Half-way through and the verdict ??

Well this season has been fantastic!!!!!!

First things first, the top teams.

Well, I went into 2010 thinking it would be a Lewis v's Alonso battle from start to finsih. And you would have been brave to bet against that, but so far Alonso has dispointed.

Supprises of the season? Well Webbers previous form for sure, Button being as close to Lewis as he has, Kubicas race in race out out performing the car by a mile, and Heikki the same.

They key points so far me have been RedBull have failed to make use of a car capable of 1-2 finishes every race so far, maybe except Canada. And of course Mclaren making use of the two world champions and a reliable car.

Schumacher has disapointed. Sometimes he looks average, the rest of the time he looks like a rookie. And I put that down to being under pressure, and being in an F1 a world away from waht he was used to. When we get down to it, so far he's been awful. awful to watch and awful slow. This isnt what a 7 time world champion should be like and I cant help but feel once things change and circumstance doesnt suit him he is quite simply a bad driver.

Rosberg has been steady but quicker than MS. Which makes me think, is it the car? I expected Nico to show some more razzle-dazzle than he has. I expected him to breakthrough this year and prove he was capable, but so far nothing.

Massa.... who? imo worst of the top teams. disapointing.

Onto RBR, well... first thing that comes to mind is, what a waste. Regardless of reliability the team and drivers have not got the results. Webber shined for a while but we've not seen much else since. To me, Vettel doesnt look like he's cleaned those rough edges he had last year, and until he does I dont think i can rate him as high as Lewis, Alonso or Button or even Kubica now.

And onto Kubica....Man of the season so far imo! Not put a foot wrong from what I rememeber and he's hustled that car to awesome results. I hope he stays because I like the way Renault have been this season, the new look, the new team.

As for the new teams, Lotus has starred. But mainly thanks to Heikki who has been drivign like a madman on the lose!!!! I dont think much will change now. Lotus should finish ahead but im just looking forward to next year. Ill be disapointed if Lotus and Virigin are not at least challenging STR and Sauber.

Anyway, my prediction for second half??

More Lewis v's Button, but the way I see it panning out... Lewis win after win after win. He WILL win Silverstone and unless Button pushes him the whole way, Lewis will have an easier ride to his second WDC. If Button doesnt perform these next two races I feel his head will drop and that will be that. But yeah, so far IMO best season since 03 and 00.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Funny...I think the exact opposite. Really boring season. The truth is that both teams and drivers have dropped in quality a lot lately. RedBull should be leading this thing by miles ahead, yet they are still mucking about in second place mostly because the team as a whole isn't very good. Too many rookie errors which is ok if you are in 4th place, but if you have the car to win, you should be winning consistently. I like Mark Webber, really do. But it's clear to me he isn't championship material. I also have my doubts over Vettel. Truth is, RedBull needs someone that has won a championship to steer them on the right direction.

Ferrari is a big disappointment as well. They have the driver for the championship, they have the driver to support the other but their package seems to always have a big flaw in the grand scheme of things these days which leads to drivers having to overdrive the car and end up looking stupid.

McLaren is the most stable one, but still too many mistakes. Plus I don't really care for McLaren anymore.

And then, Mercedes, which I thought would be a great team this year, especially with a guy like Schumi, seem to have gone backwards as well. Schumacher is doing poorly? Yes, I agree. But then, in 2005 he also had some appalling races. If you can't get him the car he wants, he won't deliver. Simple as that.

Anyway, I think the wrong drivers are fighting for the championship. Maybe that's why I don't seem to be interested. Give me back 05, 06 or 07 seasons any day of the week.

chet Wrote:
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> Massa.... who? imo worst of the top teams.
> disapointing.

Massa = Barrichello 2.0

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My GPGSL Career

In short - Hamilton will win the drivers title and McLaren the constructors.

