Chinese Grand Prix 2017

[Hughesy 254]

And oh bugger Johnny Herbert it back... 

[f1since08 60]

So Sky are saying the GP might happen tomorrow. That'd be different...

[Hughesy 254]

That would mean one less day with Herbert on TV, every cloud and all that. 

[Hughesy 254]

https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton/status/850249032400125953

[Jiggy 5]

I would like that. If it's doable, then it'd mean more F1 on tv.

[Jiggy 5]

The Red Bull would be below the Williams if Williams had good drivers...

[Hughesy 254]

Surprised Ferrari didn't get pole, but I still think they have the better race pace. 

[Lukedfrt 91]

Mclaren weren't actually as bad as i expected. Stoffel looks like he's in for a tough year though..

[Hughesy 254]

They will be bad in the race, doing one fast lap is OK, but doing it lap after lap with Honda is impossible. 

[Hughesy 254]

This race has been pretty boring. Almost fell asleep after 15 laps :joy:

[GoldenColt 1]

I thought it was a pretty good race, not a lot of overtakes but those that happened were nice to watch.

[GoldenColt 1]

Grand Chelem, bitches!
........................

[Hughesy 254]

I thought it was crap. There was a few organic overtakes which was good, but mostly boring. 

[ImDyingYouIdiot 0]

Christ almighty, the Finns are proper useless compared to their teammates. As much as I like Kimi, this is getting painful.
Great, ballsy overtakes. Red Bull stronger than expected. And please, for the love of racing, can Bottas and Alonso swap seats?!

Also, Congrats to Lewis, but I still can't stand Mercedes. :p

[Mexicola 10]

s'alright wannit                                                                                              

[VetteIfan 0]

It was a good race. Would've been nice to not see the SC come out right after the VSC because it would've made it more interesting at the front.

But Ferrari need to assign priority in the team ASAP if they want a WDC. Most of the time it probably won't be necessary but today, even with the bad SC timing, they cost themselves at least a chance of getting close to Lewis by keeping Raikkonen ahead of Vettel. 

Bottas is useless and the situation for Lewis now is the same as when he had Kovalinen as teammate. Spinning out behind the SC? Come on. And then proceeding to finish nearly 50 seconds behind. 

[MBKF1 91]

I really enjoyed that actually. While it's obviously tougher to follow and overtake, it's cool to have these brilliant ballsy overtakes because they're so much more skilled. Verstappen continues to amaze me with his touch on the brakes, just superb. I remember watching Ocon into T6 and although being far closer to the car ahead, he's just so nervous in comparison, and just sits behind. Interesting, as they were both rivals during their 2014 Formula 3 season.

Can't fault Hamilton and Mercedes, brilliant strategy. Raikkonen is disappointing me though, what's happened to him?! Totally outclassed yet again by Vettel, who was superb. Ricciardo was average, had the pace at the end but was slow after the SC, and he'll be disappointed to finish behind Verstappen who started way back. What a first lap!

Great drive by Sainz, but what a huge shame when he span a couple of times on the first lap. I doubt he would've been able to hold it, but P5 could have been on the cards maybe if he hadn't have spun.

Bottas, very silly mistake. I'm not writing him off as a Kovalainen style team mate just yet, I'll wait until we've had a few more races. I think he'll still fare very well against Lewis.

McLaren though, my goodness, I've run out of words. What I would give to see Fernando Alonso fighting up the front with Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

[Hughesy 254]

I did say McLaren would be awful in the race. It's an absolute shambles seeing a team I've supported since I first watched F1 in such a mess :(

[Lukedfrt 91]

Alonso looked comfortable for some points, then.. **** YOU HONDA

[AMSKRR 3]

It's actually pretty crazy how much better Vettel and Hamilton are compared to Kimi and Bottas. Different level right now, those were some moves by Vettel too. 

[Hughesy 254]

It's not crazy, those two are bang average. Bottas struggled to beat Massa who is well past his best. Kimi lost motivation for the sport a long time ago, otherwise he could have been so much more. 


#WhereIsDave? 

[Liaveil 137]

My driver of the day is definitely Alonso. Keeping that car in 8th and comfortably so is huge. He needs a good car fast. Him, Vettel and Hamilton fighting for the championship would be immense.

[Jiggy 5]

Hughesy said:

It's not crazy, those two are bang average. Bottas struggled to beat Massa who is well past his best. Kimi lost motivation for the sport a long time ago, otherwise he could have been so much more. 


#WhereIsDave? 

Wouldn't say that he struggled to beat Massa, he absolutely obliterated him last season. The thing is that Hamilton is next level. Maybe top-5 all time. So Bottas was always going to have problems keeping up. But today was just bad, even for Mercedes-standard. Sainz in the Toro Rosso, who spun twice in 10 seconds, wasn't even that far off. And spinning behind the safety car is a straight up blooper, he doesn't need anyone to tell him that.

[GoldenColt 1]

Let's give Bottas a bit more time, before we judge him. Vettel made some crucial errors in his first two races for Red Bull back in 2009. Senna crashed out of a huge lead on his own in his 3rd race for McLaren back in 1988. Daniel Ricciardo looked helpless against Vettel in his 2nd race for RB. Verstappen had a nightmare of a race in Monaco 2016, his second race for RB.

Am I saying that I believe Bottas is anywhere near these guys? Nope, but they were given a bit more time and so should he.

[AMSKRR 3]

I definitely agree with you there, Bottas deserves some time to settle in. I wasn't writing him off in any sense!

He could be a very solid backup for Mercedes, but of course right now there is pressure on him. We saw in China he made a fairly uncharacteristic error by spinning under the SC. If he can cut that out then he'll be alright, but it is important that he beats Vettel now and again, at least for Hamiltons chances of the WDC. Same with Raikkonen.