I think the Red bulls wont be as dominant in qualifying as they were last year and Alonso may be able to do something to get past them if they do start in front.
Seeing Red Bull in testing, which I know doesn't show everything, they look pretty good. Webber always does terribly at his home grand prix, so however much I'd like him to do well, my head says Vettel to win it.
Love to say Alonso but I think Vettel (last year Alonso was only person within 0.8 of RBR) If it was a higher average top speed track like Monza I would say Alonso
I don't know why but I have a feeling that Red Bull will have a slight advantage on Ferrari in qualifying (probably around 2 tenths). In a situation like this, both RB drivers would have to nail it on the first attempt in qualifying, Vettel does this very well. For this reason I think the drivers will qualify: 1. Vettel 2. Alonso 3. Webber 4. Massa From here I expect Ferrari to match/ beat Red Bull on race pace and with the new Ferrari staff, I expect them to have a better strategy. I expect Alonso to win.
I have no idea what so ever, less than last year, because of the high tyre degradation thanks to Pirelli, KERS and ARW/the new rear wings. And testing times never give an indication on where everyone will be (see Sauber this and last year). So in that case, I'm going for a driver that's not in the top teams, and not considered to be going for the championship - Jaime Alguersuari!
Hello I am new to this forum! Anyway I think that the speed and great driver of Lewis will find a way to win in Melbourne.I dont know how but he`ll find a way!
Welcome! I think you might be a little optimistic with Lewis' chances for Melbourne! Though I'd love to be proved wrong, I don't think the Mclaren is strong enough to compete with the Red Bulls and Ferrari, and I can't imagine a significant enough accident/bad weather thats will put those 4 cars out of the running. Add into that Hamilton's tyre management and I think he may suffer on sunday. As i said though, I'd love to be proved wrong!
well im being very optomistic here but with Mclaren saying that they have found around a second of pace i think/hope that they are up there fighting at the top (i can hope, right?)
Done mine, well if im wrong im wrong, but my loyalty is out of this world. He will do better than last year, that is all. OMFG only a few days left!!
I'm loving the fact that, despite potentially being in the fastest car on the grid - still nobody predicts Mark Webber to win his home grand prix.
Haha! Nice one BLS. I've placed a vote for Vettel but I sincerely hope I'm wrong. Your prediction would be far more preferable. I expect Vettel to have all of the advantages over Webber and see no reason why this can't take him all the way to a second World Championship, but I really hope I am wrong. I'd love to see Webber overcome the odds which I believe are very firmly stacked against him. - If he gets off to a better start than Vettel, Christian Horner will find it rather more difficult to implement team orders at the first opportunity (which I believe he will if Vettel makes a better start to the season).
They won't enforce team orders, in 2009 when Webber was mathematically out of contention they still allowed him to fight Vettel. They do have a policy where the driver leading on points gets to choose when he goes out in Q3 (almost always as late as possible), I think this harmed Vettel last season because Webber led for such a long period. This will put both drivers under a little extra pressure to hit the ground running, especially Webber who has started the last two seasons pretty sluggishly.
I agree, which is a shame! There's an interesting article here which gives an interesting comparison of the effect of weight on Webber and Vettel's qualifying times last year (2/3 of the way down). The article overall is quite interesting too, I've never heard of Vettel asking for the current fastest lap time so he can try and beat it.
Vettel can be unbeatable if he gets pole, which is mainly down to the car. I have always said that Vettel was in the right place at the right time with Red Bull, well, maybe not here. Webber has never been in the right place at the right time, but now he's been rewarded for waiting. In 2006 and some of 2007 and 2008, Webber was easily the best qualifier on the grid, even in a Williams and Red Bull. We all know if Vettel isn't first out of the first corner, he won't win, becuase he lacks in overtaking skills, a lot. It's a shame because I think Webber is a better driver overall compared to Vettel, and he's likeable, but I think we could see Red Bull favouring his team mate again this year
The Vettel can't overtake myth again. In his sixth(?) race he managed to carve his way from 17th to 4th in a Toro Rosso, so he knows how to negotiate his way through the field. But the Red Bull is incredibly sensitive to turbulent airflow and the Renault engine lacks power in the straights so it isn't conducive to overtaking. Also the 2010 stats don't back this theory up, Webber only completed one more competitive overtake than Vettel (unless you're suggesting Webber can't pass either). They were also 4th and 5th in the list, which is pretty impressive considering how much time they spent out in front.
