Weather is variable early on but dry for the race. Hopefully it will remain so. https://www.accuweather.com/en/cn/shanghai/106577/weekend-weather/106577
Basically soft compounds. I hope Mercedes burns these tires up. Does anyone know how this track will suit Ferrari and MB, good, bad or otherwise?
Tire-wise, aren't Pirelli changing the compound to help Merc? I still don't understand that. Merc has issues with their tires and Pirelli makes a change for them at the expense of teams who can make the tires work? Hows does this sort of stuff even happen?
Cos the FIA must be collecting Mercedes shares or dollars, one or the other, how else would they get away with flouting rule after rule and demanding their shortcomings are transferred to every other team instead of them with stunts like the Pirelli tyre change.
That’s just because the cat is out the bag, and these first few races they’ve got together with the fia and decided to make it look like a show for a few races, seemingly drop behind, and then have a comeback, allowing the show to be artificially more exciting and stop the exodus of proper fans from the sport, and loss of revenue as tv companies and sponsors realise there is no real competition, only Mercedes and the FIA colluding to manipulate everyone Just watch, ferrari will be right there for the next few races, then it’ll be announced that there are xyz parts on the car that Mercedes have protested, and the tyres will be changed for all races, not just the three, and suddenly ‘party mode’ will happen again, and the Mercedes will be one second a lap faster, and it won’t be because of party mode, it’ll be because ferrari haven’t got their magic ‘bits’ or whatever..... just like last year, when the show was serious and competitive, elton was choking and Toto banged the desk and had things changed to prevent a continuation. The Brit press go along with it because they are so biased towards elton they can barely bring themselves to acknowledge anyone that beats him, bottas was hardly mentioned in any positive sentence at the last race, yet had out qualified and outraced elton for the entire race, while elton fumbled around, whining to anyone that had to listen about how he hadn’t a clue where he was or what the plan was...... when Vettel races past elton after his pit stop, for four laps, the idiot alongside brundle was still talking as though elton was ahead of Vettel on the road, and that ferrari has blown it, yet after Elton’s stop, he was 28 seconds behind, while the idiot was claiming 3. If Vettel had come in immediately, bottas could have won, but elton was nowhere near in a position to even challenge, especially if Vettel had the newer tyres. In addition, as we know from bottas own admission after the race, his mediums were in no condition for much of a fight, so actually, Seb on new sofas (or softs, thanks iPad auto correction) could have recaught him pretty quickly (while Mercedes tried to enforce bottas to slow down and let elton catch up no doubt) and potentially have retaken the lead. Kimis stop put paid to us knowing if that would have worked, but elton had no chance of winning at all had ferrari carried out a second stop regardless. It’s about time someone actually publicly questioned the way Mercedes go about their racing, and investigated their advantages to make sure they are all entirely legal, because it takes nothing at all to dissect them at the moment and see fault
Let's not forget the secret Pirelli tire test by Mercedes at Barcelona in 2013. Mercedes plays by their own rules.
Daytona is absolutely right and my fear also....not using the party button for a few races so talk dies down and soon turn it up. Same with the tyres.... Image Unavailable, Please Login
WOW, the whining about somebody else getting an "unfair" advantage is fantastic. Anybody care to comment of Ferrari's "extra" money? I'm sure this is just the tip of an iceberg that the general pubic get too see; so who knows what else lurks below the surface. Who cares...move along...lets see some racing / overtaking on track...and more great behind the scenes pics etc.
So, is a particular team "given" an advantage or does it earn an advantage? Either way, racing has always been about striving for, and then being able to use, an advantage. That's called "racing".
True but for those years Bridgestone wasn't the sole supplier of F1 tires; they became the sole supplier in 2007 through 2010. Getting preferential treatment when everyone uses the same tires isn't quite the same.
Lets loosen up the testing rules to give others better ability to catch up. Three power units a season is crazy! Minor budget formula's don't even do that?
Ferrari’s extra money? Are we to assume you mean the negotiated additional funds for historic appearance in the world championships unbroken since day one? The money the entire grid had opportunity to veto yet didn’t? I don’t think you can compare funding to cheating and underhand tactics? Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Mercedes has been GIVEN every advantage since they started. Let's talk about disadvantage. Because the other teams were too cheap or dumb to invest into their sport by having their own private F1 track for testing, unlike Ferrari whom owns two, testing is banned to help the poor little ol teams. That's the biggest BS there is. You can't test the car you're building?!?!?! On tracks you own?!?!?! What?!?!?!?!
Absolutely. The whole point of a single supplier was to remove the opportunity for tyre manufacturers to influence racing by having a ‘favourite’ team. Pirelli seem to have forgotten the rules - supply everyone the same and do not be influenced by any single team. They supplied the compounds this year and every team had to adjust their car to suit them. 9 managed it, Mercedes didn’t, that should mean tough luck Mercedes, try again, not changes everything to suit them, while the other nine have to recalibrate, that’s ******** in anyone’s book. CHEATING, we aren’t whining (Elton is the king of that), we are pointing out CHEATING Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Though mercedes has the balls to accuse Pirelli of supporting Ferrari when they lost a race last year, only because ze germans couldn't figure out their car.
lets see some racing.... would love to. hasn't been much for 4 seasons... lets see some on track... nope,... none of that either. and more great behind the scenes pics... they even managed to eff that up,... they banned 50% of the eye candy this year.
I believe this is another case of taking a little bit of dubious information and extrapolating to an off base conclusion. Mercedes say they have no problems with tire wear...and nothing from the first two races suggests otherwise. Some circuits have been resurfaced... including Barcelona where pre-season testing was done. Based on observations, Mercedes simply said something about the increased wear. Pirelli acknowledged the issue and decided to change the tires for certain circuits. So...it was an issue that would affect every team. It's a solution that will benefit every team. Mercedes did not ask for anything in particular... they just pointed out an issue. But... why let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.
Rubbish, of course there’s an advantage, Mercedes aren’t the tooth fairies, they don’t help other teams, they help themselves. To think otherwise is naive
There were a few pictures of Merc's tires at Barcelona testing that showed severe blistering. Didn't see pics of anyone else's tires. Is there evidence that other teams were experiencing the same issues as Merc (at Barcelona)?
Mercedes are not having tire wear issues. Pirelli described the situation as I did above. Please show me where the conspiracy is. I've seen a cryptic Twitter post with a picture from who knows where or when or what Mercedes was testing at that moment. The Twitter post had to be amended because it made erroneous suggestions. I suggest digging a little deeper than the title and first post of the thread about Mercedes and Pirelli.
