Interesting question that will require some crystal ball work, but here i go. I dont think that Alonso or Webber winning the championship is feasable. Alonso is 92 points behind and still in a slower car and Mark i just can not see beating Vettel anywhere near enough to pass him. Given that their cars should be the same. He might finish second, but it won't be a close second. That leaves us with the McLaren duo. Jenson has looked in great form the past two races and i would adore it if he could sting a championship challenge together, but my head says that over a season Hamilton will get the better of him. For these reasons i voted Hamilton, but even he will need the EBD ban to cripple Red Bull if he is to have a chance.
Still no votes for Webber, I will play Devil's advocate and say that he is in currently in the best car and if he can get a hold of the Pirelli tyres then he could start winning races and challenging Vettel again, last year he showed he is capable of matching Vettel in quali and during the middle of season was on top of him. In Canada he was without KERS in quali and his lap was 4 tenths slower than Vettel's which is the same amount of time KERS was estimated to be worth around Montreal.
Webber is being humiliated by Vettel. If he doesn't turn it around soon he could finish some 200 points off his teammate. actually just look at his record for this year and compare it to vettels. One second place as his best result is terrible.
I wonder about Webber, is he getting old and losing his touch. He cant touch Vettel, Horner must be concerned, but i wonder to Red Bull prefer it rather than him as his main title challenger.
To be honest i don't really rate his 2010 season either. Getting the best car while you teammate has mechanical problems while leading three times and finishing third is a disapointment in itself. Now Vettel has matured and is not crashing as much the gap in pace is just more clear.
I know Webber's in the same car but his problem with the tyres accounts for him being back in the chasing pack. He's only seven points behind Button and the gap between Alonso and Button amounts to only about seventeen points in old money. Any one of Alonso, Hamilton or Webber could get on terms with Button in just a race or two. If Webber gets on top of his tyre issues then he could be the one to challenge.
I think he is (and got told he is) the number 2 driver. He isnt allowed to beat Vettel. This is my opinion, but I cant believe he will be that much worse compared to last year.
nobody said they expect Webber or Alonso to lose to Button. I was looking at who could mount a championship challenge and i think Button and Hamilton are the only ones who could overthrow Vettel and i doubt that even they could do it.
In regards to Webber he has had problems with his car pretty much at every GP this season and that coupled with him struggling with the tyres I think explains most of the gap between himself and Vettel.
Webber is an overrated driver. 8th or 9th best on the grid. ( depending on if you count Kubica) I still fail to see any greatness in him from his 2010 or 2009 seasons on bridgestones
I doubt he is being slow on purpose, or else he is just angry with Red Bull and doesnt care about them. It being an embarrassing season for him, and earlier this season he said Vettel was on another level to him.
I don't think it's a surprise to those on here who I have voted for IMO Alonso is the best driver at the moment (excluding Vettel). Once Ferrari have got their act together with the car, I have no doubt that Alonso will be winning GPs. However, I think that Vettel is too far ahead at this point and even if he has an average season from now on, he is pretty much nailed-on to win it.
I really wan't to vote Hamilton in this poll because not only does he have the fastest car in race pace, but he's also imo the only one with the speed to take the fight to Vettel in the races - like he did in Spain and China. Unfortunately, Hamilton's recent performances suggest that he has the wrong mindset, and Vettel's domination seems to affect him more than others, so he pushes harder and makes more mistakes, which then put him even further behind in the Championship. With his car and talent, he should be within 30 point of Vettel imo. Sadly I think this is Vettel's title, but if I had to bet on someone, it would be Fernando Alonso. The determination, talent and ability to get everything from the car makes him a very dangerous threat IF Ferrari make some big progress (which isn't unrealistic). The car (and bad luck) has held Alonso back so far, but he doesn't make many mistakes and unlike Lewis he can keep a calm head and perform to his best despite Vettel giving him a beating. If Ferrari keep developing their car post-Silverstone and Vettel still wins, I believe Alonso will finish the season in 2nd. By the way, good thread Mifune, have some rep
I feel this is Vettels season, I also feel it will be a McLaren 2,3 at the end of the season with McLaren maybe nicking the WCC. Alonso doesn't have the car at the moment, and although he's fast (obviously) he just has too much catching up to do living of what will basically be scraps. Webber, meh, no chance any more.
