"Cato Batista" 12/04/2012 19:43:52 ID #144
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let’s get ready for the 3rd and 4th rounds of the season in back to back weekends in China and Bahrain. Well, at least those are the plans, but only 10 days before the race in Bahrain there are still serious doubts the event will take place due to political unrest in the country. Word is that all F1 personnel was issued with return tickets to Europe after the Chinese GP, most Teams already making plans to skip the 4th race in the calendar.
But let’s focus our attention to action on track staring with tomorrow’s practice sessions. We know McLaren has the quickest (and prettiest) car right now, and that most teams will have very little changes on their machines for this race preparing big updates to be introduced at the Spanish GP in May 13. The big question is still how fast the Red Bulls really are, and given the Shanghai circuit’s characteristics it looks like the RB8 could be outpaced...again. This is rainy season in that part of the world, and so far the forecast is 50-50 for the weekend, so we may be treated to another thriller similar to Malaysia 3 weeks ago, and another chance for the smaller teams to pounce on the big ones...and for Alonso to keep his improbable lead in the championship. And yes, another chance for Perez to shine and make a large chunk of the CFA membership extremely happy (unless Peter Sauber gets nervous again and settles for less...).
Another factor for us to consider is that Hamilton will get a 5-position grid penalty for changing the gearbox in his McLaren.
This is the third and last race for you to analyse the field and submit your Pre-Season-Picks. So far only 7 colleagues had sent theirs, which can be modified before the April 20 deadline, which of course could be postponed to Barcelona if the Bahrain GP doesn’t happen.
Keep your fluids running in temperature; we are back in action tomorrow!
Cheers

Cato


Edited by Cato Batista 2012-04-13 20:51:19