Who will be the 2009 title contenders?

[garycat]

Look into your crystal balls and think forward to mid September 2009, we have just had the Italian GP and with 4 races to go there are 4 drivers still in contention for the title... who are they and why?

1. Button - already in the champ lead after 4 races and has shown the Brawn performance was not just a lucky start and that he can still win convincingly from behind the front row.

2. Vettel - already 1 win and the Red Bull will get faster when it gets the double diffuser aero package.

3. Hamilton - McLaren will develop their car quickly and Lewis has already scored a 3rd & 4th in an uncompetitve car.

4. Trulli - Always qualifies well and therefore should finish well at places like Monaco & Hungary if Toyota can improve their strategies.


But what about....
Barrichello? - Can't seem to turn the Brawn performance into a win
Glock? - has potential
Alonso? - Renault is too uncompetitive
Webber? - seems to get all the bad luck and he is in the shadow of that young upstart Vettel
Massa? Kimi? - Ferrari will give up developing this year's car and Kimi will stop trying
Kovi? - don't make me laugh
Kubica? Heidfeld? - BMW have lost the plot

[Wanta996Gotta]

garycat said:

Look into your crystal balls and think forward to mid September 2009, we have just had the Italian GP and with 4 races to go there are 4 drivers still in contention for the title... who are they and why?

1. Button - already in the champ lead after 4 races and has shown the Brawn performance was not just a lucky start and that he can still win convincingly from behind the front row.

2. Vettel - already 1 win and the Red Bull will get faster when it gets the double diffuser aero package.

3. Hamilton - McLaren will develop their car quickly and Lewis has already scored a 3rd & 4th in an uncompetitve car.

4. Trulli - Always qualifies well and therefore should finish well at places like Monaco & Hungary if Toyota can improve their strategies.


But what about....
Barrichello? - Can't seem to turn the Brawn performance into a win
Glock? - has potential
Alonso? - Renault is too uncompetitive
Webber? - seems to get all the bad luck and he is in the shadow of that young upstart Vettel
Massa? Kimi? - Ferrari will give up developing this year's car and Kimi will stop trying
Kovi? - don't make me laugh
Kubica? Heidfeld? - BMW have lost the plot

I cant really disagree with any of this though i would put Alonso as 4th infront of Trulli. Allot depends on what happens in Spain, Ferrari have a new floor and Mclaren "may" have a double diffuser. Spain relies even more on downforce so the Brawn,Toyota and Redbull will be even more ahead "unless" the others have been doing there stuff behind the scenes.

[BoRED S2upid]

Agree with that. Spain will be interesting, if the others can't close the gap with new aero packages and diffusers by then I imagine they may well focus on next years car 5 or 6 wins for Brawn and it will be all over for the likes of Ferrari.

[Duke of Rothesay]

I don't see Red Bull getting much out of a double diffuser. One big enough to make a difference will spoil their slimline rear end. But Vettel is the real thing.
Trulli will do nothing. Tim is more impressive.
Alonso could do it, best all round driver and the car is developing very quickly, it has already had a front row start.
Hamilton, always a racer, will give it all he has and McLaren are formidable. However the FIA on Wednesday may put the spanner in these particular spokes.
Ferrari have by far the best driver pairing. Massa won the most races last year in an inferior car and with multiple team cock ups. Kimi is the fastest thing currently in F1 and can win every race given equal equipment and if he feels like it.
Brawn have quickly lost their early season advantage. Barcelona will be very interesting. Button will have a season long fight but he has a good points advantage and he is a damned good all round driver, perhaps second only to Alonso.

So it is totally open, which is good for us impartial observers.

[FWDRacer]

What odss Vettel as F1 WDC 2009 at the bookies? Where my money is going...

[magic torch]

Vettel

and the cynic in me thinks with a little 'help'

Massa

[Wanta996Gotta]

Duke of Rothesay said:

Massa won the most races last year in an inferior car and with multiple team cock ups. Kimi is the fastest thing currently in F1 and can win every race given equal equipment and if he feels like it.

[Duke of Rothesay]

Forgot Williams.
They flatter to deceive at the beginning of every season then fade to oblivion as they fail to keep up with the pace of development.
Also I am seriously unconvinced about both of their drivers. Is it the worst pairing in F1?

[magic torch]

Duke of Rothesay said:

Is it the worst pairing in F1?

That'll be Toyota

[brierleys]

Duke of Rothesay said:

Forgot Williams.
They flatter to deceive at the beginning of every season then fade to oblivion as they fail to keep up with the pace of development.
Also I am seriously unconvinced about both of their drivers. Is it the worst pairing in F1?

