the car away.

[Andy77]

How ironic that it was Petrovs faulty Renault that messed with Heidfelds quali chance