60 replies to this topic

[dia6olo]

1.- Mercedes Benz - They will have the edge overall, by how much? Not sure.
2.- Ferrari - They will be quicker than what the tests displayed and so called "experts" think.
3.- Red Bull - I have a gut feeling they will be a good step behind the front 2, at least initially and think the "experts" have got this one very wrong.
4.- ...

[Beri]

1.- Mercedes Benz - They will have the edge overall, by how much? Not sure.
2.- Ferrari - They will be quicker than what the tests displayed and so called "experts" think.
3.- Red Bull - I have a gut feeling they will be a good step behind the front 2, at least initially and think the "experts" have got this one very wrong.
4.- ...

I find your optimistic attitude towards Ferrari somewhat even cute. It's like a kid holding on to it's teddy bear that is falling apart.
There is absolutely no clue that Ferrari would be faster than Red Bull. Not in sector times, not in overall top speed, not in total lap times.. none. In envy your optimism.

[MortenF1]

Early season pecking order is, as far as I have been able to work out;
-Mercedes
-Red Bull
-Ferrari. Not sure though. and I put them third because surely they can’t worse than that?? I feel they’re almost a second slower than Mercedes.
-Renault
-Racing Point
-McLaren. Really close between fourth and sixth fastest, and really impossible to say anything with a degree of certainty.
-Alpha Tauri
-Alfa Romeo
-Williams

Taking the chance to treat this as a preview-thread I will go with Hamilton winning the title ahead of Verstappen. An obvious prediction really, when you are under the impression there isn’t that much between the two teams. That’s why Bottas will be third.
Ferrari will be a little distant, which means switching focus to ‘21 quite early. Both their drivers beats Albon though, which means Albon does not get re-signed.
Renault, McLaren and Racing Point all have the same pace, so it’s down to the drivers to make a difference. That means Ricciardo winning this battle, ahead of Ocon. McLaren will struggle a little and will get to feel that they’re not going to run Renault next year. Sainz beats Perez, but it’s Perez who scores a couple of podiums. Obviously Stroll is the least good driver from these three teams, and he will finish behind Gasly.
...‘cause Alpha Tauri won’t be that far behind.
Alfa Romeo will pick up some points but sadly wont have the same sort of decent first half of the season like they had last year. Räikkönen has fuel in his blood but when the car is third last, he decides to retire from F1.
Haas and Williams close together, and close enough for Russell to make a difference, and beat Magnussen and Grosjean.
...who will continue to do strange things on track every now and then. Latifi performs as expected, which is being around five, six tenths slower than his team-mate.

[Ellios]

1. Merc
2. RB
3. Ferrari
4. McLaren
5. RP
6. Renault
7. Alpha Tauri
8. Alfa Romeo Sauber
9. Williams
10. Haas

 

I'm going with this as well. Although Red Bull will improve better than everyone else throughout the season and may well finish top, along with Honda & Verstappen in particular they have the hunger.  

 

Haas is Lego F1 buy the bits put it together and go racing, if something goes wrong they do not seem capable (2019 season) of putting it right. If they have learned from 2019 then they will address their weakness in fault finding car issues. 

Edited by Ellios, 01 March 2020 - 00:27.

[rattymouse]

Two observations from reading this thread.

 

1.  It is astonishing how far Haas has fallen.  This team is a veritable train wreck.  Worst driver pairing in the whole field.

 

2. A huge consensus that Ferrari will come in 3rd at best.   I'll be happy to see them replaced by Red Bull as the primary challengers to Mercedesl.

Edited by rattymouse, 01 March 2020 - 01:20.

[gowebber]

Merc

RB

Ferrari

Renault

RP

McLaren

Alpha Tauri

Alfa

Haas

Williams

[renzmann]

1. Mercedes: I didn't think they were extremely strong in testing and the PU troubles seem serious, but it's Mercedes. The strong Hamilton long run seems to be driven in comparably favorable conditions, though.

2. Red Bull: Have improved (and sandbagged) most in the top 3. Might even be as strong as Mercedes, but I don't want to be too optimistic.

3. Racing Point: Not much to say, a W11 PU that reliably runs in a W10 chassis. If they want to develope, they can just copy Mercedes even further.

4. Ferrari: -50 hp, reliabilty issues. If I'm right, it serves them right

5. McLaren/Renault/Alfa Tauri: All very close.

8. Alfa Romeo: Not a special car, PU is a risk.

9: Williams: I believe, although Netflix showed me Claire has absolutely no idea what she is doing.

10. Haas: ...

[w1Y]

1. Merc/Red Bull/Ferrari - Although sentiment points towards a merc advantage I think its just going to be a lot closer than people think.
4. Renault/RP- I think Renaul have made a strong car this year although i only really.changed that opinion in the last day of testing. I think RP clearly have a strong car but I just cant help but think stroll is a weakness. Looking to be proven wrong now he has the car where he cant hide.
6. Mclaren - Not too far behind the Renault and RP. So close that when it comes to the races i fully expect results to be different race to race in terms of order.
7. Alpha Tauri
8. Alfa Romeo
9. Haas - this one is sooo hard to judge. if it is this bad either Gene will pull the plug although may wait one more year to see whether the new regs spice things up.
10. Williams - I really hope they can start mixing it with the midfield but have my doubts

I cant help but feel that at the end of this year we are going to be excited but ultimately regret the reg changes. I have always said the f1 cycle of reg changes is stupid. They allow for teams to catch up the initial domination and then when it is very close they change it.

[Aaaarrgghh]

1. Mercedes

2. Red Bull

3. Ferrari

4. Racing Point

5. McLaren

6. Renault

7. AlphaTauri

8. Alfa Romeo

9. Haas

10. Williams

 

Beyond the fact that I believe that Mercedes are going to dominate this year, I am really excited. I feel like the battle for 4th in the Constructor's Championship is going to be really close. Of course RBR and Ferrari were sandbagging, but I fully expect Mercedes were doing so as well, so I am mentally prepared for another year with a predictable championship battle. Nevertheless, overall I am excited. One can always hope for a few surprises. 

[dia6olo]

I find your optimistic attitude towards Ferrari somewhat even cute. It's like a kid holding on to it's teddy bear that is falling apart.
There is absolutely no clue that Ferrari would be faster than Red Bull. Not in sector times, not in overall top speed, not in total lap times.. none. In envy your optimism.

There was absolutely no clue last year Mercedes would be faster than Ferrari or far that matter even as fast as RB and we know how that went...

Edited by dia6olo, 01 March 2020 - 23:00.

[Clrnc]

Someone sticky this thread, I would love to revisit this at the end of the season. Here's my guess

 

1) Mercedes

2) RB

3) Ferrari

4) Mclaren

5) Racing Point

6) Renault

7) Alpha Tauri

8) Alfa Romeo

9) Williams

10) HAAS

Almost spot on with everything else other than Ferrari. Really never expect Ferrari to be battling the last 3 teams more often than not