2009 Chinese Grand Prix

the Shanghai Circuit makes an appearance at an unusual time of year for 2009, it has been taken out of its usual slot at the long haul races at the end of the season, and put in after Sepang, so now we have to put another Tilke-drome out of the way before the European season starts. Brawn and Button have had it easy(ish) for the last two races, but hopefully this wil be the firts time we see cars on a nice wide track similar to Sepang (very similar to Sepang, Herman TIlke has no inspiration ) with hopefully dry weather, so we can see a clear picture for the rest of the season. Vettel, Glock, Trulli, Rosberg and Kubica are all with a chance in two weeks time, I for one, am really looking foward to this!

Circuit Statistics

Race Date: 19 Apr 2009
Number of Laps: 56
Circuit Length: 5.451 km
Race Distance: 305.066 km
Lap Record: 1:32.238 - M Schumacher (2004)

FIA F1 World Constructors Championship (top 5)

1 - Brawn-Mercedes - 25
2 - Toyota - 16.5
3 - BMW Sauber - 4
4 - Renault - 4
5 - Williams-Toyota - 3.5

FIA F1 World Drivers Championship (top 5)

1 - Jenson Button - GBR - Brawn-Mercedes - 15
2 - Rubens Barrichello - BRA - Brawn-Mercedes - 10
3 - Jarno Trulli - ITA - Toyota - 8.5
4 - Timo Glock - GER - Toyota - 8
5 - Nick Heidfeld - GER - BMW Sauber - 4

DIscuss!

*could the other round threads be moved here pretty please?

no, cos this is for discussing the f1 game coming out latter in the year.

lol, I assumed there was so much F1 chat that you made an F1 forum...

move this?

Shanghai should be another circuit where the KERS cars SHOULD be up there.... having said that we saw in Sepang this wasn't the case.
The highest KERS car was 7th but I'd expect them to be higher this time out.
The long back straight will benefit them no end but the cars with strong aero such as Toyota, Red Bull and Brawn will STILL be there in the twisty stuff.

Expect a closer grid again and a much closer race in dry conditions.

the highest kers car was 2nd jenson lol

Chaddy wrote:the highest kers car was 2nd jenson lol

Not in QUALIFYING it wasn't
7th place to Kimi i the maybe maybe not KERS Ferrari ....I ALWAYS know my facts hehehe.

good, interesting morning practice. though it's evident certain teams are sandbagging.

i wonder if there's a way to tell whether being slow is down to high fuel load or a genuine lack of pace?

Grid 2mw -

1)Button
2)Trulli
3)Barachelio

And Ferrari say -

There is no kers issue! and we are so much slower with out it!

I think Massa has seen a giant spider and is trying to swat it....
either that or Mr Press man has got it wrong again and Massa's beating some sense into him.
As predicted the 'new' McLaren diff is utilising the U shaped blocked off area I elluded to in TT the other night.
The new front wing seems to have brought them abit more front end stability too. AND NO FLO VIS THIS TIME!!!!

Grid Prediction (Top 5):
Button
Rosberg
Webber
Barrichello
Trulli

What the F is flo vis?

wow, front row, Vettel annnndd ALONSO!!!

Vettel had some balls leaving it that late in each session.

Crisis Nine wrote:What the F is flo vis?

Flo-Vis is the coloured paint McLaren have been using during testing to correlate data from wind tunner/CFD to the track data.
It allows the to visibly see the air flow over certain parts of the car be it the front wing/suspension or the diffuser area.
It was last seen being used on the car in Malaysia but is not normally seen at public outings at all. This raised suspicions the team was usure as to the problems it was having with the aero.
The fact theyve gone a whole weekend without using it seem to make it cleaer they have all but solved their correlation issues.

the Red Bulls don't need no fancy twin deck diffuser

yeah but just imagine if they did!!!!!!

My race prediction iiiiisssss......
1) Vettel
2)Button
3)Webber

Ferrari to get first points (Kimi).
McLaren too (Lewis).

Piquet WILL crash again.

Glock will get more points

I think Jr is gonna get the boot soon...

seconded.... otherwise why the hell else is his dad always there?

Jenson09 wrote:

Crisis Nine wrote:What the F is flo vis?

Flo-Vis is the coloured paint McLaren have been using during testing to correlate data from wind tunner/CFD to the track data.
It allows the to visibly see the air flow over certain parts of the car be it the front wing/suspension or the diffuser area.
It was last seen being used on the car in Malaysia but is not normally seen at public outings at all. This raised suspicions the team was usure as to the problems it was having with the aero.
The fact theyve gone a whole weekend without using it seem to make it cleaer they have all but solved their correlation issues.

Ahh nice one man cheers for explaining it. I thought I could see the air flow on some cars at the last race.

Yaaaaaaaay!

Wow where predictions go I'm not too bad eh

I predicted that Vettel would win, button would get a podium and Alonso would finnish in the points.

I was nearly right

Yeah, told my mate before the race this morning I thought it had Vettel all over it, given that his other win he was on pole and it was soaking wet. Red Bull had an absolute stormer of a race.

Wat a race,

The Red Bulls were flyin and congrats to Both vetlle and Webber and Button as well.

Looks like were in for a great season.

glad 2 see mclrean move up and ferrari well thinks its now the worses start since 81

have too say that was the most boring race this season if it wasn't for the Ferrari's finishing out of the points AGAING lol i would have turned over and as for the commentary they were so far behind i was shouting at the tv for em lol hope the next race is a lot better