Having had time to reflect on the 2014 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix what are your thoughts and how would you rate the race? Is the racing better than last year or has the sound taken away some of the excitement from Formula 1? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
I gave it a 7 – what made the race interesting was:
1. Watching Rosberg fight his way up from 6th with no telemetry (though it was ridiculously easy for him to pass anyone)
2. Daniel vs Seb and hearing the radio exchanges – loved it when Seb said “tough luck” in response to being asked to let Daniel past, and then obviously had to think better of it. He probably decided it would look better just to let him past than to have Daniel pass him through skill and speed alone:) I wasn’t expecting Daniel to pull out such a big gap on him though.
3. At the end there was the suspense of whether Daniel would be able to catch up to (and maybe pass) Alonso…
4. Nice to finally see a Ferrari on the podium.
I voted the same for pretty much the same reasons. It did get predictable before the end, which is probably why the flagman wanted to get it over with..
Not looking to blue with anyone – I believe too much has been made of Seb’s remark.
He comes across to me as having a very dry SOH and it showed here with his ‘tough luck’ (for Daniel) in response to the answer to his tyre query.
Patently obvious that with the same boots but younger, DR was going to be faster, but what the hell – might as well give the suckers on the pit wall some moments of anxiety.
Down side though was perhaps causing his team mate to miss catching Fred, although I don’t really think that was on either – that fuel usage looked to be getting kind of marginal.
I took Vettel’s comment more as a reflection of his own position, as in tough luck for him that Danny boy was faster.
I voted a 3, because everything I’ll list below felt rather predictable to me.
Hamilton: he started well and drove it home in idle, almost. Boring (and hardly ever seen on TV either).
Alonso: he’s been light-years ahead of his team-mate this season and is always up for a bit of Red Bull baiting. He’s done that today as well. Nothing new here.
Ricciardo: The Australian has been on top form this far. Well either that or Vettel is just so bad. It’s no big surprise to see him beat the four time world champion again. Good to see, but was almost to be expected.
McLaren: I knew they’d be back to 2013 form soon enough, the trend was there for everyone to see. No big surprise 🙁
Williams: there’s always something with this team that keeps them from their well-deserved stand-out result. And they were so promising too in Australia! It feels like they’re jinxed this year.
Hülkenberg: the German has been punching above his weight for a long time now, with an exception every now and then. I’m constantly surprised why no top team wanted him. He’s become the consummate points finisher behind the best 2-3 teams.
The only thing I didn’t really expect was the difficult start of Rosberg. Man, does he have a hard time of it since the first race. If his catch-up had been any kind of challenge – the way he breezed by some of the other cars was almost embarrassing to watch – I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more. But there was no challenge at all. From the second lap on I knew this would be a Mercedes 1-2 victory again, if no defect gremlin appeared. It was only a question of when Rosberg would gain his second place, because it was his as soon as Hamilton got away cleanly.
The part about McLaren is true.. given they spend near the top teams, they’re probably the worst outfit on the grid in China, even Lotus have cut their budget back towards Williams and lost 100 jobs and are still beating them with a Renault engine! *Before Grosjean’s gearbox seized up.. and Maldonado wasn’t far off despite starting last..
Couldn’t agree more with Dan’s reasoning above. Results had not a single surprise and no real fights. Merc is so dominant that Rosberg could just skip quali and would still end up second. The Vettel Ricciardo fight was no real fight, but rather mild radio tantrum from Vettel, while amusing that doesn’t save the race’s entretainment value.
So hoping to see something more in the future; not expecting great show yet in Barcelona, but Monaco at least there should be a safety car or two that can make the racing better though hardly much overtaking there.
6. Didn’t fell asleep. Still happy there was formula one on…
I was just thinking the same thing after reading Dan’s post above – just having a race to watch would have to get at least a 5 for me because it would be better than having no race on at all no matter what it was like:)
True die hards 😉
Only 5 today as it was the least entertaining race so far, not because Lewis won from pole, but simply not a lot went on and I like a bit of drama to my races ( no matter where in the field it is)
Gave it a 3, for exactly the reasons Dan gave. Objectively the race was as uneventful as it could be, except maybe for the lightning start of Alonso and Massa. But as a Mercedes fan I can only be happy with this sort of outcome.
Honestly : I would like 8-9 races like this with Hamilton winning, just so that I can witness him become a WDC again (after McLaren did such a great job at messing up his challenge in 2010 and 2012 in particular).
6 for me. Somewhat processional after the “can I win on the first lap” mentality died down! I really wish they would agree to do away with DRS, or at leat reduce the wing slot, as it becomes almost a given that an overtake will happen if within the zone.