Chinese Grand Prix 2013, Shanghai - Race 3/19

Danthus · 14 Apr 2013 at 13:15

Flibster said:
I think this is just about the last one.

Red Bull get a €5000 fine for an unsafe release of Webber.

It is a ridiculous amount to fine a F1 team.

Housey · 14 Apr 2013 at 13:23

JV got it right, it was not a great race, it was a management exercise with the odd incident.

Skeeter · 14 Apr 2013 at 13:25

To be fair to the drivers, the DRS zone starts a long way before the yellow flag zone, and if the teams hadn't told them (over the radio which the FIA have access to) then the drivers would have had no idea they shouldnt be using DRS. If that's the case they can't really penalize them.

CaptainRAVE · 14 Apr 2013 at 13:32

I lol'd at Coulthards comment about Alonso and his gfs 'private' celebration

MooMoo444 · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:00

OldCoals said:
It is a ridiculous amount to fine a F1 team.

Yeah its like me being fined 5p for littering. :rolleyes:

Mr Men · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:17

Skeeter said:
To be fair to the drivers, the DRS zone starts a long way before the yellow flag zone, and if the teams hadn't told them (over the radio which the FIA have access to) then the drivers would have had no idea they shouldnt be using DRS. If that's the case they can't really penalize them.

They would see the yellow flags though no?

^JP^ · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:27

4T5 said:
Wish Suzi Perry would stop acting & just be a presenter.

As for the race that just seemed like a pile of **** to me. I want to see the best drivers in the World on an equal footing going toe to toe. This **** tyre situation is ********.

This!

First race I have watched on BBC since Sky took over and it was appalling.

As for the tyres, total BS, the marbling is far to much, should be laying rubber down so the track gets better throughout the weekend and race, not spraying it all over the place in massive chunks.

utajoker · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:30

was pretty obvious they would not get a punishment, vettel was in the list...

where did u get the info from? i cant find any news on it.

-Ad- · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:32

A great day had by all, weather was spot on, crowd were great and the racing was excellent.

Got some great shots and had the perfect vantage point for the early shunt and also seeing Webbers stray wheel dance around the hairpin!

El_Watcher · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:41

Mr Men said:
They would see the yellow flags though no?

The first yellow flag would have been at the end of the straight, whereas the DRS started 1/2 way down the straight, quite a way before the yellow zone.

Am getting a bit annoyed about these stewards decisions being delayed to post race. What are the doing during the race, other than deciding on these incidents?
I know people moaned the last few seasons when people were getting penalised for any small infringement, but looks like they have swung the other way, with not really penalising anyone.

Django x2 · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:48

Pretty sure Hamilton smoked Vettel on the last corner on purpose. What better way to get the car behind to back off but by smoking him so he can't see and would have to back off

Mr Men · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:49

El_Watcher said:
The first yellow flag would have been at the end of the straight, whereas the DRS started 1/2 way down the straight, quite a way before the yellow zone.

So when they seen yellows they know to stop using DRS? They were hauled up for using DRS in the yellow flag zone, not before the yellow flag zone.

mattyg · 14 Apr 2013 at 14:55

Mr Men said:
So when they seen yellows they know to stop using DRS? They were hauled up for using DRS in the yellow flag zone, not before the yellow flag zone.

Once activated though, Can the driver turn it off without hitting the brakes

Reaper 392 · 14 Apr 2013 at 15:38

mattyg said:
Once activated though, Can the driver turn it off without hitting the brakes

I believe they can, but that's only because I remember that some teams used to have trouble with getting the air flow reattached to the rear wing, meaning that for the first phase of braking they would have sod all rear downforce

I was seriously expecting penalties of some sort for using DRS in the yellow flag zones, a zone where you are supposed to slow down because there is danger imminent, not a zone where you are supposed to go as fast as possible and ignore the safety of others.

I'm glad Vettel didn't overtake Hamilton simply because he was held up for about half the lap behind Chilton who refused to move out of the way. If it had been a lap or two longer then I wouldn't have minded if Hamilton was passed by Vettel even though I am pretty heavily pro Hamilton and anti Vettel, because then it wouldn't have been Max ignoring blue flags that gifted the race to Vettel because Hamilton had no answer for that pace

Glaucus · 14 Apr 2013 at 15:47

Well I thoroughly enjoyed that race, and nice to see strategy playing such a big part. Still needs to be balanced though, but not much point while you have to run two tyres. I still say go back to old days. 3 stop and go balls out on soft, or two stop and time manage on hards, with computer simulation being a second or two between the strategies.
Getting the tyres like this for a good selection of tracks is hard though.

smr · 14 Apr 2013 at 15:53

Best race so far this year and I'm very happy with Jenson. He extracted the maximum with a not so fast car. Can't wait for next weekend and Spain.

Skeeter · 14 Apr 2013 at 15:57

When there's a yellow flag the whole DRS zone is disabled. Or it would be if the FIAs systems worked.

As it was the drivers hit the DRS zone and opened up, and then 500m later get to a yellow flag that tells them they shouldn't have opened the DRS 500m ago. Based on that I can understand why nobody got a penalty.

Wouldn't be a problem if the FIA fixed their systems.

Skeeter · 14 Apr 2013 at 16:00

Glaucus said:
Well I thoroughly enjoyed that race, and nice to see strategy playing such a big part. Still needs to be balanced though, but not much point while you have to run two tyres. I still say go back to old days. 3 stop and go balls out on soft, or two stop and time manage on hards, with computer simulation being a second or two between the strategies.
Getting the tyres like this for a good selection of tracks is hard though.

This would be good, but the only way to get a split like this at the moment is if half the grid don't bother to try and set a fast time in qualifying, which is retarded.

ZG002 · 14 Apr 2013 at 16:02

I wonder what has changed in the DRS system this season? Not sure why it would have needed a change as it worked fine before.

With regards to tyres I'm firmly in the "these tyres suck" camp but realise there are other ways around the issues other than a all out tyre change. Hell even if they had more tyres and didn't actually have to start the race on the qually tyre it would be a better system imo.

freebooter · 14 Apr 2013 at 16:04

maun said:
Ej seems so not interested and just rude today.

I thought the same. Very different to how he was when Jake was there. Suzi wasn't so bad before the race but the F1 Forum was very awkward. It wouldn't surprise me if EJ stops doing it tbh. He is obviously only doing it because he enjoys it and it looked like he couldn't wait to get away today.