Calls for 2007 pre-season predictions

[JayVee]

I rate him very highly for:
car control, wet track, n dry track
reflex speed,
ability to force a pass
ability to drive as slowly as needed
good car/tyre conservation
ability to adjust tactics on the move.
I rate
Bruce McLaren
Chris Amon
Larry Perkins
Harald
and many others as fast fine drivers
Stirling Moss was a fine fast driver
Was he over-rated? After all he never won the WDC
So, I rate Kubica as a fine fast driver,
I rate him as faster n smarter than
Fisi
Ralf
Barra
Nick
Sato
DC
Button
Trulli
Of Course this is my personal opinion.
Just as my personal opinion of Webber exsists because I have seen him blow everyone away in a 2 yo car over the opening 4 laps, then nurse the thing home with a clapped out, smoking engine, because he couldnt afford a pre-race rebuild.
And when it rained, n the car was not subject to as much stress,

I realise that this is your personal opinion but what amazes me is that someone with your knowledge and critique of F1 and motorsport in general can conclude from 6 races that Kubica is a fine fast driver rating him above those drivers you listed.

Yet:
- We hardly have seen him actually race (TV footage) so unless you have inside info from BMW then how did you know about his abilities.
- One thing that I have seen is that he spun at least twice in the wet in Hungary. Don't know if that is good car control

To me it is way way too early to start praising someone after 6 races (that only 2 of them he improved from his starting position!!)

Anyway, good luck to your Kubica and I hope he doesn't disappoint you this season ....

One could say the same about Alonso , 2005.

Not really sure what this statement is meant to mean but I will take it Julian by face value.....

You can hardly compare Kubica at the start of 2007 and Alonso at the start of 2005. They are worlds apart. Where do I start .....

Ok with the easy stuff:
Kubica has completed 6 races, finished on the podium once, finished outside the points 4 times and disqualified once. That is it. This is all what he did in F1

Alonso at the start of 2005:
Competed for a full season in a Minardi in 2001 and impressed
Spent a year testing at Renault and impressed
Got his first pole position in his 2nd race with Renault becoming the youngest ever.
Got his first win in his 1st year with Renault in an inferior car and lapped yes lapped Michael Schumacher and his own teammate
Dominated all the teammates he had.

See worlds apart .... oh I don't mean to brag but these are facts.

So expecting great results from Alonso at the start of 2005 given what he has already done was very natural. Many couldn't spot him then but I did

Again good luck to Kubica and I hope you are right with this one .

[Julian Mayo]

JV, on Sat, Jan 2005, you said
"Raikkonen and Montoya make McLaren unbeatable" in your team predictions.
For your driver predictions on the same day you said
"Well I'd love to see JV win it but being realistic I think Raikkonen will win."

[JayVee]

Not sure what you are trying to prove here but first if you could please quote what I said fully, you complain about taking things out of context so ...

On the constructors I said:

I think the combination of Raikkonen and Montoya will make McLaren unbeatable. Only condition is a reliable car

It went down to the wire between McLaren and Renault despite all the reliability issues with McLaren.

On the drivers, this is what I said:

Well I'd love to see JV win it again but being realistic I think Raikkonen will win it.

Michael will lose his spark this year
Button has caused too much damage at BAR
Montoya won't be a match for Raikkonen
Alonso may finish second
Fisichella may be good but won't match Alonso
Webber is good but I doubt Williams will deliver

And the championship ended up between Alonso and Raikkonen (133 against 112) way ahead of anyone else and it would have been much closer if the McLaren was reliable.

Apart from swapping Raikkonen and Alonso, all my other predictions were correct

Now that was in January. As testing progressed yet before the start of the season, in reply to another poster on 22 February on the constructors thread I said:

Ronnie wrote:
My feeling is that the drivers title will be won by Montoya or Alonso


Actually it will be Alonso

By contrast you said:

Webber, by a couple of points over schuey, with kimmi third. Schuey and Montoya will take each other out a couple of times tipping it in Marks favour.
Schuey knows he cannot bully Webber

No need to dig .... I know I am always nearly right .....

Watch out for a 3rd Title for Alonso

[jacfan]

No need to dig .... I know I am always nearly right .....

Therefore always not quite right.

[GhoGho]

Flavio Briatore has played down the contribution made to Renault's recent success by the now departed back to back champion Fernando Alonso.

The Spanish racer, who has switched to McLaren for a new challenge, scored 267 points compared to 2007 team leader Giancarlo Fisichella's 130 in 2005 and last year, but boss Briatore insists that the Enstone based team is the real star.

