Chinese GP Preview: will Vettel continue to dominate?

So with the first two races already behind us, we now head to China. At the moment there has only been one man tasting the sweet flavor of victory, and that man is Vettel. It’s to soon to talk about it, with so many races to go until the end of the season, but may Vettel be heading to a revalidation of his title?

Well, over the past two races Vettel had a good margin over his opponents, especially in Australia. Arriving in Malaysia he was once again always in command of the race but his advantage got cut. The distance between him and the McLarens has been tightened and in China the KERS system may be decisive to decide who will be in the front.

In fact, the race in Shanghai can be one of those where the KERS system will really make the difference. We can’t forget that the Chinese track has the longest straight of every circuit in the F1 calendar. With a straight driven almost at full throttle for most of the time during 17 seconds and with 62% of a lap to the circuit being driven in full throttle any extra power that can come from the KERS should be worthy. Red Bull is still having problems with their system, and with just one week to prepare for China, probably we won’t see much of an improvement in China.

With a non-reliable KERS system and with a Renault engine that seems not as strong as the Mercedes model in the McLaren Red Bull may be in some trouble in China. Together with the new-for-2011 DRS the Austrian team may open the doors for the first non-Vettel nor Red Bull victory of the season.

Tyres strategy may also play its part in the race as Pirelli has already identified the Shanghai International Circuit as a track that could cause stress and degradation on the tyres because of the heavy braking and traction requirements. The inconstant weather in Shanghai may also be an important factor to have in consideration for the weekend. Last year the weather and difficulty of predicting it resulted in a total of 69 pitstops. For those who are F1 strategy aficionados this could be a very exciting race.

Then there are some questions that still remain unanswered. The first is whether the Mercedes team will finally be able to produce any relevant result. The team was very confident at the beginning of the season, but since then has completely failed their objectives of fighting for the podiums and even for victories.

And will Lotus Renault continue its good results and continue to challenge the top teams? And will either Heidfeld or Petrov be able to bring to the team their third consecutive podium finish?

This and much more will put all the F1 fans in front of the TV during the whole weekend. And if you think you know who might be the winner of the Chinese Grand Prix you definitely have to participate on Autoviva’s F1 Competition. It’s simple, just go here and cast your prediction by leaving a comment.