Tyre warmers aren't there to provide an "advantage".
They're there to heat the tyres so that they provide grip immediately, without having to be heated via use.

If we were still in the Bridgestone era, where tyres were designed to be, erm, good then there'd certainly be an argument for banning tyre warmers.
As it is, though, Pirelli are under orders to build tyres that fall apart within a few laps so tyre warmers are a necessity to avoid a situation where a driver goes out on cold tyres, ruins them within a couple of laps and then is forced to replace them again.

And let's not forget that you've also got to consider the fact that the drivers are only allowed a limited number of tyres and that F1 always faces criticism whenever the cars end up going slower than junior formulae.

Sure, a driver could be forced to use cold tyres but then you'd get people whining that the cars were going too slowly or if they tried to go quickly too soon they'd ruin the tyres and not have enough to last through a race weekend.

Dunno if the proposed F1 ban on tyre warmers is still going ahead but, if it does, Pirelli are going to have to re-engineer their tyres substantially and, when that happens, you can bet your house that some team will find a way to take advantage of the new tyres in a way that'll lead to people moaning.

Interesting first day in China. Mercedes still by far the quickest but Ferrari (and surprisingly Red Bull) showing that their tyre management from Malaysia was no fluke. Over a race distance it could be quite close. McLaren continue their improvement and will be looking for race reliability and a chance to score points.

I listened to the qualifying on 5 Live Xtra.
I can't work out whether it was because I was still only half awake they managed to male it so extraordinarily boring I missed the results.

Then within seconds of the end they went off air ! Most bizarre, though xtra does seem to work in that 'I can't really be bothered' way.

No your quite right it was that boring. Looks like the GP will just be another dull Mercedes parade.

I actually wonder if mercedes didn't throw the race at Malaysia. Under orders to loose on purpose to make F1 seam less dull would not be surprised to hear it had been a fix between Mercedes and the FIA.

Still not sure what to make of the gap between Merc' and Ferrari.

In Q1 Merc' were 2 seconds faster than Ferrari on the same tyre but, OTOH, they are pretty even when the Merc' is on the prime and the Ferrari is on the option.

Given that the Ferrari is easy on it's tyres while the Merc' isn't, it could make for an interesting race, tomorrow, if the Ferrari can do 2 stints on the options and one on primes vs Merc' with 2 x primes and 1 x options.

Theoretically, the fact that Ferrari have to do 1 stint on the primes, where they're slower than the Merc', should sway things in Merc's favour but, then again, if the Merc's have to make their first pitstop sooner than Ferrari it'll mean Ferrari minimise the time they spend where they're slower than Merc' and might even gain track-position, mid-race at least.

I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a decent race tomorrow, with the Merc's at least having to catch and pass the Ferraris (Vettel, at least - Kimi will probably be half-asleep at the back somewhere, as usual) mid-way through the race.

Course, if Ferrari can't manage to run 2 stints on the options, they'll be mullered.

Coverage usually start five minutes before the session and ends five minutes after. I agree they were out the door a bit sharpish after quali today. Only just noticed the breaks in commentary then some kind of recap then another break back to normal commentary which are bulletins for the benefit of R5L listeners.

Well, Hamilton's stuck another set of options on for his first pitstop.

That probably makes lots of people at Ferrari very sad.

Rosberg on the radio: "Lewis is driving very slowly. Tell him to speed up"

Erm, what?

It's a race Nico. If he's driving slowly, catch him and overtake him.

Has somebody told Rosberg his job is to be Hamilton's rear-gunner this year?

Not really hard to understand why the world audience is dropping off in droves with yet another snoozefest. Hard to like, let alone love, F1 at the moment.

JB does a Maldo on Maldo

The order of the three fastest cars is very clear as is the order of the drivers in the two fastest teams. Not really the makings of an exciting season.

To be fair, you kinda get the impression that if, say, Alonso and Button were dicing like that there wouldn't have been a collision but, with Lurch, you just can't trust him to have quite the same precision and finesse.

I feel sorry for any driver who ever has to try and overtake him without the benefit of a blue flag.