Quote
chet
Schumacher has disapointed. Sometimes he looks average, the rest of the time he looks like a rookie. And I put that down to being under pressure, and being in an F1 a world away from waht he was used to. When we get down to it, so far he's been awful. awful to watch and awful slow. This isnt what a 7 time world champion should be like and I cant help but feel once things change and circumstance doesnt suit him he is quite simply a bad driver.

Rosberg has been steady but quicker than MS. Which makes me think, is it the car? I expected Nico to show some more razzle-dazzle than he has. I expected him to breakthrough this year and prove he was capable, but so far nothing.[/chet]

Look at it from this point of view. The Brawn wasn't a car which could be driven fast if it wasn't near perfect. More so for Button, but in general it wasn't a car which could grabbed by the balls and driven faster than it should have been - be it for both drivers, as in mid-season, or either driver at a time.

Perhaps the Merc is the same. Maybe it wasn't the drivers last season, and it's the nature of the car - it's a car on a knife-edge, setup wise?

I'm still not going to knock Schumacher too much. He's not shown himself yet (other than some brilliant defensive driving which has been cancelled out by some very poor defensive driving). He'll never be the driver he was (he wasn't at the end of his earlier career anyway), but give him a car capable of winning and he'll still be a winning driver.

When was Schumacher at his worst? When he was stuck in mid-pack. That hasn't changed.

Would Heidfeld have done better? Not for me. I think he's inferior to Rosberg and Rosberg isn't exactly dominating Schumacher in terms of performance. More consistent maybe, but he'll offer nothing in the long-term either. You might as well use the driver who'll please the sponsors and get a stronger team around him, even if only for the future.

I agree with the majority of the rest. Button has been largely where I expected - soundly beaten by Hamilton, yet beating Hamilton where experience and a cool head counts. Hamilton will only beat Button from here on in though.

Kubica? Hmm. Earlier in the year I just thought he was stunningly brilliant, but I think it's more the car (and engine) now. Petrov has steadily been catching Kubica in qualifying, and Petrov isn't brilliant. In fact he's poor in my eyes. I just think the Renault engine is very drivable (also seen in the RBR) and the car very easy to drive fast. It looks fun. It inspires confidence. There's not doubt Kubica is doing a great job, but he's not out-performing the car to the extent I felt - I just think he's doing a very good, consistent job. A bit like Frentzen in the Jordan in 1999 - a few fantastic performances, but consistent strong points finishes too, ensuring he was in the title fight at the end.

Kobayashi is starting to make me eat my words. I felt he was over-rated after last year and that he'd be a typical Japanese driver - occasionally dangerous and erratic but with the odd show of pace when he needs it. He's starting to lean towards the latter part again. That said, he did qualify in 18th for the last race, so it's still very much wait and see. He's finally showing something of what he did last year though - let's see if he can continue. You have to ask how strong de la Rosa is though - he's never been the fastest and certainly won't have got faster standing in the shadows at McLaren. A better team-mate (who is more motivated than Trulli) would be interesting.

I like this season regardless of my favored drivers for some races not winning or even finishing. Definitely a few surprises. I'd like to see Mercedes give Nico more support, ever since they changed their car he's dropped back a little bit and Schumacher hasn't really moved forward to justify it.

Been a pretty good seasons, more enjoyable races than boring ones. We've had what 5 different winners... and nearly as many leaders of the championship.

McLaren have clearly had their act together as a team, and taken advantage of Red Bull's mistakes. Hamilton has driven the wheels off that thing, and had some run of bad luck. Button is as about as far off his pace as you'd expect, but he's done a good job in taking calculated risks during the races and has taken opportunities that have come his way (Spain aside). He's gone some way to justifying his word champion status after practically limping over the line last year.

Red Bull have an epic car, but with their usual epic unreliability.. both drivers have had some epic performances, and both have had epic fails. If the team get their act together as a whole and sort out the reliability.... they could still sail to both titles.

Ferrari have been mystifying... the car seems to have dropped off the radar, and the mistakes of the past couple of years have not been eliminated. Alonso has put in some mighty drives for scant reward, yet he is starting to let frustration get the better off him. Massa has been slightly anonymous, had a couple of shocking races... but he's also been consistent, and don't forget he led the championship at one stage. He's probably not performing to the level he was pre Hungary yet, but he hasn't been as bad as people love to make out.

