2015 Predictions

[F1Yorkshire]

It's a slow work day so might as well fill my time doing something useful before the xmas break so I think it's time to do the annual CTA predictions.

You can see how well we did last season here: http://cliptheapex.com/threads/2014-predictions.6628/page-2

Anyway on to the bullet points:

• Ferrari will fail to score a podium all season
• Caterham don't return
• Bernie will still reign at the end of the season
• Button shows Alonso how its done
• Rosberg doesn't challenge Hamilton after Monaco
• McLaren will be in the midfield until the half way point, after which they will become regulars on the podium
• Vettel will be seen sniffing around the Red Bull garage trying to find a way back in.
• Customer cars are announced for 2016
• The current engine rules will extend for at least another year
• Korea won't happen
• Maldonado crashes into a wall
• FB completely fails at the team prediction game
• The two young Toro Rosso drivers cause chaos
• Bottas finally gets on to the top step of the podium
• Vergne wins Formula E and takes a full race seat at Ferrari after Kimi gives up mid season with back trouble
• South Ossetia or some other unknown country apply for a GP in 2016 or beyond.
• And finallly the trickiest prediction of them all. I manage to wake up for an early morning GP and actually stay awake for the full distance.

 

[teabagyokel]

• Ferrari will be behind Force India in the WCC at the end of the British GP, but they will get them by the end of the season.
• Lotus will have a much better season, with Grosjean getting into the points more than twice.
• Bahrain will produce another stunning race.
• The rain will interrupt the Malaysian GP.
• Button will catch up to Alonso in races but ultimately qualify too far back.
• Honda will have some engine failures in the first couple of races, but be reliable thereafter.
• McLaren will be competing with Mercedes by the autumn flyaways.
• Williams will challenge for the win at one of the high-speed rounds.
• Daniil Kvyat will have his best result of the season at Sochi.
• Jenson Button will not break his Silverstone podium duck.
• Felipe Nasr will show up Marcus Ericsson.
• Felipe Massa will move to IndyCar at the end of the season.
• Stoffel Vandoorne will win GP2 and replace Button at McLaren.
• 2015 will also be Kimi Raikkonen's last in Formula One.
• Lewis Hamilton. Three time World Champion.

 

[Greenlantern101]

IN F1

• Kimi and Massa will leave F1 at the end of the year.
• Bernie will exit one way or another.
• The Hondas will take a win.
• Rosberg will be at least 100 points down on Hamilton at the end of the season.
• New teams will be announced for 2017
• Constructors top 3 will be 1.Merc 2.Williams 3.McLaren
• Redbull will drop like a stone down the constructors to 4th or worse.
• It will be a much closer season with Mercedes advantage significantly eroded.
• Kimi and Vettel will crash into each other.
• A race will be red flagged.
• The virtual safety car will work without issue.
• Ted will fall over
• DC and Martin will have a chat on the grid walk
• A female driver will be announced for 2016
• Lotus will score more than 50 points.
• Engine rules will be tweaked for 2017
• Alonso will beat Button
• Vettel will beat Kimi
• Lewis will be champ before the last race.
• Jean Todt will again try and introduce cost cutting, which will fail...again.
• Caterham will be no more.

OUT OF F1

• Conservatives to win majority in general election.
• North Korea will test a nuke
• Windows 10 will be shit
• The new Star Wars film will be amazing and highest grossing of all time. Yet some people will say it's shit.
• The new pictures of Pluto will be awesome.
• Elite will be announced for PS4

 

[Brogan]

• The new Star Wars film will be shit and highest grossing of all time. Yet some people will say it's amazing.

 

[gethinceri]

The new Ferrari will be shit, yet some people will say it's amazing.

 

[Mephistopheles]

• A riot...

