JustinL

Do you guys think there will be any changes from the different fuel metering? I do think McLaren had improved a bunch in the period between Australia and Malaysia. They were in the thick of the back of the pack instead of being dropped completely. It will be hard to continue with that rate of improvement, but I'm predicting a slow grind up through the mid pack as the season progresses.

multi21

An interesting response to a question by Hamilton for different reasons. Vettel has always represented himself and it's turned out fine for him even if he has not been the highest paid on grid despite being a 4 time WDC. Given that Hamilton is the reigning WDC and in a really good place with Mercedes' dominant car, you would think he could leverage a really high salary at this point in his career. Why not hire an agent, sport lawyer etc to hammer out the details? Is he trying to save 10% in agent fees? Is he trying to prove he is as smart as Vettel - neither of which have a degree in business or law but understandibly a high amount of life experiences.

The second comment within this relatively short response is the full discounting of Nico Rosberg. Perhaps I'm reading something more into this, but to not even mention him and refer to the Ferrari duo seemed a bit odd if not premeditated to get into Nico's head even more than he already is....

Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he is unsure when his new Mercedes deal will be signed, as final contract checks drag on.

Hamilton, in the final season of an initial three-year agreement, previously stated that he was hopeful of putting pen to paper ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

But as the Formula 1 paddock arrived in China, Hamilton – who has represented himself in the negotiation process – said a new deal remains unsigned.

"I think it's unlikely," Hamilton told Sky Sports, when asked if he expects to sign this week.

"Obviously at the last race I said it would be done within a week. This is my first time negotiating myself and you don't know how many times I've had to read… 80 pages, I don't know – it is so much reading.

"It's all in lawyer's jargon, so it has been a quite a pain in the backside to be honest."

Moving to on track matters, Hamilton expressed his desire for a battle with the Ferrari duo in Shanghai, after Sebastian Vettel made use of the hot conditions and a two-stop strategy to win in Malaysia.

"This is a race where it's much cooler than the last race," Hamilton said of the Shanghai event.

"I think it will be really interesting, but I'm up for a race, and I hope that we ultimately have a race with these [Ferrari] guys. They are just as quick on the straights, they had amazing pace at the last race.

"Hopefully the fans get to see some battling between myself and Sebastian, that'd be really cool."

ilko

Bumping this thread back from the dead (page 2)...

That was a fun qualifying session. A few observations:
Q1:
- MB one run on medium compounds, shows the confidence they have. Everybody else had to use the soft tires to make sure they go through.
- McLaren is a little better, but not good enough. Button outqualifies Alonso, again. Another interesting thing to note is that with 2 WDCs running 4 thousands apart from one another that must be all the the McLaren is capable of at the moment.
Q2:
- Ferrari engine quite good. Look at Sauber who haven’t had the money to develop the car much since last year when they were a back marker. Now they are in the top 10.
Q3:
- Ferrari "made" MB do a second run since the red cars didn’t show true pace in the first run by running used soft tires. Smart to keep the silver arrows on their toes and make them use another new set of soft tires, even though there was no way Ferrari could’ve gone in the 1:35s.
- Great job by Williams!!
- Lewis is pretty much playing with the rest of the field

rockitman

How about nico's body language during the post qualifying interview...what a Snob homo that guy is...He should tattoo "LOSER" on his forehead.

rockitman

It appears...Honda is still a fail....sorry Senna fans.

Raven 666

I agree on the Honda call ,,,,I had high expectations of them this year very disappointing so far ..........
Hope they improve as the season moves on ,,,,Bahrain next ..??

the flyin' scotsman

2 by 2 by 2...........Merc managed the race very well even toying with the lead gap they had.

Excellent passing 1st lap by my man Kimi; great to see. Various close racing throughout but really the top 6 was set after lap 1.

Racer of the day; Max V..........that boy can race!!!

My993C2

I was not aware that there was even a race last night. At least it did not appear to be much of a race. With the exception of Raikkonen's first lap passes on the two Williams cars and a few sometimes successful, sometimes not successful passes into turn #14 it was a day of processional cars driven around the track. Heck the two Mercedes drivers weren't even racing each other once the first lap of the race was completed. It was another coronation race for Hamilton. If Rosberg was actually racing Hamilton he would have tried to under cut him on one of his pit stops, or he would have attempted to pass him on the track versus radioing into to his engineer to ask Lewis to go faster when Vettel started to gain ground on Nico. That was no race. The pecking order of F1 has been established and is not to be messed with.

- Hamilton is the clear #1 driver at Mercedes and is not to be passed as long as he is in the lead after the first lap is completed. Let the coronation begin.

- Ferrari has definitely upped their game this season. But unless the track conditions are hot like they were in Malaysia, the Ferrari is still miles behind the Mercs.

- As a solid 3rd best car on the grid but miles behind the top two teams and yet miles ahead of everyone else, there is no love for either Williams driver. I mean after they were passed on the first lap by Raikkonen, did anyone even see them in the race? They were ghosts out there.

- Oh how far the once mighty Red Bull team continues to fall. Not only are they using a complete slow and unreliable Renault power plant, but they can't even get their braking issues sorted out. Kind of hard to race when you can't stop your car.

- An even sadder state of affairs at the once mighty McLaren team which is only faster than Marussia. I understand McLaren does not want to be just another customer of Mercedes (just look at how far Williams is behind the Merc Works team), but McLaren was a team that once won races, and won championships and look where they are now. The back of the field, 2nd slowest car on the grid. Sad ...

The only bright spot of F1 in 2015 is watching some of the young talent challenge each other in the mid pack. Other than that is looking like the year of processional cars on a track masquerading as a race.

FGL28

Kinda disappointing race. But,

McLaren is improving, slowly but improving.
Renault is acting like, well a French car motor.
Ferrari is getting better
Mercedes is still sandbagging
The younger stars are showing promise

The term "Chinese Fire Drill"was put on display at the end of the race with the car removal.

morefun

What a snooze of a race...


Agreed - "The only bright spot of F1 in 2015 is watching some of the young talent challenge each other in the mid pack"

jenk12m

Fell asleep twice during this one

333pg333

Actually there was some good racing but it was waaaay back in the pack. Up front was boring and even the TV producer thought so, hence a lot of coverage of the tussles for 10-15th places.

Woe is RBR. Apparently the engine as poor as it is, shows 40bhp more on the dyno than in the car. As if things weren't bad enough already. With 2 Renault engines blowing up very publicly the already fractious relationship between RBR and Renault must be on very thin ice. Question is....where else can they go???

the flyin' scotsman

watch the first dozen laps or so again just to see how close Manor kept up with McLaren........cant imagine Alonso looking in his mirrors seeing the Manor car so close and what he be thinking.

Circuit Motorsports

http://www.fia.com/sites/default/fil...stlaps_v01.pdf


Fastest race laps.

pontifex4

Kimi had a great first lap.

Verstappen's break-down was unfortunate, but I don't think the safety car cost Kimi a chance at third place. He might have caught up to Vettel, but I don't think he had time to get by in the laps remaining.