2011 Predictions

[DanielPT]

My predictions will start with my guess of the pecking order:
- Red Bull
- Ferrari
- Mercedes (The upgraded car, obviously)
- McLaren (Due to its drivers I will put them ahead of Renault)
- Renault (If Kubica was there I probably would've set Renault ahead of Mercedes...)
- Sauber (Due to Kobayashi )
- Toro Rosso (There is not much between Sauber, Toro Rosso and Williams.)
- Williams (They can be in any order. The other two shined more in testing, so...)
- Force India (Perhaps closer to Lotus than to Williams)
- Lotus (Although its closer to FI that to Virgin)
- Virgin (Glock says they are a bit far from the midfield)
- HRT (They can't be better than this surely...)

Vettel is on course for a second WDC with Red Bull testing reliability placing them hot favourites for WCC.
I predict a Schumacher victory before the end of the season. (I am that brave) And he will beat Rosberg this year.
McLaren will also win a race despite the car.
Alonso will be, again, the other main contender. Webber will come third.
Kobayashi, Perez and Alguersuari to unrejectify themselves this year. No such luck for the others (only a fluke result can save them in a high attrition race). Lotus will win their first point.
HRT will see the end of the year.

[Aerospeed]

I see Sauber improving on their constructor's championship standing in 2011.

[Ed24]

Some predictions

-McLaren will struggle badly early. Button showed in 2007/08 and Hamilton in 2009 that they aren't great at outdriving a poor car.
-Lotus will end the year faster than Force India
-Perez will be rookie of the year
-KERS will be useless (if all cars have it, it almost negates the effect - unless the attacking driver can get the other driver to use up his allowance earlier in the lap)
-Schumacher will win a race and then retire at the end of the year
-Alonso will be given team orders at the final race. He refuses, potentially costing Massa and Ferrari the championship until Glock drops some oil and Alonso spins off. They sack Alonso and bring in Kubica or Webber for 2012.

[Rocks with Salt]

1. Red Bull
2. Ferrari
3. McLaren
4. Mercedes
5. Renault
6. Williams
7. Sauber
8. Toro Rosso
9. Force India
10. Lotus
11. Virgin
12. HRT

Explanations
McLaren will not have a competitive car at the outset of the season and will be scrapping with Mercedes for third position until the midpoint of the season, where they will turn it around and close the gap on second place, but never seriously threaten the position. Expect Hamilton to win at least one before the midpoint simply due to his tenacity and good fortune.

Mercedes will run consistently throughout the season, but will taper off near the end struggling to keep pace with the rest of the frontrunners. Don't expect a win, but expect several podiums.

Renault will start off as the leader of the midfield, but teething problems and driver inexperience will sap their ultimate points potential until they get solved around the midpoint of the season, where they will be neither in the midfield nor with the frontrunners.

Williams will suffer right off the bat, dropping them to the back of the midfield. However, they will gradually improve, putting them up to 6th by the end of the season.

Sauber themselves said with their car unveiling that they made a simple, conforming car that didn't push the barriers of speed like most other teams were trying to do. As a result, I don't see them doing as well as Williams or Renault in the long run. However, in Sauber fashion, they will gradually improve until they are quite competitive by the end of the season. Nonetheless, it will not be enough to pass the likes of Williams for the 6th position.

Toro Rosso may have performed well in testing, but I still think there's something afoot there, and that their bluff will be called at the first race. They will remain consistent throughout the season as they remain in the back of the midfield pack. Still, expect several points-paying finishes from them.

Force India will get off on the wrong foot and stay there. They will joust with Toro Rosso throughout the season for position, but by the end will struggle to do so.

Lotus may have been souped up considerably during the off-season, but they will still have to be very lucky to get that first point. The sooner they do it, the easier it will be.

Virgin will start out slow but will give Lotus a run for its money by the end.

HRT -- let the chaos ensue!

Now watch as every one of my predictions is dead wrong. My only goal at this point is to at least be more accurate than the weatherman...

