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[Hammer278]

JB it seems you overreacted a little bit...text is easy to misunderstand mate.

Anyway, the hope for all anti-Redbull-ers is for Redbull to take as LONG as possible to sort out their KERS...and even then, PRAY for a reliability problem so there's a chance for another team to get victory.

[spankyham]

Red Bull were dominant in Melb in the race, but, definitely not so at Sepang. After 30 odd laps any of 4 cars were easily in striking distance of a win. Seb had complained about vibrations (front end I think) and the RB had been toughest on its tyres whilst not really being faster. In fact, there was clearly a point where Lewis was mounting an attack on Seb.

I think on race-day in Shanghai Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Renault all will have enough pace to manage a win without the need for one of the other teams to fail.

An interesting prospect for me is, that, traditionally, RB have not proven great at developing their car during the year. Their suspension also makes changes difficult. They can improve a little through KERS, however, they are probably close to the best pace they will have all year.

Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have a lot more scope to develop their cars. Add to that both Ferrari and McLaren have excellent track records at improving their cars through the year. Just look at where the F10 was when in arrived in Europe and where it was by the time we left Europe again. Plus, all 3 of these cars have their flexi-front wings to come which will definitely improve them.

It was interesting to see how much attention Newey paid to the McLaren and Ferrari cars (especially the rear-ends) in Sepang.

Some might even suggest that if Red Bull don't win in China they could be facing a year that's just going to get tougher and tougher for them.

[Jensonb]

JB it seems you overreacted a little bit...text is easy to misunderstand mate.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other mate. I responded with two simple sentences and was assailed from all sides. Just who overreacted depends largely on your point of view.

[Hammer278]

Err...okay whatever you say.

[Hammer278]

Red Bull were dominant in Melb in the race, but, definitely not so at Sepang. After 30 odd laps any of 4 cars were easily in striking distance of a win. Seb had complained about vibrations (front end I think) and the RB had been toughest on its tyres whilst not really being faster. In fact, there was clearly a point where Lewis was mounting an attack on Seb.

I think on race-day in Shanghai Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Renault all will have enough pace to manage a win without the need for one of the other teams to fail.

An interesting prospect for me is, that, traditionally, RB have not proven great at developing their car during the year. Their suspension also makes changes difficult. They can improve a little through KERS, however, they are probably close to the best pace they will have all year.

Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have a lot more scope to develop their cars. Add to that both Ferrari and McLaren have excellent track records at improving their cars through the year. Just look at where the F10 was when in arrived in Europe and where it was by the time we left Europe again. Plus, all 3 of these cars have their flexi-front wings to come which will definitely improve them.

It was interesting to see how much attention Newey paid to the McLaren and Ferrari cars (especially the rear-ends) in Sepang.

Some might even suggest that if Red Bull don't win in China they could be facing a year that's just going to get tougher and tougher for them.

They ended 2009 with the best car, and developed that car through the off season and ended 2010 with the best car. There is no proof that they are no good at keeping up with developments through a season. I think most of us thought they would not be able to sustain it, but they still had a fantastic car which dominated the last 2 races of the season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. And they've started 2011 with the best car, undoubtedly. This is a serious team which isn't going away, its up to McLaren and Ferrari to try again this year, its going to be damn difficult but hope dies last.

[FRAFPDD]

One day this forum will unanimously agree on all things great and small, and the world will rejoice with children laughing and playing in fields of gumdrop smiles

[Jamie]

I don't think I will be the first to say nor think that Vettel is like a Baby Schumi here? I hope Heidfeld can grow on this and produce a 2nd or even a win given the right start. I smell here an Alonso super launch start when he won the title and his starts were immense. So I think China will be a different show all together, Ferrari will be on the pace. Jenson I honestly believe will be in a different class, it's his strategic mind that sets him aside as a great, being able to keep his tyres on the right tempreture and able to eat int oa lead really is the sign he is ready to do some major damage. I think he isn't as good on battles, over taking but putting in the right laps and getting it right he is amazing at and I think in the following races ahead when that is what counts in like Monaco? He will be winning. He needs a a few more races to get his over taking right.

Also, Koby? I hope can get a podium baby!!! He needs to move to Ferrari now

[Hammer278]

FIA announces China DRS zone

FIA Formula One World Championship The FIA has announced the DRS zone for the Chinese Grand Prix, allocating a section of the back straight between turns 13 and 14.

The straight is the second longest in Formula One, and in order to prevent overtaking becoming too easy, drivers will not be allowed to activate the DRS until a point that is 0.56 miles from turn 14, while the full length of the straight is actually 0.73 miles. The detection point to measure the gap between drivers is located in turn 12.

After plenty of overtaking in Malaysia, drivers are expecting to see a lot of position changes once again due to the layout in China, and Paul di Resta said it was likely to be one of the most conducive tracks for the system.

"It will be interesting to see how the DRS activation works with the rear wing in Shanghai because if it's going to work anywhere that's where it will be because it has a very long straight," Di Resta said.

Renault technical director James Allison had previously warned that the FIA should not allow drivers to use the full length of the straight in China, saying that the zone in Malaysia had been well selected.

"It was good to see lots of overtaking and I think the FIA got the DRS settings just about right in Sepang," Allison said. "For China, they will need to choose the DRS activation point carefully because the DRS straight is around three hundred metres longer compared to Sepang."

___________________________________

Don't they realise this is still going to be a BLOODY easy place to overtake? This really presents cars on equal performance to go wheel to wheel into the corner.

