Page 4 of 6 FirstFirst ... 23456 LastLast
Results 31 to 40 of 56
  1. #31
    Senior Member steveaki13's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
    Posts
    10,568
    Like
    695
    Liked 653 Times in 512 Posts
    Can Alonso or Button be held in traffic when in the slowest cars outside Manor.

    I know its early, but a quick personal view of the battles.

    Mercedes: Hamilton seems to have got a decent advantage over Rosberg so far. They were tied together during races last season alot of the time, but Lewis appears to have gained a tad from winning that title.

    Ferrari: Vettel has settled straight in and has it over Kimi as you may expect. However Kimi has had such bad luck. He has shown pace and fight. Looking forward to Kimi scoring some podiums.

    Williams: Honours even in many ways. Still think Bottas is best.

    Sauber: Nasr looked calm and composed in Oz, but actually had wayward pace in Malaysia. Still view him as better than Ericcson. Who showed a real mistake in Malaysia.

    Red Bull: Ricciardo has the most points, but in Malaysia Kyvat seemed to match him most of the way. Could be interesting, but I can't see Daniel losing this one over the season.

    Toro Rosso: What fine form this team and its young guys are in. Max Verstappen probably just edges it, for how young he is. He showed great maturity and skill in Malaysia. Sainz though is also doing a great job.

    Lotus: Lotus looking decent compared to last year, however results have not arrived. I think Maldonado is again likely to waste the car and sadly after an amazing 2013, Grosjean seems unable to handle a poorer car. He is winning the battle IMO.

    Force India: I dont get Hulkenberg. I thought he looked a real prospect a couple of seasons ago. He seems to have slipped up somewhat. Still would have him over Perez though.

    Mclaren: I think both have been pretty even, but as its one race in its too early. I would say Alonso will just edge it.

    Manor: Can't say
    I still exist and still find the forum occasionally. Busy busy

  2. #32
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Estonia
    Posts
    6,744
    Like
    145
    Liked 209 Times in 165 Posts
    Steve, I think Hülkenberg looks "lost" due to the car. It is so dependent on the machinery whether you leave an impression in F1 or not. Now Ricciardo in the Red Bull got lapped by Vettel in the Ferrari. All of a sudden Daniel looks "unimpressive". But we know it is the car, because he has proved to be a great racing driver.

    However, I fear for the long-term futures of both Hülkenberg and Grosjean. Because their cars are not all too easy to drive despite the best power unit. They may be beating their team-mates, but with new generation coming up with the likes of the current Toro Rosso juniors, they may soon be struggling to even hang onto F1 seats. Which would be a shame.

  3. Likes: rjbetty (1st April 2015)
  4. #33
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    2,607
    Like
    28
    Liked 186 Times in 146 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by steveaki13 View Post
    Can Alonso or Button be held in traffic when in the slowest cars outside Manor.
    Based on Buttons amusing "I can't believe we're catching some other cars" radio message, he was as surprised about it as anyone

  5. #34
    Senior Member journeyman racer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    1,077
    Like
    256
    Liked 146 Times in 113 Posts
    What I ask all you fans is. Is it possible to be beaten by your teammate, and still have driven well? Because it's still possible to beat your teammate, and still be poor/slow.

  6. #35
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    South East England
    Posts
    1,490
    Like
    232
    Liked 169 Times in 131 Posts
    Yup JR, I surely believe so.

    I was gonna post here about Malaysia but realised I found it too hard to call as there were a lot of factors involved. But I will have a go.

    Bear in mind this isn't set in stone and please feel free to correct me.

    MERCEDES: I think Hamilton actually was much more convincing against Rosberg in 2014 than in 2013, it's just that retirements, issues and some resultant overdriving made it look super-close. Gap does seem to have eked out a bit anyway this year, but Rosberg will have his days, and still be close enough that Hammy can't be complacent.

    RED BULL: Inconclusive but I say Ricciardo. He had front wing damage in Malaysia. No telling how much it cost him, but he's outqualified Kvyat handily so far.

    WILLIAMS: Thought this might happen. Actually looks close. It seems Massa took time to adjust to his new team and now he's settled in. Bottas is only in his 3rd year so surely has much more scope to improve. Bottas it is.

    FERRARI: Not to take anything away, but I'm interested in Kimi's underlying pace, especially in races. With clean weekends I wanna see what he can do. I think his 2014 was much worse than Vettel's so at least one driver has improved. Vettel has had the capacity to get the job done, though Kimi's issues not much his fault. Vettel.

    MCLAREN: Alonso. Seemed to beat Jenson handily, but at this stage, just having the car running - in any shape - is an achievement, so harder to make conclusions.

    FORCE INDIA: Totally agree about car performance/perceptions. Like Honda in 2007/2008, their drivers aren't noticed, yet in a top car they'd be making waves while driving the same. Strange world. Hulk so far.

    TORO ROSSO: Had a feeling they'd be strong this year Sainz has impressed. They are so closely matched it's hard to tell, but surely Max will pull ahead, having more scope to improve.

    LOTUS: Grosjean. Bit disappointed in the car, as with a Renault engine, I think they'd be the same as last year. :/

    SAUBER: Nasr. I thought after Melbourne, Sauber must have the 4th best package out there which it seems to be.

    MANOR: Merhi I think.
    SPAM - Going off topic to give you the deals you don't want.

  7. #36
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Estonia
    Posts
    6,744
    Like
    145
    Liked 209 Times in 165 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by journeyman racer View Post
    What I ask all you fans is. Is it possible to be beaten by your teammate, and still have driven well? Because it's still possible to beat your teammate, and still be poor/slow.
    Yeah, definitely.