[TomWazzleshaw]

I predict a Schumacher victory before the end of the season. (I am that brave)

I'm willing to take you up on that in the avatar challenge thread. Infact I'm willing to bet that not only will Schumacher not win but Rosberg will win instead. The Nazi Schumi avatar should either of us lose is somewhere in the avatar challenge thread (Somewhere being the operative word ).

[DanielPT]

I'm willing to take you up on that in the avatar challenge thread. Infact I'm willing to bet that not only will Schumacher not win but Rosberg will win instead. The Nazi Schumi avatar should either of us lose is somewhere in the avatar challenge thread (Somewhere being the operative word ).

That will be my third challenge... But I accept it nevertheless!

[Chewie]

Political protests and civil unrest at a hated ruling party will mean the cancellation of the British GP.

Alonso will cheat, or lie, or cry or something; anything to win.

Rubens will have a great season but crash on lap 1 in Brazil.

Jenson and Lewis will end the season absolutely hating each other!

The Renault/Lotus/lada will add further sponsorship..... from Kia, Ssang Yong and Caterham! change name to 'Car Supermarket Racing'.

As petrol hits £20 a gallon following further problems in the Middle East; Bernie sets the mood by burning £20 notes on the grid before each race!!!!

Nicole and Jessica find solace in each others arms and naked bodies as the Lewis/Jenson war heats up; (wishful thinking that one).

Pirelli tyres last 2 laps max in most races, Bernie starts burning £50 notes!!

Brundle and Coulthard are replaced by Crofty and Davidson after 2 races, and get to commentate on the Nicole/Jessica public show of affection (more wishful thinking)

Schumacher wins race one and totally dominates the next 5 years of F1, Ferrari cry foul and demand rule changes as he isn't driving for them anymore!

Schumacher's success cause Williams to sign Mansell and Prost for next season, Stirling Moss tests for McLaren.

A double dip recession hits the UK, as millions lose their jobs and the pound plummets against every currency in the world; bernie stops burning pound notes and starts burning gold bricks!!!

[WIDD]

Prediction:

Alonso winning WDC
Red Bull winning WCC
Hispania having their fair share of DNQs, if 107% rule is enforced strictly
Hispania having 10 drivers, with Sato, Nakajima, Yamamoto all getting shots among others
Solid season from Michael Schumacher, but no wins, a few podium and some credibility restored.
Heidfeld to be a surprise package for Renault
Massa to throw his toys out of the pram due to getting thrashed by Alonso.

Hopes:

McLaren's new car is a return to 2009, and Hamilton returns to spoilt little boy.
Hispania stun everyone and dominate the year, but fail to win WDC due to having 15 drivers through the season due to financial demands
Quick Nick wins a race
Button beats Hamilton over the course of the season comprehensively.

[P_Friesacher]

A double dip recession hits the UK, as millions lose their jobs and the pound plummets against every currency in the world; bernie stops burning pound notes and starts burning gold bricks!!!

And I, finally, get a cheap Autosport subscription!

[LionZoo]

Prediction: The majority of the above predictions will be off the mark.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Prediction: The majority of the above predictions will be off the mark.

Iunno, stranger stuff HAS happened.

[nome66]

Prediction:: Chaparral will pull out of the series early because of Ecclestilke's silly rules.
My opinion:
"Hey want some almonds?" "yeah sure I-" "NO WAIT THEY'LL CHARGE YOU FOR THEM! We need to limit ourselves" "fixed. Still want some?" "nah he ruined it"

- from The Hangover (may have been paraphrased a bit)

[TomWazzleshaw]

Prediction:: Chaparral will pull out of the series early because of Ecclestilke's silly rules.
My opinion:
"Hey want some almonds?" "yeah sure I-" "NO WAIT THEY'LL CHARGE YOU FOR THEM! We need to limit ourselves" "fixed. Still want some?" "nah he ruined it"

- from The Hangover (may have been paraphrased a bit)

Irrelevent story time: The Masked Lapwing and I did a quiz based on Neuroscience during science the other day and a clue to one of the questions was that the answer was the latin name for Almond.

