Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai

[René]

After a five-year break we are back in China, on a gigantic Tilke circuit for a busy weekend including a sprint race!




The stands will certainly not be as packed as in Japan, but with a Chinese driver on the grid it might be busier. For Zhou Guanyu it is his first home race so let's hope it will be a good weekend for the young Chinese driver.



Of course Red Bull is again the favourite, but the expectation is that Ferrari will be closer given the many slower corners on the Shanghai circuit. So who knows, maybe it will be an exciting race.



And in the meantime, the rumor mill is still running at full speed. Adrian Newey was recently spotted at Bologna Airport, all by himself. The opportunity to work for Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton immediately ticks two boxes on his self-declared bucket list...

[robmarsh]

Adrian Newey must be thinking of retiring one day so a stint with Ferrari to complete a stella career must be a strong drawcard. 

[René]

A chaotic quali in rainy conditions. Lando on pole and Lewis on the front row. But if the sprint is dry, as is expected, the Red Bulls and Ferraris should be faster. But they will need to do some overtaking so it could be entertaining.




The grid for the sprint:

1 Lando NORRIS 1:57.940
2 Lewis HAMILTON +1.261

3 Fernando ALONSO +1.975
4 Max VERSTAPPEN +2.088

5 Carlos SAINZ +2.274
6 Sergio PEREZ +2.435

7 Charles LECLERC +2.626
8 Oscar PIASTRI +3.050

9 Valtteri BOTTAS +3.104
10 Guanyu ZHOU +5.597

11 George RUSSELL 1:36.345
12 Kevin MAGNUSSEN 1:36.473

13 Nico HULKENBERG 1:36.478
14 Daniel RICCIARDO 1:36.553

15 Lance STROLL 1:36.677
16 Pierre GASLY 1:37.632

17 Esteban OCON 1:37.720
18 Alexander ALBON 1:37.812

19 Yuki TSUNODA 1:37.892
20 Logan SARGEANT 1:37.923

[mikael]

A nice little sprint race. Wow! Verstappen drives extremely well - he just keeps on getting better and better; never a single mistake - not ever. It was disappointing (for me, at least) to see that Hamilton lost P1 due to a genuine mistake by himself. (I had actually hoped for his "resurrection" - I think that would be "good for F1".)

Comparing the sprint race with a MotoGP, it's interesting to notice that they are of the same length (same number of laps, approx. 20). While I do think that F1 GP's should keep their present lengths (56 laps in China, with a racing distance of a bit more than 300 km), I do think, however, that the racing would be so much better without tyre changes. (Any race interruption - and that's what a tyre change is, after all - is an annoyance ...) Would it be "utopia" to imagine a set of racing tyres that could last a bit more than 300 km? That was possible in "the old days", if I am not mistaken; why not now? Why this extravagance, with sets of tyres that last only about 100 km/20 laps? (Thinking about it, I do find it completely ridiculous, not the least in the light that F1 now is thinking about becoming "green" ...) And just imagine how interesting it would be to see who really can look after their tyres; and who can not. (We can just think back to, e.g., Senna vs. Mansell in Monaco, Senna with tyres completely "gone" ...)

And while in the "grumpy mode" (as always ... ): the "interference" from the pits annoys me to no end;

Mercedes race engineer: "Verstappen is right behind you!"

Hamilton: "Yes, I can see him; just leave it to me ..."

How ridiculous ... (to hear pit staff trying to help the World's best drivers driving their cars ...)

My dream scenario would be: 

(1) no pit stops, unless something is wrong -just "like in the old days"

(2) no radio communication; (also no written messages, to be displayed in the steering wheel display) - again just "like in the old days"

This would put the driver back in full control (in place of the "pit crew"), as he should be.

Coincidentally, this is just as it is in MotoGP; they do get many things right that F1 get wrong (in my humble opinion ...)

[Carl]

"I do think, however, that the racing would be so much better without tyre changes. (Any race interruption - and that's what a tyre change is, after all - is an annoyance ..."

             Well said and absolutely right, Mikael!

Having tyres on center stage may be something the tyre manufacturers enjoy.  I also think television broadcast producers (many of whom know little about motorsport) believe the drama of pitstops adds to the excitement of racing.  That certified moron David Croft loves pitstops lends credence to our objections.  A modest proposal to achieve the same ends would be small explosions in the broadcast booth at regular intervals. 

Cheers, Carl

[Carl]

1. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - 1:33.660sec

2. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.322sec

3. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin] - +0.488sec

4. Lando Norris [McLaren] - +0.505sec

5. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +0.613sec

6. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +0.629sec

7. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +0.637sec

8. George Russell [Mercedes] - +0.773sec

9. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas] - +0.944sec

10. Valtteri Bottas [Sauber] - +1.005sec

[René]

Mikael, no better place to relieve your grumpy annoyances than RRT!   

And yes, you are definitely right about the tires. The mandatory sub 3 seconds pit stops is just a gimmick and doesn't do anything for the racing. I am not a fan of the sprint race format but last night's sprint showed that it is much more entertaining to see them going full blast all race long. This should also be the case for the actual Grand Prix. And I don't mind if there is an option for a soft tyre that doesn't last the distance so you would need to stop, but it shouldn't be mandatory. It should be a free option.

