FIA Formula 1 Championship 2012

**KERSMcRae** · April 16th, 2012 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by CoDer

Malas nga eh. Idiot tire guy 5,000 penalty were slapped on the team as a result.

Ironically, Brawn made credits to Rosberg's win because of their tyres.

Brawn says tyres were key to victory - Yahoo! Eurosport

Ross Brawn believes that his team getting its tyres into the 'sweet spot' of performance was key to Nico Rosberg delivering his maiden victory for Mercedes in China.

With the Brackley-based outfit having headed to Shanghai aware that it needed to work on solving the tyre problems that had blighted its performances in the first two races, Rosberg was dominant in Sunday's event.

And Brawn believes that rather than the result showing the relative performance of the cars, he thinks it was all about tyres.

"I think with these tyres if you get it right on the day then you can do what we did today," explained Brawn. "You can see what is very strong opposition perhaps not quite hitting the sweet spot, and having what happened today.

"We managed to get it to work and others didn't, and that will be the characteristic of this year. I think the teams will all get better in using tyres and, as they get better, the occasions when you don't get it right will be fewer.

"But today we got the tyres right, we got the set-up right and we saw the results."

After Mercedes overheated its tyres in Australia and did not get them warm enough in Malaysia, Brawn said that he was actually fearful of the temperatures dropping in China.

"We didn't want it to get too cold funnily enough, because when it gets cold the rubber can start to grain, and you can struggle and fall out of window.

"We were anticipating it being a bit warmer, and we set the car up for that. But the tyres worked perfectly and James [Vowles], our strategy guy, called the race absolutely perfectly in terms of it being two stop. The tyres were just starting to ease off as we came in the pits and that side worked out very well."

Brawn also said that he was not too fearful of Jenson Button threatening Rosberg for victory if the McLaren's last stop had not been delayed.

"We were keeping a pretty close eye on him, and obviously it was a big relief that they had a slow stop and fell into that pack, because obviously they should have come out in front of it.

"It would have been much more of a race though. I haven't really spoken to Nico, but I have a feeling that he had a bit in reserve."

and despite the 5K penalty, the race stewards are looking into the swift action of the driver (Shumi) after he noticed the problem, pulled over to avoid accident.

Mercedes fined for Schumacher pitstop - Yahoo! Eurosport

Chinese Grand Prix winner Mercedes has been fined by the race stewards for the incident involving Michael Schumacher during his pitstop.

The German was forced to retire from the race after his mechanics failed to secure the front right tyre properly during his first and only stop.

Schumacher's incident was under investigation and the FIA imposed a fine of 5,000 euro to the team after the race for the unsafe release of the German's car.

"The prompt action of the driver, in stopping the car as soon as the problem was noticed, is taken into account in the penalty determination," said the stewards.
AutoSport

**Ry_Tower** · April 16th, 2012 08:25 AM

Sayang schumi!!!! arggghhhh....

**CVT** · April 16th, 2012 09:04 AM

Nak ng...

May penalty nga pala...

**niky** · April 16th, 2012 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by CoDer

And his position were taken over near the end of the race because his tire can no longer hold their grip.

Bad strategy.

Webber started 6th. Ended up 4th. Gained two places.

Vettel started 11th. Fell back to 14th due to a chaotic start. Gained six places off his start to finish 5th. Gained nine places from that disastrous first lap. I think he made the most of a bad situation... and he managed those tires pretty well to keep a top five finish... in a car that was 3/10ths slower than Webber's because of that old spec exhaust system... which was the same reason why he couldn't get into Q3.

The fact that all three of Vettel's qualifying laps in Q2 were within less than a tenth of each other shows that he was pushing the car to its fullest, and it was still too slow.

-

The two-stopper was a good gamble. Rosberg won on a two stopper with excellent tire management and race strategy, holding enough of a lead over Button so that Button couldn't overtake him in the pits. Even if Button hadn't had that bad stop, he would still have been several seconds behind Rosberg at the end, and would have still had to overtake the Mercedes on the track after catching him. Something that doesn't seem likely given the Mercedes' straightline speed.

Lotus did it wrong with Kimi. Ultra-short first stint, second pit stop was waaaaaaay too early. Massa's car, on the other hand, was just not good enough on tire wear... even though it had the pace to stay in the hunt in the middle stint.

**Monseratto** · April 16th, 2012 03:03 PM

I feel for that lug nut guy...

**CoDer** · April 16th, 2012 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by niky

Webber started 6th. Ended up 4th. Gained two places.

Vettel started 11th. Fell back to 14th due to a chaotic start. Gained six places off his start to finish 5th. Gained nine places from that disastrous first lap. I think he made the most of a bad situation... and he managed those tires pretty well to keep a top five finish... in a car that was 3/10ths slower than Webber's because of that old spec exhaust system... which was the same reason why he couldn't get into Q3.

The fact that all three of Vettel's qualifying laps in Q2 were within less than a tenth of each other shows that he was pushing the car to its fullest, and it was still too slow.

-

The two-stopper was a good gamble. Rosberg won on a two stopper with excellent tire management and race strategy, holding enough of a lead over Button so that Button couldn't overtake him in the pits. Even if Button hadn't had that bad stop, he would still have been several seconds behind Rosberg at the end, and would have still had to overtake the Mercedes on the track after catching him. Something that doesn't seem likely given the Mercedes' straightline speed.

Lotus did it wrong with Kimi. Ultra-short first stint, second pit stop was waaaaaaay too early. Massa's car, on the other hand, was just not good enough on tire wear... even though it had the pace to stay in the hunt in the middle stint.

Vettel is plain stubborn, he should have used the new spec exhaust system, Webber was doing well with it.

RB is still undeniably slow on the straight, few more tweaks and they're back in shape.

**niky** · April 16th, 2012 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by CoDer

Vettel is plain stubborn, he should have used the new spec exhaust system, Webber was doing well with it.

RB is still undeniably slow on the straight, few more tweaks and they're back in shape.

Yeah... if Vettel has anything to answer for, it's that bone-headed decision to go back to the pre-season exhaust. Obviously it's going to be slower.

**simplicity** · April 17th, 2012 07:21 AM

so far.. my wish has been fulfilled. that no same driver wins the first races. GALING!
i immediately saw that the right front of MSC's car hasn't been put properly yet. the same thing
happened to JB last year i think in Silverstone(?)
and Kimi - SAYANG!!!.. anak ng..
i was pumping my fist when JB got SV, then LH got past, then MW! yes!
and KOB's start was.. forgettable

let's see what the sands of Bahrain does to the racing this weekend. :jeanie: