[Official] Driver of the race - Chinese Grand Prix

[John Turner]

I think the top 5 plus Ricciardo did mega jobs and I still think that Alonso is the best there is, but since he wasn't 33 times better than Jense (currently votes are 33 -1) I'm going to give it to the latter again! Yes, I'm biased, but reckon that 5th was an excellent outcome in a car that is regarded not much more than a midfield runner at the moment.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

hmm yeah from onboard, perez clearly took the inside line, so he should have stayed there. he didn't... maybe a 3 place grid drop? it was worse than what webber did - though i'd just put them both down as racing incidents tbh.

on the other hand, what was kimi doing out there anyway? he was never going to go around the outside of him and it's not a place for passing. no one else in the entire race tried to get up alongside someone at that corner, from what i could tell.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106792/
Martin Whitmarsh says Perez actually needs to bend over backwards less and be more fighty.

[beau1]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

hmm yeah from onboard, perez clearly took the inside line, so he should have stayed there. he didn't... maybe a 3 place grid drop? it was worse than what webber did - though i'd just put them both down as racing incidents tbh.

on the other hand, what was kimi doing out there anyway? he was never going to go around the outside of him and it's not a place for passing. no one else in the entire race tried to get up alongside someone at that corner, from what i could tell.

Really, I can't see anything wrong with what Perez did there. He was taking what is the natural racing line.

They teach you early in racing to near pass on the outside of of a double apex corner like that because you're going to get pushed out on to the dirty stuff. It generally isn't done because it is such a risky move.

[beau1]

never pass*

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by beau1

Really, I can't see anything wrong with what Perez did there. He was taking what is the natural racing line.

They teach you early in racing to near pass on the outside of of a double apex corner like that because you're going to get pushed out on to the dirty stuff. It generally isn't done because it is such a risky move.

Unless you're in a tintop.

Maybe he was going in deep to do a switch back and launch off the corner up the inside, I dunno. Probably wouldn't have worked anyway - might as well just wait for the DRS straights.

But Kimi has been a bit mellow in his comeback so some aggression is good.

Re Whitmarsh, I don't know what the h3ll he's going on about saying Perez isn't aggressive enough. The commentators certainly had it in for Perez saying he's moving all over the track blocking people. I thought he was plenty aggressive, more so than Button who asked permission to fight for position - and Perez certainly gave Kimi no room!

Ultimately, though, Perez's speed was pathetic compared to Button. And Massa and Grosjean, heck even Rosberg, put in really pathetic performances compared to their teammates. They were way off the pace.

[Razzzor]

DOTR?

Almost Alonso. He put Massa in his place, did some good passes, and easily won it. He did have the best car, clearly, but still that was a masterful drive, no one was going to beat him and he did have to pass plenty of cars. Reminds me of Schumacher in the Ferrari years.

Kimi was good, well ahead of Romain, but who knows if the damage 'actually' affected his speed.

Hamilton? He went from 1st to 3rd and was damn lucky Seb didn't pass him on that final lap. He doesn't deserve any votes, although he was much faster than Nico early on.

Seb? Only 2 votes after going from 9th to 4th and what would have been 2nd had he not been stuck behind Hulkenberg in the early going. What I found impressive was the fact he was staying with the soft runners at the start, even fighting to get past them. We saw at the end a new soft vs old hard was 3 seconds a lap.
Some good passes in a car that seems to be useless down the straights too. He made those softs last well, Button was done after a couple laps but Seb was still almost 3secs a lap faster than Hamilton after 4-5 laps. Shame he didn't strap them on a couple laps earlier - I don't know why they went and left it so late, his pace on the meds was doing nothing for him. 2 more laps and he easily would have been 2nd. Hell and safety car would have turned the whole race around. Not DOTR though because his pace on the mediums and not able to pass Hulkenberg wasn't good.

Button? Sure made those medium tyres last well and stayed with Seb and Nico for a while. Made Perez look bad too. But no DOTR.

I guess I'd give it to Dan. He beat a Lotus, McLaren, Force India and only 2secs behind Massa in the dominant car. That's pretty good for a car that barely made it out of Q1.

Hulkenberg's first half was good too - actually passing both Jense and Seb and pulling away from the McLaren after Sauber has really struggled at the first two rounds. But how the heck did he drift back to 10th?