As for Verstappen, he isn't without mistakes. He lost it twice in sprint qualifying in the rain. He is good, very good, but this robotic perfection is also due to the fact he has so much margin with this car. Any top driver would dominate in it. The fact that he pulled away again the way he did is almost ridiculous. No one is that good. At least, that is my opinion. 

[robmarsh]

Perfectly said in every way Rene.

[René]

Another crushing demonstration from Max Verstappen. It is very reminiscent of the Vettel years, especially 2011 and 2013, but even more extreme. A driver who knows how to get the most out of the Newey car and thus leaves no chance for the competition. Not unique in Formula 1, but like this it is hard to watch. Formula 1 is too complicated and too many restrictions that make it very difficult to catch up quickly. Nothing to the detriment of Max because he drives perfectly but winning everything, every race, is simply ridiculous.

Not Ferrari but McLaren was second best, to the suprise of both! But well done by Lando and well deserved.

[Carl]

Apr 22, 2024 13:23:18 GMT René said:

Another crushing demonstration from Max Verstappen. It is very reminiscent of the Vettel years, especially 2011 and 2013, but even more extreme. A driver who knows how to get the most out of the Newey car and thus leaves no chance for the competition. Not unique in Formula 1, but like this it is hard to watch. Formula 1 is too complicated and too many restrictions that make it very difficult to catch up quickly. Nothing to the detriment of Max because he drives perfectly but winning everything, every race, is simply ridiculous.

Not Ferrari but McLaren was second best, to the suprise of both! But well done by Lando and well deserved.

Two equally boring tenures at Red Bull...   A very good comparison!

[robmarsh]

Good job by Lando, the highlight of the day. F1 is a total boor at the moment with Max two seconds a lap quicker if he pushed. We all know what is wrong but the idiots that run the sport don't want to fix it.

Going back to Rene's earlier comments re tyres, I think a quick fix to bring back some jeopardy to the sport, would be to let the teams run whatever tyre compounds they wanted, when they wanted.  To make it more interesting the different compounds would not be marked by different colours and the compounds would be kept secret between the teams. 

This may shake things up a bit. At the moment the most exciting bit is the start and whether the driver got his start sequence correct. If that is going to be the only jeopardy then we may as well revert to drag racing and speed things up.

By the way, RB are so far ahead they are working on their 2029 car as nobody is going to catch them whatever the rules. By that stage Mazza would have retired and the next RB driver will be a 12 year old wonderkind from Zimbabwe. The most difficult design decision a somewhat ageing Adrian Newey would have to make, would be the length of the pedal extensions so the young star could reach the pedals without fouling the concertina section just aft of the front wheels which enables the car to slinky round corners. Given the 12 metre length of the cars and that tractor trailer configurations are banned, this concertina section is the most important design constraint of the modern F1 car.

[René]

Apr 23, 2024 8:48:34 GMT robmarsh said:

By the way, RB are so far ahead they are working on their 2029 car as nobody is going to catch them whatever the rules. By that stage Mazza would have retired and the next RB driver will be a 12 year old wonderkind from Zimbabwe. The most difficult design decision a somewhat ageing Adrian Newey would have to make, would be the length of the pedal extensions so the young star could reach the pedals without fouling the concertina section just aft of the front wheels which enables the car to slinky round corners. Given the 12 metre length of the cars and that tractor trailer configurations are banned, this concertina section is the most important design constraint of the modern F1 car.

You're being too conservative Rob. 12 years is only 4 years younger as Max was when he did his first meters in an F1 car. I would guess 9 years will be the ideal age by then. And all controls are brain-by-wire so no need for pedal extensions. 

[René]

Adrian Newey set to leave the fizzy drinks team. So what’s next? Is this part of Vasseur’s big masterplan? Or will he move, maybe with the Verstappen clan, to the Stroll team? Or will he simply retire? We’ll soon find out. 

[René]

From the BBC:

Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey is to leave the team in the wake of the controversy involving allegations about team principal Christian Horner.

Newey, regarded as the greatest Formula 1 designer in history, has told Red Bull he wants to move on, BBC Sport has learned.
The 65-year-old has been unsettled by the situation at Red Bull since Horner was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, abusive behaviour by a female employee, which Horner denies.

Red Bull and Newey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The British design chief has been strongly linked with Ferrari and is known to have been made an offer by Aston Martin, but he is likely to be of interest to all leading teams now his availability is known.

Newey’s contract with Red Bull lasts until the end of 2025 but he is said to believe he can negotiate an exit that allows him to work with another team from next season.

[mikael]

Apr 25, 2024 18:27:10 GMT René said:

... linked with Ferrari ... have been made an offer by Aston Martin ...

Either way (Newey to Ferrari; or Newey to Aston Martin) would be very interesting.

• If he goes to Ferrari, could he create yet another string of "Schumacher years"?
  
• If he goes to Aston Martin (AS), could the transform AS to the "benchmark team", in the same way he transformed other teams (like, lately, Red Bull)?
  

At 65, will he continue getting the "right" ideas? Maybe he just keeps on getting better and better (like Max Verstappen ...)...?

It's my impression (imagination) that he's a very intuitive engineer, working in the classical way (i.e., with pen and paper rather than with a computer - like Gordon Murray). (I haven't read his book, I must say. Those who have will know more about this ...)