Anyways I might as well put my predictions on here:
Captain Eyebrows and Australia's Public Enemy No 1 (Vettel) duke it out for the crown with Webber and Hamilton outsiders.
Rosberg wins the Malaysian GP and Alguersuari wins the Canadian GP through brilliant strategy calls.
Liuzzi fails to qualify for the Indian GP while Karthikeyan makes it through
Chandhok replaces Sutil for Indian GP and scores the most popular 3rd place in Human history
Toro Rosso proves to be quick at Sukuza. A trail of destruction results.
Schumacher retires at the end of the year and is replaced by Glock
Massa and Button both win races when the championship contenders fall by the wayside
Petrov and Heidfeld finish 1-2 at Hungary
Liuzzi miracluously outqualifies D'Ambrosio at Italy
Kovalainen scores minor points on several occasions
Kamui Kobayashi nearly wins Japanese GP except fading tyres means he can't challenge Vettel.

[JohnMLTX]

Another prediction: Toro Rosso will have their older driver named Sebastien who primarily speaks french fired in early july, in an odd numbered year in which the McLaren car is crap. Total repeat of 2009.

[Dj_bereta]

-Start crash in australian GP.
-Rain in first 3 races.
-Rain in Monaco race.
-Massa/Alonso crash at least once.
-Massa in front of Alonso in first half of season and Alonso trying make a internal storm in ferrari.
-Williams not scoring points in first 3 races.
-Hispania quitting F-1 after silverstone.
-Hispania double 107% in first 2 races.
-Hamilton causing many crashes.
-A Chaotic race in Montreal. Barrichello getting a podium, Lotus scoring points.
-Another boring Hungarian GP.
-Heidfeld beating Petrov.

1- Wrong. No rain in first 3 races.
2- Wrong. No rain in monaco.
3- Wrong. Massa and Alonso didnt make contact.
4- Wrong. Massa was smashed by Alonso.
5- Right. Williams scored your first points in Monaco.
6- Wrong. HRT still here.
6- Wrong. HRT only DNQ in Melbourne.
7- Right. Hamilton crashed in half of races of 2011. The Andrea de Crasheris of 2011.
8- Partly Wrong. The race was chaotic, but Barrrichello didnt get a podium and Lotus didnt scores points.
9- Wrong. Rained
10- Right, but F-1 is slightly bored with Quick Nick.

Not bad.

[Aerospeed]

Huh, looking back on my predictions, I said that Alonso would take everyone to the cleaners, team orders would play a role in the championship, DRS would not be effective, Vettel would have won only once, Webber would have been sacked mid-season, and the Green Lotus wouldn't score points (oh wait that last one was right)

[TomWazzleshaw]

I'm willing to take you up on that in the avatar challenge thread. Infact I'm willing to bet that not only will Schumacher not win but Rosberg will win instead. The Nazi Schumi avatar should either of us lose is somewhere in the avatar challenge thread (Somewhere being the operative word ).

That will be my third challenge... But I accept it nevertheless!

Since both of us lost, how are we supposed to figure this one out?

[Klon]

- Red Bull will dominate the championship race with Vettel winning the title in India

Wrong race but the point is valid.

- Nick Heidfeld will fail in dramatic fashion

50-50 on this one, he was fired but most people would think it was unjustified.

- Cora Schumacher will be the only Schumacher who scores a podium in 2011

Thankfully not - only Michael didn't score a podium.

- Williams will struggle despite Barrichello being at the top of his game

Yup.

- Virgin will pull out at the end of the season, leaving Marussia Racing to scramble for funds

Does this count as true? I'm not sure but let's say "yes" for now.

---> What have we learnt from this? Always assume bad things are going to happen, because that's what usually happens.

