Thoughts on the New Season

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:57 am

Greetings Chaps!

In two months (60 days) my calendar says we'll be starting over. Here are some thoughts to start a conversation -- if anyone is out there, like me, waiting for the pictures from the new launches and thinking how little Daytona really matters:

Remember all that blather about how Virgin was going to ‘change everything’ by relying on Computers to design their car? Ha. Ha. And remember all Bernie E.’s nonsense about how Cosworth could actually be competitive? Well, the Virgin has disappeared from sight (and Mr. Branson with her?) and the Cozzies are pushing around movable chicanes at the bottom of the list.

Some things don’t change no matter what the zillionaire’s say. To build a racing team capable of winning you need more than mere money, you need to know what to buy with it, as Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz so nicely illustrates: the best designers, the best team managers and the best drivers. Period.

So Ferrari has one of the very best drivers; so what? their other driver is way out of his depth. I think in a fair contest Fernando could take Jenson, Lewis and Webbo --and maybe even Seb and Kimi into the bargain. No one else is in the running with Kubica in hospital.

Shuey’s over the hill and Rosberg hasn’t delivered on early promise. If the people at Mercedes put a car under him this year though, he might do as Jenson finally did when he got a competitive machine. It would be fun to see --but it ain’t likely, even with Ross’s genius in the pits. Mercedes is just too tight with their money; I wouldn't be surprised to see them withdraw at the end of this season.

McLaren gave Red Bull as much of a run as anyone could last year but the numbers show how truly uneven the contest was. Seb won eleven races and between them, Lewis & Jenson only won 6. If they start well this year, we could see a real contest for both titles, but I don’t see anything like true dominance coming out of Woking.

Maranello? Well, I’m a fan. I love the red cars and I was in pig heaven during Michael and Ross Braun’s great run, but as noted above, all they have is one driver, no designer and zero team management. It will be another tragic year for the tifosi and Fernando will have to take whatever consolation he can from the fact that Jenson, too, made a similar fatal decision in his career: exchanging money for competitiveness.

It’ll be another year, then, for Vettel and Adrian. We’ll just have to get used to smiley faces, I guess.

Jim Watt

Post by **Tim** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:20 am

I am a bit more optimistic Jim that we'll have a close season!

Red Bull for sure will be the team to beat but with exhaust blowning banned and not much else changed, you'd expect the others to close in on them.
In 2011 there was one event when exhaust blowing was banned and that was at Silverstone and Alonso won.

Also in 2011 Hamilton was not in F1, his brain was messed up and confused, all due to Nicole! Button is a consistent driver but he isn't as quick as Hamilton and when Button beats Hamilton in a season it is more that something is wrong with Hamilton. What was Hamilton even doing creating friction with Massa of all drivers!!

I am really hoping for a three way battle between Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton (and possibly Button but unlikely). Vettel wasn't really tested last year, it will be interesting to see what he can do if he is under a lot of pressure. One would hope that Hamilton has cleared his mind and can focus on F1 again and Alonso should be up there as he continues to be the most complete driver on the grid (doubt that his divorce would affect his ability on the track)

Doubt Mercedes can do anything about the top 3 teams and at the end of this year Schumacher will go back to retirement and maybe Ross Brawn too. Rosberg has again locked himself into a team that isn't capable of winning and perhaps we will look at Rosberg as one the best drivers not to win a race

Two drivers whom I am surprised that are still in their seats are Webber and Massa. Last year neither impressed and to deserve a seat in a top team, you should be very close to your teammate, neither were and I think both are very lucky to keep their seats. If we have a close season and they continue to be behind I wouldn't be surprised if they are replaced before the end of the season.

Not sure really what Raikkonen would do at Lotus. With Kubica injured, that team lost its way and I'm not sure if Raikkonen is technical enough to move the team forward with the development of the car

Williams and Senna .... I hope they can improve but Williams is following the same trajectory as Jordan (remember them!) and I don't think that sponsors alone can take you to the top again

Hulkenberg and di Resta at Force India will be interesting and Ricciardo and Vergne at Toro Rosso as well. I hope Sauber can give Kobayashi a decent car.

Caterham should now mix it with Force India and Toro Rosso and Williams (sadly) while Marussia and HRT will continue to run at the back!

