Chinese Grand Prix 2011

[Dave B]

Tyres:

Same as in the opening two races: soft (yellow) and hard (silver), but no evaluation tyres for practice.

Unlike Malaysia, where we provided the teams with an experimental tyre for free practice, we will give each team one extra set of the usual hard tyres for Friday's first free practice session just as we did in Australia. We saw then that it worked well, allowing the teams to maximise their track time and prepare as thoroughly as possible for the race, so we'd like to give them the same opportunity again

DRS Zone:

The DRS (Drag Reduction System) will be allowed on the back straight of the Shanghai circuit, with the activation zone located before the halfway point of the straight, after Turn 13.

Random fact:

Last year saw the highest number of pit stops in the history of the Chinese Grand Prix. There were a total of 67 stops, an average of 2.79 per driver, at a race that was held in mixed conditions. By way of comparison, the Malaysian Grand Prix that has just taken place had 59 stops

Standings:

1 Sebastian Vettel 50
2 Jenson Button 26
3 Lewis Hamilton 22
4 Mark Webber 22
5 Fernando Alonso 20
6 Felipe Massa 16
7 Nick Heidfeld 15
8 Vitaly Petrov 15
9 Kamui Kobayashi 6
10 Sébastien Buemi 4
11 Adrian Sutil 2
12 Michael Schumacher 2
13 Paul Di Resta 2


1 Red Bull/Renault 72
2 McLaren/Mercedes 48
3 Ferrari 36
4 Renault 30
5 Sauber/Ferrari 6
6 Toro Rosso/Ferrari 4
7 Force India/Mercedes 4
8 Mercedes 2

[Brown, Jon Brow]

One point about DRS. What is the point of having the DRS zone at the only part of the track that produces overtaking anyway? It will make overtaking too easy. Why not have the DRS zone at a place that is slightly more difficult to overtake e.g. the pit straight?

[gloomyDAY]

Just a hurdle on the way to Turkey.

I'll just catch the highlights of this bland GP.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Just a hurdle on the way to Turkey.

I'll just catch the highlights of this bland GP.

China is normally a decent race. A track where passing is possible and often has rain.

[gloomyDAY]

China is normally a decent race. A track where passing is possible and often has rain.

Looks like a dry weekend, so that's why I'm not going to watch the entire race. Not that I can anyway because I'll be gone for the entire weekend, but if I were at home I'd rather sleep in for the day.

[Sonic]

One point about DRS. What is the point of having the DRS zone at the only part of the track that produces overtaking anyway? It will make overtaking too easy. Why not have the DRS zone at a place that is slightly more difficult to overtake e.g. the pit straight?

That sir, is an excellent point.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Looks like a dry weekend, so that's why I'm not going to watch the entire race. Not that I can anyway because I'll be gone for the entire weekend, but if I were at home I'd rather sleep in for the day.

I'm guessing that the race is around 1-2am in the States? 8am start in the UK. Perfect reason to get up in the morning

[Dave B]

I can reprise my routine of watching practice from the comfort of my bed before chucking some sausages in the oven just in time for qualifying

[Garry Walker]

One point about DRS. What is the point of having the DRS zone at the only part of the track that produces overtaking anyway? It will make overtaking too easy. Why not have the DRS zone at a place that is slightly more difficult to overtake e.g. the pit straight?

You are talking to a brick dumb wall (FIA).

[penagate]

I think the DRS zone ought to be the straight between turns 10 and 11.
Turns 9 and 10 spread the cars out a little and the DRS would allow one to catch up to potentially set up a move through 11 and 12, while the overtaken car could counter-attack down the back straight.