2007 World Champions

[ArrowsFA1]

It's very early still and perhaps we can come back to this thread at the end of the season, but what are your predictions for the 2007 WDC & WCC?

Can Renault retain both their titles, or will the loss of Alonso hit them hard? Will Fisichella step up his pace to replace him? Can Ferrari survive Schumacher's retirement and adapt to Kimi, or will Massa use all he's learnt and beat the Finn? Will Heikki & Lewis live up to their promise and challenge for wins?

I'm assuming that Renault, Ferrari & McLaren will continue to lead the way but can Honda, Toyota or BMW break into the top three and challenge for titles with the drivers they have, or can Williams and/or Red Bull spring a surprise or two?

My best guess, in answer to my own question : , is WDC = Kimi, WCC = Ferrari. Why? Because although Ferrari are going through major changes I think they have the best chance of maintaining their level of performance. It may take a season for those changes to hit hard, and until then Kimi will show that all he has been waiting for is a reliable car.

[Mark]

All the teams are going through massive changes this year, in one way or another. But I agree, the best placed to be able to cope with it all is Ferrari.

Renaults driver line up isn't strong enough. McLarens are but unless their car is a vast improvement, they won't challenge the WC. Honda will get wins but again, their car/engine won't match Ferrari.

I think a Honda, McLaren, Renault and Ferrari will all get wins but it'll be Ferrari that takes the championship.

[Ranger]

I keep having the recurring thought that Renault will still be very very good next year, possibly champions.

McLaren may/may not be good. They have a habit of unpredictability which McLaren and Fernando hope they can wipe out and normalise consistancy. But you never know. Ferrari in 1995 before Schumacher joined was pretty much in the same state without the serious title challenges.

It can only go up for McLaren. They have the only WDC on the grid and the man who possibly won't ever leave McLaren a la Gilles Villeneuve and Ferrari - Hamilton. He has a lot of potential and should be a WDC contender in the future, based on very substantial past achievements.

Ferrari are almost expected to win. They will not be dominant, much the same as this year, but they may come out on top. Most people have commented on this so I won't.

Several teams are rising quickly, but any serious title challenge or charge apart from the above four teams seems extremely unlikely, but it could happen.

Outside of the top 4, Watch for Red Bull, BMW and most notably Honda.

[ATF]

I agree with all that. I don't really like Ferrari and was gutted to see Kimi move there, but if Ferrari have to win, I suppose it's better him winning it.

You're right Mark, Reno's driver line-up isn't strong enough - Fisi isn't good enough to be champion and McLaren (well, Alonso) could challenge for the title but it would depend on a car matching the Ferrari, which I doubt they will have.

Kimi and Ferrari all the way! Massa could possibly win it if Kimi had bad luck and they started team orders quite early on!!!

[ottostreet]

kimi & ferrari, pretty much without question. id love to see kovaleinen bring it though...that would be great fun!

[Mifune]

In this case with all changes at the top teams, I think in terms of the drivers it will be whoever is willing to mould the team around him and put in the peripheral effort (a la Schumacher/Senna) for Raikonnen and Alonso its really there for the taking, but McLaren seems to be making a lot of noise about really catering everything for Alonso, I think that’s what it will take these days, a full commitment to and from one driver, I don’t know if Raikonnen is capable of giving that much of himself to dominate at Ferrari or even if a team still grieving for Schumacher, will be willing to give their all for a newcomer , but I have no doubt Alonso can at Mac, in the long term that will decide who is triumphant.
In the short term, Renault may be able to coast on the inertia of recent success, as may Ferrari.

[EuroTroll]

I've always agreed with Niki Lauda that Kimi made a mistake by going to Ferrari, because his personality is simply not suited for such an emotional team. However, for 2007 everything seems to have arranged itself so that Kimi can win his well-deserved Drivers Championship.

At least he'll probably never again get a chance as good as this.

The WCC will almost certainly be Ferrari's, because the only driver pairing that can compare will likely have a much worse car.

[DocF225]

Agreed, Kimi and Ferrari don't seem like a good fit.

If they mesh, they will be the team to beat for both WDC and WCC. Might be Kimi's last best shot at the WDC.

[BeansBeansBeans]

I've always agreed with Niki Lauda that Kimi made a mistake by going to Ferrari, because his personality is simply not suited for such an emotional team.

It's funny that Lauda would say that, as his personality was ill-suited to Ferrari as well, but they managed to acheive great success together.

[jens]

We have already two threads talking about 2007 champions. I've got to some kind of standstill and freeze in my position at that kind of topic as I've already on several occasions said my thoughts and I won't bring out any new thoughts before new cars will be released.

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Several teams are rising quickly, but any serious title challenge or charge apart from the above four teams seems extremely unlikely, but it could happen.

Outside of the top 4...
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You talk about four teams, but have mentioned only three (McLaren, Ferrari, Renault)?! :