2012 chinese GP thread

:lol: Look at his face, he looks as if he's about to explode with joy. :lol:
 
WOW! What an amazing qualifying session. Great all around. I love that Vettel's Q3 streak has ended. Love that two Mercedes cars are starting in the top 3 - it's good to see something other than McLarens and Red Bulls up there. They must be really fast in the long straights in order to put in times like that because they're definitely not quite as quick as RBR or VMM in the corners. Great result for Hammy too, glad to see him in a position where he can probably make up some of the positions he lost for his gearbox penalty. Really glad Red Bull is back a bit... Ferrari was where they were expected to be. Great showing from Raikkonen and Kobayashi as well making the top 5 in mid-fielder cars.

REALLY looking forward to his race now!
 
It's actually a Merc 1-2, since LewLew got a 5-place grid penalty. Starting from P8.
 
Well, tomorrow I can root for his Schumacherness again. He has a chance for a good podium position.

Alonso still getting what he can out of the car, I'll be glad if he makes it into the top 6.
 
Well predicted! Amazing driving on that lap. Half a second past Schumacher.

...and to think I pulled that outta my arse! :lol:

Seriously though, Nico, it was about time! Screaming for him and Kamui tomorrow. :dance:
 
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Most impressive is that after such close 2nd part of qualifying Nico did just one lap and was 0.5 s faster than anyone else. Truly deserved first pole, now he need his first win.
 
WOW! What an amazing qualifying session. Great all around. I love that Vettel's Q3 streak has ended. Love that two Mercedes cars are starting in the top 3 - it's good to see something other than McLarens and Red Bulls up there.

due to Hamilton's penalty front row will be all mercedes!

They must be really fast in the long straights in order to put in times like that because they're definitely not quite as quick as RBR or VMM in the corners.

they actually weren't! i don't know the top speed of the RBR or McL, but rossberg topped out at 312, while perez went over 320...

brings the next point: kobayashi op P3!!
and raikkonen FTW???
 
Tomorrow is going to be insane. The Red Bulls / McLarens still think they can win it from the back...
 
It was an awesome Quali session no doubt. After Q2 being soooo close and the difference between WEB at 1st place to VET at 11th was 0.313 I thought Q3 would be insane, but Rosberg banged in that 1:35.1 and it was very clear no one was going to come even close. Insane lap from Roseberg.

Kamui was also damn awesome with that lap and proved that Sauber is here to stay, they have a seriously strong package.

But I was very disappointed with Button... Knowing that Lewis has a 5 place penalty he should have fought as strong as he could to get a good result and maybe just be behind the Mercs. But instead he went for 1 lap in Q3 and his time was actually slower than his Q2 time. That is just terrible and instead of fighting for first place from the get go he will have to fight KOB and RAI while keeping Lewis at bay behind him. I do know the extra lap he had to put in in Q2 was the reason for the 1 lap Q3 (Webber had the same problem) but it's no excuse. A very very big miss on his part.

Lewis on the other hand can be very happy as anyone who seems to be a contender this season is behind him except for Jenson who is also only 1 place ahead. Lewis did very good indeed.

One thing is certain, the positioning of cars after this Quali session seems to be perfect for an action packed race :)
 
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KOB has definitely found himself the dark horse given all the attention on Perez, and it's played well into his favor. That Sauber is damn impressive, hopefully he won't ruin his tyres with daredevil driving antics too early in the race.

The Merc is beastly fast, a superb bit of engineering genius and a superb drive from Rosberg. If they can now convert this into race pace it'll be BrawnGP all over again.
 
Unless Mercedes has made a huge step forward, I'm afraid they'll go backwards in the race again. With Vettel, Webber, Button and Hamilton pushing to make up lost ground this could be an epic battle waiting to happen.
Congrats to Nico for a biblical lap. I'm also happy to see Schumacher and Perez up there. Perez shows that his Malaysia heroics were not entirely down only to the weather. The old man seems to have found back his Mojo finally, too. It would be sad to see him leave at the end of the year. Something tells me, he still has two or three good years in him. The thing about Schumacher is the almost complete personality transplant he seems to have received since his comeback. Not only is he completely relaxed, he also seems to have an almost mentor-like friendly attitude towards his team mate. That's certainly not something you'd have expected from the Schumacher of old times. He seems to have gone from everyone's favourite arch-villain to an almost likekable cantankerous old uncle. :lol:
 
Unless Mercedes have solved their tyre eating issues (doubtful) I would say any of the top 7 have a chance of winning the race if it is dry and I am including Kobayashi and Kimi in that.
 
1.Qualifying and Podium?

Well, it wouldn't be fair for me to comment on qualifying post-event, so...

Even with the added advantage, I'm sure my podium predictions will be rubbish, but I'll give it a go anyways:

1) Raikonnen 2) Schumi 3) Button (coming up from the back!)

2.Will Ferrari show any improvement in raw pace?

Again, I've seen qualifying, and call me a Ferrari-hater all you want (I'm not, I don't care), but that car stinks. The only way Alonso gets on the podium is if the same sort of circumstances occur in this race as in Malaysia (i.e., biblical rain, him driving out of his eyebrow-laden skull, and good fortune on the part of bad fortune of other drivers).

3.How will the Merc's fair in the race, is the Qualy pace a sign of potential race pace or is the W03 a one trick pony?

I hope to see the Mercs in-race performance finally match up to the promises they show in qualifying, but I'm not sure. Stiill... I gave a podium to Schumi, but it could just as easily be Rosberg (I just think Schumi's bucketful-of-experience caginess will give him an edge over his teammate)

4.Judging by the last two races how tight is the field, have the midfield teams closed the gap to the front runners slightly this year?

Too soon for me to tell, but it certainly appears that way, and I certainly hope it continues.

5.Will we see a more aggressive Hamilton in the race? (note he has a grid penalty.)

I don't see why not, but I have more faith in Button coming from behind (!) than I do Hamilton, just based on the Malaysian race alone.

6.To Bahrain or not to Bahrain?

I hope not. But then again, I don't like seeing any sort of global sporting event in any country as rife with human rights violations as China, either.
 
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The thing about Schumacher is the almost complete personality transplant he seems to have received since his comeback. Not only is he completely relaxed, he also seems to have an almost mentor-like friendly attitude towards his team mate. That's certainly not something you'd have expected from the Schumacher of old times. He seems to have gone from everyone's favourite arch-villain to an almost likekable cantankerous old uncle. :lol:
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if in the case of a Mercedes one-two, they pull some trick out of their hat (a slightly longer pitstop being the most obvious) to make sure Schumacher wins. Rosberg's only shot at his (and Mercedes') first win is if there's a car between him and Schumacher.
 
So what was with the qualifying time? Did I really just get the time wrong, or did they hold the qualifying session an hour before the race was to start the next day? I calculated 3 p.m. local time (listed race start time) and 12 a.m. my time, turned the proper stream on at 12:01 and it was over. Did they just hold the qualifying session at 2 p.m. local and I was being an idiot for assuming it was at 3?

I suppose it won't matter much in the end, I'll check at 11 p.m. to see if the race is starting and if not I'll come back at midnight.
 
...or you can go to the F1 official webpage where all the times are listed, and can be converted to your local time.
 
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