Thank you kindly FF. I was torn between Alonso, Button and Hamilton, I discounted Hamilton because I am just not sure where his head is at and by the time he gets back into the correct mindset it could be too late. Out of Alonso and Button it was close because you can never discount Alonso, just look at what he did last year, but I gave the edge to Button because currently he is much nearer to Vettel and at the moment the Mclaren is better than the Ferrari. However I fully expect Vettel to win and really anyone of Alonso, Button or Hamilton could finish second.
Alonso, Hamilton and Button could all mount challenges, so I've voted for Button, not only because he's my favourite, but there was a noticable steeliness in his performances in Monaco and Canada. Also if certain exhaust systems do get banned it could completely change everything. What if Ferrari and Mercedes suddenly came back into it? What if Red Bull, at a stroke became the third best car, and were struggling to get podiums? No-one knows what will happen. Certainly Red Bull are unhappy about the possible mid-season changes, and are already considering appealing (while telling the media that the changes won't really affect them much).
Alonso imo. I would love to say Jenson is his biggest threat, but I'm pretty sure Fernando will get closest too him when the season has ended.
The McLarens, I can't really choose between them, Button is a completely different driver this year, far more aggressive than at any time I've seen him race during his career, I think before he was seen as a bit of a bottler in 50/50's, which is why they try and bully him out of positions, before, he would've probably given up the corner to Alonso, but this year he seems to have a different mind-set. If he hadn't made that horrendous wrong pit box cock-up I think he could've gone on to win the race, and bad luck cost him a win in Monaco. Hamiltons chance depends on how well he drives, or rather how badly he drives, the McLaren is now the best car on the grid in race trim and, on song, he's probably the best racer on the grid, but when Button drives badly he still ends up with fairly decent points, Hamilton has a bad race and he's sitting in the motorhome watching the race on TV, that is the difference. It's worth noting that even though Prost wasn't as good a racer as Senna, he still has more titles because of his consistency, and if they hadn't been allowed to dump their worst finishes Senna would've lost in 88 too. And now, of course, they are looking for reasons to penalise ~Hamilton, not because they have anything against him personally, but because he has given himself the reputation that he will do something worth penalising, much like refs keep an eye on a known dirty footballer.
Lewis's current woes just remind me of Alonso's this time last year. I don't think Alonso lost the championship in Abu Dhabi but much earlier in the season by losing his head for a while and I expect he knows that. This year, he's keeping his cool despite having a worse time of it than Lewis. I doubt, though, that his attitude will be enough to overhaul such a deficit without a substantial improvement from his car or a similar relative deterioration from the Red Bull. Lewis, well, see above! But like Alonso, he can't be written off. In his favour, the car seems to be coming together nicely. If he can adopt his Shanghai mentality and keep it, he has a better chance. Button has often lacked that 'killer' instinct but he's showing it intermittently this season: Malaysia, Monaco, Canada. He's currently in a better position than Lewis, has the same car and a cooler head right now. So if he can deliver more aggressive performances he also has a good chance. Webber seems to have lost the edge he had last season, whether it's just the tyres or other factors such as that the Red Bull car was designed to suit Vettel or that mentally he feels last year was his big missed opportunity is just my speculation but I think either or both is possible. In his favour, he's in third place and now getting consistent if unspectacular results. Remember Vettel last year? Never leading the championship until the final race! So, I think that the two McLaren drivers have a better chance as it stands now. But, as others have said, they look like taking a lot of points from each other which will help Vettel. The other obvious factor must be the implementation of the diffuser rule after Valencia and the effect of that remains to be seen. Of course, a sixty point lead will be very hard to close and pass so, realistically, it's unlikely that anyone will catch Vettel unless the new rule really hurts Red Bull.
