The Chinese Grand Prix Thread

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Qualifying - Fernando Alonso on pole ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen. Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello make up the top 8

Full Results

Weather conditions were sunny with air temperature around 24 degrees while track temperature reached 28 degrees.

The session went trouble free for most of the drivers however Kimi Raikkonen appeared to struggle with his car and made two small mistakes while Mark Webber looked set for a top 6 finish at the second sector but a lockup in the final sector cost him around 7 tenths.

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Any indicators on straight line speed, are the Renaults closer to the McLarens if so?

During all the sessions, the Renaults this weekend have been at or near the top speeds at all 3 sectors.

In qualifying today Alonso was the fastest at all the speed traps!

At the fastest section of the track, the Renaults were 6 km/H faster than the McLarens in qualifying. This could mean the Renaults are a bit lighter or the McLarens are running more wing or both!
In practice Alonso also clocked the fastest speed but with a smaller margin to the McLarens

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Thanks for your Welcome, Julian. I hope to increase my English level next time
What about Kimi's performance? Two mistakes or cold tyres? Has Alonso got better car than Kimi this weekend? Speed diference on speed trap, more petrol or more aerodynamic charge on Kimi's?

squadron, welcome to the forums.

I think the two car/driver combinations are very closely matched here. Kimi has been a few tenths faster in practice however we've seen in the past bigger gaps.
There is no doubt that Alonso's lap was cleaner than Raikkonen's however that could be due to a heavier fuel load or more wing, we don't know but one thing is for sure, if both go through the start tomorrow without problems, we will see a very tough fight between those two. Fisichella could come into play here by going slow enough to allow Alonso to build a big buffer early in the race. Of course Raikkonen and McLaren are aware of this and will be trying their best to get ahead of Fisichella at the start or on the first few laps when the tyres are cold and Fisichella has struggled in that area in the past. If the McLaren has more wing though, it could be hard for Kimi to overtake.

It will be interesting!

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Race - Fernando Alonso wins ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Ralf Schumacher. Giancarlo Fisichella, Christian Klien, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Jenson Button make the top 8.

Full Results - Excellent race commentary by Julian - Your thoughts on the race

Weather conditions were sunny with air temperature around 25 degrees while track temperature reached 29 degrees.