I was thinking that the other day. I don't think they have the right key people in place.

I don't think Trulli has what it takes to win races regularly enough to win a championship. At the moment, I feel it's a two-way battle emerging between Button and Vettel. Button has an impressive lead already. Much clearer than previous years have been at this point in the season. Hamilton is the best of the rest. I don't think Ferrari can catch up.

[Adrian Gumball]

[quote=magic torch
That'll be Toyota
[/quote]

Glock is an excellent, solid driver. Trulli is a good qualifier, a decent line up.

[magic torch]

Decent doesn't cut it.

[skinny]

trulli will never be a title contender. i too would put alonso in there instead - renault has kers, an interim diffuser already, a poewrful engine, a top driver, and a good track record of being able to develop very well over a season.

[rev-erend]

Brawn team to run out of money and leave racing by September.. unless a big sponsor turns up.

[DBSV8]

Hamilton gets two race ban / Mclaren moderate fine

Button will win in Spain ,Barichello 2 Glock 3rd

Vettel wins in Monaco ,Truli 2nd , Webber 3rd Button ............failure or crash

Webber to come good in Turkey trulli 2nd Hamilton 3rd...Raikonnen highest finish in at 4th

Button wins in Silverstone ,Hamilton crashes taking 4 other cars out DC makes scaving comments ..........track invaded by fans aka mansell days

DC has a punch up with Hamilton snr post interview , Eddie Jordan gets drunk on live interview with Max and drops one liners about spanking ......Max storms off

vettel again in Nurburgring

Final mbetween Vettel / Button
Vettel wins on points
Button wins on amount of Grand prix first places and is F1 champion.

Raikonnen's worst season total of 23 points ....sees him retire
Alonsa joins Ferrari in 2010

[Duke of Rothesay]

DBSV8 said:

Hamilton gets two race ban / Mclaren moderate fine

Button will win in Spain ,Barichello 2 Glock 3rd

Vettel wins in Monaco ,Truli 2nd , Webber 3rd Button ............failure or crash

Webber to come good in Turkey trulli 2nd Hamilton 3rd...Raikonnen highest finish in at 4th

Button wins in Silverstone ,Hamilton crashes taking 4 other cars out DC makes scaving comments ..........track invaded by fans aka mansell days

DC has a punch up with Hamilton snr post interview , Eddie Jordan gets drunk on live interview with Max and drops one liners about spanking ......Max storms off

vettel again in Nurburgring

Final mbetween Vettel / Button
Vettel wins on points
Button wins on amount of Grand prix first places and is F1 champion.

Raikonnen's worst season total of 23 points ....sees him retire
Alonsa joins Ferrari in 2010

I was following that till you said "Webber to come good in Turkey" whereupon you lost all credibility.

[stifler]

Duke of Rothesay said:

DBSV8 said:

Hamilton gets two race ban / Mclaren moderate fine

Button will win in Spain ,Barichello 2 Glock 3rd

Vettel wins in Monaco ,Truli 2nd , Webber 3rd Button ............failure or crash

Webber to come good in Turkey trulli 2nd Hamilton 3rd...Raikonnen highest finish in at 4th

Button wins in Silverstone ,Hamilton crashes taking 4 other cars out DC makes scaving comments ..........track invaded by fans aka mansell days

DC has a punch up with Hamilton snr post interview , Eddie Jordan gets drunk on live interview with Max and drops one liners about spanking ......Max storms off

vettel again in Nurburgring

Final mbetween Vettel / Button
Vettel wins on points
Button wins on amount of Grand prix first places and is F1 champion.

Raikonnen's worst season total of 23 points ....sees him retire
Alonsa joins Ferrari in 2010

I was following that till you said "Webber to come good in Turkey" whereupon you lost all credibility.

Pot kettle scenario considering some of the above posts!


DBSV8, the points system is still in place this year, the wins system is supposedly happening next year.

[Craig@CMR]

rev-erend said:

Brawn team to run out of money and leave racing by September.. unless a big sponsor turns up.

not with 140m euros from honda they wont....

[FourWheelDrift]

stifler said:

DBSV8, the points system is still in place this year, the wins system is supposedly happening next year.

I think he means Button and Vettel finish the year on the same number of points but Button wins because he won more races on countback as it's always done in a dead heat on points.

[stifler]

FourWheelDrift said:

stifler said:

DBSV8, the points system is still in place this year, the wins system is supposedly happening next year.

I think he means Button and Vettel finish the year on the same number of points but Button wins because he won more races on countback as it's always done in a dead heat on points.

foreplay, probably me reading it wrong.