I would've liked the main straight or the straight right after the first couple of corners to be the DRS zone to provide a bit of a challenge.

[scotty]

^merged with main GP thread as i think it's relevant to it...

[Hammer278]

Thanks. I was here and there about it...this thread looked like it wasn't ready to speak about China anymore.

[FRAFPDD]

FFS, the same steward panel as Malaysia for China " this should be welcomed by those calling for more consistency after the controversial Malaysian GP"


So now theyre just rubbing their dictatorial decision-making style in our faces too?

That is just a total slap in the face. Especially now as they will be replaced after China therefore they ARENT being consistent and we are hacing a dodgy steward panel for one more race then we needed too!

[nish2280]

Haha, we asked for consistency,so they have decided to give us consistently bad decisions.

[LewEngBridewell]

An interesting prospect for me is, that, traditionally, RB have not proven great at developing their car during the year. Their suspension also makes changes difficult. They can improve a little through KERS, however, they are probably close to the best pace they will have all year.

If you look at 2009, Brawn clearly started off as by far the fastest team. By the second half of the season, they had been largely outpaced by Red Bull, and even other teams.

When reviewing 2010, Red Bull started fastest (only gifting Ferrari a victory in Bahrain after spark plug issues) and also ended fastest.

So, taking all that into account, RBR have actually proven very adept at developing their car.

One mistake from Christian Horner though. "Horner was confident of the team’s performance and hoped that Red Bull’s winning streak will continue. Talking about McLaren, Horner said that, “We out-developed them last year, we did it the year before, and we will be determined to try and do it again this year.”

They did not out-develop McLaren in 2009. It was actually quite the reverse. Red Bull started 2009 with a front-running car, while McLaren languished in the midfield. By the second half of the year, McLaren had won two races, therefore beating RBR. Lewis Hamilton would have also comfortably won the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix had he not retired on lap 19 with brake failure.

Christian Horner might want to whip out the '09 review papers before making such grand claims.

[sennasational]

An interesting prospect for me is, that, traditionally, RB have not proven great at developing their car during the year. Their suspension also makes changes difficult. They can improve a little through KERS, however, they are probably close to the best pace they will have all year.

If you look at 2009, Brawn clearly started off as by far the fastest team. By the second half of the season, they had been largely outpaced by Red Bull, and even other teams.

When reviewing 2010, Red Bull started fastest (only gifting Ferrari a victory in Bahrain after spark plug issues) and also ended fastest.

So, taking all that into account, RBR have actually proven very adept at developing their car.

One mistake from Christian Horner though. "Horner was confident of the team’s performance and hoped that Red Bull’s winning streak will continue. Talking about McLaren, Horner said that, “We out-developed them last year, we did it the year before, and we will be determined to try and do it again this year.”

They did not out-develop McLaren in 2009. It was actually quite the reverse. Red Bull started 2009 with a front-running car, while McLaren languished in the midfield. By the second half of the year, McLaren had won two races, therefore beating RBR. Lewis Hamilton would have also comfortably won the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix had he not retired on lap 19 with brake failure.

Christian Horner might want to whip out the '09 review papers before making such grand claims.

The Red Bull is at a point where squeezing any more speed out of it is pretty difficult design wise. The RB7 is a continuous design which has evolved over at least 3 years of design (and realistically more like 5 years) during this time a lot of their ideas will have been considered and implemented. New ideas from this point on is certainly a more difficult task, that being said I'm sure Newey will find something somewhere. The McLaren is basically a brand new concept which has a lot more potential for improvement, I do think from this year onwards though McLaren should continue their design through to next season providing there aren't any drastic rule changes, but as a starting point, the car they have is brilliant. RBR will also be a tad distracted by their KERS issues this season I reckon.

[FRAFPDD]

The Irony is, red bull in 2010 were far more dominant then they are in 2011, and yet Vettel hasnt lost a pole or a race this year!

As for Red Bull finishing the top team, i remember Alonso beating them to pole at a certain Singapore, a red bull suited track. In suzuka the most downforce loving track ever, vettel only beat a free practiced damaged, downforce lacking mclaren of hamilton by .4 to pole.


I think the doomsday preachers have spoke to early in predicting a WDC 2011 Vettel. Way too early.

As for developing a car, EVERY team BAR red bull have got mjaor scope for development, whereas they are bottleecked into minor wing changes etc. Why? Cause Neweys single flaw is that his cars aero is so temperamental that he doesnt want it changed at all. However the other teams notably MClaren and Ferrari have made the car with KERS as an Integration rather then an "optional bit of power". We wondered why Vettel dominated in Australia quali and almost lost out in Malaysia quali, despite the latter having red bull dominance plastered all over it. Is cause their car loses all its advantage with the KERS system on, but the double edged sword is that they CANNOT, just CANNOT allow to be beaten off the line without KERS to a KERS car, cause they will NEVER overtake them again.


Even when Red Bull do put KERS on, its not even reliable at the moment. Sure you can say when the fix it, but in the same time they focus on that, the other teams are changing the aero. I mean, the Mclaren has got its LONG awaited downforce and Hamilton was over the moon its got that. Its actually been incredibly misrepresentative that Vettel has two poles and two wins at the moment. Jenson was only 3 seconds off him at the line is Malaysia!

Id be more worried being Red Bull/ Vettel then i would be a Mclaren/Lewis/Jenson and Ferrari fan right now. Much more worried.