What a thrilling race! Hamilton became the first driver of the season to beat Vettel. Even Webber seemed relieved. ^_^ But the best part was Hamilton did it as a true racer would want to, by passing people on track, including his team mate. However, while Hamilton's win was brilliant, Webber's drive was absolutely stunning. Starting eighteenth after a shocking qualifying session, and yet still finishing third was a fantastic achievement.
Tires and strategy created one of the most unpredictable dry races ever. Look at Hamilton. He started third but was in second before the first corner. He led the race briefly until his first stop, after which I actually lost track of him! After his third stop, he popped up in fifth position again! And yet, he still won the race, even after moving up and down the running order like a yo-yo.
The difference was that Hamilton's tires were a few laps newer than the cars ahead of him after his third stop. Webber had a similar advantage at the end of the race and was over two seconds per lap faster than the front runners. The drivers on a three stop strategy were basically mugging those who did two stops. The conventional wisdom was that the fewer stops, the better. Whether this was a peculiarity of this circuit or a new trend, is anybody's guess.
Even though Webber had a great finish, he had a torrid weekend. His problems started when his KERS started smoking during the Saturday morning practice. The team scrambled to find the problem, but could not fix it before qualifying. Then the team over estimated the car's performance on the harder prime tire, which left Webber unable to graduate from session three. Thankfully, even an ailing Redbull is much faster than either Lotus, Virgin, or Hispania, which avoided the embarrassment of being out qualified by them.
So who had the best car in China? Despite Hamilton's impressive win for McLaren, there is little doubt that the Rebull is still faster. On equal tires, Hamilton's job would have been much more difficult. Look at it this way: which team had two drivers on the podium? Which team had a car start eighteenth and finish third?
On the other hand, what this race clearly demonstrated is that, this year, having the best car is not the only way to win a race. Strategy can make up the difference.
Showing posts with label f1 china. Show all posts
Showing posts with label f1 china. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, April 18, 2010
F1 China 2010
Redbull locked out the front row of the grid for the second time in four races after some stunning qualifying laps, nets Vettel and Webber first and second respectively. Unfortunately, Redbull were unable to capitalize on their grid positions in the race where wet conditions made strategy more important than raw performance.
The race start was dry enough that everyone (except Virgin Racing, I think) started on slicks, but a first lap incident brought out the safety car. While behind the SC, the rain became worse and Button switched to the intermediate wet tires a full lap before everyone else. This crafty choice is what eventually won him the race. Button is really showing that he deserves to be world champion.
As usual, the rain brought plenty of close racing and some impressive driving under difficult circumstances. The latest generation of intermediate tires are apparently not as durable as they were in previous years, and by the end of the race, everyone was struggling with extremely worn tires. Unfortunately, there was was some very scruffy driving as well.
In one example, while making a pit stop, Hamilton passed and almost collided with Vettel in the pit entry lane. Then the teams released them from the pit boxes at almost the same time, and they almost collided again! They drove side by side down the pit lane with Vettel slightly in front, before Hamilton finally backed off. What was that all about?!
The FIA has banned automatic ride height adjustment a systems, which almost everyone suspected Redbull of using. Their qualifying pace seemed to support their claim that they were not. On the other hand it will require a similar performance in a dry race to fully refute the suspicion. This wet race doesn't do that yet. Apparently Ferrari are developing a manual ride height adjustment system, which can be changed during a pit stop.
Redbull's situation is very interesting. They clearly have the best car and yet they are only third in the constructors standings. Vettel is a potential world champion but is only fifth in the drivers standings, while Webber, who is no slouch either, is only eighth. I know it's early in the season but their race day performance will have to improve noticeably, if they hope to win some championship titles. Perhaps they've been holding back some upgrades for the return to Europe. Time will tell.
The race start was dry enough that everyone (except Virgin Racing, I think) started on slicks, but a first lap incident brought out the safety car. While behind the SC, the rain became worse and Button switched to the intermediate wet tires a full lap before everyone else. This crafty choice is what eventually won him the race. Button is really showing that he deserves to be world champion.
As usual, the rain brought plenty of close racing and some impressive driving under difficult circumstances. The latest generation of intermediate tires are apparently not as durable as they were in previous years, and by the end of the race, everyone was struggling with extremely worn tires. Unfortunately, there was was some very scruffy driving as well.
In one example, while making a pit stop, Hamilton passed and almost collided with Vettel in the pit entry lane. Then the teams released them from the pit boxes at almost the same time, and they almost collided again! They drove side by side down the pit lane with Vettel slightly in front, before Hamilton finally backed off. What was that all about?!
The FIA has banned automatic ride height adjustment a systems, which almost everyone suspected Redbull of using. Their qualifying pace seemed to support their claim that they were not. On the other hand it will require a similar performance in a dry race to fully refute the suspicion. This wet race doesn't do that yet. Apparently Ferrari are developing a manual ride height adjustment system, which can be changed during a pit stop.
Redbull's situation is very interesting. They clearly have the best car and yet they are only third in the constructors standings. Vettel is a potential world champion but is only fifth in the drivers standings, while Webber, who is no slouch either, is only eighth. I know it's early in the season but their race day performance will have to improve noticeably, if they hope to win some championship titles. Perhaps they've been holding back some upgrades for the return to Europe. Time will tell.
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