I agree and we know nothing for certain but I still think that, like Ferrari, Red Bull has issues that can be addressed. McLaren seem to have a good car that they can develop to improve the fundamental performance the car has already shown but I reckon Red Bull are still looking to unlock the RB8's fundamental performance. With long breaks between races and the Mugello test coming up I'm guessing that Red Bull will make a bigger step forward than McLaren. I hope Ferrari can, too, and I'd love to see a season-long Hamilton/Alonso battle for the WDC. McLaren's reputation for in-season development is largely down to recovering well from a poor start in my opinion but they may confound that this season by improving more than their competitors but from a better starting point.
Number of times on podium in China: <style type="text/css"> table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;} .tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;} </style> <table class="tableizer-table"> <tr class="tableizer-firstrow"><th> Cla </th><th> Drivers </th><th> Total </th></tr> <tr><td>1</td><td>Kimi Räikkönen </td><td>4</td></tr> <tr><td>2</td><td>Fernando Alonso </td><td>3</td></tr> <tr><td>3</td><td>Jenson Button </td><td>3</td></tr> <tr><td>4</td><td>Lewis Hamilton </td><td>3</td></tr> <tr><td>5</td><td>Felipe Massa </td><td>2</td></tr> <tr><td>6</td><td>Sebastian Vettel </td><td>2</td></tr> <tr><td>7</td><td>Mark Webber </td><td>2</td></tr> <tr><td>8</td><td>Rubens Barrichello</td><td>1</td></tr> <tr><td>9</td><td>Ralf Schumacher</td><td>1</td></tr> <tr><td>10</td><td>Giancarlo Fisichella</td><td>1</td></tr> <tr><td>11</td><td>Michael Schumacher </td><td>1</td></tr> <tr><td>12</td><td>Nico Rosberg </td><td>1</td></tr></table> and the Pole positions: <style type="text/css"> table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;} .tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;} </style> <table class="tableizer-table"> <tr class="tableizer-firstrow"><th>Seq. </th><th> G. Prix </th><th> Nº </th><th> Driver </th><th> Car </th><th> Engine </th><th> Time </th><th> km/h </th></tr> <tr><td>1</td><td>2004 </td><td>2 </td><td>R.Barrichello</td><td>Ferrari F2004</td><td>Ferrari 3.0 V10</td><td>1'34.012</td><td> 208.735</td></tr> <tr><td>2</td><td>2005 </td><td>5 </td><td>Fernando Alonso</td><td>Renault R25</td><td>Renault 3.0 V10</td><td>1'34.080</td><td> 208.584</td></tr> <tr><td>3</td><td>2006 </td><td>1 </td><td>Fernando Alonso</td><td>Renault R26</td><td>Renault 2.4 V8</td><td>1'44.360</td><td> 188.037</td></tr> <tr><td>4</td><td>2007 </td><td>2 </td><td>Lewis Hamilton</td><td>McLaren MP4-22</td><td>Mercedes 2.4 V8</td><td>1'35.908</td><td> 204.608</td></tr> <tr><td>5</td><td>2008 </td><td>22 </td><td>Lewis Hamilton</td><td>McLaren MP4-23</td><td>Mercedes 2.4 V8</td><td>1'36.303</td><td> 203.769</td></tr> <tr><td>6</td><td>2009 </td><td>15 </td><td>Sebastian Vettel</td><td>Red Bull RB5</td><td>Renault 2.4 V8</td><td>1'36.184</td><td> 204.021</td></tr> <tr><td>7</td><td>2010 </td><td>5 </td><td>Sebastian Vettel</td><td>Red Bull RB6</td><td>Renault 2.4 V8</td><td>1'34.558</td><td> 207.529</td></tr> <tr><td>8</td><td>2011 </td><td>1 </td><td>Sebastian Vettel</td><td>Red Bull RB7</td><td>Renault 2.4 V8</td><td>1'33.706</td><td> 209.416</td></tr></table>
If China is dry and Bahrain goes ahead, he has a very good chance of at least taking pole - and sooner or later he'll convert a pole position into a victory. He probably would have won in Malaysia had it stayed dry. For China, Mercedes will have a strong car in qualifying thanks to that long straight. Schumacher is not an easy man to pass so Hamilton can't afford to mess up in Q3. The addition of rain will make winning the race very difficult, but still possible. For Bahrain (if it happens), he needs to be comfortably ahead of the other cars because McLaren's pit stops have been poor so far this year and their strategy hasn't been much better.
I think rain is manageable if it isn't as intense as Malaysia and if it shows signs of raining during the weekend and the teams can setup for it.
At least he seems to accept we all know who Hamilton is now. Normally its Lewis Hamilton, 2008 world champion, like without that fact we'd be stumped to who Hamilton is Hamilton's also saying all the right things Consistency is the key, take your chances but not at the expense of a dnf.
Well, Hamilton is in a much better place than he was last season, both mentally and mechanically, his performances to date have shown greater potential and I see no reason at present, why, with a little luck why he shouldn't go on and take the WDC let alone the next two races. Lewis Hamilton is always there or there about's and is one of the one's, if not the one, most likely to succeed.
Well this is a new Lewis, I just got this feeling he is still in a rut at the moment as he has the car but not the 100% clear mindset. It's not because I'm not a fan of him, it's just....I got this gut feeling he will go backwards again for these 2 up coming races.
all the team will be doing the same thing, so the renaults and the mercedes's will also be looking to push further up the field as well. i have a sneaking suspision that renault will be the closest rival to Mclaren at the next race
One thing last season is that he couldn't pace himself. If he tried to be cautious he was slow. (in particular he had the "make sure i finish" attitude at Monza) We will have to see how it works out in China. Malaysia was crazy, but in the only other race he was slower than Button so i have doubts over his ability to make this mindset work.
His type of person makes him really depressed about one bad result. well not depressed but you know what i mean. And if he doesnt get luck, it'll get even worse. I think if Button wins in China, he wont be back to his best for a while. Obviously if he wins in China, he'll most likely win in Bahrain too.
Would he be saying this if he had won the first two races? If he's really trying to emulate his team-mate, perhaps he should stop analysing himself and his results so much. Or, to put it another way: just drive the bloody car!
Yeah... He just he should just shut his pie hole,stop irritating the general populous and just do his bloody job... The cucumber!
Hamilton does seem to be well placed to easily win in China, but he's got a real threat from within his own team. Button is on fantastic form at the moment (apart from Malaysia but that was a freak race for everyone). In the last 11 races he's stood on the podium 9 times, 3 of which he was on the top step. He's got a lot of confidence from that record, he'll be eager to bounce back after what happened in Malaysia and, as already mentioned before, he's out-qualified Hamilton in China every year that they've been team-mates. I hope Hamilton does win a race soon, and China is probably his best chance so far, but rule out Button at your own peril. Not to mention that Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus are all gonna be using the 3-week gap to try and match McLaren's pace.
