That Crazy Lauda at it again

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=39112

Triple world champion Niki Lauda is the latest Formula 1 legend to predict that Lewis Hamilton can snatch the title in his rookie season.

In an interview with the official F1 website, Lauda put his money on Hamilton to emerge on top of a thrilling four-way championship battle.

"As unbelievable as it sounds, at the moment I can see Lewis Hamilton heading the ranking," said Lauda, when asked who he thought had the edge in the title fight.

"Because of his young and clean experience - he is as fast as (Fernando) Alonso.

"This season will be the most exciting for years - we will not only see a shoot-out between the teams, but also amongst the team-mates.

"There will be a do-or-die fight between Alonso and Hamilton, and between (Felipe) Massa and (Kimi) Raikkonen.

"I hope they will not give any team orders until the last two races.

"At the moment I cannot see a faster driver within either one of these teams, so I don’t think this will happen in the near future."

The Austrian said he could not choose between Ferrari and McLaren at this stage, but suspects that one of the rivals will eventually slip up and let the other escape.

"Both teams have done their homework and both have very strong drivers," he said.

"Right now, we have to wait a couple of more races to see who can get into the lead, either through a possible performance advantage, or through driver mistakes."

Lauda won the 1975, 1977 and 1984 world championships despite nearly losing his life in a fiery accident at the Nurburgring in 1976.

 

HAHA! Well it's nice to know he's excited about the season.

 

Nice one Niki!!

LH might beat Alonso but he will not beat the Scuderia.

 

Basically I agree with what he is saying: It is going to be a great season with a lot of possible outcomes. And at some point the season will separate the boyz from the men with bad weather, accident and other unforeseeables.

As I said before: When the dust of the mid season settles the showdown will be between those who have been there before.

 

+1

 

Anything seems possible. Still too early to tell about Hamilton though, we have yet to see if he makes any rookie mistakes, I would think he's going to at some point this season. I wouldn't bet against Alonso and Kimi for the title. Massa is still too inconsistent. Ferrari is strong but so is McLaren. Both teams know what it takes to win titles. We shall see..........