Testing starts in a couple of weeks .... can't wait!

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:22 am

Well, we've had the first round of testing. And HRT's already struggling --but at least they showed up with a car! What has happened to Virgin --oops, I mean Marussia

Why doesn't Bernie just get rid of these back markers? What, really, do they add to the show?

Do we have to wait for something REALLY bad to happen?

Then, of course, everyone will be full of tut-tutting and claims that racing is by its very nature a risky business.

Wouldn't it be better to just let the drivers compete in versions of last year's versions of Red Bull and McLaren if it is so important to have 24 machines on the circuit?

Then we could see some embarrassed faces from the mid-runners!

Jim Watt

Thaddeus · Post by **Thaddeus** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:14 pm

Agreed on the backmarkers. They're just moving chicances. Hopefully Caterham will manage to score some points this year.

I've heard some suggest that the McLaren might not just be the prettiest but also the fastest car, and that Ferrari might be a bit of a dog. Have to wait and see if that proves to be the case.

I think people underestimate Button. I admit that in the first half of 2009 I was wondering if he was just lucky as hell, but the Interlagos performance of that year and the latter half of 2011 have convinced me that he really is a grade A driver. He was the only man to hold a candle to Vettel in the latter half of the season.

It'll be intriguing to see how Mercedes do, and whether or not they've managed to solve the tyre-shredding problem at the rear. Likewise, it'll be interesting to see if Raikkonen (wasn't this spelt Raikonnen in the past?) can put the cat amongst the pigeons.

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:16 pm

Just under a week now until the early morning wake up call to watch the first round in Australia... My how this week will drag on...

To start, lets all be glad that the gap has been narrowed between the Red Bulls and everyone else... Mclaren are going to give them a good run for their money...

Ferrari seem to be throwing a lot of media attention towards how terrible and under performing their 2012 car is, but as the conspiracy theorists like to think, they could be throwing out a bit of bait, hoping the teams will take it before they arrive in Australia with a nice, quick formula one machine. They could be playing the largest buff in the history of F1. ALTHOUGH, as i say, this could all be conspiracy theory and the Ferrari's may just have an absolute dog of a car.

Lotus May shake things up a bit, although I dont think they are going to be fighting for the wins with the RB's and the Macca's, they have a serious opportunity to stop Mr Brawn & co from one-upping their last years position.

Whether the Australian starting grid will feature 2 HRT's and 2 Marussia's is yet to be seen...

I am quite excited for the midfield battle because things look to be quite heated in there, with a large chunk of teams all sitting very close together.. I think the biggest action is going to come from the midfield...

Although there is much hype around having 6 world champions on the grid, I dont think there is too much to read into it... Each one of them won their championships under a specific set of circumstances which allowed them to take the title... Things are now very different and I think the idea of previously being a world champion is no longer as much of a threat to newcomers and competitors as it once was... It looks as though the only people who need to worry about prior world champions is Vettel, Hamilton and Button (Provided Hamilton has got his act together) apart from that, I don't think any of the other ex-champions will be in with much of a shout.

I really hope that Rosberg can put himself onto the podium a few times this year.. He deserves a car with a bit of competitive edge to show what he can do.. I have always been a big Rosberg fan and I will be rooting for him to give the big guys a run for their money...

Thats all from me... Cheerio til Oz....

jacfan · Post by **jacfan** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:29 pm

I am hoping and praying that this will finally be the year of Mark Webber.

Thaddeus · Post by **Thaddeus** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:22 am

A sudden thought occurred to me, and I was wondering what others here felt about it.

Could Alonso finish in the top 3?

I think McLaren are likely to get the top two spots. However, Vettel's not happy with the car and I think that's affecting him. Webber seems sounder, but he does wear the tyres a bit.

Alonso's problem is a big one: his car isn't good enough. But despite that he punched well above his weight in the first race, and benefited from luck and skill in the second. If the car's improved, could he beat the Red Bulls?

jacfan · Post by **jacfan** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:16 am

Well we are now two races into the season and we certainly have seen some interesting results...... however since the first two are Australia and Malaysia then that is not entirely unexpected.
It will be interesting and we will get more of a feel of how things are when they hit Europe and some of the other tracks coming up.