imo, with qualifying and race pace both implemented i would say its: Mclaren . Red Bull . Sauber . Lotus/Mercedes . . Williams/Toro Rosso . Ferrari/Force India . . . . Caterham . . . . . . Marussia . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . ......................... HRT
I think Lotus is ahead of Sauber, We just havnt seen the true pace from them with kimi messing up in Quali and Grosjean messing up his start.
That might be true, but unless Kimi just had a bad race, he should have been much higher if he had a really good race car. Perez went from last to 6th (before last lap) while Kimi was 9th(?) from 17th.
Sauber are definitely not the 3rd best team. I'd put Sauber and Williams roughly level behind Mercedes and Lotus.
Out of those in the poll, Lotus are in the best shape but being 3rd fastest means they're not part of the midfield. Mercedes aren't in midfield territory either. After excluding those two I think Sauber are in the best shape. In qualifying Sauber were quick enough to get into Q3 (as evidenced by Kobayashi's Q1 lap). I don't know what happened to Kobayashi in Q2 but I think if Perez didn't have the gearbox problem it's likely he would have made it into Q3. As for the race, Perez had a broken front wing and Kobayashi had rear wing damage - but still they were in 7th and 9th on the penultimate lap. Kobayashi could still race against Raikkonen and Perez was set to finish 6th before Rosberg hit him (I suspect he had a slow puncture after contact with Rosberg). Perez also made his soft tyres last 33 laps - the stint started in the mid 1.31's and stayed there. Just imagine what Sauber could have done with a more conventional strategy and without the bad luck. They weren't able to show their true pace in Australia but I think we'll see it in Malaysia. IMO A strong race from a Sauber driver will be enough to outqualify and outrace Alonso next week. Fred, I would say the pecking order is: [NSFW]1.McLaren 2.Red Bull 3.Lotus 4.Mercedes 5.Sauber 6.Williams and Ferrari 8.Toro Rosso 9.Force India 10.Caterham 11.Marussia 12.HRT[/NSFW]
I personally don't think Ferrari are that bad. Massa has become one of the worst on the grid and Alonso's mistake cost him dearly. They looked shocking in qualifying due to Massa. Had Alonso not forgotten the low grip properties of grass I'm sure he would of had the car into Q3 and thus higher up the grid. The Ferrari seemed better on Sunday but Alonso left himself with a lot to do and Massa is just Massa. Overall I'd say Ferrari are about 4th best, maybe even 3rd. Just with one very good driver and one shocking one.
i think that this season it goes: Mclaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus, Williams, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Force India, Caterham, Marussia and then the near non existant HRT. The car that most impressed me at melbourne was sauber and williams as maldonado was keeping up with alonso easily until he binned it and the sauber seems to be very quick and seems to be able to keep the tyres going
Ferrari are not 6th best. They are higher than that. Alonso would have breezed into Q3 if not for his spin and showed good pace in the race. Maybe an equal 3rd with Mercedes, certainly no worse. Massa cannot be used as the true measure of them as he looks to have gone from bad in 2011 to utter ****e in 2012!
I agree with that, If Fernando can get a good qualy performance out of that car then the car looks better situated for the race which it isnt too bad at (judging by 1 race) I think people are slightly overating the Sauber. The points they got were due to attrition and the last corner shenanigans
Saubers biggest strength is their 2 drivers, possibly the strongest pairing, (depending on which Hamilton turns up to race this season), they always seem to run out of money and suffer later in the season, which is a shame as Perez and Kamui with a fast car would really put the cats amongst the pigeons. As for the 'midfield' poll list, I can't see past Ferrari, they were slow in qualifying but Alonso had the race pace I don't think it'll be long before they're up to speed, but as others have said Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus don't really belong in that group as they've all produced chapions in the last decade. taking those out, Williams looked fairly quick but maybe have erratic drivers,
Am i the only person who doesn't rate Perez? All he can do is look after his tyres, he's a one trick pony. When he learns to race, then i'll consider him as a decent driver.
Part of racing is looking after your equipment, and in the last 2 years this especially has meant tyres, as Lewis is finding out to his detriment. I think Perez has a good chance of driving for a tp team, I don't think he's as good as Kamui though.
You could say the same about Kamui though, he's good at overtaking and that's it. Not my opinion; but what some critics might argue...
We will see next season. If he joins Ferrari this year (quite likely imo) i dont think we can compare him and Massa, as he'll need to have proper practice in a car that hard to drive. I dont believe too much into the Kobayashi hype. He's good, but since he's been in the Sauber, i really havent noticed him do anything, he's just got results. If Perez didnt crash in Monaco last year, he would have most likely finished ahead of Kobay in the champ.
Alonso didn't seem to need much time to settle in the Ferrari, so why would any driver should they have what it takes? That said, I do like Perez and really hope he does well in his career.
