Chinese GP, what a race!

cooker3

Well what are everyone thoughts on this?

I thought it was a fantastic race, even if you exclude the championship battle it would have been a fantastic race and add the championship battle to the mix and what a rollercoaster it was.

First of all, props to Schumacher, he drove an outstanding race, I thought today was going to be damage limitation and I bet he thought it as well, but he came up through the field nicely, didn't make any mistakes and took advantage of mistakes made by others.

Alonso was unlucky today, he clearly had the race in his hands but Renault screwed up badly today which is unusual for them, they gave him a horrible set of tyres and then messed up next pit stop costing him the race, without that he would have won easily.

The championship battle is set up beautifully, momentum is clearly with Schumacher and is now ahead but Renault were faster today, I think Schumacher is favourite but whatever happens it's going to be exciting!

steviec

With the way he qualified yesterday, getting into 6th when no other bridgestone runner came close to even reaching the final session, I knew we were going to be in for something special today.

Once again Michael did what only Michael does and won the race against opponents with a far superior package. I'm not sure luck comes into it, Alonso killed his tyres charging off in the first stint and they had to change, and he wasn't able to adapt to the new tyres. His laptimes even on the new tyres were still well ahead of any bridgestone runners... except Michael. Michael was on a mission today and it was great to see him overtake Alonso on track(along witha number of others)

By the second pitstop the race was already won, it'd be interesting to see how Fernando's pace at the end would compare with Michael if he wasn't cruising at that stage. Renault should have let Fisi race instead of making him wait for Fernando, he was their best chance to beat Michael today and with a much stronger package under him he may have had the pace(although his inability to quickly adapt to dry tyres hurt him a lot)

Overall though it was a fantastic race, Michael showed why he's the best in the world and the championship couldn't be tighter.

Edwardius

I'd be wondering about the engine in the back of that renault for the next race. I doubt Fernando had the revs turned down like Schuey...

v10

Dead Ed wrote:

I'd be wondering about the engine in the back of that renault for the next race. I doubt Fernando had the revs turned down like Schuey...

Yeah thats a good point .. although they tend to run a lot of wing on wet days which kinda limits the revs ..

Excellent drive by schumi and in fairness a good drive by alonso too although he made a bad call opting for new front tyres and that ultimately lost him the race.

dor83

Yeah it was a great race, i was worried Schumi was'nt going to do well(it could have all but ended the title race). It makes for a great end to the season, glad I book my trip to Brazil. Must say I felt sorry for Kubica, he would have had a great race but for a poor tire choice(If he made it then the team should have said no, he does'nt have the experience to make big choices like that).

aidan_dunne

dor83 wrote:

It makes for a great end to the season, glad I book my trip to Brazil.

I just realised something about that. As far as I know (and feel free everybody to correct me if I'm wrong) isn't it theoretically possible that the championship may not actually go down to the last race and could, in fact, be settled next weekend? Here's why I say that:

Scumacher and Alonso - both currently level on points after today's race but Schumacher has the championship lead as a result of having one more race win over Alonso.

Next weekend - Suzuka, Japan. If Schumacher wins and Alonso fails to finish (unlikely, I know, but still), he scores 10 points, putting him into a 10 point lead and then also would have 2 race wins ahead of Alonso. That means that even if........

Brazil, Final Race - Alonso wins, Schumacher fails to finish, they would end up level on points again at the end of the season but Schumacher would still be world champion as a result of having one more race win ahead of Alonso.

Therefore, as I said, if Schumacher wins next weekend and Alonso fails to finish, it doesn't matter what Alonso does in Brazil, it'll be too late, Schumacher will have wrapped up the title already in Japan.

Is my logic correct there in all that? Or am I missing something somewhere that someone else here can point out?

cooker3

aidan_dunne wrote:

I just realised something about that. As far as I know (and feel free everybody to correct me if I'm wrong) isn't it theoretically possible that the championship may not actually go down to the last race and could, in fact, be settled next weekend? Here's why I say that:

Scumacher and Alonso - both currently level on points after today's race but Schumacher has the championship lead as a result of having one more race win over Alonso.

Next weekend - Suzuka, Japan. If Schumacher wins and Alonso fails to finish (unlikely, I know, but still), he scores 10 points, putting him into a 10 point lead and then also would have 2 race wins ahead of Alonso. That means that even if........

Brazil, Final Race - Alonso wins, Schumacher fails to finish, they would end up level on points again at the end of the season but Schumacher would still be world champion as a result of having one more race win ahead of Alonso.

Therefore, as I said, if Schumacher wins next weekend and Alonso fails to finish, it doesn't matter what Alonso does in Brazil, it'll be too late, Schumacher will have wrapped up the title already in Japan.

Is my logic correct there in all that? Or am I missing something somewhere that someone else here can point out?

You correct, if Schumacher wins and Alonso picks up no points then he is world champion next week but after the battle they have been having that is never going to happen. Bernie wouldn't allow that!

J.R.HARTLEY

I seriously doubt that a car which has only retired once this season would break down suddenly in the penultimate race as the championship comes to a head.

DermoMIO

was a good race so happy Schumi won it i watched the highlights on itv and knew alonso came 2nd and was so nervous that schumi came 3rd or sumtim thank the lord

Darwin

I seriously doubt that a car which has only retired once this season would break down suddenly in the penultimate race as the championship comes to a head.

True, but don't rule out other possibilities (e.g. unexpected puncture, getting punted off the track on the first corner etc)