The Official F1 Chinese Grand Prix Pre-Race Banter and Discussion Thread [SPOILERS]

Barrister · #1 04-06-2009, 11:04 AM

It's 10-days before the GP in China and it's going to be a tough wait! I bet the teams, however, are very happy to get this break - particularly McLaren and Ferrari. On the other hand, I suppose that the Brawn GP boys would be just as happy racing each week given the pace that they are on. Nevertheless, the 2-week break between Malaysia and China always seems to produce something fun and interesting. Let's discuss anything and everything that comes up during the break in this thread!

In an effort to get more members involved in these Banter and Discussion threads, I am going to break them up into two parts for this race.

Let's use this thread as a "Pre-Race Banter Thread." We will discuss anything and everything about the Chinese GP here up and through the end of the Practice sessions.

I will start a new Banter and Discussion thread for the race just after Practice #3 ends. I will then open the Qualifying and Race Banter and Discussion thread.

I am hoping that breaking the Banter and Discussion into two separate threads more people will be brought to the discussion without feeling overwhelmed with 100 pages of posts starting them in the face when they visit. Let me know if you guys think this is a good idea. We will try it for the Chinese GP and see how we like it.

SPEED Channel TV listings for the race can be found here:

PROGRAMS - FORMULA-ONE-ON-SPEED - Formula 1 - Grand Prix Racing News, Headlines, Results - SPEEDtv.com

See you here for the first practice session:

Friday April 17 @ 11:00 pm PST/2:00 am ET.

I will post the complete practice schedule later today.

like.no.other · #2 04-06-2009, 11:43 AM

Great format Dana ..... yeah the wait is killing me I feel like a junkie that just fell off the wagon

TommyBahama · #3 04-06-2009, 11:45 AM

sigh...two weeks till my further decline down the fantasy rankings. my 7 driver team will lose too much money between now and then for me to be able to do swaps for quality drivers

.:Raul · #4 04-06-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommyBahama »

sigh...two weeks till my further decline down the fantasy rankings. my 7 driver team will lose too much money between now and then for me to be able to do swaps for quality drivers

I moved up quite a bit......I'm still holding on to Alonso and Massa hoping either of them will bounce back

BigE · #5 04-06-2009, 12:00 PM

I made some major moves immediately after the race, including *GULP* selling Lewis.

My team is anchored by Button who I picked up at an 8.1 cost basis. Webber, Kubica, Hedfield and Glock round out the rest of my team. One big money guy and four solid performers spread across three different teams.

I briefly toyed with the idea of going with a 6 or 7 man team that had some lower level guys like Fisi, Sutil, Piquet, Nakajima, etc, but decided to stick with some proven solid mid level performers along with Button. I am invested heavily in strong performing difusser-less cars (BMW/Sauber and RedBull) and hope that their strong performance without diffusers will only be enhanced once that issue is sorted out.

Two weeks is too long to wait. I wonder just how upset Lewis is over this whole issue with being forced to lie. I am sure Lewis is looking at Brawn's team and thinking how he should be sitting in Barrichello's seat.........

Alzilla · #6 04-06-2009, 02:39 PM

Yay for China! I just need to get the memories of Malaysia out of my head...

I'm curious to see how badly different drivers will be penalized though.

whitlock · #7 04-06-2009, 03:19 PM

China should be good! Plus its a much better time than Malaysia was.. sorry guys, couldn't stay awake lol.

I'm sure during this break there will be lots of drama to keep us entertained! FIA still might penalize McLaren... and isn't there going to be a hearing on the difusers used by Brawn, Toyota and Williams on the 14th??? I think that should shake things up a bit!

Over_Under · #8 04-06-2009, 04:17 PM

I sold KIMI back for Barrichello right as "the Malay" was ending. Since then, KIMI has dropped and BAR has gone up. I think I'll stick with a six-man. I would like to go 7, but it will have to wait until I get better results . . . if that happens. Two weeks seems like a long time. I think we even have a few races where we wait 3 weeks. Ugh. China will be a watershed I think because we'll probably see McLaren and Ferrari introduce Brawn-like diffusers. We'll see if it makes any difference.

Barrister · #9 04-06-2009, 04:28 PM

Current Lineup:

Button
Barrichello
Vettel
Rosberg
Glock

Pretty solid if I do say so. I would put Rubens and Jenson in the "high" price category and then I have Vettel, Rosberg and Glock in the "mid" price level. I have no "low" priced drivers.

If Lewis approaches a level where I can swap Rubens for him straight up, I will do it.

whitlock · #10 04-06-2009, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Over_Under »

I sold KIMI back for Barrichello right as "the Malay" was ending. Since then, KIMI has dropped and BAR has gone up. I think I'll stick with a six-man. I would like to go 7, but it will have to wait until I get better results . . . if that happens. Two weeks seems like a long time. I think we even have a few races where we wait 3 weeks. Ugh. China will be a watershed I think because we'll probably see McLaren and Ferrari introduce Brawn-like diffusers. We'll see if it makes any difference.

You can buy and sell during the race??? I thought they locked it up on Friday.