Mercedes... dropped the ball big time. Schumacher clearly doesn't get on with the car, but he's shown that he's still a willy racer. I agree that they need to get behind Nico a bit more though and let him lead the direction of where the car development should go... he was 2nd in the championship prior to the longwheel base changes... since then he's been largely anonymous and still needs to up his game somewhat.

Renault have been one of the revelations of the year, Kubica is simply flying and Petrov has succeeded in being not quite as dreadful as Piquet and Grosjean. Force India have also shown great pace...though Sutil and Luizzi haven't taken full advantage of that car.

Williams have pulled a Williams... as usual, though Barrichello has carried that car fairly well... Hulkenberg has definitely struggled... but is maybe trying too hard. He'll still come good.

Sauber... simply LMAO. STR as you'd probably expect, nothing major but good enough to occasionally punch above their weight.

Lotus have been the best of the new teams, inspite of Gascoyne they seem to a good little team. Virgin have been slightly disappointing perhaps, but they have far fewer "F1 staff" than Lotus so they are on a steeper learning curve.

HRT... in spite of plenty of whining have been really quite impressive when you take all the facts into consideration. And Chandhok in particular has been one of the drivers of the season. I'd go as far to nominate him as rookie of the year so far.

Well who knows? Maybe Alonso & Ferrari will comback to their reigning pace through half-way season. Sort of Schumacher-ferrari 2006 situation here?

Button being so close to Hamilton has suprised me, but I really like Mclaren at the moment. Martin Whitmarsh seems to have changed things quite a bit since Ron Dennis, theres no more clear no.1 driver anymore.

Lotus have really stepped up their game as well, they (well Heikki) have really put the other new teams to shame. I hope they can get a point by the end of the season (not too optimistic considering the top 10 now get points).

Mecedes GP seem to have fallen back to the old days (Honda), where they are an average teams that sometimes pull off a high finish. Ferrari seem so mediocre now and Kubica seems like he really enjoys driving the Renault.

My opinions on this though are mainly from reading results, have missed most of the European season due to work

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matt3454 Wrote:
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> Button being so close to Hamilton has suprised me,
> but I really like Mclaren at the moment. Martin
> Whitmarsh seems to have changed things quite a bit
> since Ron Dennis, theres no more clear no.1 driver
> anymore.

I was, and still am a HUGE Ron fan, but I think that was simply down to the Mika relationship. But Whitmarsh has done nothing wrong. okay Aus 09 could have been handled better, but we can name 100's of occasions where team-bosses could have handled situations better. Since then, he's put Mclaren on an upwards gradient and not stopped and nobody can deny that.

It seems a very fresh, young, and relaxed Mclaren. Had JB joined Mclaren in 06 (when he apparently had an offer or 07) he would have been finished, dead in the water.

With regards to Button being close, in qualifying it is somewhere between 0 - 0.3 down and as I said pre-season I expected Lewis to win 19-0. But he's been alot closer in the races. The one thing Lewis will learn is just how hard Button is to shake off imo. He isnt the quickest, but he will finish races in strong posistions. And if a sniff of a win comes up, he'll take it. If the next few races go well for JB I expect him to take the fight to at least Brazil.

Jim, a good point about Sutil and Luizzi!!! Though Luizzi was due to score at Canada, but some bad racing from both Massa nad Luizzi ended that.

I think Force India needs new blood and Sutil needs to move on. They have been somewhat a disapointment to me too. I doesnt seem like they have progressed much from the end of last year. With Renault only have one strong driver (for now), Williams up and down like a yoyo and Mercedes just being rubbish Force India could be collecting strong points! I like the team alot and I like Vijay. The deal with Mclaren helped them a lot, and his aerospace connections had helped an awful lot too. Was it last year he took in 30 or so CFD engineers from Airbus? I think a top driver (like a Kubica this year) would shoot that car right up in some good places!

