Are Red Bull really on the best strategy for Shanghai?

17 comments on “Are Red Bull really on the best strategy for Shanghai?”

1. 

   eljueta (@eljueta)
   14th April 2018, 22:37

   I hope the red bulls are able to mix things up a bit, because if Ferrari pull out and Mercedes play it safe we’re gonna have a bit of a dud. Good insight on the tire strategy.
2. 

   Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
   14th April 2018, 22:40

   So what will Mercedes and Ferrair do? Softs and then mediums or will they do softs and try us till the end?
   I hope not, Mercedes don’t like ultras so we might have a race if its just soft and mediums.
3. 

   Andre Furtado (@f1andy83)
   14th April 2018, 23:23

   Is the sector times their best sector times over multiple laps?
   1. 

      nase
      15th April 2018, 0:05

      @f1andy83
      Yes.
4. 

   Ronald
   14th April 2018, 23:42

   A pity that it will be another one stop race if we can believe Pirelli. Given the difficulties to overtake with these cars I think Merc and Ferrari have the best strategy. Even if Verstappen or Ricciardo succeed in overtaking all Mercs an Ferrari’s (highly unlikely), their tires will be gone by then.
5. 

   Julian (Mr. Sakura) (@xiasitlo)
   15th April 2018, 0:08

   I really think Kimi if he goes shorter then Seb, has this finally. Seb has less wing, he’ll run into RBR and Bottas and will lose too much in S1 and S2 to get it. But Ferrari doesn’t want it so Lewis will actually come back. Seb runs too much wing in the rebalance, it will cause unbalance.
   Longer runs will be magical. Undercut will be great actually. You would need to finish on the US, not on the S.
   Temps will be lower but cloudless, so teams will not know the US life. That may give Vettel the edge, but I’m not keen on the high reputation of US degradation. Even the HS ran 5 laps with mediocre Renault. You can do more.

   Furthermore. I actually predict the STR to overtake the McLaren. Gasly needs to do a radio by then. I’ll pass out.
   1. 

      nase
      15th April 2018, 0:47

      @xiasitlo

      I really think Kimi if he goes shorter then Seb, has this finally.

      Yeah, well, that’d be an undercut. Considering the championship standings, Ferrari have zero reasons to do this.

      Seb has less wing

      He doesn’t. Someone thought the same last week around, because Vettel’s top speed in the speed trap was about 3 kph faster than Räikkönen’s.
      But that hardly makes sense, as that speed trap is reached with the DRS activated, so the difference between rear wing setups should be nullified …
      Also, I wonder why no one bothers to look at the other speed traps located at the end of each timing sector. Lookie there: 0.8 kph in Vettel’s favour at the end of sector one, 0.1 kph in Räikkönen’s favour at the end of sector 2, 0.5 kph in Vettel’s favour on the finish line.
      In other words: Their setups are identical. Again.
      1. 

         Julian (Mr. Sakura) (@xiasitlo)
         15th April 2018, 7:14

         I’ll explain some things in the post-race thread. But Seb does run lower wing.
         1. 

            nase
            15th April 2018, 9:25

            @xiasitlo
            I have to say I’m curious about that explanation, because the speed trap figures speak a pretty unequivocal language. Same car, same engine, same tyres, same speed trap figures – the only way I see to make that fit with Vettel having a skinnier wing would be to insinuate that Ferrari were trying to sabotage Vettel, but failed.
         2. 

            nase
            24th April 2018, 2:23

            @xiasitlo
            It’s been 9 days …
   2. 

      Benny
      15th April 2018, 0:53

      I predict STR Honda will have a normal (for them) finish…well outside the top 10.
      I predict one of the McLaren’s will finish in the top 10.
      1. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore)
         15th April 2018, 2:57

         Yes, I wouldn’t go as far as predicting mclaren scoring points with both cars cause they’d obviously brake down to make our prediction not work, but I think on pace they should be able to get back to the points, and when toro rosso is fast in a weekend, I expect them to show it in qualifying already.
6. 

   Paul T Ortenburg
   15th April 2018, 1:23

   I predict VES will crash into somebody lap 1.. and given RIC luck lately he will be one of the people caught up in it, either directly or as a result of a collision ahead.
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore)
      15th April 2018, 2:58

      Hopefully not, 2 races, something negative happened to both drivers every time, so we couldn’t see red bull’s real pace for long.
7. 

   Mashiat (@mashiat)
   15th April 2018, 4:25

   If they had started on the first two rows, it could have worked for them. I remember it working for the frontrunners in a similar situation back in China 2013. They would pit after 5 laps or so, and put a set of softs on, but given the fact that their softs would be 7-8 laps newer that those who started on the tyre, they would start chipping away at the gap (provided they can clear traffic OK).
8. 

   Patrick (@anunaki)
   15th April 2018, 6:43

   Max and RIC will certainly go for some overtakes in the beginning of the race.
9. 

   Phylyp (@phylyp)
   15th April 2018, 8:57

   Err, so the answer to the title’s question is… yes. :-)

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