Team-mate battles of 2012!

[zako85]

Oh man, I can't wait until the 2012 season starts. As for teammate battles, can't wait to see the continuation of Button v Hamilton. Also Räikkönen v Grosjean, Maldonado v Senna, and Di Resta v Hülkenberg. The rest are kind of predictable (e.g. Vettel vs Webber) or just not very interesting to me (i.e. Rosberg v Schumacher)

[Koz]

1) Vettel v Webber - Conspiracy?
2) Button v Hamilton - Button should take this one because he seems to be coping better with the tyres. But through and through Hamilton is faster, if he can keep his head in the game he might just beat Button.
3) Alonso v Massa - Massa is done, Alonso is superior in every way.
4) Rosberg v Schumacher - It will be close, Mike has been doing better than '10 - he is getting used to F1 again, but his age will begin to show this year, they may be fairly even at the beginning but Mike will be much slower towards the end of the season.
5) Räikkönen v Grosjean - Kimi will be faster, much faster.
6) Di Resta v Hülkenberg - A year out will make the difference.
7) Kobayashi v Pérez - Perez will out qualify Koba, he'll be more consistent overall. But Koba will have a few higher position finishes.
8) Ricciardo v Vergne - Ricci, because of experience. However, both careers will be ruined because neither have enough experience to be in F1.
9) Maldonado v Senna - Senna will dominate, but if the car is very bad they will be fairly close.
10) Kovalainen v Trulli - Hekki will dominate. Regardless of who his team mate is, he will destroy them. If Caterham can get a car on part with '11 Williams, he will get a top 10 finish. And he will prove that Flavio was right about him. Trulli will not complete the season.
11) Glock v Pic - Glock, experience talks.
12) de la Rosa v ??? - If it's a newbie, it might be close, but by the end of the season, luck notwithstanding, Perdo will be beaten. If anyone with experience comes in Pedro will be destroyed from the first lap of the season.

In addition you can make some general guesses about driver performances this year.

Raikkonen might pull out a few podiums if the car is as close to the front as it was at the beginning of '11, maybe even a win at Spa with some luck (Hamilton takes out Webber, SC - Kimi has an epic re-start and passes Alonso and Vettel while they are busy with each other).

Who is going to be the revelation of the season? Driver, who is forcing everyone to talk about him much more than ever before and take real notice.

Senna and Grosjean will give us a few surprises.

Alternatively, who is going to be the disappointment of the season? Specifically compared to expectations. As usual, underperformance would lead everyone to debate that "he isn't really as good as we thought"...

Torro Rosso boys. Both will fail big time, but we won't really be able to judge and will put it down to the cars. Same with Hulk.

[AussieV8]

My picks in bold


1) Vettel v Webber
2) Button v Hamilton
3) Alonso v Massa
4) Rosberg v Schumacher
5) Räikkönen v Grosjean
6) Di Resta v Hülkenberg
7) Kobayashi v Pérez
8) Ricciardo v Vergne
9) Maldonado v Senna
10) Kovalainen v Trulli
11) Glock v Pic
12) de la Rosa v ?

[The Black Knight]

1) Vettel v Webber
2) Button v Hamilton
3) Alonso v Massa
4) Rosberg v Schumacher
5) Räikkönen v Grosjean
6) Di Resta v Hülkenberg
7) Kobayashi v Pérez
8) Ricciardo v Vergne
9) Maldonado v Senna
10) Kovalainen v Trulli
11) Glock v Pic
12) de la Rosa v ?

I doubt very much that Button will be able to usurp Hamilton for a second season in a row, plus I feel that Hamilton will have grown as a result of last year and I think he will get himself back on track.

I've gone for Schumacher because there was a clear trend of improvement last year. This year I think he may, just may, end up ahead on points at the end of the season, but it will nonetheless be a close one.

The rest are pretty straight forward and obvious choices.

[F1boat]

Seb will beat Webber easily. Fernando will be number 1 driver in Ferrari. The intra-team battles in McLaren and Mercedes GP will be very close and Lotus is an enigma for me - I don't know is Kimi as fast as before and how much Romain has improved. The rest, I have to admit, are not that interesting to me, although I keep my fingers crossed for Bruno in a Williams.

[The Black Knight]

Narain Karthikeyan has been announced as HRT other driver, teammate to Pedro De La Rosa.

[F1boat]

This will be oldest line-up on the grid. I think that Pedro will beat Karthikeyan.

[jens]

This will be oldest line-up on the grid. I think that Pedro will beat Karthikeyan.

Agreed.

--

Oh, and one more thing. About the revelation and disappointment part, which I didn't answer in my earlier post.

Revelation?
Well, I think it may be worth looking into that very tight midfield group. Several drivers have a chance of making a serious impression in F1. If the Toro Rosso car is good, both Ricciardo and Vergne can make the F1 world take notice. At the moment there is little to talk about them as their F1 careers have barely started, but this is the year, when it can change. Also Hülkenberg has a point to prove. If Nico can put that - by his high standards - disappointing debut season of 2010 behind and show more of the stuff we witnessed in feeder categories, he would put himself into contention for seats in top teams.

Disappointment? Perhaps here we can look at the midfield too. There are many drivers with high expectations, so you could say someone is bound to lose out. Or are we going to have a surprise and one of Vettel, Button or Alonso will have a bad year?

[seppefan]

Button / Hamilton
Vergne / Ricciardo
di Resta / Hulkenberg
Rosberg / Schumacher
Grosjean/ Raikkonen


No "Other" option for those missed due to the riches of 2012 competition being as high. Senna/ Maldonado or Webber /Vettel albeit for different reasons, Massa etc are less cutting edge. These battles will still be very interesting. But, the above five battles will go to make a possible vintage season. And dictate the drivers own future.

Interested to know what people think about the inter team battles... and the end result.


That end result means thoughts as below.....

Does Lewis arrive at MB after a poor Shumi year, di Resta arrive at Mclaren, Vergne to Red B, Ferrari is Alonso and.. Bianchi, Massa, why do they keep getting this wrong, Alonso and ... I would go for the Hulk or Grosjean, Pity it is not Glock but four years too late. Sorry Kovi. So number two at Ferrari is hot...Lotus probably stay the same, Kimi and Grosjean. Perez for Ferarri, obvious but I have a bad feeling.

Others ? !!

[DamonHillFan]

Button v Hamilton should be good this year, Lewis will want to finish ahead of him for sure after last year, but Jenson was on top form during the races last season so may be hard to beat especially if McLaren have a great car.