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Come on you lot. The most interesting start to a season in years and nothing is happenning in here.
I can't possibly join one of those child/troll forums so some of you need to come to the party to chew that fat about the more interesting things going on.
For example, is Vettel showing cracks? Is it true that he was only untouchable last year because the blown suspension suited him?
Will RBR be able to get their car back on the front row of the grid.? Let's face it, testing this year was a very accurate precursor to early race performance and is it possible for them to bridge the gap? In the last couple of years, Macca made more ground than them in-season.
How good are Perez, Grosjean, and Maldonado? Quickish cars and rain-affected tracks have flattered them so far, but what now?
The clock is ticking on Massa, but who could replace him mid-season? Are TOIT actually waiting for someone like Webber to come out of contract?
How do we feel about all of the reg changes bringing the pace of the cars closer together? It's more exciting for sure, but is it toooooo manfufactured in terms of results?
What about toro Rosso? The new guys are scoring points, but how do they really compare to the ones the were evicted so unceremoniously last year?
So many subjects for discourse and since the season is so young, we could be putting forward wonderfully inaccurate theories to be shot down as things develop.
Come on, mouth up and waste some time!!!!
Comments
As for Perez, Grosjean, and Maldonado I think we should wait to see what they can do without rain mucking up the results. Grosjean, although fast, has still messed up his races in the first few laps so he has the right amount of aggression but needs to add smarts and timing to that.
Massa......go ahead and replace him but I don't envy anyone that has to step into that car and play second fiddle to Alonso. Ferrari certainly have their eye on Perez. Would be great if Kubica could come in mid-season and resume his earlier form but that is not likely. Saw that Rubens was peddling his services to Ferrari after only 2 Indycar races, now he is dreaming!
If we actually had proper testing then Toro could have placed the new guys up against the old in the same chassis for a proper shootout. I think it takes more time to determine than the length of the young drivers test. A few more races without rain should tell if it was talent or luck with the new guys and if we don't see them level off on performance.
Mercedes is great at qualifying and that's about it, can't remember seeing two cars fall further back from the front during the race. If they were not good at qualifying they would be absolutely abysmal. Will they be able to bring their race pace up without sacrificing qualifying?
As they always said of Alesi, Maldonado is 'mercurial' ... but he crashes more. Senna is interesting but will never escape a very large shadow (Ralf, anyone?).
Vettel can overtake but is nowhere near as dominant as Newey cars can be. I maintain he would be lost on Fridays without Webbo setting up the car. Could he possibly reciprocate by teaching Mark how to start?
STR were absolutely correct to replace their drivers, the new guys have already shown that. Can you imagine Buemi and Algesuari doing those moves?
The star of the show is Alonso, pure and simple. He probably won't win another race but he is the best Grand Prix driver on that grid. Lewis to win the title.
I must admit that whilst he is obviously a very skilled driver, I find the Finger Boy really annoying and will be cheering if / when he losses.
My understanding is that in 2010 Webber gaining an advantage by using his skill with the thottle to blow the diffuser manually in the corners. This was understood by the team and they put that extra thottle inputs into the engine management software which took away one of Webbers key advantages during 2011.
Webber's starts do seem to be lacking but some of this may be due to KERS issues.
I certainly seem to remember (when driving for Minardi) Webber regularly getting past the 4- 6 cars on the start grid than losing those places through the next couple of laps due to the poor performance of the car.
Alonso seems to be driving the TOIT very well, but I think (unless Lewis can get his act together) this may well be a very good year for J. Button.