 

[marksawatsky]

-Lewis will beat Rosberg in points and qualifying
-Lewis' car will have mysterious problems
-Maldonado will crash out of 25% of the races
-Bottas will beat Massa
-Vettel will beat Kimi
-Alonso will beat Button
-Alonso will be in the top 3 in points at some point in the season
-Ricciardo and Kvyat will have a lovely inter team battle
-Honda will have a good engine by the end of the year
-A driver will miss a race and a test driver will be called up to fill the seat
-Verstappen will impress at times but will do something idiotic to tarnish his reputation
-Red Bull will have security around the Bull statue during the Austria weekend
-Red Bull will cheat
-Ferrari will call another team cheaters

 

[siffert_fan]

-Enstone, Sauber and Force India will have difficulty finishing out the season due to money issues.
-The other teams will reduce (but not eliminate) the huge power advantage of the Mercs
-Vettel will win at least one race
-Alonso goes winless
-Ricciardo for WDC
-Williams team wins at least once

 

[cider_and_toast]

• The season will begin with a few different teams in the mix giving hope that it won't be a Mercedes dominated year. That will prove to be a false dawn.
• Button will finish on the podium at one of the first three races and out score Alonso. There will be much rejoicing and mirth at this but it won't last and Alonso will come out on top in the end.
• Vettel will out score Kimi and win 2 races all though it we be a long hard slog.
• Rosberg won't get anywhere near Hamilton this year.
• Ricciardo will have another good season.
• Kyvat and Verstappen will do little to justify there promotions.
• Williams will be strong again but just about fail to break into the top two, giving rise to many rumours about them being in Mercedes pocket.
• Team Enstone may have a Mercedes engine now but then I once drove a SEAT Marbella that had a Porsche Engine (I kid you not, it did!!). Enough said.
• We will see even more of Horner, especially every time Vettel DNF's.
• Just enough will be done to keep the smaller teams going but nothing will change.
• Caterham won't be on the grid next year.
• Jean Todt will continue to display is proactive approach to solving F1's problems by cunningly doing absolutely nothing and hoping it all solves itself.
• Eccelstone will appear even more out of touch and CVC will become more vocal.
• As a result of the above, CVC will start to use social media far more effectively.
• As a result of the marginal improvements in various teams engine performances, they will go quiet on major rule changes for 2016 and there will therefore be only minor tweeks to the rules.

 

[Mephistopheles]

• Bernie will be involved in another scandal and will come out of it smelling of shit but with no penalty.
• Bernie will come up with his most ridiculous idea yet and make F1 even more shit.
• Bernie will make shitloads of money and not give a shit about F1.
• Bernie will walk into a brick wall and wonder what is going on.
• Bernie will bare his backside and everyone will kiss it..

 

[FB]

• Lewis Hamilton - World Champion
• Mercedes - Constructors Champion
• Vettel will win at least one race giving me lots of chances to post pictures of "The Finger" in a red race suit
• Alonso/Button will be very close with Button scoring more points through the season
• There will be a huge falling out at McLaren resulting in the departure of a senior team member or driver
• Teams will threaten a break away series unless they get more money
• The teams won't get more money and there won't be a break away series
• More bizarre countries will be touted as venues for future GP's including Venezuela, Nigeria and Syria
• Nico Rosberg will leave Mercedes and return to Williams for 2016
• I will use my new Ferrari mug for coffee during each race and feel a little bit sick as I take each sip
• Jos Verstappen will have his Super Licence suspended before mid-season
• Natalie Pinkham will return to Sky after dropping her sprog and we will all wonder why
• Martin Brundle will say "Just a passenger" during 10 of the 19 races
• We are in for a wet season
• Pirelli will pull out at the end of the season with Michelin replacing them
• I will fall asleep during at least two races
• Marcus Ericsson will be a revelation at Sauber

 

[cider_and_toast]

Are you sure you haven't just recycled your 2007 prediction list FB?

 

[FB]

That should, of course, read Max Verstappen and as he was 9 in 2007 so I don't think I would be making such a bold prediction as him having his Super Licence suspended Everything else, yeah much the same.

