Looking to Sunday in China
The Chinese GP has had it’s moments over the past few years but apart from those it hasn’t really produced classic races, this year may be different with so many cars fighting over the top spot and with the track being quite different from the other we’ve had so far we might see a different winner.
The Ferrari’s will want to improve their performance and get back to the front, along with the rest of the teams they will bring upgrades to this circuit so we might see some change in the ordering throughout the field. Red Bull with turn up full of confidence having scored a 1-2 in Malaysia and having won this race last year. The McLarens will arrive hoping that they can get back on terms with the others as they don’t quite seem to have had the pace so far this year. Mercedes will be hoping that they can jump all of the big teams and that they see an improvement in the luck of Michael Schumacher who hasn’t exactly shone on his return to F1.
The smaller teams will also be looking for improvement with Williams, Renault and Force India all after the best of the rest spots, this battle is no less intense than the one up front though it seems Renault – at least in the hands of Kubica – have hauled themselves to lead this group.
Sauber will just be hoping that they can finish the race, the new teams have notched up more finishes than Sauber so far and a double engine failure in Malaysia won’t have helped their confidence, it may also worry Ferrari slightly but they claim Alonso’s failure was due to the gear selection issue he drove with and not really the engine.
The new teams will again be hoping for finishes and perhaps a little more speed, the HRTs in particular will be keen to push forward on the pace front to challenge the others. Lotus will be hoping they have fixed the hydraulic issues from the last race and can run to the finish – perhaps Virgin can beat them home?
The race should be good, China has enough room to get past people and the weather seems like it might play an important role even if it’s just the temperature as that affects how the teams can use their tyres. You’d have to look to Red Bull for the win though the new developments may throw in a surprise or two.
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