Race Report 3: A Shang-Hi to you all!

OK sorry that’s the end of the terrible puns (probably). The King is dead. Long live the King. So AlanD aka MansellMan has lost his crown and Becx has taken over the throne as leader of our Predictin’ league.

Still very, very early days of course so not much to be read into the league yet but it’s all still pretty tight and no one has forged an unassailable lead, so all looks set for an exciting season.

Thoughts on the China GP;

It struck me that perhaps Mercedes looked after their tyres better in China than previous circuits not only because it was cooler in Shagnhai than it had been in Malaysia and Australia but also because the circuit is not a heavily corner based circuit instead it’s a straights dominated track. In fact watching the cars trundle down the longest straight in F1 had me thinking why didn’t the designers put a curve in, or a gradient, an s-bend or anything? There is no excitement at all in watching the cars just parade down what seems not just the longest straight but the straightest, flattest straight too. Plus they got the DRS activation point wrong. Yawn!

Was the finish the most un-dramatic ever? Rosberg rolled across the line at about 2miles per hour, 20 seconds clear of everyone else. The last 10 laps of the race were great so that excitement was rather punctured by Nico’s pedestrian roll over the line.

Typical. I thought that Mercedes might get some podiums if not a win this season as I stated in previous blogs but it’s flippin typical that they get pole and a win the week after I decided Rosberg would never win a race. After backing him for 3 seasons telling Dad that I thought he was a good driver and would prove it some day I finally deserted him after his weak and wet performances in the first two races of the season. Typical he should pull out a potential 35 points if predicted in this week’s league. Fortunately for me I predicted Schumacher for pole and with Hamilton’s penalty I score good.

Jenson Button seems to be the perfect driver for Mclaren as he is pragmatic. He holds up other drivers by not making overtaking maneuvers and not being aggressive enough and waiting for something to happen. I felt he ruined the race by not making any attempt to catch and pass Rosberg. After Schumacher retired he let Nico pull out a lead whilst holding up Hamilton, Raikkonen et al behind him as he wouldn’t risk his tyres by trying to do anything preferring to just sit back and wait for everything to fall into his lap.

It wasn’t a great race overall. I don’t think the track really encourages it. However lap 48 was superb. Raikkonen dropped from 2^nd to 14^th and Vettel, Webber, Button, Hamilton, the Williams drivers and the Sauber duo all involved in passing, re-passing and general overtaking excitement.

My driver of the season so far has to be Pirez. His ability to save his tyres, and still keep good speed in the car is hugely impressive. However he made a ridiculous defensive move on his team mate down one of the straights where he nearly ran Kobayashi off the track. I’ve also noted he seems to lock up his tyres quit a lot. Although this doesn’t seem to affect his tyres or pace. A lot like Hamilton did in his first season. Sadly Lewis now seems to be becoming more pragmatic and less entertaining.

In regard to tyres Raikkonen should surely have been pitted by his team. Losing 12 places in one lap is ridiculous.

Another piece of odd/amateurish driving from Grojean as he tried to hold off Maldonado. He defended well but then continued to defend even though Maldonado was no longer behind him as he himself was fending off an attack from Pirez. Grojean seems a decent speedster but I’m not sure he’ll cut it as a top F1 driver.

I was wondering if new main commentator Ben Edwards is from Yorkshire? I only ask because he drops ‘the’ from ‘the pit lane’ so we get ‘Button enters pit lane’ and read or said with a Yorkshire accent this becomes quit amusing.

Watching the Raikkonen pit stop release when he proceeded to drive down the pit lane alongside Hamilton not only made me wonder how that wasn’t considered an unsafe release but if it is a safe release why did Mclaren ruin Lewis’ race in Malaysia by holding him back for multiple seconds to allow Massa to pass by. According to Irvine Raikkonen’s wasn’t an unsafe release as there was no one in the pit lane. Something that I can’t imagine Renault was really aware of or considered before releasing Raikkonen into Hamilton’s path.

