2012 Formula One Chinese Grand Prix

[Adam Hartwell]

I think Schumacher will do one more season after this and go, he will win before he retires though, this is what he does best. 1992-1994 developing the Benneton, 1996-2000 developing the Ferrari, 2010-2012 developing the Mercedes to a position where it can challenge for poles etc.

He's always done it like this and maybe he hasn't been as strong in the worse cars while developing them but the guy is 43, he's old enough to be some of the drivers dad's.. he's an inspiration for what he's doing and the fact he doesn't get phased by the criticism.

Schumacher for pole here.

 

[Chris Preston]

I think Schumacher will do one more season after this and go, he will win before he retires though, this is what he does best. 1992-1994 developing the Benneton, 1996-2000 developing the Ferrari, 2010-2012 developing the Mercedes to a position where it can challenge for poles etc.

He's always done it like this and maybe he hasn't been as strong in the worse cars while developing them but the guy is 43, he's old enough to be some of the drivers dad's.. he's an inspiration for what he's doing and the fact he doesn't get phased by the criticism.

Schumacher for pole here.

The reason I still love Schumacher is because of his ability to still be a cool guy at 43. He'll have a bad race or get taken out and afterwards always has a smile on his face. I really do hope he wins or at the least gets on the podium this year, that's really my only wish besides Vettel not winning the championship

 

[Kevin Cordice]

He has to palsy it cool so as to keep the blood pressure/heart rate down oh just kidding. the race for me that stood out the most was Canada 2011 i was at the edge of my seat i thought MSC would have brought home that 3rd place

 

[Darren Bentley]

I can be certain Hamilton won't be starting on pole , he has to change his gearbox

 

[Chris Jenkins]

That sucks for Hamilton. Hopefully it takes the pressure off him for the race.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Hopefully he can take one or two in the start then it´s just top3 left to hunt down.

 

[ufunacaoenn]

That sucks for Hamilton. Hopefully it takes the pressure off him for the race.

Starting for a mid field will put more presure on him because he needs to advance to the podium plus he have been probably hitting himself and told to himself that "if I get poles then I sure should be winning races" so I have a feeling the old Hamilton might make his return. (if it will be the bad side or the good will be seen on unday)

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I think he'll be fine.
He was quoted this week saying that he's going to concentrate on scoring regular points like he did in 2007. It took him 6 races to win in 2007 and he was a championship contender right up until the last weekend.

 

[Ho3n3r]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98722

That article is regarding Lotus' protest.

If you read till the end, Brawn's comments make Genii/Lotus/Renault/Benetton look like buffoons a bit, doesn't it? Basically Brawn is saying such a system was already declared legal in 2010.

 

[Michael Brown]

Well the FIA banned driver activated F-Ducts after 2010, so most teams abandoned the idea altogether. Mercedes had this front wing F-Duct talked about in late 2011 that was not driver activated; at a certain speed the front wing would stall. I'm not sure if Red Bull and Lotus are arguing that it's an F-Duct, or that they believe it's driver activated. Personally I think it's passive. The driver activates the DRS and the F-Duct is a secondary effect to that.

 

[Aidan Keranen]

what happened to the days that instead of protesting everything, teams either:
a) copied it/made their own version or
b) came up with something faster

 

[Ho3n3r]

Well the FIA banned driver activated F-Ducts after 2010, so most teams abandoned the idea altogether. Mercedes had this front wing F-Duct talked about in late 2011 that was not driver activated; at a certain speed the front wing would stall. I'm not sure if Red Bull and Lotus are arguing that it's an F-Duct, or that they believe it's driver activated. Personally I think it's passive. The driver activates the DRS and the F-Duct is a secondary effect to that.

Yes, I see it as them having to ban the DRS because that's what's causing the effect, and they can't do that.

It is totally passive. But it would actually be better for Merc themselves if it does get band, because it creates the illusion of pace before a race, when there really is none.

 

[Aidan Keranen]

just following on with that
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98691
yes, they haven't started yet, but this is what i'm talking about, stopping crying over it and either design one or don't

 

[Hampus Andersson]

It is totally passive. But it would actually be better for Merc themselves if it does get band, because it creates the illusion of pace before a race, when there really is none.

So you are suggesting they should take mid-fielder grid spots and work their way up?

Instead of starting high up due to a loophole in the regulations and then try to hold those positions as long as possible.

 

[Ho3n3r]

So you are suggesting they should take mid-fielder grid spots and work their way up?

Instead of starting high up due to a loophole in the regulations and then try to hold those positions as long as possible.

Not from a financial point of view, no. But if you start roughly where you're supposed to start, you can have positives in the race.

With DRS in the race they'll drop down there anyway. How would they possibly hold position?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Not from a financial point of view, no. But if you start roughly where you're supposed to start, you can have positives in the race.

With DRS in the race they'll drop down there anyway. How would they possibly hold position?

So you are saying it´s better to start in the midfield (usually where stuff goes down) rather then taking first or second row and possibly cling on as long as possible.

From a racing point view that is.

 

[Ho3n3r]

So you are saying it´s better to start in the midfield (usually where stuff goes down) rather then taking first or second row and possibly cling on as long as possible.

From a racing point view that is.

That's my point - with DRS the 'clinging on' is minimized anyway.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

That makes no sense at all.

It would be the same to tell Hulkenberg in Brazil to not take pole. He would never stay up there anyway.
Instead of DRS it would be simply a slower car then the guys behind.

You try to get as high as possible in Qualifying, then you do what you can in the race.

Not, let´s remove the F-duct system and work our way up. That´s counter-productive.

 

[Ivan Mills]

You try to get as high as possible in Qualifying, then you do what you can in the race.

.

even my 5yrs old niece knows that

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

Startin in front of the grid is usually safer, too.