[Official] Chinese Grand Prix 2024: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 5 of 24

[S griffin]

Well the rain certainly livened that one up. Well done Norris for that pole. Nice to see the stewards realising they made a mistake and reinstating his lap. Although I’m puzzled why they put the gravel in the last corner if they are going to pinged for track limits anyway

Nice to see both Saubers in the top 10, especially for Zhou on his home circuit. At least there won’t be any pitstops to stop them in the sprint

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Are the stewards starting to be a bit more sensible? Given the conditions, and the power of the cars, drivers being that bit more careful, surely the stewards have to be a bit more forgiving?

Race Control and/or the Race Director is or are a separate entity to the Stewards, and shouldn't be conflated. Those in Race Control can, and do, escalate incidents to the Stewards for their consideration. And, as far as I am aware, things such as time deletions for track limits emanate from Race Control, not the Stewards.

I am not absolutely certain on this, but I have always believed that the Stewards are not able to instigate any action if it has not come from those in Race Control. I am more than happy to be corrected on this if others have more knowledge about this subject.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Race Control and/or the Race Director is or are a separate entity to the Stewards, and shouldn't be conflated. Those in Race Control can, and do, escalate incidents to the Stewards for their consideration. And, as far as I am aware, things such as time deletions for track limits emanate from Race Control, not the Stewards.

I am not absolutely certain on this, but I have always believed that the Stewards are not able to instigate any action if it has not come from those in Race Control. I am more than happy to be corrected on this if others have more knowledge about this subject.

Sorry Mike. I meant Race Control/ Director. Apologies for the confusion.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by E.B

In this case McLaren were straight on the horn to race control pleading mitigation due to the weather and that there was no performance advantage gained in this case. RC agreed and reinstated the lap.

It gets better from the RC actions. I said McLaren would have been in touch with RC to ask for leniency in light of the conditions, and Lando having dropped a wheel in the gravel clearly no advantage was gained.

I presumed that was what happened as that is normally the process.

McLaren have subsequently confirmed that they had not had time to contact RC before confirmation came from RC that the deleted lap was reinstated. RC made the decision based on the circumstances and immediately manually over ruled the system generated automatic following lap deletion due to the obvious non advantageous nature in this case, admitting that they realised immediately in this case Norris actually compromised his following lap by going off, noting that his pole lap was without further issue or incident. (McLaren data shows Norris lost 0.3 due to the compromised start to the pole lap).

Even Toto said he also realised the circumstances and accepted the reinstatement without further thought of protest.

In other words RC made their own instant decision to manually over ride the automated deleted lap with no external pressure.

Common sense is a wonderful thing. And given the 0.3 second handicap it further confirms, in the circumstances, what a brilliant lap that pole lap of Lando's was

[bjohnsonsmith]

It looks cold and windy at Shanghai.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was a terrible start for Norris, down to 7th as Hamilton takes the lead.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was a great battle for 3rd between Alonso, Sainz, Perez and Leclerc. Perez came out on top but Alonso pits with a puncture, after banging wheels with Sainz.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Super Max. No surprise result so far.

[HDTVKSS]

Sky team keeps referring to this race being the ‘Torpedo’ incident but my very faulty memory suggests it was Russia? I’m probably wrong ….

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by HDTVKSS

Sky team keeps referring to this race being the ‘Torpedo’ incident but my very faulty memory suggests it was Russia? I’m probably wrong ….

Kvyat, 2016 Chinese GP....

[GTRMagic]

Mr Sainz was lucky his car didn’t fall to bits in Q2 when he backed it into the barriers..

[Guthrie]

Fantastic work by Alonso to get P3. I wonder how long he can hold on to this position in tomorrow's race.

[chillibowl]

thought the sprint was quite a bit of fun. elbows out racing with nothing really being over the line imo.

Perez, driver of the sprint for me because of his opportunistic move and would rate it a 8 out of 10. sans pitstops, not much reason to pick a team of the race but intrigued by Merc.

i criticized them last race for not splitting or offsetting their strategies between drivers so i liked that they had GR out there on the softs (the only driver i believe).

i guess it was a no lose sort of situation so why not just take a flyer and see what happens kind of thing? maybe even a sign that they may try to be more aggressive as they claw their way back up?

and to his credit, GR seemed to do all right on those softs...wonder if he has learned something that he can apply to the race now.