Since both of us lost, how are we supposed to figure this one out?

You both get to wear Nazi Schumi...

[DanielPT]

I'm willing to take you up on that in the avatar challenge thread. Infact I'm willing to bet that not only will Schumacher not win but Rosberg will win instead. The Nazi Schumi avatar should either of us lose is somewhere in the avatar challenge thread (Somewhere being the operative word ).

That will be my third challenge... But I accept it nevertheless!

Since both of us lost, how are we supposed to figure this one out?

Being the fantastic sportsman that I am, I too think that both of us should use the Nazi Schumi avatar... for a month! I will have it until the end of the day (being 11 am here) because I can't bother search for it now.

[DanielPT]

My predictions will start with my guess of the pecking order:
- Red Bull
- Ferrari
- Mercedes (The upgraded car, obviously)
- McLaren (Due to its drivers I will put them ahead of Renault)
- Renault (If Kubica was there I probably would've set Renault ahead of Mercedes...)
- Sauber (Due to Kobayashi )
- Toro Rosso (There is not much between Sauber, Toro Rosso and Williams.)
- Williams (They can be in any order. The other two shined more in testing, so...)
- Force India (Perhaps closer to Lotus than to Williams)
- Lotus (Although its closer to FI that to Virgin)
- Virgin (Glock says they are a bit far from the midfield)
- HRT (They can't be better than this surely...)

All right, pecking order... McLaren recovered well from the early troubles and placed second so I failed there, but then came Ferrari and the Mercs so both right. Oh and Red Bull is obviously right too. Renault was 5th but then slipped back. The inverse for Force India which started one place above then moved forward (so 50-50). Sauber and Toro Rosso were there for most of the season so another 2 rights. Williams a massive fail. Guess I was being optimistic. Then Lotus (ok) and HRT finished ahead of Virgin although was behind most of the season. I guess I wasn't that bad here.

Vettel is on course for a second WDC with Red Bull testing reliability placing them hot favourites for WCC.

Check!

I predict a Schumacher victory before the end of the season. (I am that brave) And he will beat Rosberg this year.

Fail!

McLaren will also win a race despite the car.

They won more than one, but check!

Alonso will be, again, the other main contender. Webber will come third.

The first one was wrong but the second was right. 50 - 50 on this one.

Kobayashi, Perez and Alguersuari to unrejectify themselves this year. No such luck for the others (only a fluke result can save them in a high attrition race).

Kobayashi was unrejectified, so check. But the other two not, so 2x fail.

Lotus will win their first point.
HRT will see the end of the year.

Lotus ended up not scoring but HRT finished the season. 50-50.

Could be better but also worse. It is worth noting that I went for somewhat obvious stuff... Not a lot of risks there.

[TomWazzleshaw]

But you lost the ultimate prediction and this is your punishment:

That being said, I'm stuck in the exact same boat

[fjackdaw]

I predict the first replacement will be Ricardio for Buemi.

Idiot.

[DanielPT]

But you lost the ultimate prediction and this is your punishment:

That being said, I'm stuck in the exact same boat

Indeed you are... So let's go! One month!

[TomWazzleshaw]

But you lost the ultimate prediction and this is your punishment:

That being said, I'm stuck in the exact same boat

Indeed you are... So let's go! One month!

Way ahead of ya

[DanielPT]

But you lost the ultimate prediction and this is your punishment:

That being said, I'm stuck in the exact same boat

Indeed you are... So let's go! One month!

Way ahead of ya

Only for half an hour!

EDIT: We came from not having enough Nazi Shumis to too much Nazi Schumis
Although yours is a bit, well, fat...

[TomWazzleshaw]

Indeed you are... So let's go! One month!

Way ahead of ya

Only for half an hour!

EDIT: We came from not having enough Nazi Shumis to too much Nazi Schumis
Although yours is a bit, well, fat...

Mine's the Mercedes Era Schumacher

[WeirdKerr]

oh dear....