F1 | Chinese GP – Preview

The insertion of another compound has produced more suspense in strategies, and it could happen in Shanghai too. Pirelli will bring the Medium, Soft, and Super Soft tires, as we have seen up this moment. At Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have made the same choice (3 sets of Medium tire, 4 of Soft, and 6 of Super Soft), whereas at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have diversified the number of their sets of Medium and Soft. Four sets of “whites” and four of  “yellows” for Lewis and three sets of “whites” and five sets of “yellows” for Nico. Five sets of red Super Soft each one.

The strategy is different at William that has definitely preferred the Super Softs, with seven sets per driver. Only one set of “whites” for Massa, and two for Bottas.

At last, the teams reached an agreement: from the Chinese Grand Prix, the new qualifying format will be abbandoned. In Q3, we’ll fight again for pole position till the end. Meanwhile, Ferrari is facing its reliability problems. Let’s hope that this agreement does not lead to reduce the power or to give up the famous “little knob” because Vettel’s breakage had happened during the first lap after Saturday’s Q3.No news about the regulations 2017. Within the Working Group, there is no uniformity of views, and time is running out. Without a clear regulation, we will not have new entrances. Rather, there is a risk of some escape.

We await lower temperatures than those in Bahrain and the powers in action could change in the middle of the group. We have just to turn the TV on and watch the race, to understand if Fernando Alonso will be a piece of the action, as I think. In Bahrain, he was object of two different opinions: that of who was taking care of him and that of who decided to leave him at the pit.

Chinese GP timetable

Friday, April 15

Practice 1  4:00 – 5:30

Practice 2  8:00 – 9:30

Saturday, April 16

Practice 3  6:00 – 7:00

Qualifying  9:00

Sunday, April 17

Race  8:00