F1-Geeks Armchair Team Principal - China

Shanghi Internatinoal Racing Circuit.   Really, one of my favorite tracks.  This track is all about the corners and it starts with my 4th favorite turn of the season.  Turn 1.  A decreasing radius turn, it gets tighter and tighter as you go through it and eventually ends with an opposite side hairpin.  Very hard to get right. 

Then comes my 3rd favorite turn in the season.  Turn 8. With Turkey off the calendar, this is the closest we are going to get to a "Curva Diobolica" and the setup from 7 makes this a fun one to get through.  

Finally my 2nd favorite corner of the year.   The 12-13 combo.   You start out very tight and it loosens as you go.  If you hit it right, you can just go flat out and slingshot yourself on to the back straight.   Just awesome in simulation, it must be unbelievable in reality.

So how did the drivers fare on this bunny/snail hybrid?   Read on to find out.

Qualifying was actually interesting.  I suppose that's not really fair.  Qualifying is almost always interesting but this time I really had no idea what was going on.

Vettel doesn't make it out of second and on his first run, Rosberg turns in a lap almost a full second faster than Vettel's best.  So much faster than anyone else that he just gets out of his car has a whisky, paints some graffiti on Schumacher's fire suit and takes a nap in his hammock.

Sauber continues its rise and we get Kobyashi in 4th.

Schumacher locks in 3rd but because of Hamilton's penalty and we end up with an all Mercedes front row.   The first pole for Mercedes as a manufacturer since 1955.  We're talking Fangio days.  One could say that it's not that big of a deal because Mercedes wasn't in F1 as a constructor/owner for 50 years.  One could also say that it was pretty damn cool that it only took them two years to get a pole after being gone for so long.  So suck it...one could say.

The Mercedes get away very respectably, are they they new RedBull?  Everyone gets away clean but Senna gives his countryman a little love tap.  Massa's built up a callus on his rear end from being bumped and passed so often, he didn't seem to notice.  And really, once you've taken a spring to the head, it's easy to let the little things go.

I'm at the point where I want to see Schumacher win.  Rosberg would have had to make a major mistake but still second place would have been great.  A problem with the "lollipop" robot costs him a podium.

Pit stops were the factor in China.  It was dramatic but I think it would have been more dramatic to have Button come out right behind Rossberg and have him chase him to the end.   My desire for drama was sated by the incredible wheel to wheel racing.  At one point nearly three across, the Perez, Grosjean, Maldonado and Alonso battle was classic.  Clean, professional but very close racing in the last half of the race made this the best race I've seen in a long time.

Rossberg 1st
Button 2nd
Hamilton 3rd

How did I do in the league?  Not very well.   RedBull fell off, Kimi and Sauber didn't really impress and my closest rival has Rossberg, Hamilton, and Button.  A near perfect race for him.   I'm still in front but only by 9 points.


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