Based on the question asked I'm confident about Schumacher. He'll either win the race, or retire due to an important part of his car (be that tyres, gearbox or engine) producing smoke when it/they shouldn't.
ive gone for lewis.i can see him getting pole again,but this time he wont be so slow off the line. thats all that cost him in australia.also i dont think tyres are a problem tbh.i dont remember many times lewis has lost out because of tyre wear, it was crashing which was the problem.i thought in australia he looked after his tyres well,and would have been quicker in clean air. if button had of overtaken lewis halfway through the race because lewis had wore his tyres out,then that would be abit worrying,but ofcourse that didnt happen. we'll see tho.
its funny coz in 2010 button got mclarens first win but ended up with less points than lewis at the end of the season. but in 2011 lewis got mclarens first win and ended with less points than button overall. will history repeat itself?
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/race-strategy-calculator/ Hey thought this might be a helpful link for those trying to work out possible race strategies.
I thought he was in clean air from about lap 5 and he was certainly in clean air after the ist round of pit stops!
Well, he was stuck in dirty air with cars to pass a bit after the first pit stop but Whitmarsh claims fuel saving was a big issue.
Yes, I agree Sea-Man! When I looked at the poll (which I've not yet voted on), I was amazed to see so little backing of Vettel!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98230 This all sounds encouraging "Lewis Hamilton says post-race analysis has helped him pinpoint why he slipped back in the Australian Grand Prix, leaving him in a far more optimistic frame of mind heading into Malaysia." "While Hamilton was downbeat afterward - admitting he was baffled by his struggles – he says his debrief has helped him understand where Button was able to gain an advantage." "Afterwards, I sat down with my engineers and we went through all the data. There was a small issue with the clutch at the start: it wasn't my fault, but we now understand and know how to improve in the future." "My race pace was pretty much identical to Jenson's" "It's encouraging and reassuring to understand the reasons for our race pace in Australia, and it puts me in a really positive frame of mind for the race in Malaysia."
I beg to differ, His race pace was much slower and slipped behind by 10 seconds only catching up when Button had something odd with his tyres. His tyre wear was also higher than buttons which led to them going off quicker. His poor start is not why he lost the race..
Mercedes will be around 6-7th imo, gradualy slipping back from a good quali. Lotus looking for 3-5, being solid through out. Sauber I think will be competing around 5th downwords, although it's hard to guage theor outright pace as they very rarely go toe to toe, prefuring to use alternate strategies. Ferrari I think will struggle, Alonso I think will be around 6th, Massa....hmmmm Can't see him in the top 10 to be honest. Mclarens to start well, with Vettel chasing and catching Hamilton as Lewis' tires go off, I recon vettel will be in 2nd, chasing Button down. It's supposed to be hard on the tires and Abbrasive, so Jenson could do well. Rain will throw it all up in the air though, possibly in schumi/buttons/Vettels and Hamiltons favours.
I see no reason why there should not be two zones here. How about this: The two long, consecutive straights would have been interesting, with the possibility of an overtaken car threatening to fight back immediately - which I think would be fun! The second detection line would be at the end of the first straight and would create the possibility of tactical driving - perhaps by deliberately staving off overtaking on the first straight, just to close right up for a good shot at the second. Alternatively, with backmarkers to play with a driver may decide to go for the first one instead, hoping to stretch the gap (or at least maintain it) on the second. This would also create a dilemma for drivers in the way in which they charge and deploy KERS.
If the Mercedes gets DRS its looking like it'll fly past people. Then again theres a lot of high speed corners which will be difficult to follow cars through and stay within 1 second.
It's interesting that Button is beating Hamilton in the prediction stakes. The last time that happened was probably 2006.