    If you have a driver pairing of Alonso-Hamilton, and they have a close fight on track, chances are the losing side had a strong race as well.

    On the flipside the quality of a team-mate battle of Yuji Ide and Alex Yoong would not be particularly high, regardless of who comes out on top.

  8. #37
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Estonia
    Posts
    6,744
    Like
    145
    Liked 209 Times in 165 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by rjbetty View Post
    SAUBER: Nasr. I thought after Melbourne, Sauber must have the 4th best package out there which it seems to be.
    Sauber I suspect is probably going to be the package, which will be somewhat let down by drivers this year. Ericsson threw it away and Nasr was nowhere all weekend.

    One striking example was Williams in 2012. Maldonado crashed a lot from good positions and Bruno Senna seriously lacked speed and was nowhere. In the end the season point-score didn't reflect anything that the car was capable of.

  9. #38
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Estonia
    Posts
    6,744
    Like
    145
    Liked 209 Times in 165 Posts
    So, three races gone and I’d share some thoughts.

    Mercedes - Hamilton has a small but consistent edge. Both in Q and race so far. For some reason reminds a bit of Häkkinen v Coulthard in the McLaren haydays!

    Ferrari - same thing. Vettel stays ahead in all departments, but in quali by a bigger margin.

    Williams - so far little between them and Massa is even ahead. Ofc Bottas also missed a race. We will see, how this plays out, because Massa has often been prone to inconsistency. And before the season I thought consistency is going to be the deciding factor in this battle. So interesting times ahead!

    Sauber - Nasr has an edge. The car is obviously good, but not bad for a rookie to sit 7th in the drivers championship

    Red Bull - Ricciardo has an edge, certainly in qualis. Races are harder to judge, since they seem to have problems at every race.

    Toro Rosso - it looks like Verstappen is already emerging ahead. I did think Max is most probably more talented of the two, but I was unsure how quickly would he get up to speed. He is exceeding expectations. Stunningly impressive!

    Force India - Hülkenberg seems slightly more convincing, but overall little between them.

    Lotus - I think the Chinese race perfectly illustrated the difference between the two of them. It is not like Maldonado lacks speed - he was even ahead of Grosjean at one point. But he threw it all away (AGAIN). Thankfully Grosjean has matured enough to the extent he can actually deliver results.

    McLaren - actually seems very close between the two so far. We will see if pre-season injury and being ‘new’ to the team holds Alonso somewhat back right now, or they are going to be close all season.

    Manor - they are so far back I haven’t really followed them TBH, but it seems like Stevens was actually ahead at the last race in China.
    Last edited by jens; 14th April 2015 at 12:11.

  10. Likes: rjbetty (14th April 2015)
  11. #39
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Estonia
    Posts
    6,744
    Like
    145
    Liked 209 Times in 165 Posts
    Okay, most of the season is gone... But a quick overview…

    HAM-ROS. Hamilton with a clear edge. Rosberg can have good qualis, but him having an impressive race (which he doesn’t throw away!) is a very rare sight.

    VET-RAI. Vettel with a clear edge. Basically this looks like another Alonso v Massa. Or should I say Räikkönen is Vettel’s new “Webber”. Whatever it is, nothing to discuss here either.

    BOT-MAS. It has been pretty even this year I have to say. And sure Massa had quite a string of results in mid-season, where he beat Bottas.

    RIC-KVY. I don’t feel the points tell the full story here. Ricciardo really has had an edge most of the time, but has been hit by lots of car reliability problems. Solid effort from Kvyat, justifying the trust given to him by offering a high-profile team seat, but not a match to top echelon (yet?).

    PER-HUL. Pérez is one of the revelations of the season. Especially recently has been very consistent and mistake-free. His best season clearly. In contrast Hülkenberg has been throwing races away. Hulk isn’t slow though, but is going through a lean period clearly. He better bounce back next year.

    GRO-MAL. Grosjean has been the better of the two, but in all honesty I feel he hasn’t been delivering everything from the car either. He got a podium, and has had a few more good drives, but also has been making mistakes. I feel a top driver, who can consistently wring speed out of the car, would have scored clearly more points by now. Maldonado either crashes or even if he gets points, puts in an unspectacular drive and doesn’t stand out. Either way not great.

    VES-SAI. I do think Sainz is perhaps closer to Verstappen than the points suggest, but Max… wow. This was supposed to be the year of ‘experimenting’ and just hoping a very young driver doesn’t crash too much. But he is delivering already.

    NAS-ERI. Overall Nasr slightly better, but I feel their performance has been closer than points suggest. Nasr had a couple of big scoring races, but Ericsson had a string of mid-season races, where he beat Nasr.

    BUT-ALO. Considering car’s unreliability I am unsure, how much of a guide the points are… or anything we have seen about them so far. But the ‘Button phenomenon’ works again - sure he has the ability to “somehow” get points. It really is an exceptional skill. He even outscored Hamilton, even though we all know he needed luck for this to happen. And now he is ahead of Alonso. So Button is a top driver? - he is just like a wolf dressed as a sheep - looks very unoffensive, but when the season is over and you count the scores, he is up there with the best.

    STE-MER/ROS. No comments from me.

  12. Likes: rjbetty (27th October 2015)
  13. #40
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Greenwich, London UK
    Posts
    3,438
    Like
    14
    Liked 789 Times in 651 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by journeyman racer View Post
    What I ask all you fans is. Is it possible to be beaten by your teammate, and still have driven well? Because it's still possible to beat your teammate, and still be poor/slow.
    Yep, it is possible and Rosberg is testament of that. So are Massa, Ricciado, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Alonso to name a few at this very moment of the championship season.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •