Sports Articles: Formula 1: China Talking Points

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Formula 1: Things To Think About After Race 3 In China

1. What on earth was going on in the warm up lap? I have not seen cars spin since David Coulthard was on pole and he span out on the warm up, putting himself out of the race. The coverage I had was in Arabic only, so I am not sure if there was an issue, no one has even mentioned it in any of the race reviews I have read to try and find out. It was bizarre though.

2. So Albon's pace in practice was real then! Torro Rosso had been second fastest in practice, though they did say a lot of it was down to luck. We were unable to see if it was genuine in qualifying but Albon showed some genuine speed to climb to 10th from a pit lane start. What he really needed was a safety car to close things up. As it was, his was probably the outstanding drive of the race.

3. Raikkonen and Giovanazzi, is Raikonnen outperforming the car or Giovanazzi just a bit slow? Or maybe it is a bit of both? Each race he has the Alfa Romeo up in the top places while Giovanazzi is among the backmarkers. It is an astonishing difference between the two, especially when Raikkonen did not look like he still had his speed before joining Alfa.

4. One thing I did notice while watching pit stops was the Alfa Romeo pit crew. They seem to have a real problem with the front jack or the guy handling it. The time they took in each stop was affected by him taking far too long to get the jack out the way. It was like he was new or the jack itself was not disengaging properly.

5. Ferrari made such a mess of team orders. Why would you swap them around in that position? Leclerc has shown he is quicker, so why ask him to go quicker or be swapped, then swap them when he does? It was made worse when all Vettel did was hold up Leclerc and ensure Verstappen had the drop on them in the pit stops. They are constantly shooting themselves in the foot and that is why, despite having the faster car last season, they could not compete with Mercedes. There is little sign the changes at the top have done anything but compounded their issues. Some of the things they do and say are just stupidity, such as the backing of Vettel over Leclerc, it makes no sense to do so or to say publicly you will do so.

6. Haas showed a surprising lack of race pace. They had looked like giving Red Bull a problem in the first couple of races, but their pace just evaporated this weekend. Is this a sign of where they are going this season or were the early races more indicative of their pace?

7. What on earth has happened to Vettel? He is driving like he is at the tail end of his career. It is not just silly errors, he does not seem to have the pace he once had, when he used to throw in fastest laps just for the fun of it. Now he seems to be struggling to keep pace with the really quick drivers.

8. Is Bottas a genuine title challenger? After the first race, when he showed the potential, he seems to have reverted back to the meek Bottas in the races. Despite getting pole position, he never troubled Hamilton after losing the lead on the start.

9. Are McLaren cursed? If it can go wrong, it usually goes wrong for McLaren. This time around Kvyat's slight error managed to see him hit both of them! They look to be so much more competitive this season, it would be nice to see them and Williams challenge at the front end of races again.

Written by Tris Burke April 14 2019 14:50:58