Coulthard Words of Wisdom – He continues to point out the painfully obvious as if offering great insight (I have a feelong this will become a regular feature)

Coulthard states he can’t recall Vettel winning in a fashion as dominant as Rosberg at the weekend. Odd he must have spent the last two years with his eyes closed. Vettel regularly shot off from the pole position to drive machine like to a win without giving any other driver a sniff of victory. If Sebastian didn’t win by 20 seconds then it was because he had such a margin of safety he would turn the engine down and roll across the line without stressing out the car or himself.

Apparently Mclaren would prefer to have a slow pit stop than send out their car with a wheel nut not securing the wheel to the car. Another example of startling insight from the mind of David Coulthard. Without him where would we be? Watching SKY I guess.

Coulthard also feels the pole position grid slot is on the wrong side of the track as it ‘always’ favors the 2^nd placed driver apparently on the fastest side of the track. This statement was of course disproved by the start of the race and Rosberg racing away form the field to maintain his pole lead. More bafflingly his point was even disproved by his own clips. The BBC played two clips to back up Coulthard’s argument but in both cases we saw a Red Bull on pole which was angled across the track to block the 2^nd place driver, Thus as the 2^nd place guy accelerates forwards the pole sitter gives up his own lead by focusing on defense rather than attack. The argument was completely shot down by the fact that in both clips the 3^rd placed driver accelerated out and around the pole sitter from the same side of the grid.

According to David F1 drivers “get” overstear. Implying as usual that F1 drivers are guilty of nothing as they are the poor unwitting victims of overstear, understear, locking brakes etc. Poor babies are never to blame for anything are they?

Brundles’ departure seems to have let Coulthard loose and he now passes judgment in a rather snotty manner on all team radio broadcasts that feature an engineer giving the driver some advice.

Coulthard highlight of the race – “Clearly the Red Bull is a faster car” as the Red Bull was trying and failing to catch the Force India. Clearly how? If one car is out pacing another, is faster in a straight line, and the speed traps support this, how is the Red Bull a faster car? If he had said ‘better’ than that would have been a subjective point and not one to argue but “faster”? Coulthard was left looking more foolish by his statement immediately being followed by Vettel coming onto his radio and saying “I’m nowhere on the straights!” What are you on about Coulthard?

Gary the pit man and Coulthard repeatedly say “obviously”. Is what they’re saying obvious? If it is why are they bothering to say it? Their job is to offer clever, witty, entertaining insight.

Coulthard is obsessed with talking tyres. Is there any need for the races or even the cars? Would David in fact be more happy with a tyre test? A wheel mounted on a frame spinning on tarmac for as long as the tyre takes to wear out? Exciting? Well for David and a few others on the BBC team hugely so!

Week 3
	Predictor	Points
1	Becx	70
2	Alan D	69
3	Jack	61
4	Alan WA	58
5	Alex	57
=	Simon	57
=	James	57
8	George	50
9	Martin	29

So Becx is top of the league after 3 races. Becx was also joint top scorer this weekend with Simon and James due to the Button 2^nd place and 5^th place in qualifying.

There was mention of clarification of the rules regarding a driver getting a grid penalty. Although other prediction leagues may award points based on where the driver qualifies rather than where the driver lines up on race day after penalties, we here at Fantasy F1 Prediction League want our competitors to experience all the real highs and lows of being the driver so if you predict a driver that qualifies 5^th but due to a penalties lines up 10^th on the grid on race day then you receive the points for qualifying 10^th. This may seem harsh but I think brings a sense of the joy and or disappointment a diver will feel after penalties have shaken the grid a little. For example this rule on this occasion punished AlanD who predicted Hamilton for pole so rather than the 9 points for second that would have been received based on qualification position 2^nd instead 4 points are awarded for the 7^th position that Hamilton actually lined up after penalties. On the flip side I predicted Schumacher for pole. He qualified 3^rd giving me 8 points but after penalties I received 9 points. I will apply this rule all season as it has been applied in previous seasons. This might take points from you or award you points you didn’t imagine could be yours.
It could happen to you.

Bahrain 22/04/12 Good luck