Sebastian Vettel is clearly in the driving seat if you will pardon the pun for the WDC, he has four challenges for the title in Button, Webber, Hamilton and Alonso who at the moment are quite a way behind him. However I get the feeling that the tides are starting to turn, we have seen in the last few races that the Mclaren are at worst equal in race pace with the Red Bull and Ferrari are now getting over their wind tunnel induced early season blip and are starting to gain on Red Bull and Mclaren. Another very important factor in the potential shift is the upcoming restrictions of the blown diffusers which the consequences are as yet unknown but will more than likely affect Red Bull more so than Mclaren and Ferrari. However even if Red Bull retain their qualifying advantage this year has showed that race pace and strategy are much more important and these should let the others start to properly and consistently challenge Vettel for race wins. My question is, who will be Vettel's biggest challenger for the F1 driver championship? Jenson Button - PROS: Currrently closest to Vettel in the championship. : Does not really make any mistakes allowing for consistent scoring. : Seems to like the Pirelli tyres and can make them last while still being quick. - CONS: Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel and Webber are probably better qualifiers. : Can have the occasional struggle if not happy with the car causing him to be off the pace. : Him and Hamilton will take points off each other. Mark Webber - PROS: Is in a Red Bull. : Is a good qualifier. : Determined. - CONS: Vettel is in the same car. : Struggling with the new tyres. Lewis Hamilton - PROS: Very fast and good qualifier. : Aggressive and goes for the overtake. - CONS: In susceptible to crashing. : Perhaps over reliant on his pitwall. : Him and Button will take points off each other. Fernando Alonso - PROS: Always gets the best out of the car : Never gives up, very determined, knows what he has to do. : The most well rounded driver. : Pretty much got the full backing of Ferrari. - CONS: At the moment the Ferrari is the third best car. : He is the furthest behind in the points.
Lewis or Fernando. I have not voted but will after Valencia, because then that will be enough evidence for me to see where everyone is.
I am really surprised you 2 think Jenson will be the biggest challenger. Please explain why Genji and Mifune.
The last two races he was been the fastest and seems to be getting a good understanding on the tyres, he does not make mistakes so he will consistently score points which I think could pay dividends in the end.
Interesting, but I think Lewis and Fernando have the edge in raw speed which will be vital, but there will be races where raw speed is not needed and tyre choice and strategy.
I put Alonso but I think it will be Button. If Ferrari can get back to winning ways then it will be Alonso but if they cant i'm hoping Button will win it.
Good thread, Mifune. There's already some discussion on this here but updating it post-Canada and setting out the pros and cons for a poll is a good idea. I have no hesitation in choosing the Fantasy Formula 1 option. Realistically I think Vettel's only challengers are Alonso and Hamilton because it's going to require aggression and raw pace to get on terms with him. Of the two I think Alonso displays better maturity and composition so he'd have to be the best bet. The thing is, neither of them are doing it so instead I'm going to vote for Button. I think he's a match for Alonso in terms of control and managing his situation, even if he lacks Alonso's ability to make a car do more than than it should be able to. Back in the pre-2010 season winter I said on 606 that the fight for Button against Hamilton wasn't going to be won on the track but in the garage and the MTC. Button's skill is in managing his situation and ensuring he has the will of the team behind him. It's a skill he coudn't have developed without his peculiar F1 career. He survived Frank Williams and animal Flavio Briatore. He extricated himself from undesired contract agreements. He has spent millions on prolonging his F1 career. He's driven pathetic excuses for cars around at the back of the field but he's also been within touching distance of fulfilling his ambition, when the Honda looked serious in 2006. I still believe Vettel's untouchable, clarification of off-throttle blowing rules or not, but my internet money's on Button to beat Hamilton and probably Alonso this season.
lewis is vettels biggest challenger.lewis always has a few bad races a season,but normally later in the season.he's got them out the way early.he will score well in valencia and silverstone,and then we'll see what happens. i like the fact some of you have written him off already tho.i mean i doubt he'll keep getting involved in incidents like the ones in the last few races,but some of you seem to think he will. in some ways he was unlucky in monaco,because he was super quick there.and he was super quick in canada which is why he was able to overtake button earlier in the race. so unless he keeps having bad races like the last 2 he'll certainly outscore jenson and if the new rule which comes into place in silverstone really hurts redbull more than their rivals,the tital challenge will be back on. i hope you like losing money genjioleone.
Wouldn't be so cocky about Lewis or Jenson, the McLaren was a hunk of junk until they copied the EBD.
And I wouldn't be so cocky about reading McLaren's pre-season testing fail if I were you, my fine feathered friend.
Even though im a Button fan, i just get the sense he is not a title contender, i dont know why, even though he is in second. I feel Hamilton and/ or Alonso can challenge vettel, but they will risk taking points off each other, so unless Mclaren and Ferrari join together, play rock, paper, scissors to find out which driver can challenge, i think vettel has it won.
Hamilton did not get them out of the way early last season, he had a good two thirds of a season particularly in the middle and them capitulated a bit in the last third of the season. Alonso was the opposite got off to a rocky start with a few errors and then had an immense final third of the season. I do not think anyone is writing Hamilton off at all.
And, in times of one-driver dominance, I can't say I'd object, despite it being tantamount to match-fixing. It's not like we haven't seen inter-team agreements before.
This is what the problem with 2009 was about. Nobody could really put a title challenge on Button after he won all those races. There was Vettel, Webber, Lewis, Kimi and Rubens just taking points off each other while good old Jenson would just knuckle down and get what he could. If sebastian is saying the truth, the Renaults and Mercedes would fall down the pack giving them breathing space behind. We still don't know how hard it's going to hit Ferrari and McLaren and they are pritty much praying to every God it will hurt the other teams more then it does them, so they have to be close to 45% and that they just cant copy it's results to close the gap on qualifying. The car is solid on race pace and that's what matters the most with or without the blown diffuser. 10% is better than 0% so Red Bull still has an advantage in that area. They do have the best blown diffuser on the grid. If **** does hit the fan come Silverstone, roll on the end of the Hungarian GP to give adrian some time to think things out hopefully Seb still has a 40+ point buffer heading to Spa. Edit: Voted for Alonso, if there's one guy who can smell a chance it's him. He also wont have to fight Massa for extra points, you'll see teamorders being played from the off now if they get the chance come Silverstone. Jenson and Lewis will most likely take points off each other giving Mclaren no hope to put in team orders. It depends how close they get until Newey gets the car "sorted". If the next few races are podiums from Britain to Hungary be a great achievment, then with a good break afterwards things might be back to "normal" with Red Bull's upfront and stopping anything.
I feel Alonso is the only one with the mental strength to mount such a challenge, but he's already too far adrift. Vettel is home and hosed, I don't just expect him to hang on to his lead, I expect him to extend it. Alonso gets my vote, even though I believe he won't mount any kind of challenge.