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

I think it has been a great half a year so far.

There has been some good racing overtaking and some shocks for me.

People say they feel let down by MS, tbh I do not as I did not think he was going to do that well anyway.

Button has impressed me a great deal, yes he is not there in quali but his race pace has been good and he has got the results.

Lewis after a slow start, partly due to him and the team has now come on strong. His over taking and racing in the early races was fantastic to watch.

Rbr well right now they should be the team leading and the drivers leading. Both the team and the drivers have made errors that I think will cost them both championships.

Force India 100% the most improved team, they can score points at every race.

Kubica for me so far is the driver of the year.

Ferrari, well I thought they would walk it this year seeing this car was designed early and they worked on it last year. Massa is not back to his best and Alonso has made some errors that has cost them points.

I hope the 2nd half is as good as the 1st half.

Who will be champ? I still think it will be a Mclaren driver not due to the fact they have the best car but due to the fact Rbr are the team more likely to break down and driver errors.

Merc have gone back to what they were like when they were BAR and Honda, they got lucky last year with there car. But again I do not feel let down by them as I thought this would happen and said before the year started.

New teams, Lotus are the best. HRT are doing a better job than Virgin seeing HRT were so late getting started and had not even turned a wheel before the start of the year. They are now level with Virgin.

J i m Wrote:
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> he's shown that he's still a willy racer.

LOL.

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Interpret that as you will and already have.

Thing is with Schumacher.... the expectations were too high... and that's why the majority are disappointed with him. They expected him to turn up and own everything. He hasn't obviously... but considering he had 3 years away...including a substantial neck injury to come back at all and be on any kind of pace is actually pretty impressive. People think he's doing badly because he's not winning.

Okay... in general he's been slower than Nico, and he hasn't ever looked to be comfortable in the car, but Canada aside his race craft has been good. He kept Hamilton behind for a few laps in China when Hamilton should have simply waltzed by at first attempt, he held Button at bay at Spain for most of the race when Button really should have been able to drive around him, and he was alert enough to muscle Alonso out of the way at Monaco (SC sillyness aside).

I think he's been racing pretty well, the major problem is that the car is too slow, as proven by Nico since Spain.

^^Spot on ! + Turkey where he spoiled his last qualy lap and despite that stayed in 5th. with a complete foultless last qualy lap he would have been top 3 or 4.
let see silverstone. definately not one of his favourite tracks but...........

Ms 1st lap in Valencia was really good, just saw the reply of it.

Thing is people expected him to win straight away, well his fans did anyway. I never thought he would is I am not let down by him, I actually think its rather funny tbh.

Can I do a team by team thing? Yeah? Cool.

McLaren - they've done a really good job to group together, and this has shown in the drivers' relationship; Hamilton and Button are working together (for now, at least) to improve the car to it's maximum potential.

Mercedes - Disappointed really. Rosberg has carried the team with limited experience and put in some good results (when the car's up to it)...as for Schumacher, we all know he's needed time to adjust and that, but it's crunch time now; if he stays off the boil dont expect him to be there for too long.

Red Bull - Fab car, fab drivers, nice cola too...but the reliability has let them down in times of need. Crashes, splashes, and similar words that rhyme have punctuated their technological dominance. But they're breaking this trend just as the other teams are putting their feet in the door. Looks to be an epic fight towards the end of the season for top spot.

Ferrari - A bright start indeed, claiming first bragging rights against the other teams in the processional Bahrain race. Perhaps their performance has fallen away a bit, but as Alonso gets ever closer to pushing them at the front, and as Massa gets a few performances in his stride, they can begin to look at challenging for the titles. Time is of the essence though, and they need to make an almighty push to match the others.

Williams - What can I say? General anonymity has marred their season, sitting on the uncomfortable bench of 'neither here nor there'. But Barrichello has provided good results, and as Hulkenburg gets more confident, the team are always in with chances of picking up some points. But I fear the team may need to look to next season to really play with the big boys.

