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2018 China Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: Lost in the hoopla was the fact the Ferrari had the better of Mercedes. Consistently. Consider this statistic -- Ocon is the only Mercedes customer car to score, with just one single solitary point.

TRACK: Long, long, long turns isn't all that much fun for the drivers. But at least there are some passing spots.

EVENT: Remember when China had to "forcefully" bus in college students to avoid the embarrassment of empty stands? Now, it appears the main grandstands are legitimately full with legit fans. There's a reason F1 considers China a growing market.

QUALIFYING: Mercedes doesn't like the cold, Vettel once again snatches pole from Kimi at the last moment, and Toro Rosso is brought back down to earth.

RACE: Some criticize Indy car racing for the unpredictable nature of the safety car and the affect on the race. But come on, admit it, even you purists, it's kind of fun every once in a while to have that unpredictability.

START: Vettel's squeeze on his teammate causes Kimi to drop back to fourth allowing Bottas into second, Verstappen jumps Hamilton and takes advantage of Kimi's issue, Hamilton does nothing, the Renault drivers bang wheels, and in the back Stroll jumps six spots.

RED BULL: If there ever was a team victory in racing, this was it. First the yeoman effort on Saturday to pull off a three-hour engine change in two hours, getting Daniel Ricciardo out in qualifying just in time ... literally, as he only had one hot lap to get out of Q1. Then, pulling off the stacked pit stops not once but twice in the race without losing their drivers any time. Finally, the quick, aggressive decision to pull their drivers in to change tires just as the safety car came out. Truly a team victory.

RENAULT: How can you give an engine to a customer which isn't even built up? Absolutely blows our minds.

RICCIARDO: Sure, the safety car ultimately gave Daniel the win thanks to being able to take on fresh tires. But, wow, those passes, each one better than the previous one, could fill a highlight reel.

VERSTAPPEN: Meanwhile, Max's over exuberance cost him the race, as he was initially in the better position than Ricciardo after the safety car. It was his win, but an ill conceived attempt on the outside of Hamilton put his teammate in the prime position. Then, Max's boneheaded attempt on Vettel cost him a podium. Is it time to start calling him Crashstappen?

FERRARI: Let's go back to the first strategic call they had to make. Under normal circumstances, we'll be talking about nothing except how Ferrari blew their pit stop call by allowing Vettel to get passed due to miscalculating their competition.

VETTEL: However, under normal circumstances, we also might be talking about how Sebastian's overaggressive starting move cost the ability of his teammate to shield Vettel from Bottas, ultimately allowing the pass in the pits in the first place.

RAIKKONEN: Kimi is now reduced to an overpaid blocker... But, just imagine if Ferrari pulled him in for fresh tires when the safety car came out.

BOTTAS: Shaking his head.

HAMILTON: Off the pace after Friday, and Lewis would be the first to tell you that. However, despite his worst weekend of the year, Lewis actually gained eight points on Vettel.

MERCEDES: In Australia, the virtual safety car worked against them. In China, the actual safety car worked against them. To add injury to insult, the safety car is a Mercedes...

HULKENBERG: Once again, completely outshone his teammate.

SAINZ: There's still time, but Carlos better wake up fast.

MCLAREN: You want proof you should never, ever believe anything someone in Formula 1 says? Remember how McLaren constantly boasted they had the best chassis on the grid, but the Honda engine was holding them back? Well, they are now the worst Renault powered car on the grid. How can that be? Oh, that's right -- never, ever believe anything someone in Formula 1 says...

ALONSO: Which leads us to Fernando. If things don't improve, where can he possibly go? We don't think Ferrari or Mercedes really wants him.

VANDOORNE: Speaking of where to go, when he can't come close to matching Alonso, Stoffel isn't exactly the next best thing.

LECLERC: Charles is also rapidly disproving he is anything close to the next best thing.

GASLY: While Pierre had a huge hiccup in proving he is the next best thing.

FORCE INDIA: The two drivers had another bit of a tussle. Keep an eye on them at Baku (we say with glee)...

HAAS: Seems to be some disharmony in the team.

WILLIAMS: Still a slow car.

ESPN: This time, they even stuck around for the post-race show. Though, we suspect it was because the race was in the middle of the night, and there was no need to break away for something else. But, we'll take it when we can.

FORMULA 2: Yeah, we're a week behind on commenting on the F2 races in Bahrain. But, there is something we have to comment on -- Artem Markelov may be the best Russian driver in open wheel racing today. In the feature race, he stalled on the grid, forcing him to start from pit lane. From there, after making one extraordinary pass after another, reminding us of Lewis Hamilton's year in GP2, Markelov finished third. Then, in the sprint race, he started sixth and won the race.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Passes.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 3 -- For three reasons (see what we did there...?). It is Daniel Ricciardo's number. Ricciardo has never won a race when he started in the top three. This is the first time in the modern hybrid era Mercedes has failed to win in three consecutive races.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: When asked about the pass on Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo said, "Sometimes you just have to lick the stamps and send it."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Is Max Verstappen ready to start maturing as a driver? He seems to be when he said, "I of course need to learn from what happened. Maybe I should just, not even calm down, but maybe oversee the situation a bit more. Of course this is definitely not what I want. It's a life lesson."

SCHEDULE: Just think, last year Baku gave us the race most talked about. It's hard to imagine how this year it can top Bahrain and China. But we sure hope it does!

Copyright © 2018 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Ricciardo 56
2. Bottas 56
3. Raikkonen 56
4. Hamilton 56
5. Verstappen 56
6. Hulkenberg 56
7. Alonso 56
8. Vettel 56
9. Sainz 56
10. Magnussen 56
11. Ocon 56
12. Perez 56
13. Vandoorne 56
14. Stroll 56
15. Sirotkin(R) 56
16. Ericsson 56
17. Grosjean 56
18. Gasly(R) 56
19. Leclerc(R) 56
20. Hartley(R) 51

Time of Race
1:35:36.380

Margin of Victory
8.894 sec.

Virtual Safety Car
1 for 5 laps

Lead Changes
3 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders
Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen

Fastest Race Lap
Daniel Ricciardo

Pole Position
Sebastian Vettel

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Vettel 54
2. Hamilton 45
3. Bottas 40
4. Ricciardo 37
5. Raikkonen 30
6. Alonso 22
  Hulkenberg 22
8. Verstappen 18
9. Gasly(R) 12
10. Magnussen 11
11. Vandoorne 6
12. Sainz 3
13. Ericsson 2
14. Ocon 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 85
2. Ferrari 84
3. Red Bull 55
4. McLaren 28
5. Renault 25
6. Toro Rosso 12
7. Haas 11
8. Sauber 2
9. Force India 1
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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