FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN CHINESE GRAND PRIX 2019: RACE1000 ▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS ▀▄▀▄

Ballsy move around the outside that didn't pay off, fine. But how is Vettel to blame for Leclerc dropping over 10 seconds behind Max then? Because that wasn't just at the start.

Leclerc wasn't on the pace of Vettel in Australia simple as that.

 

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100%. There was no gap building. The lap time difference between the two was never more than a tenth! Within thousands of a second as you can see...And that's with Vettel following i.e. he'll have used his tyres harder (lower grip due to aero) and aerodynamic turbulence to fight. Even with more ruined tyres by now when he passed, he was still faster than Leclerc was. So that ends the narrative that A) Leclerc was building a gap and B) Vettel wasn't any faster.

These laptimes show that at the time, Ferrari absolutely made the right call. They ****ed up Leclerc's strategy afterwards, but that's a different story altogether.

 

Sorry but i just don't see it, their lap times were very similar, regardless of who was in front, i see no reason to change positions.

 

Vettel was behind and used a good chunk of tire life up...driving for 9 laps in close proximity to another driver does your tires no good whatsover. When Vettel got ahead he was faster by a pretty significant margin compared to before, even though at this point Leclerc had the fresher tyres.

Right now with hindsight 3rd was absolute best result anyways, but no one could predict that and Ferrari had to try something.

 

Bas, mercs were pulling away by .5 of a second a lap, Seb at most would be marginaly quicker than Charles...

 

We have a serious problem on our hands, i think that front wing we all thought was going to give us an edge is bitting us back, and will probably be Ferrari's downfall this year.

 

They where pulling .5 away from Leclerc, but Seb was stuck behind him. Ferrari saw that Vettel was doing identical lap times to Leclerc even with the dirty air so rightly assumed he could've gone faster. Logic dictates that had Vettel not lost the place (ironically due to a good start), he'd have been closer to Bottas than Leclerc was. Even on more worn tyres Vettel was still faster than leclerc when finally through

 

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Ferrari waited way too long to make the switch, leaving Vettel to chew up his tires, that was their biggest error.

Merc is executing perfectly right now, and Bottas is right there with Lewis this year on pace, so to even split them Ferrari has to execute perfectly. Ferrari can't afford a single error, but they've made one every race. Even a small one like leaving the faster driver behind for 4 or 5 extra laps is big enough to cost big against Mercedes right now. They should have made the swap call on lap 5 at the latest, not lap 10.

 

+1

 

Agreed.

Red Bull is getting more power next race also (20hp worth). Their chassis will be fixed.

Frankly Ferrari's saving grace is that Gasly is appaling so their 2nd place in the WCC shouldn't be affected. But who cares about finishing 2nd?

 

I really feel that Max has come of age, with a fast reliable Red Bull he will take the fight to Mercedes. I am more interested in his progress at the moment than that of Ferrari which is just a disappointment.

 

You know what all this squabbling tells me? That F1 is on life support. That we as the segment of die hard fans are so disillusioned with our sport that we grasp at anything of consequence to make Sunday interesting. First race... Bottas wins and everybody hails the event as if F1's greatest butler is now magically going to dominate the season after one race. LeClerc... one good race and everyone thinks Vettel should quit, be replaced, fired, etc and the Charles is going to dominate the season... after one race.

There's only real fact that's going on here and it's that Mercedes is the best team in F1 by a long long long margin. They pretty do everything right... all the time. Their drivers, regardless if you're a fan or not, do exactly what they're supposed to do. The car, the team, everyone believes they are the best and the it shows.

Ferrari are the keystone cops of F1. They're the only contender who has mastered snatching defeat out of the hands of victory. Their car is not where it needs to be, the strategy is as inept as ever, and as a result they put incredible pressure on their drivers to make up both deficits. I guarantee we'll see more mistakes from both Charles and Seb this season because neither are stupid. They both know unless they take serious risks, they're never going to win a race.

 

That seems to be right Pedro. But along with the front wing, the bargeboards and rear wing need tweaking as well. We need a knew aero package.

 

@Bas Jaski

I saw on a Twitter page Marc Gene give an analysis of Ferrrar's pit wall calls and the reason for Leclerc's late tire change--->Reason was to hold up Bottas which Leclerc was defending against Bottas really well....alot better than Max defending.

 

Yep, and I fully got that part of the call which is fine. But what is inexplainable is why keep him out for a few laps longer? Really he was out until after Vettel passed him still. Had they pitted him as soon as Bottas passed he'd have had a real shot at 4th.

 

I think the overall lesson from China is that Ferrari is not as good as they all thought they were. There is still a long way to match and overtake Mercedes... they need to get busy. As for drivers - Ferrari spends far more on Vettel than Leclerc, and they have committed to making him World Champion -so everyone chill out - and focus on that goal. It does not do anyone any good if Ferrari are squabbling internally over Vettel or Leclerc - fix the car and make them both faster than Mercedes - then they can fight it out.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Some of the comments are good

 

Boring race....again! Thankfully we had Long Beach to fall back on as it was much more entertaining than China..

 

I wouldn't say outclassed, more consistently outwitted. In my opinion the Merc team has much more up its sleeve in terms of speed and aero supremacy and only release it if the other plebs get to close. Enough has been said about the disadvantages of the current testing rules, look at Williams, stuck in a hole and no way of getting out. Until that changes, Mercedes will dominate for many years unless they trip themselves up.

History has shown that dominant teams such as Williams in the early 90's, McLaren, Benetton, McLaren & Ferrari all had domineering periods and then fell to the wayside when substantial rule changes were evoked.

The only hope SF and its beleaguered fans can wish for is for a fundamental shift in FIA policy (doubtful)

Best

Tony

 

Bottom line Chuck got screwed out of a podium and Ferrari shot themselves in the foot for a 3rd and 4th place finish having to settle for 3rd and 5th.

I wish Ferrari would let both drivers race wheel to wheel and once one or the other driver shows clear superiority then commit to team orders.

I still have faith in the SF90, it's up to the drivers and team to figure it out before it's too late. There's still 18 races to go and plenty of points left in play.

 

Ferrari were never good in the first place. It's the same thing year in and year out. We are always the Winter Grand Prix Champions. And then Australia comes, and reality kicks in. Same ****, different year.