Chinese Grand Prix Recap: A Story of Two Set-ups

Much like that old football adage, Saturday in Shanghai was somewhat of a rollercoaster.

From the highs of celebrating a P2 in the morning, to the frustration of Q1 elimination just hours later.

Our two ‘halves’ were the periods either side of the Sprint race in the morning, and Grand Prix qualifying later in the afternoon. The half-time team talk had come in the form of a second perc fermé period, which allows teams to adjust their set-ups between the two sessions.

Our tactic? A change to the set-up of W15, as we continued to experiment with what was possible around the Shanghai International circuit.

Toto said on the eve of our first Chinese GP in five years last week that the circuit would throw up plenty of unknowns. He was right.

It would be about the art of making ‘correct decisions, with imperfect information.’

Add in the lottery of the Sprint weekend with new rules and a new format, and the window of certainty became even smaller, with less margin for error.

In an effort to find more performance, both drivers made substantial set-up adjusts. To improve the car in low-speed corners, they went lower and stiffer. This is where we return to perfect decisions, with imperfect information.

Any setup change to an F1 car requires time to adjust once on track.

While Lewis was on to comfortably reach Q2, a lock up into the final hairpin cost him over half a second. A small error that had big consequences. The result was P18.

George fared better but again was just the wrong side of the congested pack behind Red Bull, ending the session P8. Three tenths would have put him at the head of the second row.

"We are in that fight between P3 and P8 and, unfortunately, we've found ourselves at the back end of that battle," he said.

"Small differences can have a major impact."

The debrief continued after the race: "The car does seem to work in a small window, and I did think it [making the change] was the correct thing to do.

"Sadly, it made today very difficult." Toto added: "We must make sure that we are not trying to find a silver bullet each weekend when it comes to how we run the car; we need to focus on getting the basics right, and maximising the package we have.

"Today, we didn't have the car in the right window: we made too many extreme changes after the Sprint and that made the most important part of the weekend much more challenging.

"The gaps behind Red Bull are close, and small gains will make a big difference. We are hoping to bring some upgrades to Miami and it will be interesting to see how they perform."

Eighteen points on our tally keeps us fourth in the Constructors' after the opening five races.

Our sights now turn to Florida in two weeks' time, with the first of a series of updates likely to appear on W15 for the second Sprint weekend of the season.

In our game of two halves, one factor that did not change was our appreciation of the fans on our first trip to China in five years.

"It's been awesome to see the incredible fans here after five years away. They are some of the best in the world," beamed Lewis.

George, who raced a special edition Chinese GP helmet and launched his own Douyin social media channel before the weekend, added: "The fans here made the atmosphere extra special, off track as well as on."