2015 Chinese Grand Prix grid

29 comments on “2015 Chinese Grand Prix grid”

1. 

   PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
   11th April 2015, 9:04

   The difference in every fast exit between Kimi and Vettel was gigantic. Ever clean and smooth by Vettel and so much steering corrections for Kimi…
   1. 

      Mashiat (@mashiat)
      11th April 2015, 9:10

      @xtwl Perhaps Kimi set the car up with oversteer to protect the front tyres during the race. And since Ferrari had a car which is miles off the next car (Williams), Raikkonen would probably qualify in fourth anyways; all he needed was a decent lap (which he didn’t get), and he would be in business during the race.

      Or he could just be a bad qualifier.
2. 

   Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
   11th April 2015, 9:06

   C’mon RAIKKONEN too much speed onto turn 2. I think Valtteri should shunt his newer spec front wing as Massa did, Williams are not that spectacular. I wonder what the new fuel directive means, following Malaysia it must be targeted at Ferrari that said I didn’t spot anything to say this was the case. The race should be okay though, It’s China so it won’t be mega unless the temps get cool henceforth graining the tyres or it rains.
3. 

   Eggry (@eggry)
   11th April 2015, 9:06

   I think Seb did brillaint job but… those silver cars were almost unbeatable. Good progress from Mclaren. Maybe next race they could get in Q2?
   1. 

      f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
      11th April 2015, 9:09

      Thats what they said the last race…
      1. 

         Eggry (@eggry)
         11th April 2015, 9:15

         @f12007v well actually yesterday either :)
4. 

   Jack (@jmc200)
   11th April 2015, 9:06

   Bottas, Kimi and Kvyat need to get a shift on.
5. 

   Mashiat (@mashiat)
   11th April 2015, 9:07

   So close, yet so far for Rosberg. His radio message after his final Q3 run shows just how desperate he was to get ahead of Hamilton, especially since he was out-qualified by such a tiny margin. Mercedes back to business it seems. I expected Ferrari to be closer. I hope that they will challenge tomorrow, as they seem to have set-up their cars for the race with plenty of oversteer in order to proctect the front tyres. Hopefully, Rosberg and Vettel will find a way past Hamilton at the start so we can have a hell of a race!

   P.S. I am also very disappointed with McHonda. Three 17th and 18th places out of three. Barely any improvement since Malaysia
6. 

   Kingshark (@kingshark)
   11th April 2015, 9:07

   0.042 s was the difference between us having an exciting prospect tomorrow, or another Australia-like procession.
   1. 

      RogerA
      11th April 2015, 9:16

      @kingshark So nothing behind the leader matters then?

      The mid-field is very close & this is one of the easiest tracks to overtake on so tomorrow will be anything but a procession.
7. 

   Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
   11th April 2015, 9:09

   I’m surprised that Rosberg got close to Hamilton’s time but I have a funny feeling that he pushed harder on that lap than Hamilton. Kimi’s Ferrari looked awful to drive. So much oversteer on the exit of turn 2.
8. 

   Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
   11th April 2015, 9:10

   Looks like another boring Mercedes procession with the two of them racing each other while the also-rans tag along behind.

   Still, the Ferrari set-up seems to be suiting Vettel. He might have other chances of keeping the runaway Mercs honest – Bahrain, Spain, Monaco and maybe Hungary.
   1. 

      RogerA
      11th April 2015, 9:18

      @loup-garou So nothing behind the leader matters then?

      The mid-field is very close & this is one of the easiest tracks to overtake on so tomorrow will be anything but a procession.

      I don’t get this utter nonsense that a race is a boring procession if there is no fight for 1st, Good racing is good racing & a good race is a good race regardless of where in the field its going on.
      95% or more of all F1 races through history have had no fights at the front, All of the action has nearly always been & always will be in the mid-field.
   2. 

