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**The 2008 Formula One Thread – Where’s the beef?**
LIFT ME UP, LIFT ME UP…blah blah blah blah blah.
So, with the season merely 127 days away, it is time for a new thread, complete with terrible, premature predictions based on no solid foundations to come back and laugh at in twelve months time :cool:
Last season promised much yet delivered so little for me, with the main action taking place off the track and in the appeal courts and ultimately the top honours went to the pre-season favourites Ferrari, and Kimi Raikkonen. After all of this controversy hopefully the action on the track will be more entertaining in 2008.
The key questions centre on much the same things as in 2007 – Fernando Alonso and McLaren. Having confirmed that they will go their separate ways this season, it remains to be seen where Fernando will end up and who Ron will bring in to replace him, but once those decisions are taken, the rest of the grid should begin to take shape.
The biggest question of all though, with Alonso and McLaren now apart, where's the beef?
Anyway, onto the aforementioned predictions, gtf FIA/WMSC, we’re first:
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Race drivers: Lewis Hamilton and TBA
Test drivers: Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett
:************************************************* ************) etc.
Putting aside the bitter disappointment of how last year unfolded, the performance was certainly an improvement on the winless 2006 having to me produced the best car on the grid last season. It remains to be seen how much of an impact the traumas of 2007 will have had on the development of the new car, but I hope to see us up there again. The real piece of interest of course will be the identity of Alonso’s replacement. Names banded around include Heikki Kovalainen, Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil amongst others, hopefully with Heikki emerging with the drive from that lot. No wins without Finns :*)
And bring back the horns
Mika’s prediction: 2nd, hard to say really at this stage, but I have faith in the team to be competitive. Hopefully Lewis won’t suffer from second season syndrome or anything and his new teammate will settle in better than the last one.
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Race drivers: Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa
Test drivers: Luca Badoer and Marc Gene
Having eventually justified my faith, along with most pre-season predictions, Kimi Raikkonen goes into 2008 having finally backed up his undoubted talent with a deserved world title. Having now adjusted to the tyres and the environment, expect another strong and potentially dominant season from him if Ferrari get the car right. They’ll more likely than not be on the pace again and this will help Felipe Massa pick up a couple of wins along the way, but naturally I think it is unrealistic to expect much more than that from him.
Mika’s prediction: 1st, with the upheaval at McLaren with Alonso’s departure and the spygate situation last year, BMW not being ready yet and Renault not being certain to jump back to the front, I don’t see another team putting together a strong enough challenge.
BMW Sauber F1
Race drivers: Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica
Test driver: Not sure, currently Glock but he looks good to join Toyota…
Having had a very impressive season last year, where they again surpassed their pre-season expectations, the target for 2008 has to be to achieve a first race win. Naturally the biggest step in F1 is to go from their position as best of the rest to being regular winners, and it won’t be easy for them, but their organisation, facilities, drivers etc are all sound, and I think that they will get there eventually.
Mika’s prediction: 4th, I think that they’ll pretty much plod along like last year, maybe be a bit better, but I’d not be surprised to see Renault with Alonso overtake them either. Some reliability woes maybe…
ING Renault F1
Race drivers: TBA and TBA
Test drivers: Ricardo Zonta and possibly Nelson Piquet Jr.
Having lost their star driver and having lost the Michelin tyres, Renault performed exactly as most people expected them to, but they’ll be hoping for better things this time around. Again the driver situation is interesting, basically going to be two from Alonso/Heikki/Fisi/Piquet I guess, depends which rumour you believe. The Alonso/Piquet pairing sounds good to me :thup: letting Heikki come to McLaren and leaving everyone happy. Mon their spy saga not rumbling on as long as the last one either…
Mika’s prediction: 3rd…though I’m torn between them and BMW, assuming that Renault sign up Alonso. Having adapted to the Bridgestone tyres and having started their 2008 car nice and early, I expect them to be nearer their 2006 form.
AT&T WilliamsF1 Team
Race drivers: Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima
Test driver: Narain Karthikeyan
After undergoing a process of significant restructuring within the team, Williams enjoyed an improved 2007 with a car that didn’t break down every race, and allowed Nico Rosberg to fight it out at the front of the midfield battle on a number of occasions. Having lost the vast experience of Alex Wurz and replaced him with the unproven Nakajima, it will be up to Rosberg to take the responsibility for setups etc which may prove tricky for him, though he now has two years of experience under his belt so maybe I’m underrating him. Another year of beating Toyota with their engines will be a success I imagine, but I can’t help but think that they’ll slip back behind a few other teams…
Mika’s Prediction: 7th, though they’ll no doubt surprise one of the other, bigger teams who will be surprisingly woeful, and end up in 6th.