"Fernando is good," the Italian told Auto Motor und Sport, "but not as good as many people think."

I found someone who agrees with me!:lol: Not that I believe anything Flav says!

[JayVee]

No need to dig .... I know I am always nearly right .....

Therefore always not quite right.

Makes PERFECT sense

When it comes to predictions, no one can ever be always right. The whole idea of prediction is to get as close as you can to being right and that is what gives you satisfaction. So calling it always nearly right or always not quite right doesn't really matter. It is the satisfaction you get when you find out that you were close. It gives you the confidence in whatever method you've used to make the prediction

They say Flavio Briatore and Peter Sauber have an eye for picking young talent but do you think they always get it right. No way!
And I would never claim to be anywhere like those two.
(But I still reckon Kubica won't be that impressive while Kovalainen and Hamilton will be )

[JayVee]

Flavio Briatore has played down the contribution made to Renault's recent success by the now departed back to back champion Fernando Alonso.

The Spanish racer, who has switched to McLaren for a new challenge, scored 267 points compared to 2007 team leader Giancarlo Fisichella's 130 in 2005 and last year, but boss Briatore insists that the Enstone based team is the real star.

"Fernando is good," the Italian told Auto Motor und Sport, "but not as good as many people think."

I found someone who agrees with me!:lol: Not that I believe anything Flav says!

Sounds like you are one of those who will always find some other factor to explain Alonso's results. Even though he won back to back championships!. That is your opinion of course and you are entitled to it.
(if we were all Alonso fans then we won't be having this discussion )

Interesting what Flavio says over the years. When Alonso won his first title with Renault, Flavio said "There is a great chance for Fernando to become a new Schumacher, and perhaps surpass him one day"

But really words don't mean much, it is results that matter. That points difference tell the real story!

I suppose we'll see this season how much Renault can do without him and how much he can do without Renault.

A few of my friends who aren't Alonso fans are already saying see how lucky Alonso is, the McLaren seems reliable
And I tell them oh and the Ferrari is now unreliable all of a sudden

[jacfan]

No need to dig .... I know I am always nearly right .....

Therefore always not quite right.

Makes PERFECT sense

When it comes to predictions, no one can ever be always right. The whole idea of prediction is to get as close as you can to being right and that is what gives you satisfaction. So calling it always nearly right or always not quite right doesn't really matter. It is the satisfaction you get when you find out that you were close. It gives you the confidence in whatever method you've used to make the prediction

They say Flavio Briatore and Peter Sauber have an eye for picking young talent but do you think they always get it right. No way!
And I would never claim to be anywhere like those two.
(But I still reckon Kubica won't be that impressive while Kovalainen and Hamilton will be )

I never said it didn't make sense. I was just having a bit of fun with your statement. If I was taking your statement at pure face value then you have basically said that you are "always nearly right" ergo you are never totally right. I just found it an amusing statement ... sorry if you took it all too seriously.

[jacfan]

Flavio Briatore has played down the contribution made to Renault's recent success by the now departed back to back champion Fernando Alonso.

The Spanish racer, who has switched to McLaren for a new challenge, scored 267 points compared to 2007 team leader Giancarlo Fisichella's 130 in 2005 and last year, but boss Briatore insists that the Enstone based team is the real star.

"Fernando is good," the Italian told Auto Motor und Sport, "but not as good as many people think."

I found someone who agrees with me!:lol: Not that I believe anything Flav says!

Sounds like you are one of those who will always find some other factor to explain Alonso's results. Even though he won back to back championships!. That is your opinion of course and you are entitled to it.
(if we were all Alonso fans then we won't be having this discussion )

Interesting what Flavio says over the years. When Alonso won his first title with Renault, Flavio said "There is a great chance for Fernando to become a new Schumacher, and perhaps surpass him one day"

But really words don't mean much, it is results that matter. That points difference tell the real story!

I suppose we'll see this season how much Renault can do without him and how much he can do without Renault.

A few of my friends who aren't Alonso fans are already saying see how lucky Alonso is, the McLaren seems reliable
And I tell them oh and the Ferrari is now unreliable all of a sudden

Actually on that point I agree with you. For anyone to win a WDC has to be good and to win two in succession is of course even better. I don't think anyone can take that away from Alonso. He is a great driver and deserves his accolades however no one knows what this year will bring and whether Alonso will have it all his way this year.

[JayVee]

Therefore always not quite right.

