F1: Variables Create Shanghai Surprises

Formula 1

F1: Variables Create Shanghai Surprises

Adam Cooper says there are so many variables at work that it is anybody's Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted April 18, 2009 Shanghai (CHN)

The Shanghai International Circuit (LAT)

Vettel took his second career pole position (Getty)

This season continues to fascinate, and qualifying in Shanghai again produced an entertaining session and equally interesting grid. There are so many variables now that working out who has got what is like playing three-dimensional chess.

Consider the following. In addition to the six Brawn, Toyota and Williams cars in the double diffuser gang, Renault (with Fernando Alonso) and McLaren (with Hamilton) have made their first steps in that direction with their hastily fitted new parts, while Lewis in addition has a new front wing. In both cases their team mates have a more standard package, so the teams concerned have had to hone two different packages this weekend. Not easy.

Then there’s the KERS issue. Ferrari has temporarily ditched its system for reliability reasons, but performance hasn’t improved and both drivers have indicated that they miss it. Renault has followed suit, but at least with Alonso appears to have gained a little more performance. Meanwhile Robert Kubica tried it for the first time at a race weekend on Friday, but dumped it for today. With or without, he’s really struggling.

That leaves just Hamilton, Kovalainen and Heidfeld still running KERS on Sunday. Thus far drivers (both those with and without) have intimated that it’s more use for defence than attack in terms of overtaking, and it’ll be interesting to see how things pan out at this track.

Then there’s the tyre issue. The FIA’s insistence that Bridgestone brings an option and prime that are two steps apart means that this time we have the supersoft and the medium. As you will recall the former proved disastrous in Australia, and on Sunday it could prove the same, with lap times dropping dramatically after just a handful of laps. The medium tyre is also graining badly. Some drivers, notably the Toyota and BMW guys, really struggled for grip on Saturday, and over a race stint it’s not going to be easy to do consistent times.

Of course all this could be academic if it rains, as is predicted. Either way managing tyres is going to be absolutely key to the outcome of the afternoon, and even if the rain doesn’t affect the actual race, ambient and track temps are expected to be down, and thus tyres may behave differently from what the warmer conditions of Friday and Saturday predicted. A roll of the dice...

Shanghai International Circuit Wallpaper

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