The 2012 Formula 1 Thread

[Stitch]

...and we start with some fantastic news; Senna is back in the car, with perennial underachiever Maldonado at Williams.

Williams confirms Bruno Senna will race for the team in F1 in 2012 - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

The worst bit is that Barrichello's out of a drive, but I'm glad Senna's in there. Hope fully Williams will chuck Maldonado half way through the season since they don't need two pay drivers...

[Mr. S]

Cool, I can't wait to only see half the season.

[Stitch]

Yeah. I intend to 'borrow' it, I'll be damned if I'm a) paying £40/month + £1xx TV license b) missing out on Brundle c) Giving Murdoch money and d) missing out on good ol' Damon doing some commentary.

Also annoyed with the BBC; Steve Rider made some excellent points the other day:

Steve Rider - AUTOSPORT International 2012 - YouTube

Steve Rider urges BBC to show other motorsport as its Formula 1 coverage reduces - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

[Mr. S]

Yeah, to be fair I'll probably do the same. I'll just miss the quality BBC coverage and Eddie Jordan being a git, actually maybe the the lack of him will be a good thing.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Stitch

Senna is back in the car, with perennial underachiever Maldonado at Williams.

Oh Sheet!

[stuh84]

Thankfully I already satisfy the requirements to watch all the races, but it's shit that it's come to this.

Anyway, my predictions for the season: -

1) The Lotus system proves effective, Kimi on the podium or even a win at his first race back. However, all the other cars catch up in quick time, and the Lotus is back behind Mercedes

2) The playing field is evened out a bit. I'm not expecting HRT to fight with Red Bull, but I'm hoping for more of a 2003/5-8/10 in terms of closeness of the title fight. With blown exhausts and all that stuff gone, I think this isn't too wild a prediction

3) Schumacher gets a win, and then retires at the end of the season

4) Lewis gets his act together, and puts in more Abu Dahbi style races than India style

5) Ferarri trails ever so slightly, but Alonso makes it so that it fights for race wins

6) The best battle outside of the top 5 will be Hulkenberg/Di Resta

7) Williams fight in the midfield again

8) Caterham get into Q2 on merit sometimes

9) HRT go bust before the end of the year

10) Lewis Hamilton wins the title.

I will probably get most/all of these wrong, but part of me says this might happen, and part of me wants it all to happen.

[Seven]

If Jenson qualifies better this year, and Mclaren give him the guitar to do it, I'd bet on him for the title.

At least Ferrari (pretty sure Red Bull too) have their own hydraulic ride height system, so I wouldn't expect Lotus to have a huge advantage. Plus, that team was a mess last year so it'll be interesting to see if they've stabilized.

I think Mercedes and Lotus are going to make the biggest jumps (maybe Williams?) but it will be the usual culprits at the sharp end.

[Mr. S]

Originally Posted by Seven

If Jenson qualifies better this year, and Mclaren give him the guitar to do it, I'd bet on him for the title.

I don't think that'll help.

[stuh84]

Originally Posted by Seven

If Jenson qualifies better this year, and Mclaren give him the guitar to do it, I'd bet on him for the title.

Avoiding the guitar part of this, I think if the car is up to par, I see Lewis ahead of Button.

Main reason is, from everything I've seen Button races the car, Lewis races the leader.

Lewis puts the car in places they shouldn't be, but this can mean he either has genius performances or is magnetised to Massa. Give him the car that's close/equal to Red Bull and he won't be trying to turn that thing into something it's not all the time. Less risks will be taken as he doesn't need to, to end up first.

Button on the other hand just gets on with it, and is obviously very fast, but he doesn't step over the boundaries. When Brawn was the class of the field, so was he. When Red Bull caught up, he never won again (that season). He has the ace in the pack of being so smooth that when it's wet, there is nothing about his driving style which is likely to punt him into the wall or anything.

I love them both as drivers, and I would be happy with either of them as champion (I'm a McLaren fan, a win for either is a win) but I just think if we see a McLaren resurgence, Lewis is going to be unstoppable.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Mr. S

I don't think that'll help.

Haha!

Note to self: Never rush posts!