Judging by the results of the OTF F1 survey, it’s an emphatic no with only our resident Renault fanboy DeafParrot believing anything other than a Kimi/Ferrari double to be possible.
Yep it’s early, but preparations for the 2007 Formula One World Season are already well under way and hopefully it’ll be as exciting a season as the last. Plus I'm not being beaten by Ryno again ffs.
So many questions to be answered, can Ferrari cope with Schumacher? Can McLaren fulfil their potential and can I and Divinity learn to get along? With potentially four British drivers in the field next season, who will ITV hype up the most? Will Lord Stadler return alive from his travels?
Of course my F1 Predictions competition will be returning, with a few changes – can
KevinLFC defend his crown?
As a little introductory point I’m going to give my very early and probably very wrong thoughts for the upcoming season, for you all to laugh at the end of the year.
ING Renault F1
Race drivers:
Giancarlo Fisichella and
Heikki Kovalainen
Test drivers:
Ricardo Zonta and
Nelson Piquet Jr.
So, the defending champions prepare to enter a new era without the brilliant Fernando Alonso, and long-term sponsor Mild Seven, can they keep at the head of the field for a third successive season? In my view, nope, Fisi needs to step up and show that he isn’t as average as Fernando has made him look for two years, but I just don’t see it. I don’t know much about Heikki but if he is as promising as is being made out, then after a few races he might be able to give Fisi a run for his money, they’ll certainly hope so.
Mika’s prediction: 4th, I think this year will be tough, I don’t think that either of their drivers will be up to it, for differing reasons.
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Race drivers:
Felipe Massa and
Kimi Raikkonen
Test drivers:
Luca Badoer and
Marc Gene
The end of an era both on the driving front and in terms of the management structure, can Ferrari maintain their place at the front and reclaim their titles? For me, Kimi is the fastest driver on the grid as I’ve indicated approximately 34,067 times before on OTF and will do again, and this surely is his best chance yet to take the title he has twice narrowly missed out on. He’ll have a job fighting off Felipe Massa whose stock has risen so much in the last six months though, who would have thought that he would retain his drive for this year?
Mika’s prediction: 1st, this year, particularly with their knowledge of their Bridgestone tyres, I think that they’ll prove too strong for the others to handle.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Race drivers:
Fernando Alonso and TBA
Test drivers: TBA – Two from Pedro de la Rosa, Lewis Hamilton and Gary Paffett
:************************************************* ************)
Yeah so, after a very disappointing 2006, the team will be working hard to ensure that this year is better. The arrival of Fernando Alonso will surely be a boost, reminiscent of Schumacher revitalising Ferrari some 11 years ago and the incoming Spanish sponsors won’t hurt financially either. All the attention at the moment will be on his partner, will it be PDLR or will it be Lewis? After initially impressing last season, PDLR’s performances dropped off quite dramatically during the year, also as he is not getting any younger, I think that Lewis Hamilton will be the choice, but we shall see. Mon
Mika’s prediction: 2nd, Whether this is with my head or heart I’m not sure possibly both. We seem to have a good year then a bad year and then a good one again, hopefully that will continue.
Honda Racing
Race drivers:
Jenson Button and
Rubens Barrichello
Test drivers:
Christian Klien and
James Rossiter
*spits* Can Jenson Button follow up on his long-awaited maiden/jammy win at Hungary last season and finally string together a title challenge, or will Rubens emerge from his shadow and actually perform this season? I think that they’re going to be a dark horse for this season, right up there with McLaren and Renault in the chasing pack behind Ferrari. Much improved towards the end of last season and with the best non-Alonso/Kimi driver, a few more wins might be on the horizon.
Mika’s prediction: 3rd, Typical Honda amateurishness and poor pitstop strategy to prevent them doing any better.
BMW Sauber F1
Race drivers:
Nick Heidfeld and
Robert Kubica
Test driver:
Sebastien Vettel
Another rapidly improving team with two good drivers and superb facilities. They scored a couple of podium positions last season and if they maintain their progress it might be possible to go a step further and possibly win a race this year. Kubica seems to be an exciting talent, as does their tester Vettel, reportedly the new Schumacher. A lot of things seem right about this team.
Mika’s prediction: 6th, consistent points scorers, but possibly a year too early to be pushing the big boys, and though my head really says 5th, I’m going to be different and predict that Red Bull are going to move ahead.
Panasonic Toyota Racing
Race drivers:
Ralf Schumacher and
Jarno Trulli
Test drivers:
Franck Montagny, Kohei Hirati and
Kamui Kobayashi
F1’s serial underachievers, massive budget, mediocre performance. Have to admit I’m quite surprised that they retained both of their drivers, thought they might have looked to freshen things up. One thing that might be in their favour however is their knowledge of the Bridgestone tyres, but will it be enough?
Mika’s prediction: 7th, Another season of disappointment for them, culminating in Toyota deciding to pack it in.
