Did you split Maldonado and Senna up intentionally? The thing I have with Mercedes is that they haven't ever done a do-or-die run with the new car, so it's difficult to tell. Their race pace looked quite good though. I think Ferrari will come into their own later in the season, much as Mclaren have done these last few years. At the moment for Oz I'm putting my money on Lotus getting pole, but Hamilton or Vettel to win.
Qualifying should be a joy to watch because it seems 5 or 6 teams have good pace over 1 lap and I think pole could be decided by driver ability more than car speed, I think in the race we may see a 3 way fight. Lotus look consistent over 10 laps and in testing today they had better tyre wear than Mclaren over a long stint but the Mclaren did seem to have a 0.2 second advantage over them today according to Gary Anderson. This season will does look like it's going to be a classic.
Im fairly sure that Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari (minus Massa) will be our top three once Aus is cleared.
Finally the Red Cows suffer. It's also great that Ferrari have done over 100 laps every day in this test. By Melbourne I'm sure Red Bull will be a few tenths ahead of everyone, Lotus will be exposed and Ferrari will be 3rd quickest (at least in qualifying - tyre management looks bad and Hamashima cant perform miracles in such little time). If Mercedes are serious about moving forward in the long term, they surely cant offer Schumacher a new contract. He's improving but hes still holding the team back overall, which will be more visible if Lotus and Force India are close to Mercedes this year.
Thanks. Whilst Red Bull's out and out speed has not been on show, you do wonder if they will turn up to Melbourne and just piss over everyone, or as usual, will it take Newey a season or two to get used to the new regs?
Not much you can say to that. Maybe the protests will have a positive effect for Ferrari and maybe they'll get what they're doing wrong early enough to mount a challenge but the days of being capable of designing a clear winner seem long gone. Cosi's lament might be appropriate at this juncture.
Same difference really. While I'm sure the Autosport quote is the accurate one, ESPN's spin on it doesn't really change the meaning.
Wasn't expecting you to blame the performance of the whole team on one driver, but you know everybody has an opinion.
I think the current order is 1 Red-Bull 2 McLaren Closer than last year but Red-Bull still clearly ahead. Then in 3rd, 4th and 5th Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus but no idea what order. If I had to guess I would say at least initially 3rd Lotus 4th Ferrari 5th Mercedes I'm talking about over a whole grand prix weekend here not just 1 lap pace, which is why Lotus make it to 3rd for me - better tyre management. Lotus did start ahead of Mercedes last year too.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what Lotus, Raikkonen and Grosjean can do this year- I'll be following them very closely
They need to invest in drivers who can take the team forward. not someone in their mid-forties who has only a finite period of time left. WHy not take on a youngster, say di Resta, and have Schuey do the driver-coach team role. He gets in have his input which doubtless is very valuable, but they get someone in teh car who is quick and will have many years left.
HRT WILL run tomorrow. (so say Autosport) Downside: Karthikeyan will be their man driver. You have Pedro de la Rosa who has been Mclaren's test driver for years and widely acknowledged as one of the best drivers for feedback in the business (also Pirelli's test driver for a while wasn't he?)... and you stick in someone who hasn't driven an F1 car since the Indian GP and hardly set the world alight before then. Just...why?
