Hi all and thanks. China was a good example of this, for the following: -Malaysia.He had a shocking race in Sepang and he needed to get a podium so the pressure was on for the result. - Qualifying compromised. As a driver you always want to qualify as high as you can, I am sure he did but he eased that lap to save as much grip on those options for the race. -Over-fuel. This caused him not to go to the loo which is what he does at every race before he gets into the car(after got it to the grid) it was touch and go and his emotions must have run high but he did well to compose himself and stay calm. -Overtakes. He knew he was the fastest of the three stoppers and had to pull out 4 stunning overtakes to take the win. He managed the primes at the end brilliantly and he took the victory by 5 secs showing that he had some more life left after taking the lead with 4 laps to go from Vettel. Overall it was a stunning performance that deserves to be credited to a certain extent. Why a certain extent??? Because we know sometimes that the next race will be the opposite.... as it can be for ANY driver. But I think since 2010 he has had a persona that is cool, calm and relaxed. He doesn`t care what other fans of other drivers think or other people or probably even me, but he gets the job done when it needs to be done. He is my favourite for the title this year, closely followed by Seb. I dont think Fernando or Jenson can do it neither Felipe or Schumi or even AussieGrit.
I do also think that Lewis has a good chance if winning providing the Red Bull performance advantage does not increase. As it is now, assuming Seb has improved since last season, we could be in for a duel between Seb winning from pole to flag and Lewis winning everytime Seb or his team slip up. Can't rule the Aussie out though, we should find out what he is really made of Lewis though can win this unless Seb has really improved and can demonstrate top class racecraft My two fav drivers on the grid head to head, can't wait
Considering Vettel/Red Bull have been pritty much been flawless for the first 3 races I don't believe 1 win in China makes Lewis the "favorite" IMO since he was plain horrible in Malaysia when tyre wear came into play. Turkey will show us if it was just a blip or they are the real deal with challeging Vettel, he hasn't shown any weaknesses yet when put under pressure from any driver. McLaren might get flexi wings down the line, but it's likely that Red Bull will sort out KERS before they get close.
Silver I agree that Sebs best chance is for Red Bull to increase and maintain a performance advantage over Mclaren I don't think this will be the case Mclaren have closed the gap and the Newey chassis might be close to it's optimum, the Kers issues suggest that the car is almost as good as it was designed to be Whereas the Mclaren could have more to come, flexy wings are possibly easier to bolt on than an effective kers Agree Seb looks better this year, but in F1 we won't know till he encounters some real setbacks, could he have completed the overtakes Webber or Lewis did in China?
17th to 4th in a Toro Rosso, China 07. I also don't agree that the McLaren can surpass the RB7 at the end of the year just because it was rushed. When they design these cars they also have to think of the future progress of the car down the line so it's as flexible as possible. Mclaren rushed their car so in the long run I reckon It will show when they stagnate towards the end and can develop no more, without completely changing the whole chassis. The Mclaren looks far more complete than the Red Bull IMO.
I don't think anyone has suffered a bigger setback than Seb did in Korea last year and look how he responded to that. He also made the same amount of overtakes (four) as Hamilton in China. I think McLaren are a real threat though, I think they have more scope to bring performance to their car than Red Bull. I expect the gap to close significantly in the coming weeks. It all depends on how much of a lead Seb can build. I think Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari will also have big say in terms of taking points out of the others.
F1 should be about top drivers in top teams duelling We might have that this year with Seb and Lewis So far we know that Seb is very good in a very good car Like Button first half of 2009 We have yet to see Seb in the situation of Button second half of 2009, last year was not impressive as Webber lost the WC rather than Seb won I think Vettel now has Lewis to worry about, albeit in a slightly lesser car, Webber in the same car will only be a challenge if Seb has not improved from last year Also the TR was actually better than the RB when Seb snatched a win
Both cars still designed by Newey though, vettel was just the better driver that year. Don't understand the "seb is very good in a very good car", he's been in worse cars than Lewis through his career and has done better in sticking with it than most people could do. I feel Vettels top team results have overshadowed what he achieved with Toro rosso, which I've yet to see from most drivers on the grid. But anyway this shouldn't be about comparing Vettel to Lewis since it's only meant to be about Lewis' performance in China.
