F1 09 predictions...

vectra

Ironbars wrote: »

Roll on the 29th March

Biro

thegoth wrote: »

Webber has been faster than all his teammates to date and should not be understimated.

I think that Vettel is still an unknown. He had on "OK" end to 2007. He had a bad start to 2008, and his teammate had a good start. Then, after around 5 races, Toro Rosa bring out the new car. Vettel loves it. His teammate hates it. From this point onwards, Vettel has the upper hand on his teammate.

So my concern is this. Was Vettels excellent 2008, actaully caused by a combination of him loving the car and his teammate hating it ? I think it might well be.

Unlike most opinions expressed here, we will know am answer by the end of November.

All drivers only perform at their best when the car suits their driving style. No point singling out Vettel as someone who only performs well when the car suits him. Look at Hamilton in the race that Vettel won, complaining about the McLaren, when Kovalienan destroyed Hamilton in the same car in the same conditions. Car obviously didn't suit Hamilton that day.
I rate Vettel highly, and he's a nice guy, so hope he does well. Can't see Red Bull being equal to the top two really though.
I do think McLaren will be quicker than Ferrari, unfortunately, as I don't like McLaren. So I'd expect Hamilton and McLaren to get an early lead in both championships for the first few races. Who knows for the 2nd half? One sure thing is that it'll be a mixed bag of podium drivers and teams throughout the year as different teams come into their own at different stages!

Ironbars

Im not a bookie but id like to know everyones opinion on who will be the first non Ferrari/McClaren driver to win a race this year

I dont see renault/Alonso getting much joy next year, the whole sponsorship thing and new spec will not suit them.

I think Kubica or Heidfeld will take a win within 5 races

anyone for vettel?

vectra

Ironbars wrote: »

Im not a bookie but id like to know everyones opinion on who will be the first non Ferrari/McClaren driver to win a race this year

I dont see renault/Alonso getting much joy next year, the whole sponsorship thing and new spec will not suit them.

I think Kubica or Heidfeld will take a win within 5 races

anyone for vettel?

Alonso to be the 1st non Ferrari/McLaren driver to take a win

as for Melbourne?
I would still bet on Kimi for that
I havent lost my faith in him :cool:

Todays test times
Anyone get the feeling that Alonso went for a Banzai Qualifying run ? :rolleyes:

thegoth

I am not singling out Vettel. I was just responding to a comment someone else made about him. For the record I really like Vetell and hope he does well this year.

The fact is, that he still is along way from proving he is a great driver. Schmaucher proved that he could adapt to any car with any problem. For example, I remember Eddie Irvine saying that Schnucaher was testing the new Ferrari in January one year in the 90's. He has the car on his own for ages. Schmuacher was doing great times. Eddie hoped into the car and was nowhere. He said to the engineers that something was wrong with the rear of the car. Sure enough, they found a problem, but Michael was able to adadt around this. Eddie wasn't. Eddie Jordan had a similar story about his one and only run in a Jordan, when Michael ( the rookie) was tell his more expierenced teammate how to cope with a problem with the Jordans brakes over a certain bump.

All great drivers need to be able to drive any car fast. They cannot be considered greats if they have hot and cold seasons depending on the cars charastics.

We do not have enough data about Vettel to say either way, buts on the evedience we have to date, I have concerns. This year will tell. I hope he has a great one

Frank Bullitt

THe only thing im interested in from the testing is the chatter that McLaren are having trouble with their rear wing, apparently they brought 2 versions of the '09 wig and ran both but after both runs put the '08 spec wing back on after a lot of measuring etc.

Could be interesting.

Oblomov

Kimi had problems with the hydraulics, which took the techies some time to fix. Michael Schumacher tuned up and watched from the garage...

kimi and schuie do not get on at all.

Renault have packed up and are off to Barcelona.... trouble with tha early part of the week but .. Alonso on a quali?
Renault have threatened to leave F1 if they don't get more of the ' revenue' and help reduce costs....

BMW ran some 'out of fuel tests' checking telemetry against actual fuel carried untill empty.

The new STR 4 will be presented to the press on Monday morning..

Various drivers have commented on both Torro Rosso and Toyota as having potential to win, BMW-Sauber could be sand-bagging, while Ferrari and McLaren are fast..... top three Ferrari, McLaren and BMW.... the rest to follow...has anything really changed?

Oblomov

1. Nick Heidfeld . . . . . .BMW-Sauber . . . . . . 1:20.052
2. Kimi Raikkonen . . . . .Ferrari . . . . . . . . . ..1:20.404
3. Lewis Hamilton . . . . .McLaren-Mercedes . .1:21.272
4. Mark Webber . . . . . .Red Bull-Renault . . . .1:22.219
5. Kazuki Nakajima. . . ..Williams-Toyota . . . . 1:22.226
6. Jarno Trulli . . . . . . .Toyota . . . . . . . . . . 1:23.119

The penultimate group test of the 2009 pre-season concluded at Jerez on Thursday under windy and cloudy Spanish skies.
As the formula one teams now prepare to head to Barcelona for the last official test outing before Australia, world champion Lewis Hamilton had the most notable incident of the day, crashing rearwards into a tyre barrier at low speed.

