Chinese Grand Prix 2016, Shanghai - Race 3/21

UTmaniac said:
Unless they had damage, I think Lewis should have put those mediums back on, that got 1 lap of use during the SC. He could have just about got to the end.
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Hamilton hasn't been on the medium tyres. 1 lap on new softs, 4 laps on new softs, 1 lap new super softs, now back on the softs he used 2nd.
 
The mediums are slow and won't last 30 laps, the guys who are on mediums have been really slow after doing maybe 20 laps, but Hamilton should pit onto the slowest tire which has zero chance of going 34 laps or so... nope.

EDIT:- Also fairly sure he has damage as Hamilton has had a big problem passing both Ricciardo and Kimi on good tires each time. Not sure, damage on his car causing excessive drag and killing his top speed maybe.
 
Terrible strategy by Merc basically, he was right behind Ricciardo but rather than pit into fresh air then and undercut Ricciardo they instead kept him out for so long he was like 7-8 seconds behind Ricciardo after the pitstop. Then when they did pit him it got him stuck behind Kimi, dire strategy.

Had they put him on mediums from behind Ricciardo put in a couple fast laps Ricciardo would have come out behind Hamilton and likely unable to pass. Then later in the race he could go back for a faster stint on softs from better track position.
 
They can do something smart like pit Hamilton onto softs and burn it out for 10-12 laps where he'll have a supreme tire advantage and might well be able to catch MAssa back up and pass him, if they stick him out for another 12 laps he'll definitely finish behind Kimi, maybe still Massa also.
 
Verstappen/Sainz pace is why I said Hamilton should have pitted with 12 laps to go. They were significantly behind Hamilton when they pitted, had he pitted and had the same pace or even more he'd have passed Massa on completely ridiculously better tires and maybe gotten Kimi as well.

The too conservative hang it out overly long last stint basically always fails unless it's Singapore/Barcalona/Monaco.
 
I know everyone is saying writing Hamilton off after the third race is silly... but C'mon, everything seems to be in Nico's favour this season. I can expect a Lewis DNF in the next race
 
Skeeter said:
Rosberg could have won this race in a Manor. He's just driven around in circles while everyone else around him falls away.
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Might be exaggerating just a touch there. Manor's actual pace was horrific was he second or third at the restart, but basically went all the way to the back without any big errors. Likewise was Alonso fourth and Button fairly high up at one point yet they both finished a ways outside the points. They were helped by holding people up around/behind them. Had they been in that 10th or below positions without the safety car their gap to 10th place would only be much much bigger.

Also it's strange that at no stage did they really talk about damage to Hamilton's car causing him problems. Look how easily basically everyone breezed past the Williams, they had poor pace, Hamilton gained up to them insanely fast. He also gained on Ricciardo and Kimi at various points with similar tire life but he couldn't pass almost anyone today. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't turn out he had a huge problem following cars due to damage on his car.
 
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Concrete said:
Didn't Hamilton and Rosberg switch engineers this season?

Rossberg saying his car has never felt better, and Hamilton's barely keeping the wheels on :D
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Not been setup though. Hamilton has been fast, he's just been unlucky.

He got a great start this race, overtaking about 5 cars before turn 1, and then got hit! He'd have been better off with a bad start.

Lol Vettel. Ranting at Kvyat
 
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