THIS WEEK'S POLL Which of these former world champions has the best chance of toppling Vettel in 2012? Fernando Alonso, jenson button or........... michael scumacher(?) i have no idea who created the F1 poll but they must have been on the cooking cherry. i can understand the first two they have had great seasons but mercedes have done nothing to prove they can even win a race never mind a world championship. Hamilton or even raikkonen would be much better suited to this space on the poll thoughts??
Alonso. I can't see McLaren winning the WDC with their current line-up as the two drivers would keep taking points from each other and give a rival the perfect opportunity to steal the title (like 2007). To be honest I'm not surprised by the poll results, although 21.19% of people need a reality check. Mercedes aren't winning anything next year. PHP: Fernando Alonso 41.77%Jenson Button 37.04%Michael Schumacher 21.19%
Who has the best chance of toppling Vettel? He's on world champion, but surely it has to be Mark Webber? He'll be in an equal car, and I fully expect the RB8 to be the class of the field next year, and possibly by a not inconsiderable margin. Button, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa et al will all have to not only overcome deficits in their machinery, but Vettel's undoubted ability too. As it stands, I think we're looking at Vettel adding his third title though...
Whoa whoa whoa. You say Raikkonen has a better shot at the WDC next year than Schumacher? Words do not describe. For the record, I see Vettel dominating next year again, with his greatest challenger being Button.
I think the overall results of that poll make a lot of sense. I'd have McLaren and Ferrari just as likely as one another to produce the better car, and Ross Brawn's Mercedes about 5/1 to be better than both of them.
Call me naive but I don't expect the RB8 to be the best car next year. If Newey want's the RB8 to be an evolution he needs to go back to the RB5, because the RB6 and RB7 were completely designed around optimising the effect from exhaust gasses. The EBD ban is the only major rule change and I expect it to put an end to Newey's little run of success: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/7247444/Newey-Diffuser-ban-may-halt-Bull-s-charge
if you look down at the comments you will see our very own Arkimsa from BBC 606 commenting. Whatever happened him
According to the advert at the top of the site when I looked, I do a rather fetching line of clothing too
? Not sure what you mean here EMSC. Testing is all about maximising the time available, by whatever (legal) means. Obviously it is a responsibility of any driver to make the best use of time available. Perhaps I've misunderstood your comment?
As ever, it is impossible to say until the new cars roll their first wheel in anger at the first race of the season. Red Bull have a fantastic recent history and must be in pole position but that run will come to an end at some time, so it's not impossible that Mclaren or Ferrari take an early lead. Ross Brawn within the Mercedes corporate machine? Time will tell but it would be a surprise to me if they jumped 3 places in the current pecking order. It's seemed recently that a reliable No 2 taking points off the opposition is less important because the 2nd & 3rd teams (Ferrari & Mclaren, not necessarily in that order), have done a great job taking points off each other, so once the car situation becomes clear and if Ferrari are fully competitive then regrettably, for me, you'd have to fancy Alonso in the drivers' championship due to the, ahem, focussed backing, he gets from the team compared to Vettel/Webber and certainly Button/Hamilton. Team championship wise, with car equivalence, I'd fancy Mclaren with a pair of top-rate drivers with a mix of abilities to take good points if not wins in any circumstances. The key to that is of course that Hamilton gets his mojo back over the winter but if he does, it looks a better pairing than one including Massa or Webber. PS After many years following F1 on foot and on TV, whether I'll be watching any of this due my total disgust at the BBC/Sky carve up is doubtful.
Nicely summed up there Distant, spot on, and yes, following decades of F1 being an avid fan and adequate TV coverage being available for those races I could not attend, we now face the irritating prospect of having to endure 50% of the races being shown live on the BBC with commentary by bloody Legard of all people. One thing is for sure I wont be getting SKY ever, I'll simply watch the highlighted version later and turn the sound off.
Not only that, but for months Pat Fry has been taking his old McLaren people to Maranello. The latest is Jonathan Heal: http://www.omnicorse.it/magazine/14164/f1-jonathan-heal-ultimo-arrivo-alla-ferrari-dalla-mclaren
http://www.sportlemon.tv/ you can watch F1 on here as well as football matches and just about any other sport. after the sky thing came out i found this site within a week and i am a regular user. put two fungers up to sky and the BBC. please spread the word and get as many people involved as possible