Chinese Grand Prix 2010, Shanghai - Race 4/19

sunama · 17 Apr 2010 at 14:19

FrankJH said:
ooohhh and Hamilton gets outqualified by his supposedly worse team mate AGAIN (3rd time in 4 races), let the excuses flow.....

No excuses. Hamilton just isn't doing as well as expected. I'm still sure he will finish up the season with more points than Button and with higher average qualifying position, than Button.

What was shocking was Schumacher - totally outclassed by his team-mate. I believe he has now been outqualified by his team-mate, 4 in a row now - I do believe this has never happened to Schumacher.

JRS · 17 Apr 2010 at 14:32

I don't get why that's a shock, sunama. The guy spent three seasons out of the cockpit, he's come back to cars that are quite different to the ones he was last driving, and he's up against a hard charger like Rosberg.

Parallels with '84, and the battle between Lauda and Prost I guess. And look how that one turned out - first 8 races saw Prost outscore Lauda 40 to 23, and Lauda still finished ahead of him by the end of the year.

4T5 · 17 Apr 2010 at 14:32

Sumanji said:
*Yawn*

Need rain++ tomorrow.

Heavy rain is forecast.

sunama · 17 Apr 2010 at 14:43

JRS said:
I don't get why that's a shock, sunama. The guy spent three seasons out of the cockpit, he's come back to cars that are quite different to the ones he was last driving, and he's up against a hard charger like Rosberg.

If it was anybody else I would 100% agree with you. But this is MS. The most accomplished, the most complete, the most decorated driver ever to have driven an F1 car. Add this to the fact that Rosberg is also new to the team. 4 Races in and MS is struggling. I certainly didnt expect this.

Cavallino · 17 Apr 2010 at 14:50

Tbh, I didnt expect him to be 4-0 down against Rosberg...
But I did expect that he will not win any races...perhaps one.. at most 2.

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3489/6094547/Schumi-I-can-still-win-the-title

And this just made chuckle

will tarnish a bit of the legacy he created, and many of us who asked... would Schumacher be able to sock it to the young guns of today... answer of which thusfar is no

Matteysan · 17 Apr 2010 at 15:04

sunama said:
If it was anybody else I would 100% agree with you. But this is MS. The most accomplished, the most complete, the most decorated driver ever to have driven an F1 car. Add this to the fact that Rosberg is also new to the team. 4 Races in and MS is struggling. I certainly didnt expect this.

Expect MS to be better at Barca if what BBC said about them making changes to the car to suit MS more. But to be honest, the cars are a lot different now than when he was driving before & he isn't exactly doing that bad all things considered. Rosberg isn't exactly a slouch of a driver either, No matter what anyone says.

JRS · 17 Apr 2010 at 15:05

Give them time to develop that Mercedes so it's more to his and Rosberg's taste. I'm sure they'll get it right by the end of the year.

Type_R · 17 Apr 2010 at 15:06

Or perhaps MS has gone for a full wet setup, knowing that the rain is coming ;-)

sunama · 17 Apr 2010 at 15:11

The great quality about (the old) MS and other great drivers is that they are able to extract the maximum out of whatever car they have. In the past, MS has been able to get into a car completely alien to him and in very little time, outperform his team-mate, for whom which the car was designed.

Given that Rosberg is obviously quicker, I would be inclined to develop the car in favour of Rosberg's driving style, as opposed to MS's.

The strange thing is that MS continues to give interviews indicating this his comeback is 100% on schedule.

For someone of his stature, I can't believe he is taking the beating which Rosberg is dishing out, well.

Over Clocker · 17 Apr 2010 at 15:15

Type_R said:
Or perhaps MS has gone for a full wet setup, knowing that the rain is coming

He seems worse in the wet than he is in the dry now though!

To be honest, I always said in this last year to 2 years of racing before he took his break, he was making a hell of a lot of mistakes and had lost a lot of his skill.

utajoker · 17 Apr 2010 at 15:59

semi happy with hamiltons position, he shown he can make a good race of it in the last two races and i want more of the same, but i want him to also win so hopefully he can continue his race performances.