 

[Olivier]

Hamilton WDC
Rosberg (a not so close) runner-up
Massa 3rd (yeah, I know, I'm delusional)
Mercedes WCC
Williams (a not so close) runner-ups
Red Bull and McLaren to fight for 3rd (the Bulls will prevail)
Ferrari lost in the middle of the table
Force India to valiantly take on Ferrari, only to lose after the fly-away races (which are Vettel specialty)
Lotus and Toro Rosso will fight at the back of every race
Sauber, to score 1 point in Monaco (Ericsson?)
Catherham and Marussia will be nowhere to be seen
Riccardo star will dim
Button will beat Alonso
Vettel will beat Raikkonen but by a small margin
Raikkonen to retire (or better, be retired )before end of the year, JEV to take his seat

 

[gethinceri]

Button to continue to be a lovely boy.
Button to beat Alonso's points total for the season.
Button to retire saying "I have nothing left to prove"

Geth to be happy with 1 & 2.

 

[Greenlantern101]

• Kimi and Massa will leave F1 at the end of the year. Nope. Massa on great form and Kimi position as no. 2 is job secure.
• Bernie will exit one way or another. Big sigh. Well you have to hope don't you.
• The Hondas will take a win. MWaaahahahhah. Epic EPIC fail.
• Rosberg will be at least 100 points down on Hamilton at the end of the season. Was well on course before the last 3 races. What happened.
• New teams will be announced for 2017. Erm nope nothing.
• Constructors top 3 will be 1.Merc 2.Williams 3.McLaren Well 2 out 3 and 1 epic fail.
• Redbull will drop like a stone down the constructors to 4th or worse. YES finally one right.
• It will be a much closer season with Mercedes advantage significantly eroded. Erm no.
• Kimi and Vettel will crash into each other. No all nice and clean. Mostly because Seb was so far ahead.
• A race will be red flagged. No.
• The virtual safety car will work without issue. YES a good addition.
• Ted will fall over. Disapointing
• DC and Martin will have a chat on the grid walk. Blanked each other in Brasil. Don't think that counts.
• A female driver will be announced for 2016. Well that was a long shot.
• Lotus will score more than 50 points. YES 78 well done them.
• Engine rules will be tweaked for 2017 YES its on its way.
• Alonso will beat Button Erm no. 16 points vs 11. Well done JB.
• Vettel will beat Kimi. Massively.
• Lewis will be champ before the last race. Back of the net. Boom.
• Jean Todt will again try and introduce cost cutting, which will fail...again. Lets do cheap engines. Why don't you fuck off.
• Caterham will be no more. Who.

OUT OF F1

• Conservatives to win majority in general election. Never in doubt. Unfortunately
• North Korea will test a nuke. Nope. Which is nice.
• Windows 10 will be shit. I am loving it. Sooo much better than windows 8.
• The new Star Wars film will be amazing and highest grossing of all time. Yet some people will say it's shit. Soon.
• The new pictures of Pluto will be awesome. Beyond awesome.
• Elite will be announced for PS4. Erm no. Xbox.

 

[cider_and_toast]

• The season will begin with a few different teams in the mix giving hope that it won't be a Mercedes dominated year. That will prove to be a false dawn. Well sort of with an early win for Seb but it was without doubt another Merc dominated year.
• Button will finish on the podium at one of the first three races and out score Alonso. There will be much rejoicing and mirth at this but it won't last and Alonso will come out on top in the end.
• Vettel will out score Kimi and win 2 races all though it we be a long hard slog. 3 Wins and not that hard a slog but pretty accurate
• Rosberg won't get anywhere near Hamilton this year. Well he didn't really until the title was done and dusted.
• Ricciardo will have another good season. Ish.
• Kyvat and Verstappen will do little to justify there promotions. Wrong, Wrong and Thrice Wrong. Verstappen caught everyone on the hop and even Kyvat out shone his highly regarded team mate on more than one occasion.
• Williams will be strong again but just about fail to break into the top two, giving rise to many rumours about them being in Mercedes pocket. Not as strong as they would have hoped but we did have many a discussion on the Mercedes 2nd team link.
• Team Enstone may have a Mercedes engine now but then I once drove a SEAT Marbella that had a Porsche Engine (I kid you not, it did!!). Enough said. 1 strong podium but the slowest of the Merc Runners. Enough said.
• We will see even more of Horner, especially every time Vettel DNF's. And now over to the pit wall for some comments from Red Bull's Christian Horner. And the world sighs "of for fuck's sake not again !!!"
• Just enough will be done to keep the smaller teams going but nothing will change. Not really, a lot of talk but nothing was done.
• Caterham won't be on the grid next year. Caterham who?
• Jean Todt will continue to display is proactive approach to solving F1's problems by cunningly doing absolutely nothing and hoping it all solves itself. Yeah, and with a minutes silence as well.
• Eccelstone will appear even more out of touch and CVC will become more vocal. Yes and No
• As a result of the above, CVC will start to use social media far more effectively. Erm No
• As a result of the marginal improvements in various teams engine performances, they will go quiet on major rule changes for 2016 and there will therefore be only minor tweeks to the rules. Yeah, it's all gone quiet.