Renault - Written off by so many at the start, Kubica has surprised us all by really pushing the car to the max, and he has reaped points, rewards and respect in the F1 paddock. Petrov needs time to adjust, but with rumours of Raikkonen and Glock wanting his seat, he's got to mature quickly.

Force India - Excellent season so far. Sutil has a nice handful of points, and seems to be thriving in conditions without Raikkonen to punt him off the road. Liuzzi has also done a sound job, with an excellent qualifying at Canada and picking up points too. Most expected Di Resta to have the seat by now. But Liuzzi's hanging on.

Toro Rosso - No longer at the back with the new teams, but neither at the front. Buemi and Alguersuari have matured to say the least, picking up minor points consistently. Still, the car needs to be better for any push in performance.

Lotus - Great job by Mike Gascoyne and the design staff to push a team started from scratch up to the established teams. Kovalainen has been bright, chirpy, and his driving has been commendable as well. Trulli has had a few minor gripes, but he's helping the team get closer.

Hispania - It was so difficult to gauge where they were gonna be come Bahrain. They made it. No testing, new drivers, and taking all this into consideration, they have been a very efficient operation indeed. Chandhok and Senna have struggled with the car but with the split from Dallara, next year's chassis should have input from Geoff Willis if first, he stays, and secondly, it's made inhouse.

Sauber - Now, they ran the tank a bit empty in testing for sponsors to adorn that plain white car, and have looked in bad shape, reliability-wise. But Kobayashi's insane drive at Valencia and De La Rosa's experience might be the catalyst for greater things to come. We can but hope.

Virgin - So Branson's not had the success he had last year chez Brawn, but Nick Wirth has put in the hours to get a chassis going for this year. Pioneering 100% CFD, it's been a struggle, not least the fragility of the car and the fuel-tank fiasco. Still, Glock's done well and Di Grassi is learning, so they have the right to be pleased.

That ought to do it.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

it would be interesting to see what the points situation would be based on last years scoring. hamiltons lead is equivalent to about 2 points in the old system (or maybe a negative lead?), and i think its less then 10 between the first 4 drivers in the old system.

Mclaren - Jenson and Lewis seem to have been working well together, the car is a very good all-around package. Here's hoping that Jenson beats Lewis at the end of the season.

Mercedes - Greatly disappointing, mostly Schumacher. Rosberg could be doing better, he was driving much better last season at Williams.

Red Bull - They've proved that they're quick but they need to make the most of their opportunities. They should be killing Mclaren in the Constructors Championship at the moment.

Ferrari - Quite disappointing too, Alonso has been driving quite well and is still considered a championship contender, Massa just hasn't been good enough and is probably jumping for joy since finding out Kubica is staying at Renault until 2012.

Williams - Not up to standards this season, but the update seems to be helping progress along, not sure if they can catch Force India though. I'm personally hoping that they do as quite a big Williams fan.

Renault - Undoubtedly the surprise of the season. When I saw that Lada were sponsoring them, I thought they were desperate but Kubica has been sensational all season. Petrov is still finding his feet and should score more points soon.

Force India - A nice surprise to see them doing well this season, except for it being at Williams' expense. Sutil has matured greatly so far this season.

Toro Rosso - Could be doing better but after a disappointing 2009 campaign, 2010 doesn't seem to be going too badly for them, Buemi is starting to impress again and Alguersuari has shown he deserves a place in F1.

Lotus - Clearly the best out of the new teams, they are doing a solid, respectable job and Kovalainen in particular has been driving well and outperforming Trulli.

Hispania - Nothing was expected of them, they have an awful car but Chandhok and Senna have really done well with limited equipment.

Sauber - Just like Merc, greatly disappointing, De La Rosa has been anonymous all season thanks to his car and Kobayashi is not being able to show his true talent.

Virgin - Not up to Lotus' standards and poor reliability currently puts them below HRT in the Constructors Championship. Glock made a big mistake in my opinion and Di Grassi isn't being given a chance to prove his worth.