Makes PERFECT sense

When it comes to predictions, no one can ever be always right. The whole idea of prediction is to get as close as you can to being right and that is what gives you satisfaction. So calling it always nearly right or always not quite right doesn't really matter. It is the satisfaction you get when you find out that you were close. It gives you the confidence in whatever method you've used to make the prediction

They say Flavio Briatore and Peter Sauber have an eye for picking young talent but do you think they always get it right. No way!
And I would never claim to be anywhere like those two.
(But I still reckon Kubica won't be that impressive while Kovalainen and Hamilton will be )

I never said it didn't make sense. I was just having a bit of fun with your statement. If I was taking your statement at pure face value then you have basically said that you are "always nearly right" ergo you are never totally right. I just found it an amusing statement ... sorry if you took it all too seriously.

Having fun with my statement

The most interesting quote about prediction that I found was "No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time" - James Baldwin

[JayVee]

I found someone who agrees with me!:lol: Not that I believe anything Flav says!

Sounds like you are one of those who will always find some other factor to explain Alonso's results. Even though he won back to back championships!. That is your opinion of course and you are entitled to it.
(if we were all Alonso fans then we won't be having this discussion )

Interesting what Flavio says over the years. When Alonso won his first title with Renault, Flavio said "There is a great chance for Fernando to become a new Schumacher, and perhaps surpass him one day"

But really words don't mean much, it is results that matter. That points difference tell the real story!

I suppose we'll see this season how much Renault can do without him and how much he can do without Renault.

A few of my friends who aren't Alonso fans are already saying see how lucky Alonso is, the McLaren seems reliable
And I tell them oh and the Ferrari is now unreliable all of a sudden

Actually on that point I agree with you. For anyone to win a WDC has to be good and to win two in succession is of course even better. I don't think anyone can take that away from Alonso. He is a great driver and deserves his accolades however no one knows what this year will bring and whether Alonso will have it all his way this year.

I agree with you (that means for this post I also agree with myself )

Good to see that you give Alonso credit for what he has acheived and yes who knows what this season may bring. I hope it will be his 3rd title but he may not do it (that isn't my prediction though ). Sometimes I hope that he starts this season very badly so we can see how he can fight back from 20 or 30 points down.

[jacfan]

I actually think that Alonso is a very good driver, and that he should go on and win many more WDCs. I never stopped supporting Jacques either even though there were many who thought his one and only WDC was down to the car and that after that he should have retired. BTW I am not making any accusations against anyone.. least of all you JayVee.

[Julian Mayo]

I realise that this is your personal opinion but what amazes me is that someone with your knowledge and critique of F1 and motorsport in general can conclude from 6 races that Kubica is a fine fast driver rating him above those drivers you listed.

Yet:
- We hardly have seen him actually race (TV footage) so unless you have inside info from BMW then how did you know about his abilities.
- One thing that I have seen is that he spun at least twice in the wet in Hungary. Don't know if that is good car control

To me it is way way too early to start praising someone after 6 races (that only 2 of them he improved from his starting position!!)

Anyway, good luck to your Kubica and I hope he doesn't disappoint you this season ....

One could say the same about Alonso , 2005.

Not really sure what this statement is meant to mean but I will take it Julian by face value.....

You can hardly compare Kubica at the start of 2007 and Alonso at the start of 2005. They are worlds apart. Where do I start .....

Ok with the easy stuff:
Kubica has completed 6 races, finished on the podium once, finished outside the points 4 times and disqualified once. That is it. This is all what he did in F1

Alonso at the start of 2005:
Competed for a full season in a Minardi in 2001 and impressed
Spent a year testing at Renault and impressed
Got his first pole position in his 2nd race with Renault becoming the youngest ever.
Got his first win in his 1st year with Renault in an inferior car and lapped yes lapped Michael Schumacher and his own teammate
Dominated all the teammates he had.

See worlds apart .... oh I don't mean to brag but these are facts.

So expecting great results from Alonso at the start of 2005 given what he has already done was very natural. Many couldn't spot him then but I did

Again good luck to Kubica and I hope you are right with this one .

Okay JV,
(Can I Please put at least a 253cu in the Numbus?????) n a six speed????
I reckon we should continue this in the F1 Idiots bar.
Cos I reckon you didn't spot him til I posted about him, n it was obvious that JV was on a "Smoko".......which lasted about a year

[JayVee]

Oh no no no, don't touch the nimbus. It gave me some trouble and am happy it is OK now. Can't afford to park it like the other one

As for spotting, well I wasn't aware this forum was running in 2001

[Julian Mayo]

Oh no no no, don't touch the nimbus. It gave me some trouble and am happy it is OK now. Can't afford to park it like the other one

More.