McLaren said "a sudden gust of wind" had swept the Briton off the track.

Kimi Raikkonen also beached his Ferrari in a gravel trap, but the Finn was a full eight tenths quicker than Hamilton by the end of the day, while BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld outpaced them both.

Only six runners were in action, after both Renault and Force India ended their programmes on Wednesday.

The Barcelona test begins on Monday.

G-Money

I have to admit I have some question marks over McLaren. They seem to have been doing most of their winter testing with the 08' rear wing fitted to the car. Even now, a few weeks after launching their car, they are still using their 08' rear wing which makes me think there is some sort of problem with the car.

I guess this time 3 weeks we will know who got it right and who got it wrong.

steviec

Yep it's hard to read into testing too much because you never know what the different teams are trying and how hard they're pushing, so laptimes really don't give you the whole story.

But the evidence really is building that McLaren are in trouble. They don't seem to have even settled on a workable '09 rear wing at all, and they haven't much time to go. It's not really that much of a surprise - people have very short memories and seem to think it's completely unfeasable for McLaren or Ferrari to screw up, but you only have to go back a couple of seasons to see where Ferrari were in 05, where McLaren were in 04 or 06, where Renault were in 07 following two dominant years. Things change quickly in F1 and people get used to a new status quo very quickly. Particularly when rule changes as large as this year's are involved.

With that said, I think the most consistent teams in testing have been Ferrari and Toyota. Aswell as those, Red Bull, Renault and BMW have all shown flashes of pace. I think we will see race winners from all of those teams and who develops their car most quickly will be vital. I can easily see the pecking order in Melbourne being very different to the pecking order come the end of the season, given that there is so much for the teams to learn about making the most of the new regulations. It should be a very interesting season.

If I had to pick a champion? I'll say Massa. He's going to come back stronger after last season, and I think Ferrari may not necessarily start the year with the best car, but they'll have the resources to improve strongly over the course of the season.

dreilly1990

Hamilton will win the drivers title
Bmw Sauber are my tip for the constuctors title

ro_chez

Vettel for drivers

BMW for Constructors

vectra

Last two posts there are a bit optimistic Id say :rolleyes:

thegoth

I have just put €10 each way on Buemi to win this years championship at 200-1. If he wins I get back €2,420 . I think this is great value. I don't think he will win the championship, but Red Bull have a very different design to everyone else this year, i.e pull rods instead of push rods ....... If they have got the design spot on, then it will be nearly impossible to catch them given the testing restrictions this year. Was going to bet on Vettel a few weeks ago but he has gone from 66-1 to 11-1 . The value is Buemi. Very fast from what we have seen and is driving a Ferrari powered red bull !!!!

The bet was with paddy power http://www.paddypower.com/bet?action=go_type&category=SPORTS&disp_cat_id=&ev_class_id=8&ev_type_id=10634&ev_oc_grp_ids=88311&bir_index=

amacachi

Alonso will get pole for the British GP, I dreamed it last night!

G-Money

I don't usually stay up/get up to watch the Australian Grand Prix anymore but I'm so curious about the new season, I think I will this year. Plus it's going to be cool having F1 back on the BBC, no more ad breaks.

Although part of me kind of wishes they had the coverage on BBC Two instead. My reasoning is that I feel they will be more likely to cut the coverage short on BBC One if the race runs longer than expected. Maybe I'm just imagining things!

homer90

Kinda hearsay ......

Brawn GP were ranked as 150/1 outsiders before the Barca test but those odds have now been slashed to 10/1 - giving the team the status of fourth-favourites for the Constructors' Championship behind Ferrari, McLaren and BMW.

http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3369_5045908,00.html

Although some were saying that the cars were running on fumes during testing to get the speed & attract sponsors........
Gonna be an interesting season with the new rules (race wins over points) etc

Brawn look to be in pretty good shape.....

Looking forward to the F1 season, Its been a while that I did :pac:

lovinit

Only watched about two races last year, the one where Raikkonen let massa by, (but not surprising because Ferrari did that before with Schumacher and Barrichello) and another one. Anyhow, planning to watch more this year, would love to see Massa kick Hamiltons but:pac:.

vectra

lovinit wrote: »

would love to see Massa kick Hamiltons but:pac:.

Join the long Queue

amacachi

May as well make my season prediction. Kimi and Ferrari

ODD-JOB

Im thinking the new race wins = championship win situation,...... this can only promote and cement team orders .
The very thing the FIA spent years trying to prevent !!

This season is upside down so far... cant wait !

amacachi

ODD-JOB wrote: »

Im thinking the new race wins = championship win situation,...... this can only promote and cement team orders .
The very thing the FIA spent years trying to prevent !!

This season is upside down so far... cant wait !

They've cancelled the most race wins=championship rule.

BoardsRanger

See Vettel is 20-1 for a Melbourne win- im gonna throw a €10 each way anyway!

lovinit

vectra wrote: »

Join the long Queue

Ah why did ya have to say that, now I feel bad, maybe I should give him a chance:rolleyes: