[PAVAN KADAM]

The Third race of the Season, we now head to the SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT.

Well, Nothing much can be said about this yet another beautifully designed Hermann Tilke track. And cannot say which team has the upper hand, but certainly not the Usual Red-Bull show this season and thats great for F1 2012, we fans are loving it.


F1 TIMETABLE

Fri 13 April 2012

Practice 1 07:30 - 09:00
Practice 2 11:30 - 13:00


Sat 14 April 2012

Practice 3 08:30 - 09:30

Qualifying 11:30


Sun 15 April 2012

RACE DAY - 12:30



SHANGHAI TRACK DETAILS

Race Date: 15 Apr 2012

Circuit Name: Shanghai International Circuit

Number of Laps: 56

Circuit Length: 5.451 km

Race Distance: 305.066 km

Lap Record: 1:32.238 - M Schumacher (2004)

[mayankk]

I personally am hoping Hamilton does not qualify on pole this time around, if you know what i mean.

I go to sleep happy on a saturday, and then stuff happens on sunday.
:(

[GTO]

Damn, it's been SO LONG since the last race. Not a fan of the break, but am glad we're going to have a fun Sunday This is a beautiful track, as modern & well-planned as they come.

@ Mayankk : I think you are going to be disappointed. The super-fast straights suit the 2012 McLaren to the T, more so than any other car on the current grid. Mercedes has also apparently worked on improving tyre wear.

[sgiitk]

I will be away from the 13th afternoon till the 14th lunchtime. I hope to set my TataSky HD+ to record the qualifying and the race. Maybe I make it back just in time for the race. Motor racing is great on ESPN -HD.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by GTO

Damn, it's been SO LONG since the last race. Not a fan of the break, but am glad we're going to have a fun Sunday This is a beautiful track, as modern & well-planned as they come.

@ Mayankk : I think you are going to be disappointed. The super-fast straights suit the 2012 McLaren to the T, more so than any other car on the current grid. Mercedes has also apparently worked on improving tyre wear.

Well, then,i hope this time lewis converts it.
Its been such a long time!

[PuntoMania]

I think Mercedes arent going to be as strong in qualifying as they were in the first two races.

They're having major problems finding the optimum window of performance from these Pirelli tyres.

If they get their setup right, I am hoping they can challenge the Mclarens on raceday !

Brawn: Mercedes to sacrifice qualifying pace for race benefitsJames Allen on F1

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by PuntoMania

I think Mercedes arent going to be as strong in qualifying as they were in the first two races.

They're having major problems finding the optimum window of performance from these Pirelli tyres.

If they get their setup right, I am hoping they can challenge the Mclarens on raceday !

Brawn: Mercedes to sacrifice qualifying pace for race benefitsJames Allen on F1

IMO even McLarens, specially LH is having issues with race pace too. Hope he gets it right this time.

[PuntoMania]

Originally Posted by akshay380

IMO even McLarens, specially LH is having issues with race pace too. Hope he gets it right this time.

I dont think the Mclarens have issues with their race pace at all. Where did you get that from ?

Lewis is having trouble matching Button during raceday as he is extremely hard on his tyres with his aggressive turn in and hard braking. Unfortunately the Pirellis seem to have a very narrow temperature range which will eventually force all drivers to be conservative with their tyres.

The Mclarens otherwise look like the car to beat this year.

Once Lewis sorts out his tyre issues he will take the top step IMO. Button is looking mighty impressive this year though. I never thought he'd take it to Lewis like this.

[anachronix]

Mclaren looks like the car to beat this year!

Button was flying in OZ, but OZ pace is not a good indicator of a car's strength/ability but Sepang is, but both Mclarens struggled with tire degradation issues.

A dry weekend in China will show who is really on top, but the top 5 teams are very very close this year. I am sure we are going to witness one of the best ChineseGP ever

[anachronix]

Interesting article by JA

Ferrari ready to roll out updates amid bid to claw back ‘eight tenths’ gapJames Allen on F1

0.8S gain is the target!

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by anachronix

0.8S gain is the target!

Eight tenths is big! But will that be enough to be on par at least? Others are also no sitting idle.

The F2012 needs to scale up to the level of Alonso and the SF pit crew. I am super impressed by the latter this season.

Pat Fry says the team is bringing 5 new updates on the car for China and a even bigger upgrade for Spain.

I will miss the live telecast on Sunday. Will be driving all day long. Good thing that BBC is covering china.

And I guess L. Renault and Kimi is up to something. Watch out for car # 9.

[Mike89]

^^
It would be a difficult race for ferrari. Shanghai is not the circuit that would suit the f2012. It has got long straights with a couple of very slow corners. But then again, Alonso is the man who will be in the mix as long as he has wheels. Mclarens and Mercedesgp (atleast in quali) will look strong.
Ferrari really needs to produce a car that could match up Fernando's potential. I mean, he is the one carrying ferrari since he got there. Another thing i would like to see from ferrari is replace massa with a better driver.

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Eight tenths is big! But will that be enough to be on par at least? Others are also no sitting idle.

The F2012 needs to scale up to the level of Alonso and the SF pit crew. I am super impressed by the latter this season.

Pat Fry says the team is bringing 5 new updates on the car for China and a even bigger upgrade for Spain.

I will miss the live telecast on Sunday. Will be driving all day long. Good thing that BBC is covering china.

And I guess L. Renault and Kimi is up to something. Watch out for car # 9.

At the moment, the Ferrari looks a handful with a weak mechanical traction and aero. To put it simply, the car is weak on all parameters thats basic for an F1 car.

Fixing that itself should give them good gains IMO! 0.8s or its Alonso's infamous 0.6s gain is to be seen yet

Yes, I am going to keep an extra eye on that No.9 car

[polopm]

Originally Posted by PuntoMania

I dont think the Mclarens have issues with their race pace at all. Where did you get that from ?

Lewis is having trouble matching Button during raceday as he is extremely hard on his tyres with his aggressive turn in and hard braking. Unfortunately the Pirellis seem to have a very narrow temperature range which will eventually force all drivers to be conservative with their tyres.

The Mclarens otherwise look like the car to beat this year.

Once Lewis sorts out his tyre issues he will take the top step IMO. Button is looking mighty impressive this year though. I never thought he'd take it to Lewis like this.

Lewis eats his tyres and depends on his engineer to "guide" him. Jenson feels the car and takes split second decisions much effectively and is very smooth on the tyres.
I saw that Jense had a particular line coming into a corner and exiting and he did repeatedly all the race during last year's Indian GP. The Schum also did similarly. Seeing from the stands is believing !
However Lewis and even Seb had variations across laps. But the RedBull was so much better on the tyres that such minor things did not matter.

Though am a Lewis fan, I think this era of Pirelli tyre is not going to be favourable for him

[mgh]

Formula 1
Hamilton needs to change gearbox incurring five place penalty on starting grid.