Apart from two obvious howlers I'm actually quite impressed with that list.

 

[teabagyokel]

• Ferrari will be behind Force India in the WCC at the end of the British GP, but they will get them by the end of the season. No...
• Lotus will have a much better season, with Grosjean getting into the points more than twice. Certainly did.
• Bahrain will produce another stunning race. By 2015 standards not too far off.
• The rain will interrupt the Malaysian GP. No.
• Button will catch up to Alonso in races but ultimately qualify too far back. Qualified 165th on occasion, but rendered void essentially.
• Honda will have some engine failures in the first couple of races, but be reliable thereafter. Half right
• McLaren will be competing with Mercedes by the autumn flyaways. Never been more wrong.
• Williams will challenge for the win at one of the high-speed rounds. Silverstone.
• Daniil Kvyat will have his best result of the season at Sochi. Budapest.
• Jenson Button will not break his Silverstone podium duck. Yeah!
• Felipe Nasr will show up Marcus Ericsson. Looked better but possibly not by as much as I expected.
• Felipe Massa will move to IndyCar at the end of the season. No.
• Stoffel Vandoorne will win GP2 and replace Button at McLaren. Well, he won GP2 at a canter, but Button stays...
• 2015 will also be Kimi Raikkonen's last in Formula One. Why?
• Lewis Hamilton. Three time World Champion. Bang on!

 

[gethinceri]

Button to continue to be a lovely boy.
Button to beat Alonso's points total for the season.
Button to retire saying "I have nothing left to prove"

Geth to be happy with 1 & 2.

Geth very happy.

 

[FB]

• Lewis Hamilton - World Champion Yes
  
• Mercedes - Constructors Champion Yes
  
• Vettel will win at least one race giving me lots of chances to post pictures of "The Finger" in a red race suit Yes
  
• Alonso/Button will be very close with Button scoring more points through the season Yes
  
• There will be a huge falling out at McLaren resulting in the departure of a senior team member or driver Nearly
  
• Teams will threaten a break away series unless they get more money Well, they reported FOM to the EU Comission
  
• The teams won't get more money and there won't be a break away series And there never will be
  
• More bizarre countries will be touted as venues for future GP's including Venezuela, Nigeria and Syria Baku? Never even new it existed before they suggested an F1 race there
  
• Nico Rosberg will leave Mercedes and return to Williams for 2016 Well, it's not all done yet
  
• I will use my new Ferrari mug for coffee during each race and feel a little bit sick as I take each sip And I did
  
• Jos Verstappen will have his Super Licence suspended before mid-season Nope, the boy was brilliant. As was Carlos Sainz come to that
  
• Natalie Pinkham will return to Sky after dropping her sprog and we will all wonder why And she did, and I wondered why
  
• Martin Brundle will say "Just a passenger" during 10 of the 19 races Nope, but we did have it a couple of times
  
• We are in for a wet season There were some very wet races
  
• Pirelli will pull out at the end of the season with Michelin replacing them Nearly
  
• I will fall asleep during at least two races Probably more then 2
  
• Marcus Ericsson will be a revelation at Sauber He was rather good, compared to what I expected anyway and wasn't out shone by Nasr