Sainz's overtake was a real one - and Charles Leclerc didn't concede easily!😬

Sainz gained 0.5s over the straight, thanks to a better corner exit + slipstream and DRS.

Yet, he had to conclude the overtake into Turn 1: Leclerc braked several metres later than him!

(there was no team order to let Sainz by on the straight, only to not fight him hard)

Mercedes extended the first stint, losing ~2s/lap to the two McLarens for over 10 laps: mid-race they were just 8th and 9th.📉

Pace was excellent in the last stint (fresher tyres), but not enough to offset McL's lower tyre deg!🛞

Merc has multiple issues to solve. ⚠️

After pitting for a new set of Hards, Mercedes' pace suddenly improved by over 4s/lap, which is impressive even when taking into account the significant difference in tyre age.

McLaren's performance was less variable both between stints and throughout each stint as well.

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🗒NOTES ON Chinese GP:

-First race in 5 years! First time with 18" rims🛞
-First sprint of 2024
-Similar to Bahrain, where Aston struggled and Merc edged McL. That was 4 races ago, though!
-2 stops are likely
-1.4km full-throttle section🚀

📸 @pirellisport

Your prediction? 🤔

The Chinese GP features a 1.4km full-throttle section!➡️Top speed: crucial for lap time and to attack/defend💡

Image: top speed achieved in the last qualifying, during each team's best lap.

🟢Aston has solved their drag issues, contrary to ⚫️Mercedes and 🟠McL.

🔴Ferrari will likely run the same rear wing used in all the races so far.

Chinese GP: Medium-high load wings

✅Downforce CRUCIAL from T1 to T13.

❌The 1.4km full-throttle section will punish excessive drag, especially if caused by the (fixed) lower plane!

🔵RBR maximizes DRS effectiveness through an unloaded lower plane + very loaded upper plane.

Significant differences among the teams: Mercedes. Ferrari, Alpine and Williams have a less loaded wing compared to Aston Martin, for example.

Compared to RBR, McL has a less loaded upper plane and more loaded lower plane, which should make their DRS less powerful.

MINISECTORS - FP1 ChineseGP
🟢STR was quickest on the main straight, and out of T3/T8/T12
🟠PIA fast in the twisty S1 and S3
🟡VER quickest in S3 (long straight)

Laptimes still very slow (almost 5s to last pole)➡️Hard to guess the running order!
Aston: 324km/h (+4km/h vs McL)

FASTEST SECTORS - FP1 ChineseGP

Mercedes/ALO on Hards
Others on Softs

🟠NOR quickest in the twisty S1 by far:
-McL is showing excellent grip
-Most teams are probably still far from the limits
He aborted the lap while in Sector 3

🟢STR: quickest in S2
🟡RBR: quickest in S3

Visualizing the effect of flexible wings!👀
(Collab with @justf1car 🤝)

Downforce and drag are proportional to the speed squared: they are very small at low speeds, and become huge at high speeds.

This is a problem: cars have less grip at lower speeds (when they need it the most) and face a lot of air resistance at high speeds (on the straights)!

The clever F1 engineers invented flexible wings to get a better compromise:
-As much downforce as possible at lower speeds➡️Cornering improves;
-Reduced drag at high-speed thanks to the flexion of the wing➡️Top speed improves!

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TOP SPEEDS - SPRINT SHOOTOUT

Nine teams were in a narrow 3km/h range:
-Fastest (322km/h): Aston, Haas and Williams
-Slower: (319km/h): McL and Ferrari
-Slowest (just 315km/h): Alpine (high drag and, despite that, the drivers had to brake sooner than most!)

RACE PACE - Chinese GP SPRINT

🥇No one could match VER: 0.74s/lap quicker than anyone else!

🥈LEC was 2nd quickest, then🥉PER (+0.79s/lap) and ALO (+0.80s/lap). HAM was in the mix, too (+0.82s/lap)

McLaren was uncompetitive

What's your prediction for the race?🤔

Highest top speed in the Sprint: 348km/h for Stroll.

Leclerc was close (347km/h), and his average top speed was the highest together with Ricciardo's (337km/h for both).

Highest top speed without DRS: 324km/h (TSU).

📈START ANALYSIS - Chinese GP SPRINT

Best Starters: HAM and LEC
Worst Starter: PIA (0.4s slower than HAM and LEC to reach 200km/h).

The two Williams struggled, too (0.3s lost to the best start).

Despite the Softs, Russell's start was just average.

🗒Notes on Chinese GP!

🔵VER won and made the difference: PER couldn’t gain over NOR on the last stint
🟠NOR was MVP: he needs a win now
🔴Solid race by LEC; Ferrari limited the damage waiting for the upgrades
⚫️Good recovery by HAM
⚪️HUL in the points!

What’s YOUR take?🤔

RACE PACE - Chinese GP

🟡VER 0.67s/lap quicker than PER. A lot, even taking the traffic into account!

🟠McL (NOR) was 0.88s/lap behind but with one pit less.
🔴LEC: +0.31s/lap vs NOR➡️McL was clearly quicker.
🟢Aston's pace aided by the additional pits.

Mercedes: no pace.

TOP SPEEDS - Chinese GP

Stroll reached 348km/h as in the Sprint, the highest top speed once again: Aston reached the highest top speed in qualifying too, which confirms their low drag here.

McL was the slowest car when the DRS was inactive: only 314km/h.

AVERAGE TIME IN PITS - Chinese GP

🥇🟡RBR was fastest: flawless execution by
@F1mech and his crew!
🥈🟠McL: +0.06s slower
🥉🔴Ferrari: +0.10s

🟢Sauber desperately needs the updated wheel nuts to fix their troublesome pit stops.

Aston’s average was high due to STR.

TYRE DEG
(PIA excluded due to the damaged floor)

Aston: 4 tyre sets
RBR/Mercedes: 3 sets
NOR: 2 sets (M-H)
Ferrari: 2 sets

🟠NOR: excellent pace on the Hards (same as 🔵RBR); very good on Medium with low deg.

🔴Ferrari slower than NOR on both compounds.

Merc lacked pace on all compounds.