Cavallino · 17 Apr 2010 at 16:06

utajoker said:
semi happy with hamiltons position, he shown he can make a good race of it in the last two races and i want more of the same, but i want him to also win so hopefully he can continue his race performances.

Opposite of what he said for me thank you please

sunama · 17 Apr 2010 at 16:16

The McLaren car's race performance does seem to be better than that of its qualifying performance. Hopefully Hamilton can make some progress tomorrow.

If its a dry race, it might be tough/boring, even with the long straight.

We need some water on the track to spice things up.

dannyjo22 · 17 Apr 2010 at 16:41

sunama said:
The great quality about (the old) MS and other great drivers is that they are able to extract the maximum out of whatever car they have. In the past, MS has been able to get into a car completely alien to him and in very little time, outperform his team-mate, for whom which the car was designed..

Sorry but just how many times did MS race a car alien to him? Twice, when he was a pup?

When he sat in the Jordan his team mate was de Cesaris then onto Benetton where he did very well against Piquet, but he would being a young charger against a driver at the end of his career and lacking much motivation.

Other than that I don't remember him driving a car or team not built around him until now and that will change. The benetton was certainly built around him as where the multiple ferraris and he didn't join ferrari to race alongside an established driver. None of his team mates have been that great, Rosberg has the potential but whether he follows that through it's too early to say.

Atleast his comeback is better than Mansells.

Duke · 17 Apr 2010 at 17:04

I bet they are surprised by Rosberg. He's had flashes of speed before and was one of a group of 'if they were in a good car they would be very good' but you never know until it happens. Wouldn't surprise me if he didn't win a race this season, if Merc stay in the top group.

arknor · 17 Apr 2010 at 17:04

schumachers problem seems to be as you get older you get set in your ways and want things to be a certain way where as the younger folk are better at adapting.

im sure if he could get the car to feel how he wants it then he would be very quick but unless that happens i honestly dont see him getting the better of rosberg who just seems to be happy to drive a car that is near the front of the grid

CaptainRAVE · 17 Apr 2010 at 17:16

sunama said:
The McLaren car's race performance does seem to be better than that of its qualifying performance. Hopefully Hamilton can make some progress tomorrow.

If its a dry race, it might be tough/boring, even with the long straight.

We need some water on the track to spice things up.

Get the sprinklers out

Duke · 17 Apr 2010 at 17:17

Tech updates - http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/

Looks like Merc have their own solution to the F-duct.

Glaucus · 17 Apr 2010 at 17:23

Chinese GP qualifying highlights
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel takes pole position with a stunning lap in Shanghai ahead of team-mate Mark Webber as both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button struggle to make an impact.

Sebastian Vettel's pole-clinching lap at the Chinese GP
Ride onboard with Sebastian Vettel for his pole-clinching lap at the Chinese Grand Prix.

I hope the rain comes about 5 laps in and then stops about 15 from the finish.

sunama · 17 Apr 2010 at 17:35

dannyjo22 said:
Sorry but just how many times did MS race a car alien to him? Twice, when he was a pup?

Below is a list of cars MS drove, that were new/alien to him:

Jordan (1991) - his team-mate was de cesaris, whom he outscored during the 6 races he was with Jordan. The car was not designed around him and he outgunned his team-mate.

Bennetton (1992) - his team-mate was Martin Brundle who was actually very good. MS beat him though, in a car which was alien to him. The first race results were: 4th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd. Brundle scored 38pts, MS scored 53pts.

Ferrari (1996) - MS finished 3rd in the championship, behind the all-conquering Williams, in a car which once again, was alien to him. He scored 59pts, while Irvine, his team-mate, scored 11pts. (Irvine had a lot of DNF's that season).

Mercedes (2010) - after 4 qualifying sessions, Rosberg leads the qualifying race 4-0, in a car, which is also alien to him. After 3 races, Rosberg leads MS by 35pts to 9pts.

Based on the first 3 races and 4 qualifying sessions, Rosberg is doing to MS, what MS used to do to his team-mates: dominate them.

In fact out of all the new team-mate combinations (Alonso-Massa, Button-Hamilton, Hulkenburg-Barrichello, etc), the biggest disparity seems to be between MS and Rosberg.