Topic: Shanghai 2010

[Ultra]

Long straights work to Mclarens advantage.  Raw pace is the Red Bull. 

Gonna be interesting, especially if their isn't rain, as it will be a good barometer on the teams before the Euro season begins.

[Otto Puzzell]

Long straights work to Mclarens advantage.  Raw pace is the Red Bull. 

Sure - so long as there are no Force India cars to pass. Sawing at the wheel, like Robert Mitchum during in an in-car close-up from Thunder Road, in order to prevent a Renault with a rookie pilot from passing, also reduces terminal velocity. 

As other teams adopt Ezekiel flaps (movable aero devices connected to the shin bone), the straight-line advantage will shrink. Couple that with McLaren's so-so aero grip, and I see them drifting backward this season.

But I've been wrong before. 

[mpatrizio]

Expecting to see a big step up from Ferrari and Mercedes when the circus returns to Europe.  I'll probably eat these words, but I'm not sure how much development "room" there is in the Red Bull, apart from reliability since it is essentially a typical Newey, fragile yet fast machine.

As to Shanghai....  apart from grip levels which are hard to gauge unless you're on the pit wall, it's essentially the same track as Malaysia in my eyes, so expect similar results.  RBR, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes in that order.

I'm truly hating these Tilke tracks.  The guy has no idea what makes a good racing circuit.  He's got, what 6 or so new tracks around the world and only has one corner worth a damn in all the tracks combined, at the 14 apex Turkey corner???

[MG]

Sawing at the wheel, like Robert Mitchum during in an in-car close-up from Thunder Road, in order to prevent a Renault with a rookie pilot from passing, also reduces terminal velocity

 

the 14 apex Turkey corner

That's a gross exaggeration, MP. That turn has no more than NINE apexes!   

I think what we have seen will continue to be what we see.

In the SpeedTV fantasy league, I have Vettel and Alonso as my drivers. So far, each has suffered an unexpected setback in every race. Else I would be leading the global standings!   

[Ultra]

Mercedes and Mclaren are looking good.  Buemi's car has looked better.

[MG]

For those not clued in to STR's little problem in practice today, here's the story:





Sebastien Buemi’s violent accident in Friday morning practice was caused by the front-right upright failing, Toro Rosso has revealed. Both front wheels were ripped off Buemi’s car when the STR6’s suspension collapsed under braking at the end of the back straight, and the Swiss driver was fortunate to escape injury. The upright that failed was a new design introduced in Shanghai, and Toro Rosso has now reverted to tried-and-tested components for the remainder of the meeting.

“It’s quite clear that something on the upright went wrong either with the material or the machining process, because it was a zero mileage upright,” team boss Franz Tost told the BBC. “So we have to investigate and analyse at home [at the team’s Faenza factory] what was the reason for this. We are now going out with used uprights and therefore we are confident that nothing will happen.”

***************************************


HE may be confident, but what about Buemi?     Talk about your "Aw shit" moment!   

[Ultra]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/5cL7ppUwKVE" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/5cL7ppUwKVE</a>

[faksta]

Oh, sh*t! Never seen anything like this before!!! I have stupidly forgotten to watch both free practices today. I see I shouldn't have done that...

[Otto Puzzell]

Ouch! Thank God he's alright.

[MG]

I am one of small minority who thinks it is STOOPID to build the cars several hundred pounds underweight so they can add ballast to them later. Outlaw ballast and all this horse manure about making every component as light and as fragile and as expensive as possible goes away.    

[Ultra]

I am one of small minority who thinks it is STOOPID to build the cars several hundred pounds underweight so they can add ballast to them later. Outlaw ballast and all this horse manure about making every component as light and as fragile and as expensive as possible goes away.    

Then, where the weight is needed is where the parts would be beefed up. They will always try to minimize unsprung weight.  Your idea doesn't hold water, IMHO. 

[faksta]

The mystery is solved. Watch 1:35. Couldn't find in English, but I believe everyone knows the story...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8UEDqaSy_m4" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/8UEDqaSy_m4</a>

[MG]

Your idea doesn't hold water,

Really? Perhaps that's because I have a mind like a sieve?   

Couldn't find in English

No problem. I just turned the sound down!   

BTW, I understand that Vitaly Petrov was seen near the McLaren refueling equipment with several liters of good Russian vodka!   
 

[faksta]

BTW, I understand that Vitaly Petrov was seen near the McLaren refueling equipment with several liters of good Russian vodka!   

Mind you, Russians would use sand or nails...

[Ultra]

Button over Ham!  A bit of a surprise and another indicator that Button is better than people want to give him credit for being.  An accurate rating of the all the cars and drivers at this point if one looks at qualy, IMHO.  Rosberg will have MS's number all season. 

If it rains this race will be wild.  If not, it will mostly be a procession.  I hope it rains.

[Allemano]

  (source: Spiegel Online)

[Ultra]

Edge of my seat, buttocks clenched.  A really enjoyable race.  I am loving watching underdog teammates showing their stuff.

Everyone who said Button was making a mistake by going to Mclaren was flat wrong.

[faksta]

Button was great (unlike Hamilton and Alonso  ), but you should know what makes me sooo happy. Petrov's last laps ere just outstanding, something I haven't expected at all - 2-3 seconds a lap faster than a leading group!

At the same time, my RaceManager team is in a deep ***hole now, as right before the weekend I have replaced Petrov with Liuzzi, while the second driver was Buemi. The fortune laughed at me this time.

[MG]

Well done, Vitaly. I quite enjoyed watching him pass the great MS.  THAT was fun!   

More and more fans are coming around to my idea for sprinklers at every race!   

Back to boredom in Barcelona?   

[MG]

This is how one interested observer saw the race:  Shanghai Water Torture