      Polo (@polo)
      11th April 2015, 11:34

      @loup-garou Ferrari’s long runs looked very competitive, I wouldn’t count them out yet. Ferrari seem to be much better at long run pace than qualifying pace, much like Allison’s Lotus cars from 2012-2013.
      1. 

         Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
         11th April 2015, 13:19

         My guess about the only way Vettel can get even close to the Mercs under tomorrow’s conditions (barring rain, spin-offs etc) is by going 4 laps longer than them on the starting softs, then do a fast but short stint on the mediums and try to cut the deficit on fresh softs while the Mercs are still on mediums. Then he has to hope that his Ferrari is able to cope with the tyres longer than the Mercs.

         With a lighter fuel load and wearing soft tyres, the Ferrari might be closer in its pace. Hoping so anyway.
   3. 

      Virender Singh (@vjskang)
      11th April 2015, 13:42

      Don’t count Merc 1-2 as yet, If not victory I’m pretty much sure Vettel will split the Mercedes.

      Kimi needs to make sure he avoid tackles as he is mid pack and will surely rub the sidewalls – Anyways best of Luck Ferrari and Alonso
9. 

   Dev
   11th April 2015, 9:17

   McLaren Honda are not doing any good running with Manors & Force Indias, it’s 3rd race already and they are 4 seconds off the pace!! Ron should resign and get Martin back to head the group…
   1. 

      PeterG
      11th April 2015, 9:23

      McLaren are clearly improving, Yes the gap to Mercedes is massive but there closing the gap to the rest of the Mid-field.

      At Malaysia they were nearly over 1.5 seconds off Q2, today they were less than 2 tenths off making Q2.
   2. 

      PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
      11th April 2015, 9:24

      4 seconds off the pace

      So was Grosjean in Q3…
   3. 

      Simon (@weeniebeenie)
      11th April 2015, 9:27

      Not entirely fair to say they’re 4 seconds off the pace. Yes they are on paper but the track evolution in that session was huge. Lewis was nearly two seconds faster than his best P3 time.
   4. 

      ColdFly F1 (@)
      11th April 2015, 9:39

      Dev, it’s less than 3.5secs thus proper rounding means 3sec of Mercedes’ pace. And if you compare that to the previous races, this is significant progress.

      And all I can see is that they’re on the right track. At least Button and Alonso were more upbeat after Qualifying than Hamilton and certainly Rosberg.
10. 

    Mark Thomson (@melthom)
    11th April 2015, 9:46

    This is oweng’s prediction for quali/Hamilton/P1: 01:35.783 Good job!
11. 

    Meander (@meander)
    11th April 2015, 11:58

    Of course I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but I have a feeling that Kvyat needs to shape up. I don’t know if RB would “dump” him after just one season, but I can see them wanting to move one of their Toro Rosso boys up and bringing a new talent into TR from their academy.

    But I don’t want to be too hard on Kvyat yet. He’s definitely talented and may well pull something out of the bag later on this season.
    1. 

       Meander (@meander)
       11th April 2015, 11:59

       Edit: He’s obviously having a lot of break problems too, which are not his fault. So there’s that.
       1. 

          HK (@me4me)
          11th April 2015, 13:50

          @meander, crashing yesterday was his fault though. He shoudn’t have carried so much speed on the straight. But I agee, we shouldn’t be too quick to judge.
          1. 

             bosyber (@bosyber)
             11th April 2015, 17:03

             @me4me Wasn’t he already having break problems at the time, with the team asking him to finish the lap? (didn’t see FP)
             1. 

                HK (@me4me)
                11th April 2015, 18:13

                @bosyber, You are correct, he did indeed have break issues. The team told him to take it it easy and return to the pit safely. So the break issue wasn’t his fault, but he should have gone slower on the straight.
12. 

    Park
    11th April 2015, 15:01

    I expected much more pace from Merhi.
13. 

    Bobby (@f1bobby)
    11th April 2015, 20:10

    This’ll be a hoot tomorrow. Vettel might give Rosberg some pain, I wonder if the Williams’ will have an answer to Ferrari’s race pace.

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