chinese grand prix

The Chinese Grand Prix was a bit of a let-down, to be honest.

China is usually good - it has a hairpin bend that's very wide that usually lends itself to lots of overtaking, but this time there was very little.  I mean, it wasn't a bad race, it's just compared to Bahrain it wasn't all that much.

Of course, that's the problem when you have an amazing race - it raises your expectations quite a lot, so it makes the next race seem worse, even if you'd have been happy with it normally.

It's looking like Mercedes may be unstoppable this year, though.  Speaking of which, I saw that they tipped up to the Red Bull appeal against the fuel flow thing and tried to get them banned for 3 races.

I found it quite amusing, tbh - proper F1 style kick them while they're on the floor stuff.  In that regard ti was kinda surprising that it came from Mercedes, rather than Ferrari, as that's the sort of thing they would generally engage in.

It is quite odd when you think of it - Red Bull appealed against a punishment that had already been applied, and Mercedes were basically going "Actually, that punishment was way too light."

They apparently submitted a 95 page document in support and had a QC there arguing their case.  The tribunal basically ignored them and simply upheld the existing punishment, which was fair enough.  I do sort of take Red Bull's point if they think the sensor wasn't working properly, but if you're told to do something by the race director you should comply and then make a case afterwards.

Especially when it's the first race of the season - I think they'd have been more likely to make some concession or do something for the rest of the season if they'd taken that approach.  By disobeying you've undermined any point you may then want to make.