I think Ferrari and Vettel will win if the temperatures are hot as in the warmer temps of Australia they kept their tyres better. Bottas could even beat Hamilton for the same reason, if Mercedes let him, we could see if there is a clear pecking order in that team on Sunday. It's great that it there is a clear unpredictability before each race now about who will do best.
Can we go for 2013 if possible!? Schuey had the WDC sewn up with 9 races to go in 2012 I think! (Had won it by the French GP if memory is correct) Think 2013 they started off with the 2012 car, the others had caught up, and the 2013-GA took time to come on song.
If he had a real injury, fair play. I'm still not convinced. Ref Jos coaching Max , fair play again. Breatore ( sp) said at the time Jos was the future of F1 iirc.
I'm thinking it's a season like 2007 when it was either mclaren or Ferrari that suited different tracks. That was a good season before they ruined all the rules. Edit: am I allowed to mention 2007
I reckon hamilton will be well ahead of his team mate but i just don't know about ferrari here. I have a bad feeling they will start ****ing up by trying to be too clever. they have played in both races now and won in one (by getting a slice of luck with vettel going long) and lost in china especially wiht raikkonen. If they play undercut better... as in push hard and see when hamilton starts struggling then just pit and get hammer down.. they will get same results. trying this long game isn't really working out imo.
I think for there to be a race Hamilton must be in front, the Ferrari looks decent running in dirty air and it doesn't seem to hurt their tyres that much. I think if Vettel gets in front he'll be gone, and if Hamilton tries to keep up he'll hurt his tyres.
It's going to be hot but it's also a night race so the track temperature will be less than it could be. Surely it's looking good for Ferrari, but I wonder if there's any doubts still there of their PU and how it handles a hot and strenuous race track.
Interesting. I know we don't know the full context of the interview but indicates that Lewis thinks the Merc is a faster car.
It's still quicker over 1 lap, but without a rear gunner it's hard to hold on to p1 in the race. Although in fairness Hamiltons quali pace was impressive in China, really got a good lap out of the car. So over 1 lap they may be similar in pace.
OK I've just read how many updates Ferrari have brought to this race. Got to be Vettels for the taking.
"I don't know what Wehrlein is doing" says a frustrated Estaban Ocon on his team radio as the Sauber driver takes up space on the track in front of him. "Wehrlein doesn't know what Wehrlein is doing so don't worry about that..." comes the reply...