Red Bull Racing
Race drivers: David Coulthard and Mark Webber
Test drivers: Robert Doornbos, Michael Ammermuller and Sebastian Buemi
Despite having the worst gearbox in living memory, RBR had a largely positive season last time out, managing to make bigger improvements from the first race to the last than pretty much any other team. With Newey and now Geoff Willis on board and having had time to bed in, I’m expecting continued improvement and some good things next year. Especially if the rumours of Fernando Alonso coming to the team turn turn out to be true and they manage to improve that gearbox…
Mika’s prediction: 5th, think that they’ll move ahead of Williams this year, but the big four will be too good over the course of the season.
Panasonic Toyota Racing
Race drivers: Jarno Trulli and TBA (Glock?)
Test drivers: Kohei Hirati and Kamui Kobayashi
F1’s serial underachievers, massive budget, mediocre performance. Decided to leave the opening sentence from last year there and had they not got rid of Ralf, I could quite easily have left the whole thing in place. The fact that Williams managed to horse them with their own engine really says it all.
Race drivers: Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais
Test drivers: TBA
After a dire season on the whole, STR managed to end the season on a high note with eight points being scored in the last few races, putting them ahead of Honda in the standings. They also managed to secure two good drivers for next season, though being about twelve years old and only having turned left before respectively, it might not be until the second half of the season before we see them challenging for points positions. The car should be good, assuming that it will be a cheaty 2008 Red Bull again, but with their resources/staffing levels, how much they get out of it remains to be seen.
Mika’s prediction: 9th, tempted to put them ahead of Toyota but surely not. I’d laugh if they did beat them.
Honda Racing
Race drivers: Ul Gentson Button and Rubens Barrichello
Test drivers: Christian Klien, Mike Conway and James Rossiter
From third to ninth last year, the biggest reverse in fortunes since Hill left Williams for Arrows, they actually cannot do worse than last year. Sporting the ugliest livery I’ve seen in a number of years and the most annoying lead driver in a number of years, it was thoroughly deserved however, and I’m hoping for a repeat last year. Sadly however, I can’t see them doing that badly again, and expect them to regain some credibility this year.
Mika’s prediction: 6th, Typical Honda amateurishness and poor livery to prevent them doing any better.
Super Aguri F1
Race drivers: Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson (probably)
Test drivers: James Rossiter
Having started off the season well with their cheaty 2006 Honda, managing to show up their feeder team on a number of occasions, a lack of development saw them slip back down the grid through the course of the season in a Sauber-esque manner. It remains to be seen what car they will be driving next year, though I think it is safe to say that it won’t be the 2007 Honda. Probably start off in the 2006 car again and then switch to the 2008 one in Europe. Don’t expect much to be honest.
Mika’s prediction: 10th, Couple of points positions, don’t expect much more barring anything from the freak, wet races.
<STRIKE>Jordan</STRIKE><STRIKE>Midland</STRIKE><STRIKE>Spyker</STRIKE>Force India F1
Race drivers: Adrian Sutil and TBA
Test drivers: Roldan Rodriguez
After a dross season piddling around at the back, albeit scoring one point with Sutil at the end, Spyker were sold for the 2747th time this century and are now owned by Dr. Vijay Mallya. Again, not expecting too much from them, but at least they should make it to the grid, unlike the next team…
Mika’s prediction: 11th, anything else surely a bonus.
Prodrive
Race drivers: TBA and TBA
Test drivers: TBA
Don’t see them making the grid now after some good work in the courts by Williams :cool: Should they manage to sort themselves out expect some sort of arrangement with McLaren, but the chances of this happening now appear to be increasingly slim.
Mika’s prediction: N/A, don’t see them making it.
Quote:
2008 FIA Formula 1 World Championship
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">March 16 AustraliaMarch 23 MalaysiaApril 6 BahrainApril 27 SpainMay 11 TurkeyMay 25 MonacoJune 8 CanadaJune 26 FranceJuly 6 Great BritainJuly 20 GermanyAugust 3 HungaryAugust 24 EuropeSeptember 7 BelgiumSeptember 14 ItalySeptember 28 Singapore*October 12 JapanOctober 19 ChinaNovember 2 Brazil * night race</pre>
Mon Silver Arrows
11-09-2007, 05:18 PM
The 2008 Formula One Thread - Where's the beef? Post #2
Expect Renault to have a poor season as Flavio puts all his efforts into QPR.
Unless McLaren get in a world class driver I can't see them winning the constructors, nor Lewis having good enough support (co-driver) on the track to fully push for the title.
Ferrari to walk it imo.
11-09-2007, 05:19 PM
The 2008 Formula One Thread - Where's the beef? Post #3
ooo Mika's retired now I see! I might try and go to Silverstone for a third time after 2004 and 2005(Montoya winning :cool or coincide part of a Euro Trip and force mates to go to Hockenheim or something.
11-09-2007, 05:35 PM
The 2008 Formula One Thread - Where's the beef? Post #9
The 2008 Formula One Thread - Where's the beef? 
or coincide part of a Euro Trip and force mates to go to Hockenheim or something.
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