Prediction: MS Not Top 5

Ferrari does NOT have the worst engine...

 

I think 2010 will be like last year. The car will be far more important than the driver. Before last year, Button was a mid-field runner, at best...

 

True. Honda and Toy...oh wait.

Cosworth may come in very strong even with all the rules. We may never know though because of all the new chassis.

 

Thanks.

Very true.

Don't get me wrong: I'm delighted he is back because it is very good for the sport. I'm just surprised to see so many loyal fans on here.

It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out as the season progresses:

Will folks on here still cheer for MS if he leaves our boys in the dust? Or vice versa?

 

+1

+1 - I *always* look forward to a new season, but this may just be something "special" - I can barely wait

While I have said I believe he's the best there's ever been, and his records will remain unmatched, screw him! - I'm a Tifoso thru and thru - If you ain't driving a red car, you don't get my support! So there! I'm not much of a Fred fan, but I'll give him my support now - I just hope Phil blows his doors off - *That* would be way cool IMHO and shut-up the naysayers with their "he's a good #2" comments.

Forza Ferrari! Forza Felippe! Forza (slightly less ) Ferndando!

Cheers,
Ian

 

RB came 3rd in '09. Why can't MS do at least that or better? He's well rested

 

Yup!

And for those of you who weren't in Vegas for the race, it sure looks like he's still got it!

 

in life one has to have principals. MS gave a great deal to Ferrari but Ferrari gave equallyto Michael, allowing him to become a living legend.

To return with another team, not least the one associated with the spy scandal of the century, is an expression of a lack of class, a lack of sense of responsibility and an ignorance that one would never have suspected.
As the President Montezemolo suggests, we are faced with a Michael we did not know existed.

No single person - not even Michael - is greater than the team that supported him.



Forza Alonso because he was the only one to beat him when he drove in red.

 

Interesting thread. But i think, MS will still be the top next season, barring the car is good...

 

What he said.

Obviously a contender for the title next year.

Not top 5?? Surely you jest? You can't be serious.

 

LdM is a two faced piece of dog doo doo. Why do you think all the key players left? T,RB,MS. Ever dawn on anyone that those three players created the recent team, not the other way around. T,RB,MS leave in 2006 and within a year Ferrari takes a nose dive. Not rocket science to figure out why.

 

That's the point: The Renault engine was and is crap, but Vettel nearly managed to become WDC. I don't think he'll be able to win it 2010, but depending on the fuel economy of the engine, he'll be high up in the list.

 

Vettel no doubt a star in the making..Happy Christmas Florian..

 

+1

 

+1! But I´m sorry that he doesn´t do the comeback in Scuderia.
But it isn´t a secret wich people built the "New Super Scuderia", and no one of those is there anymore!

 

Happy Christmas to you too, Steve!

 

+ a million!

 

Sounds like whining to me.

MS was well paid at Ferrari and they did right by him. Ferrari were given more success from MS than any other team in the history of the sport. It was at least a fair deal for both parties, and then some.

MS doesn't owe Ferrari a drive anymore than they owe him a drive. They made their choice, as did MS... the time is just right for MS to come back and Benz is the best deal.

To call that a lack of class, IMO, is showing a lack of class yourself. To think that MS should only ever do what Ferrari wants is asinine. The man is the best and most successful driver of all time. He can do as he pleases. He has at least earned that right.

 

Hakkinen?

 

Correct.
I do not think Michael lacks class. I think it is the combination of Ross Brawn and Mercedes which must have lured him back. Don't forget he was raised by Mercedes so you can say he has returned to his roots.

 

Well said!

 

+1. Ferrari allowed MS to build the 'dream team' around him. Without the key players MS brought in, the team has pretty much been in freefall. Kimi won in '07, but you have to question how much of that was due to Lewis/McLaren monumentally screwing up the last couple of races.

I definitely haven't been around for as long as most of the posters in this thread, but I would definitely suggest that MS had a bigger part in Ferrari reaching the dizzy heights they did ~'01 on than Ferrari did in making MS the legend that he is.

 

It was a symbiotic relationship: Ferrari had the resources and the willingness to have "camp Schumacher" take over. Both needed each other.

As for the negative comments about LdM:
How fast people forget where the company was before LdM took over in the early nineties. Road car wise (plastic interior and cable shifter in the 348) as well racing wise (no WDC for many years).

That said, LdM did make some stupid decisions by artificially creating an all Italian team and by not further cultivating a pro MS environment after 2006.

 

True dat, I'd go as far to say that created dissent in the camp, Eg giving away Ferrari data, white powder in the car.

 

My prediction is:

1. Massa
2. Alonso
3. Vettel
4. Hamilton
5. Schumacher
6. Button

As or the Ferrari having the worst engine, well I am pretty sure they have been allowed to update it for this season, just as Renault did theirs last year. I have also been told about a different bore and stroke configuration for more torque with the lower RPM limits from last year. I have also heard it will be more efficient than any other power plant in the field and that's why Luca Marmorini came back to Ferrari from Toyota to get this finished up and ready for 2010, also why Gilles Simone took a new seat in the FIA. As for Mercedes having the best Engine in F1, well I think that was 2009, 2010 will be a new and different story.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/109121723606/ferrari-engine-to-use-less-fuel-in-2010--report

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-massa-sore-as-ferrari-tests-fuel-efficient-engine/