Sorry to hear that

See people think that the mercedes drivers race each other but they don't really mercedes are so obsessed with 1, 2 etc that the driver competition is forget about. Due to tyre management nicco was told to stay 2s behind lewis. Lewis is going slow on purpose to back nicco in to other cars. Nicco isn't allowed to do an undercut either so he is screwed. It is basically a first round turn 1 wins the GP arrangement at Mercedes.

You even hear it on the radio they warn lewis that nicco might pit first if he doesn't go faster. What sort of way is that to racing? If you want to undercut the car in front you choose your moment close the gap make the stop and hope they don't notice what you are doing before it's to late. You don't radio the car in front and tell them what you might do.

The lack of genuine racing between the Mercedes drivers is very damaging for the spectacle of F1 at a time when the sport has never been duller. Todays GP was boring beyond tedium. Any body who hasn't watch it yet should save their self the time and the match sticks.

Call me old fashioned by why did Nico not try to do something about it like close the gap to Lewis to under 2 seconds and try to overtake him?

Could you imagine if later today during the Manchester football derby if after Man City beat Man Utd 1-0, Wayne Rooney comes out and moans "I was through on goal, but decided not to shoot because Joe Hart (Man City's goalkeeper) was in the way".

Because that is exactly what Nico has done.

Sorry, all that has happened is Nico has lost his marbles, behaving like a muppet throwing his toys out the pram.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8I1w7uGvzw
Nico Rosberg's theme tune

Don't understand why there is all this talk about whatever lewis was doing in the race. I just thought he was preserving his tyres to get to lap 35 like they told him to. If he's banging in times then he would have probably had to pit earlier. Rosberg should concentrate on his own race.

Well being in the same car as lewis it is rather hard for rosberg to have enough performance advantage to pass him easily. As its his team mate he can't risk a dangerous pass that results in contact. Worse is all the tyre issues. Just to close the gap rosberg will tak performance out of his tyres. Then the warm air from hamiltons car over heats the tyres more. You've lost downforce following another car and very quickly the effort has caused rosberg to loose grip and drop back. Then you might not make it to your pit window and are vulnerable from cars behind.

the only solution is to do something tactical close the gap briefly pit for new tyres undercut the other car. Mercedes though won't ever allow the car behind to out smart the car in front.

Fairly clear hamilton was not using all the performance available in the hope vettel would under cut rosberg.

At least we saw very little of the Mercs and the director constantly hunted for the midfield-backmarker action, not like a lot of the Schumacher era when all we saw was a red car for 90 minutes.

I would loved to have been a fly on the wall at the Renault/Redbull/ToroRosso debrief.

Or perhaps it was in order to save tires. After all, the original strategy was O-P-P but they went for O-O-P during the race, Hamilton and Rosberg, without clear info from the team, were probably worried about durability vs pace in the middle stint.

And even IF Hamilton had backed Rosberg into the dirty air with intention - so what? It's not impossible to overtake at the track - we saw quite a few passes today - so he could have just out his foot down and passed his team mate.

I do understand that Rosberg didn't want to get to close because he was trying to save his tyres like lewis but Rosberg coming out and saying "you was just thinking of himself" I find very strange. Of course he's thinking of himself. Its not like Rosberg hasn't done the same thing in the past.

Yeah thats true but in a team where other tactical decisions etc are being made in terms of team success then it is a bit dishonest to drive in away that favours the competition. Really this is undermining the team effort.

I am sure that they will be smart enough to not say it in public but hamilton must have annoyed mercedes today. Otherwise there would not have been the threat on the radio to pit rosberg first. Although they are still favouring hamilton in so much as it was only a threat.

It seems we are now seeing who was at fault for the tensions of last year. Rosberg relies a lot on the radio, which is not as easy now, and he's also very quick to start moaning again. Then again, it could all just be artificial garbage thrown on like glitter to make out things are more interesting than they are.

To be fair this time I do not think he can be blamed as he was doing his best to defend with iffy brakes. Button seems to agree and has stuck his hand up for his misjudgement as does Race Control who have penalised Button.

Such a pity they came together, was really enjoying the tussle rather than what was going on up front with the leader unchallenged.