[Mike Harte]

Was the main race so insignificant that nobody has any comments about it?

[Aysedasi]

Yes.

Aside from some good stuff from Alonso and an excellent drive by Lando it was pretty dull.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Was the main race so insignificant that nobody has any comments about it?

As a race, no real question as to who was going to win. As mentioned, a good drive by Norris. Stroll was being Stroll so this triggered some retirements. Both VCARB out. Alonso had a good drive, but was also rolling the dice on tire strategy. IMHO a VERY slow decision for safety car due to issues with recovery of Botta's car. I think given it's location they should have gone to VSC much sooner. Some interesting drama (penalties) around penalties for passing under yellow. Big celebration for Zhou even though he finished effectively at the rear. I wonder if this might be his first and last race in an F1 car at that circuit?

Richard

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Richard C

As a race, no real question as to who was going to win. As mentioned, a good drive by Norris. Stroll was being Stroll so this triggered some retirements. Both VCARB out. Alonso had a good drive, but was also rolling the dice on tire strategy. IMHO a VERY slow decision for safety car due to issues with recovery of Botta's car. I think given it's location they should have gone to VSC much sooner. Some interesting drama (penalties) around penalties for passing under yellow. Big celebration for Zhou even though he finished effectively at the rear. I wonder if this might be his first and last race in an F1 car at that circuit?

Richard

It is absolutely ridiculous that some drivers of what is claimed to be the pinnacle of motor racing still commit rookie errors such as overtaking when under yellow flag conditions, and one also overtook during the safety car.

I think that it is long past the time when the penalties for these type of driving infringements where far more seriously increased. There really is no excuse for that type of driving and it needs to be severely dealt with not just a slap on the wrist which is what was applied today, a mere 10 seconds added to their time with two points on their licence.

[Greem]

Anybody racing in an FIA World Championship who breaches a safety rule (flags, safety car etc) should be made to attend a weekend at a club meeting in their team's home nation as a marshal.

Crap food, crap weather, great racing (sometimes!), being out there in the firing line with an extinguisher and a broom, with endless p*** taking from the people around them.

If they're really lucky they may witness the effects of a pork pie.

I'm not kidding - it works for UK based Caterham entrants who get to knock two novice signatures off their licence if they spend two days on post. I'm pretty sure many European club series do the same, and it might bring some of the drivers down a peg or two. Win win!

[Alan52]

All that’s left now is a poll on how many GP’s Max will win.No reason to have any option below 21.
Trying to get excited 19 more times about who’s going to finish second will be very hard.

[Sandgroper]

Is Max a generational driver (at this time) one of which we have never seen or likely to be seen again or are the others just that bad or their cars?

[Aysedasi]

Currently the best driver in the best car. Simples.

[steve_r]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

It is absolutely ridiculous that some drivers of what is claimed to be the pinnacle of motor racing still commit rookie errors such as overtaking when under yellow flag conditions, and one also overtook during the safety car.

I think that it is long past the time when the penalties for these type of driving infringements where far more seriously increased. There really is no excuse for that type of driving and it needs to be severely dealt with not just a slap on the wrist which is what was applied today, a mere 10 seconds added to their time with two points on their licence.

If you are referring to Sargent, then they showed the replay of the other car coming out of the pits seemingly behind the Williams, so I can see why that happened. The commentators didn't even understand the context of the replay that was being played and saw nothing wrong.

As for Stroll - I thought his penalty was harsh given it was nothing more that a concertina effect.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by steve_r

If you are referring to Sargent, then they showed the replay of the other car coming out of the pits seemingly behind the Williams, so I can see why that happened. The commentators didn't even understand the context of the replay that was being played and saw nothing wrong.

As for Stroll - I thought his penalty was harsh given it was nothing more that a concertina effect.

I believe I saw on the FIA's website that 2 drivers were penalised for overtaking at a yellow flag part of the circuit and one during the safety car period.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by steve_r

As for Stroll - I thought his penalty was harsh given it was nothing more that a concertina effect.

A concertina effect that everyone knows about. His carelessness ruined several other drivers' races. I think he got away lightly.

[steve_r]

Originally Posted by peebee2

A concertina effect that everyone knows about. His carelessness ruined several other drivers' races. I think he got away lightly.

His own race ruined & potential points lost - that was the penalty. The 10s penalty meant nothing in the end.

Everyone was slamming on.

Who's else race did he ruin?