F1 2010 Season

[Captain Howdy]

Well its less than two weeks til the start of the season, and things are finally settled it would seem.

The god awful USF1 project has finally been laid to rest for this year, although they say they want to defer til next year (god I hope not, as it was doomed to fail from the start quite frankly).

Sadly this does not mean Stefan GP will inherit the slot, despite being obviously more far advanced than both the USF1 and the renamed Campos team.

 

And on the subject of Campos, which has now been bought out and renamed as Hispania Racing Team, they have finally signed their second driver, Karun Chandhok.

Shame we have not seen the car yet, and neither has it had any testing.

Something suggests this will not be the strongest of the new teams.

 

I doubt anyone, including the teams themselves, expect much from the new teams, and I would assume that their only targets at the moment are to finish the early races, and hopefully pick up the odd point by the end of the year.

 

Potentially this could be one of the strongest years in a long time, with the form book being as open as it was last year, with the changes in the rules meaning that the pre season testing times do not actually give an indication of who is the strongest challengers this year.

 

While Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren have to be the favourites, the Sauber team (still with the BMW prefix) has shown some surprising times, and Force India looks to be capitalising on last years step forward.

 

Renault isnt looking that good, but seem to be hoping that things will improve during the season.

 

Williams doesnt look too bad, but I dont expect too much from them this year, other than the odd good performance here and there.

 

Toro Rosso has a lot to prove as this is their first year designing and building their own car, but will probably drop back this year.

[Rockposer]

The big problem is the new teams with young inexperienced drivers prone to doing stupid things out on the track.

 

Of course everything is going to get overshaddowed by the Schumacher/Hamilton/Button competition.

[Kristian]

The big problem is the new teams with young inexperienced drivers prone to doing stupid things out on the track.

 

Of course everything is going to get overshaddowed by the Schumacher/Hamilton/Button competition.

 

Make that the Massa/Schumacher/Button competition. I think Hamilton are to Button this year what Barrichello was to Schumacher, back in the Ferrari dominant days.

 

Hopefully both drivers are allowed to fight for the main driver spot in the first couple of races.

[Captain Howdy]

How can you guys not consider Vettel & Alonso to be a part of this fight as well?

 

I'd have to say that Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull will be the strongest three teams this year, with Mercedes possibly being there as well.

 

I think to rule any one of the 6 drivers out from the first 3 mentioned teams, is pure folly.

In many peoples opinions, Vettel is the favourite for the title this year.

[Rockposer]

Vettel is an excellent driver, but don't forget Webber he wasn't too shy last season.

[Captain Howdy]

Big fan of Webber, and last year he maybe lost out somewhat due to his broken leg pre-season, which shouldnt effect him this year.

I just think that Vettel will have matured a lot more now, and will be less prone to the mistakes he made last year.

Webber has a lot to prove this year, to make sure he has a contract for 2011, I just think that its gonna be a tough battle for him if Vettel eradicates some of his weaker aspects this year.

[Captain Howdy]

Poor opening race.

Very little action at all, with overtaking apparently even more difficult now.

All the talk of clever driving and protecting tyres went out the window because Bridgestone has produced a tyre thats too good, meaning everyone only has to do one stop.

 

Fuel stops may have made for overtaking being done in the pits, but that was still more overtaking than we saw on Sunday.

 

I really hope it was the track that caused this, and that it will all improve in Australia, but I am not getting my hopes up just yet.

 

The new teams need to be allowed more testing and development time as well, as they just looked pathetic out there.

Either going slow or not going at all.