why so pesimistic, but for a second year in the new reborn turbo rule, I waiting for more competition.
I suspect vettel last year, being hyper competitive, was extremely pissed off from race one where during the early season he had lots of issues, and the car had drastically changed causing him personal driving issues along with getting his ass handed to him by the mercs. Whereas Alonso was used to starting behind the 8 ball and making the best of it, vettel had previously known the car would be good, hence he was demotivated. Ricciardo proved very quick from day one, being able to deal with the change in cars quickly, and this coupled with his own issues broke vettels resolve as the championship was clearly never going to be his last year regardless, the mercs were too good, so why fight for third when he knew Ferrari would come for him This year, he is at the team his idol dominated with, a team that will give him whatever he wants in order to win, with a mate in car two that won't give a damn if vettel gets a second engine in the back if Ferrari can hide it, and will be re motivated. That in itself gives vettel a boost back to his best form, and then it's whether the car can produce the lap times he needs to win. He always wanted to drive for Ferrari, he's there, I bet he will be a fast and canny competitor if he gets the tools this year (although they are all fighting for second team behind the mercs as I don't believe anyone can close such a big gap with the stupid rules in place).
Kimi/Vettel are going to be in for a tough year(s) uf they cared what the internet people wrote about them. Currently they can not win. If they finish on the podium, the idiots will say that Alonso or Ricciardo would have won. If Kimi finishes ahead of Vettel, Vettel must surely suck. If Vettel finishes in front of Kimi but off the podium, they should both immediately be sacked because they're worthless. If they finish a one - two, the idiots will claim that alonso would have finished the race a minute ahead.
Absolutely right bas. Hopefully people will be a bit more thoughtful and realise where the car is coming from, and forget Alonso now. He's not here, he was great, but these are the guys, and if the stars align soon, maybe they will get results. In the meantime, I just hope they try their hardest
The problem last year was not Alonso. The problem was the car sucked. I was very sorry to hear about Alonso's departure. I was even more sorry about Vettel's arrival. It will be interesting to see if he (Vettel) will be any better following Ferrari team orders compared to Red Bull's.
Agreed. In my estimation the success of a team is based on: 75% the competitiveness/reliability of the car 20% skill of the driver. 5% luck/intangibles.
I for one will be "jumping ship" on team Ferrari because of the arrival of baby Vettel. Which is really too bad as I'll be at the Italian GP with a non red shirt on... I can't stand the guy and think he's a just fair driver. The guy will whine and whine if he doesn't get his way. I loved seeing him get humiliated by the brilliant Ricciardo (guy is ALWAYS happy) and can't wait to see Kimi beat him!! That will shut the idiots up.
I think Vettel will be (surprisingly, to some...not me) tough this year in the Ferrari. I agree with your assessment on his year last season, PLUS the rumors that he had an agreement with Ferrari prior to the season appear to have been true. Not a great year for him, but not a predictor for future success, imo.
With all the teams folding, and the emphasis on "hybrid" tech, .... ... the new team on the grid will be Mattel.
It is so funny that a 4 times WDC is called average because he was driving a good car...When was the last WDC that was winning in an inferior car??? In the same forum Hamilton is permanently praised for winning in a Mercedes last year...I don´t get it...
Probably the most important predictions for F1 this year centre around whether F1 can get back to real racing and attracting fans by focusing on what the fan wants. Personally I think these comments from Andy Cowell strike to the core of how and why F1 has gone so far off the rails:- "we should not dilute the concept of energy efficiency. Technology transfer from motor sport to the road industry is important for formula one. It's why Honda came back," >>Source<< At a time when those interested in F1's future are deeply focused on retrospecting every aspect, Cowell/Mercedes are focused on what's good for Mercedes. That being a vehicle for them to develop technology for production cars and family sedan efficiency. That probably sounds a little too harsh, but, IMO its where we need perhaps a future Bernie figure to step up to the plate and say this is what F1 racing should be about and stiff cheese to any team that doesn't like it.
Not certain about your Hamilton statement, but I digress. I think the Vettel doubters are fueled by his performance last season in a not-so-good car. It was not so much his performance, per se, but his performance versus Ricciardo. I simply question where Seb's mind was last season. I expect we'll see more of the guy who won 4-straight WDC's, but I understand why there are those who question him right now. I'm certain he knows he has something to prove thus year after being bested by DR.
The last one was Michael or Alonso, depending on your perspective about the Renault of 2005/6 Unfortunately, hambone is idolised by a large number of morons, and this is reflected in this forum by certain individuals through the inane BS they give out. I find it's like white noise, simply distracting when you let it. Common sense, thought and fact bear little regard in their arguments, and they will find excuses for anything the guy does. If he got caught with crack, they'd spin it that it's down to nico somehow, and he never knew what it was etc. To these muppets, they don't see that the merc car was simply the fastest thing there was last year, so it was a shoe in that one or other merc would be champion, and when hambone was falling apart at the seams in his regular 'I'm a victim of x/y/z and I'm put upon and everyone is against me so I'll make everyone feel guilty' they were all over the excuses and having a dig at everyone and every thing they could to shield their precious little rapper. He is quick, he is better than the average driver, but he has serious flaws and makes bad judgements calls, and has a short and dangerous temper in the car. All champs have a wild streak, and it just depends how it shows. However, given a crap car, hambone has always made hard work of it, and complained, and whined, whereas Alonso has just gotten hold of it, kicked it's arse and dragged it to near the front consistently. Therein lies the difference for me of a 'best' driver and simply a fast one
I think Alonso did not necessarily have the best car but the best car/tyre combination as I remember the tyres were the main issue for Schumacher and Ferrari in these seasons....Still I doubt that anybody today can win a WDC other than the best or "near best" car because the difference in driving skills is smaller than it ever was (taken away those pay drivers).
This. Somebody brought up Alonso-Hamilton at McLaren as a counter-argument/defense for Vettel, but that's not even a valid point. Those two at Macca were pretty damn even relatively speaking. Vettel was completely embarrassed by Ricciardo, not even close to being even.
+1 Remember the endless complaints in 2013 when he kept saying, lap after lap (especially in Spain!) ''guys...these tires...come on...this is ridiculous'' etc etc. Oh how I wish for those days . The other thing with certain McHam fans is that they continuously put down Rosberg as being mediocre which sort of contradicts their belief that Ham is the second coming because Rosberg got very close to the title last year. They claim there was a massive 7x points difference (nearly 3 wins) but they quickly forget that the last race had double points and Rosberg scored none because his car broke very early on and ham won. I'm not saying Rosberg would've won the title if his car kept on going (although almost certainly it will be spun into this shortly) but the Ham-militants (hamitants, milihams?) don't care for this fact. Rosberg gave Ham a serious fright last year, which can only mean 2 things: Ham is mediocre or Rosberg is better than being given credit for. I think it's the latter.
I still believe vettel will have 6 WDC and I'm not a fan. He just has that luck to be in the best team. I predict around 2017-2018 he will win his 5th and ferrari will have their crap together.
I agree. At this level of racing, the whole driver field has very similar skills and the only main difference is the car they drive. You can probably swap any current F1 driver into the best car and they will probably win as well.
Seb got his @$$ beat. If it happens again at Ferrari, it is game over and will only underscore how great newey's cars are and how crappy a driver webber was.
that is why despite not being a seb fanboy, i welcomed his arrival. It will give us fans some better clarity on the pecking order.
