My F1 predictions
Posted by Nick Trott at 1:00PM on Friday 23 February, 2007 11 Comments
Place your bets! Put your money where your mouth is!
Yep, with just four weeks to go until the first Formula One race of 2007, it's time for some random F1 predictions and a series of foolhardy bets with fellow F1 friends, who for some bizarre reason think they know more about the F1 formbook than me. Pah.
Of course, that's the best thing about this time of year if you're into F1: you've been studying the testing times, reading any and every nugget of information about Renault's new-improved-and-revolutionary-gurney-flap or whatever, and you've no doubt misinterpreted the lot. I'm sure I have.
Anyway, here's some soothsaying from me. Feel free to reply with your own predictions...
Red Bull Racing: recent testing has been a disaster. Their pace is slow. The drivers can't fit the car without a tub of Vaseline and spoon, and Mark Webber having a general strop about anything and everything. This, of course, is a clear case of sandbagging and Adrian Newey has, in fact, built a car that is at least two seconds a lap faster than the opposition. Sadly, the car will break down in every race.
Ferrari: convention-shunning long-wheelbase car will be the class of the field, but Massa and Raikkonen will offset any advantage by generally driving into each other and handing the championship to a surprised...
... Renault: will overcome a lack of pace with astonishing reliability and take the drivers' championship with Kovalainen. Fisichella to be replaced mid-season after a series of underwhelming results. Test driver Piquet Jnr takes over and immediately resurrects hostilities with the Rosberg clan by stealing Nico's comfort blanket and wiping his bottom on it.
McLaren: neck-and-neck with Ferrari in terms of ultimate pace. But a series of retirements (again) ruins their championship (again) and forces a major redesign (again) mid-season. A bored Alonso and Hamilton turn their attention to a game of 'who can crop their hair the shortest'. Hamilton wins.
BMW: oh yeah, I forgot about the boys in blue (and white and red). Ignore everything I have written so far. Polish megastar Kubica will win the championship. Heidfield's results compared with his rookie team-mate prove a disappointment. Some will argue he is more interested in developing his next hairstyle than his F1 car.
And the others? Anthony Davidson will score loads of points for Super Aguri, except he won't because the car will be deemed ineligible to score championship points, and neither will the Toro Rossos. Spyker will be nowhere. Honda and Jenson Button? Over-hyped and underwhelming. Déjà vu anyone? Have I forgotten anyone? Does anyone care?
In all seriousness, there's truth in the above - mark my words.
PS. I reserve the right to change all of the above and cancel all bets whenever I bloody well like.
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11 Comments for "My F1 predictions"
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Well, I don't quite agree with some of your arguements. Honda will again have an underwhelming season, not to mention Toyota. What I'm not so sure about is your prediction about Renault's surprise. I don't think the profile of Kovalainen lets him deal with the pressure of being the leader of the championship. If that situation came to place, I think he'd suffer from frequent driving errors.
On the other hand, I expect Mclaren to be more reliable than last season, though I don't think Ferrari will let their drivers to run against each other during the championship.My predictions... James Allen will be bad as ever when commentating.
On to F1... well it looks like through the testing that Ferrari and Mclaren are ahead of the rest. They seem to have hit the sweet spot on finding a good car.Renault have lost a good driver and all of their pace. With Michelin gone the team haven't been able to adjust to the bridgestones.The surprise of the year? Well I think Red Bull have got a good car in tow thanks to an Adrian Newey design. They may be able to repeat their 2005 season and forget last years.I hope that our British drivers do well too. Jenson Button and David Coulthard will have to watch out because Lewis Hamilton is in that fabulous Mclaren car and also Antony Davidson has finally won a drive this season.Winning driver- Kimi Raikkonen. I hope he is lucky at Ferrari. The team have found an excellent replacement for the legend of Michael Schumacher.I am not so sure about Hamilton and Alonso... Fernando's hair grows really fast, so he might as well win over Hamilton...
I agree though on everything else!For a more interesting F1 season, I hope that Alonso fails to get his third championship. Sorry for McLaren. Even though I'm Spanish, I'm a bit tired of Mr. Alonso.
But, after speaking with the person that moved Alonso to his first F1 test, some years ago,I'm now nervous about Alonso's capabilities and his strong desire for his third championship. I want to see difficult races, different race winners and big race fights against Ferrari, Renault and McLaren and the rest of course.In my opinion, Ferrari will get pilot and car champhionship this season.
Ferrari will be fastest, but I think their 2 drivers will share wins between them, leaving the drivers championship to a more consistent runner.
BMW possibly? They look fast, but if Renault retain excellent reliability and Fisichella becomes more focused, he could be the one to snatch it.Honda will win both championships not by virtue of wins, but for their valiant efforts to halt global warming with their new livrey which will be so effective, we will have the coldest summer on record. Thanks Honda.As for the rest, it'll be a season of battles between team mates and that's where the interest will lie for the season.
I think this season will be Ferrari's, but they will have to work for it as Renault, McLaren and Honda are going well.
I think the title fight will happen between Alonso, Rakkionen, Massa, Fischella, Button and maybe Hamiliton.From what I've seen from the testing, I think it's between Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen.
It's hard to think that this year will be far removed from the last, based on testing - which admittedly tells us bog all. Honda are still going nowhere, same for Toyota and everyone behind them.
All the mild fuss about Williams will come to nothing in the mix. The more interesting points for me are, is Ferrari starting to fall apart? Read between the lines about them losing key staff and their design decisions, and Kimi's 'I can take it or leave it' attitude, and it doesn't look good.
Also, were Renault being propped up, in 05 and 06, entirely by Alonso's talent? And conversely, were McLaren being dragged down by Kimi and Juan Pablo's lack of.... that's the thing to watch out for.
Ferrari may have a bit of a topsy-turvy season. New team leader (Massa), new driver (Raikkonen), and no Schumacher. I'm not saying who'll do what, but I think one will do better than before, and the other will fall from grace faster than a falling skydiver.
I think Renault will prove to be the biggest surprise this year, but for all the wrong reasons. Something about the team this year doesn't seem quite right.
McLaren seem to have a strong paring in Alonso and Hamilton, and the MP4/22 looks just as strong. Hopefully the team can build on this, as well as putting reliability issues behind them.
If Honda can build on their success after Hungary and find more speed, and if BMW can improve over what they had last year, then both look like suitable candidates to join in the hunt for the title, alongside the three teams mentioned above.
One of the main talks has been Adrian Newey's Red Bull (and Toro Rosso clone) car. My guess is that they'll be quick, but suffer the same problems that McLaren faced in the last 2/3 years: a quick car that breaks down more than it should do. A symptom that should be called: 'The Curse of Newey'.
You forgot Williams and your predictions are so horribly misguided, it's not even funny. First, Raikkonen is not Schumacher, so he won't battle with his team-mate on the track.
Second, how will you pick a team in a rebuilding year with (according to your predictions) two rookies to win?! Then you change that prediction to a guy who (although Kubica is one of my favourites) debuted halfway through last year!