Assuming Bahrain goes ahead, I have the feeling that Hamilton will win the next two races. I freely admit to being completely bias and welcome all criticism thrown at my logic! That logic being that Hamilton clearly likes the track in China, he's won it twice before and I think he's the only driver to have won the race twice. Bahrain, again if my memory serves correctly, is a track where overtaking is not easy and the pole sitter usually wins. At this rate, I can't see anyone out-qualifying Hamilton and think he will win that one too. Am I merely a deluded Hamilton fan or is there some sense in my thinking? Please do stop me before I stick a tenner on it...
with a car that is a solid pole sitter he is sure to be the favourite to win. Button is the second favourite but has to overtake Hamilton to win. Unfortunatly for him the Mclaren doesnt look like a good car to overtake in.
Looks like Bahrain's off but I'm confident for China, providing the McLaren doesn't have a serious race pace problem. Then again, that didn't stop Alonso on Sunday. Third time lucky?
How sure are we that Bahrain is actually going to be off? I read the other thread, but some of the news reports look like they are taking comments a little far, no?
On current form there seems to be more chance of getting a muslim to eat a tin of spam, than getting a race in Bahrain to go ahead.
China is a "Hamilton track" if we were to describe tracks where drivers go well. He seems to like China and baring outside forces he looks the most likely to win in my eyes. mostly likely, not certain mind.
I dont think anyone could argue with that, although it could be nip and tuck with Button as I cant see Lewis beating him everytime to Pole! The only issue I forsee is that Lewis hasnt looked that brilliant in full race pace (as of yet) and if China and Bahrain were to be dry we will see tire management come into play! If I had to bet, I would say Lewis but my head says Button could just aswell take them if dry (China)!
Right now I'm feeling Hamilton is the championship favourite. Melbourne was a small mistake at the start that dropped him a place to 2nd, the safety car was plain bad luck that dropped him further to 3rd. In Malaysia both the McLaren and Red Bull were either not suited or not setup for the conditions and out of the 4 drivers in what most consider to be the 2 top cars so far this season he lost the least ground. I'm looking forward to a clean race where we can really see who is where.
I have already thought about him liking China, dominating in 2008, 6th in the awful 2009 car, a well earned 2nd in 2010 and then a very exciting win last year. Another thing that springs to mind is that I don't think Hamilton has yet completed a full practice programme. P1 and P2 were disrupted by rain in Melbourne and in Malaysia he only got 8 laps in P3 and he said he was going to focus on long run pace in P3. So I'm not sure we have seen his true 2012 race pace yet. If china is dry and he completes his practice programme we might just see what he can do.
No idea who will win this one, it could also rain again. I think I will place Button, Hamilton, Webber, Vettell, and Alonso into a hat and pick one out for the prediction
Out of about 14 predictions last year (bear in mind i joined when 606 closed down, so i missed a few races) i got 1 right. Just 1.
Over the last fortnight Red Bull will have collected lots of numbers to feed into the NeweyBrain™ and now have three weeks to compute them. I wouldn't be surprised if they're much closer to McLaren in qualifying and make a real challenge for the race victory in China. Sea-man makes a good point and I broadly agree that Hamilton should be the McLaren favourite and that he'll be able to find the race pace he says he needs through setup for this circuit. Even then, he'll have to fight for it, and I'm yet to be convinced that he's recovered from the confidence knock he received last year. I suppose I'm saying I don't know but then, with Bahrain in doubt and the pecking order uncertain, it's a difficult question to answer. There's a three week gap to China and then potentially a four week gap to Spain with a test in between. Everything that we think we know could be turned on its head by then. He stands a good chance of winning China and, if the race goes ahead, his momentum may well carry through to Bahrain. If Bahrain is cancelled then I think Spain will be up for grabs.
McLaren will also have a load of data from the first 2 races that they will be feeding into their development team. McLaren are renowned for in season development so I don't expect them to be that easy to play catch up with, if Merc can cure their tyre issues and Ferrari get unto speed by Spain then I think we're in for a fantastic year. In level cars I think Hamilton and Alonso will be the ones to watch, but until Spain I think it's Hamiltons to lose. Bahrain being dropped could be to Ferraris advantage, one less race with their dodgy car.
