Can't see anything but Hamilton win if reliability is maintained. Has the measure of Rosberg on speed, fuel and tyres if malaysia (and Aus quali) is anything to go by. Mercedes power on the straights will shine through. Hulk for a podium?
For the Championship it would be great for someone to somehow get a win and stop Mercedes opening up a gap in the title races but in all likelihood, teams are well off their pace. Where on earth has the Red Bull speed and reliability come from though?? Ferrari holding back on updates until at least China. McLaren apparantly struggling with high speed corners and hotter temperatures? Mercedes should open a big lead if we dont see someone developing fast! Really disappointed with the Malaysian GP. Bahrain a night race this year now? Whether that improves the race there is open to debate though.
I reckon it will get interesting in Europe, thing is one team normally dominates the start of the season, hotter temperatures and good foundations from testing etc. But teams have different rates of progression, as you can see Redbull are developing much quicker. As for Mclaren, I think they will come good in areas such as Canada and Monaco, stop start track much like Australia.
Frijns to run in FP1 I bet he is far better than Ericson who I have not been very impressed by so far
What's stopping Mercedes just trade wins and have them both develop a gap against 3rd place and then for the last half actually fight it out. Not trying to discredit performance between the 2 drivers, I'm just under the impression that they're not allowed to actually fight each other from the word go and that the race victor is decided on Thursday. Mercedes do have a historical tendency to implement team orders very early on when they're not under any threat by another team and will want to maximize the gap of both their drivers early on for their 2 to just fight it out eventually. My spider sense tells me Lewis was meant to have won Australia and Nico Malaysia for his loyalty for team orders the year before. and the reason for Nico's slower speed and higher fuel flow was because he was limiting the ERS damage to make sure he got 2nd. I mean he was "crushed" by Lewis this weekend and Rosberg didn't even batter an eyelid or show anything for that matter as he was more cheerful and carefree on the podium. The way I see it is that Lewis will win Bahrain bar mechanical DNF, for Nico to win China bar DNF and then Lewis to win the next 2 after that so the gap can be "equal" at a certain time when they're both allowed to race each other as the gap to the other driver is too large and this to avoid a RBR 2010 issue of allowing them to attack each other early on.
How do we know Red Bull is developing quicker than Mercedes? I doubt we have seen Mercedes really pushing yet. Both races so far they have been cruising, so we have to see what happens in races where they actually have some serious competition before we could say that... Right now we don't know what Mercedes has in pocket or at the factory, because they have been so dominant in the two races so far.
Have the rest really caught up? Nico finished 25 seconds ahead of Ricciardo in Aus, and by all accounts was coasting for most of the GP. Lewis finished 25 seconds ahead of Vettel in Mal, and again, by all accounts had loads more speed on tap if required. They managed their tyres just as well as the other teams, used less fuel yet stil set the fastest laps. If both cars are reliable I can't see anyone getting close (not for the next few races at least). Gone for Hamilton but could just as easily opted for Rosberg.
lewis looks so much more comfortable in this car compared to last seasons,and he has said he has no braking issues in this car.he had never won in malaysia before,but won that one with ease.and he has got 2 poles in a row,to nico's two 3rd places.if lewis has no car problems,i can see him getting pole and winning again.
No I'm not kidding. Fangio and Moss had these kind of agreements to make sure only their drivers would be in the title fight in the closing stages, its a Mercedes-Benz philosophy for winning by maximising both drivers chances to win the WDC unless one driver is vastly more senior in rank at Mercedes. Its not impossible to think they're doing the same as they know nobody can challenge them and they just want to create a gap early on to cancel out all threats by allowing both drivers to win by agreement instead of fighting it out on track and increasing chances of failure and crashing. Rosberg wasn't even bothered Lewis won and dominated him, you would see a true defeated man in the likes of Webber, Grosjean or Massa when they got crushed officially by moping around and acting humbled with a depressed attitude.Rosberg didn't act like a man who was officially crushed by his team mate and instead was lapping up the PR script without a care in the world.
I think you have a point, that they are so far ahead they have the luxury of choosing who wins, maybe Rosberg gets his turn this weekend You could tell by Nico's demeanour that all was not lost, maybe because he is leading the WDC, maybe because Bahrain might be a stronger track, but I think your point is more probable. That it is because they have a car that may even be more dominant than last years/2011 RBR.
Omfg, Daniel ignored team order openly over the radio by trying to pull a fast one over his own team mate who was clearly faster! Daniel must have his super license taken away from him, or or or be fined by the team or or or have his seat used for 3 races by another Red Bull driver! "No, if something happens there I want to be a part of it." Daniel Ricciardo finds a polite way of telling his race engineer he has no intention of turning down his engine with Sebastian Vettel seemingly reeling in Nico Rosberg ahead of him. ESPN Seb at least had 3 world title to warrant being that arrogant about his place in RBR, but Daniel he is a class A traitor to the hand that feeds him! Never ever expected an F1 driver put his own needs ahead of the team, I mean multi 21 was entirely unique in the history of F1...