Red Bull Racing
Race drivers:
David Coulthard and
Mark Webber
Test drivers: TBA
Big improvements are ahead for Red Bull I think, their first car by Adrian Newey and Mark Webber is a big improvement over Klien/Doorbos from last season, though needs to translate his qualifying pace into the races. Powered by Renault engines, if Newey has it right then expect them to be challenging at the front.
Mika’s prediction: 5th, this is my radical one, DC, Newey and Webber to move Red Bull up the order.
AT&T WilliamsF1 Team
Race drivers:
Nico Rosberg and
Alexander Wurz
Test drivers:
Narain Karthikeyan and
Kazuki Nakajima
Well, after their worst season since 1867, Williams will have to buck their ideas up this year. On the plus side their reliability couldn’t possibly be any worse than last year and with a nice new Toyota engine in the back of their cars, should actually be very reliable. Whether a privateer can achieve success in this day and age…well personally I doubt it. Wurz and Rosberg are ok, but won’t set the world alight.
Mika’s prediction: 8th, sorry Rohan, I think it’ll be better than last year for you, but I expect other teams to make bigger improvements.
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Race drivers:
Vitantonio Liuzzi and
Scott Speed
Test drivers: TBA
Should be a big improvement from the former Minardi team, with a nice new V8 Ferrari engine and stability with their driver line-up. Hard to say much more at this stage however as it is unclear what is happening with their chassis. Get that right and they could be challenging Williams regularly.
Mika’s prediction: 9th, too many doubts over their chassis too expect much more.
Spyker F1 Team
Race drivers:
Christijan Albers and TBA
Test drivers: TBA
What a nothing team, though with the signing of Mike Gascoyne, they should at least stay ahead of the improving Super Aguri’s. Albers is class too, hopefully they won’t resemble Ferrari’s so much on the long camera shots next season too.
Mika’s prediction: 10th, though closer to Super Aguri than Toro Rosso, close one.
Super Aguri F1
Race drivers:
Takuma Sato and
Anthony Davidson
Test drivers: TBA
Last season was a learning curve, driving cars from Fangio’s day around the place was never going to be fun. However they did improve as Sato’s brilliant 10th place in Brazil showed and if Honda give them some more help, with two good drivers now, they could be right up there with Spyker and maybe beyond.
Quote:
2007 FIA Formula One World Championship Calendar:
18 March, Australia
8 April, Malaysia
15 April, Bahrain
13 May, Spain
27 May, Monaco
10 June, Canada
17 June, United States
1 July, France
8 July, Great Britain
22 July, Germany
5 August, Hungary
26 August, Turkey
9 September, Italy
16 September, Belgium
30 September, Japan*
7 October, China*
21 October, Brazil
*Pending the ASN’s confirmation.
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Quote:
Rule changes
Although the FIA had planned to switch to a single tyre manufacturer from 2008, Michelin has announced they will end participation in Formula 1 after 2006, leaving Bridgestone as the sole supplier for 2007.
The teams finishing 5th–11th in the previous seasons' Constructors' Championship will no longer be allowed to run a third car on Friday following a rule change. The teams that finish 1st–4th are already banned from doing so.
Engine development will be frozen from the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, with these engines being used for the whole of 2007 and 2008. This is described as engine "homologation" by the FIA. It was previously set to be introduced in 2008.
All cars will be fitted with red, blue and yellow cockpit lights. The purpose is to give drivers information concerning track signals or conditions. The lights must be LEDs each with a minimum diameter of 5mm and which are fitted in order that they are directly in the driver’s normal line of sight.
In order to give rescue crews an immediate indication of accident severity each car must be fitted with a warning light which is connected to the FIA data logger. The light must face upwards and be recessed into the top of the survival cell no more than 150mm from the car centre line and the front of the cockpit opening and as near to the marshal neutral switch as is practical.
The two Friday practice sessions will expand from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. Any team will be allowed to use two cars, which may be driven by either the two race drivers or a nominated third driver.
The engine penalty will now only apply in the second day of the grand prix weekends. Any engine change in the first day will not be penalised.
No car will be allowed to enter the pits during a safety car period until all cars are in the group following the safety car. This prevents drivers from racing to the pits immediately after a safety car is deployed. In addition, any lapped cars in front of a car on the lead lap will be required to pass the safety car and restart at the end of the line-up instead of maintaining their physical position.
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Oh and pay attention to Chaddy’s pre-season comments as in only December last year:
Quote:
Originally posted by Chaddy the Owl:
Pretty shocked tbh, must mean Kimi is off to Ferrari with Schumi retiring at the end of 2006 and Heikki Kovalainen will get the Renault drive.
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Well played.
And wahey \o/:
Quote:
Originally posted by Monteva:
Ferrari have never ever done anything that blatent to ask another driver to move over on the track, what they do in the pits/with stratergy is a different story \o/
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\o/
And I’ll finish up with some random youtube clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAoznwiwhOU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Py0qcPzYpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU4G3pp9zdM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0WJ1FsvLHw 
Linear Mode
