Originally Posted by
jens
OK, my personal thoughts
Hamilton v Rosberg. However, I am very interested to find out, how will the qualifying battle end up this year, because I have no idea, which way would it go this time around! Hamilton is perhaps a bit more spectacular in race trim. At least was last year.
Ricciardo v Kvyat. Daniel has convinced me he is top-notch material. Of course you can always have a bad patch, but you get the point. Kvyat is promising, but is yet to convince he is that complete/consistent especially in race trim. Will do fine in qualis.
Bottas v Massa. I don't think Bottas wins by a landslide, but more by the virtue of consistency. Massa will have his days as well.
Vettel v Räikkönen. This is one of the trickiest ones. I am open to the possibility initially early in the season Räikkönen could have an edge or at least be a match. But we are predicting, what will the state of the affairs be by the end of the season - the long game.
Alonso v Button. Alonso, but... Button should run him closer than the last couple of Alonso's high-caliber team-mates. Esp if Alo has already trouble starting the season. But if Alonso still performs at his best and as superbly consistently as in the last few years, he should overcome Button.
Hülkenberg v Pérez. A bit like the Williams pairing. Pérez will have his days, but Hulk is more consistent.
Verstappen v Sainz jr. To be honest, this could be a tie! And point-score will depend on, who will get more "fortunate" with circumstances. However, I do think the 17-y-o Max could be the one with better overall talent. We will see, how much will youth hold him back.
Grosjean v Maldonado. Maldo will shine on some days, but Grosjean will be the more consistent one. Well, you have already read such sentence above!
Nasr v Ericsson. I like Ericsson, and I really like someone from Sweden is in F1.:D Not too far-away country from me. But to be entirely honest, unfortunately he is not very talented, not too dissimilar to Chilton. I don't think Nasr is going to be a megastar of F1, but could be a bit better of the two.
Stevens (???) v Mr X. I don't know, who Mr X is going to be, but I think Mr X wins, unless he is a completely no-hoper unknown paydriver. Because I don't think Stevens is really very good. About on Chilton level based on feeder series evidence.
