There was supposed to be an F1 2012 team by tea preview by rjbetty here...

[rjbetty]

@Knock-on: I like the last line of your post! But I'm cautious about it happening sadly...
@Jens: That is so right! Yeah I do think Lewis would be the one to crack. I think Vettel will now improve in this weak area of fighting in the pack or under pressure - because he seems to be passionate about his craft. For him it's not just one passion amongst others...

I hope Mercedes can get WCC 3rd, but I'm not getting my hopes up...

[ioan]

I don't think Vettel should be expected to crack, when there is a tight title battle going on. Going by history Hamilton is more likely to crack.

[Knock-on]

Well, we will see if Sebastian 'Glass Jaw' Vettel proves you right

[Mia 01]

Lewis self confidence isn´t what is was once upon a time.

[EuroTroll]

Lewis self confidence isn´t what is was once upon a time.

How do you know?

[steveaki13]

I think it should be a great season this year, i have a feeling that while Red Bull will have the better pace in Quali, I reckon the races will be neck and neck. Mclaren and Red Bull should be almost tied by the end of the year.

I think Ferrari will be a way off those two, but will still battle Mercedes for 3rd.

As for the drivers: A wild go at Jenson to pip Lewis and Seb at the final Round.

[Knock-on]

Ferrari still struggling to manage their tyres. Last year, they couldn't get them up to temp but it seems like this year they're ok for a few laps straigt away but then lose grip going in and coming out of the corners. Qualifying should be OK but they will go backwards in the race unless they get it sorted.

Being a little cruel, you hve to say that Kimi delivered a championship during his tenure and the man that replaced him has not.

[Mia 01]

Ferrari still struggling to manage their tyres. Last year, they couldn't get them up to temp but it seems like this year they're ok for a few laps straigt away but then lose grip going in and coming out of the corners. Qualifying should be OK but they will go backwards in the race unless they get it sorted.

Being a little cruel, you hve to say that Kimi delivered a championship during his tenure and the man that replaced him has not.

Talking like that is tabu. Alonso is the best driver - ever.

In reality he is among the good drivers.

[rjbetty]

Ok I'm gonna take a guess that the average qualifying times this year could be something like this. I've only done it to 1 decimal place cos it's only a guesstimate. This is based on the recent testing times too, and we know how unreliable those are!

1.Vettel
2.Hamilton +0.2
3.Webber +0.2
4.Button +0.3
5.Alonso +0.6
6.Rosberg +0.6
7.Schumacher +0.9
8.Massa +0.9
9.Raikkonen +0.9
10.Grosjean +1.1

11.Hulkenberg +1.4
12.di Resta +1.4
13.Senna +1.7
14.Maldonado +1.7
15.Perez +1.8
16.Kobayashi +2.0
17.Ricciardo +2.1
18.Vergne +2.2

19.Kovalainen +2.7
20.Petrov +3.1
21.Glock +4.8
22.Pic +5.3
23.de la Rosa +5.7
24.Karthikeyan +6.4

Really hope I'm right about Caterham.
This doesn't take into account 'race pace' (love how Coulthard says that), just what I think qualifying may be. And it doesn't take into account team developments through the year.

What do you think? You think it's something like this?

[rjbetty]

=====================================
LOTUS - RENAULT (Yes they are actually called Lotus now!)
=====================================
Well whatever anyone says, it's never good to lose 4 days with a chassis problem. But they've been topping the times so expectations are high. Thing is, we all know that topping the times means the square root of exactly stuff-all. So did Williams last year (I hear). That's why the teams are all repeating the cliche that "we will only know in qualifying in Melbourne in two weeks time... (blah blah blah!)

Well you know what? There are reasons to believe this could be a good year for Benetton, er I mean LOTUS. Consider that this time last year they were looking in mightily good form. It's true that they fell away badly and only finished 4 points ahead of Force India. But the thing is, that was only because of losing star driver Kubica. He would probably have finished 2nd in Melbourne (I bet Vettel might have found more if Robert had challenged him) and 3rd in Malaysia. From that platform and with that leadership, where would they have ended?

I believe Lotus/Renault's true potential was quite a lot higher than it looked last year. So taking that as the platform for 2012 it looks pretty good. Even more so when the team and drivers have praise for the new car and look happy so they can't be in too bad a shape.

The big question is what Kimi is going to be like. It would be fantastic to have the McLaren-spec Raikkonen, and thankfully there are signs the real Raikkonen (who really left the sport around 2006-07) could be the one who returns. I reckon Lotus and their drivers could be similar to Sauber and Jacques Villeneuve and Felipe Massa in 2005, where Raikkonen situation might be similar to Villeneuve's (though I can't believe there's any way Kimi will be remotely that bad!) I mean he could actually be outperformed by Grosjean at first before asserting himself. I can picture Kimi missing out on quite a few points due to rusty racecraft, a little like with Schumacher. I can actually see him maybe struggling a bit, but he should still get one or two good results this year.

As for Grosjean, I feel he may do better than many expect. He could even have the measure of Kimi (somewhat), especially at first. Romain had no chance in '09 - it wasn't representative and needs to be discounted. I don't know what kind of points he can bank though, which could make him vulnerable to the Force India drivers i the championship.

MY PREDICTION:
Contructors: 5th
Raikkonen: 9th
Grosjean: 11th