Who will be champion?

[Brogan]

Alonso's had no luck this season

He's had no bad luck (yet), unlike the other title contenders.

 

[Kewee]

Brogan......Exactly. His passes have been clean unlike may others which is why I referenced his ability to position his car to enable himself to stay out of trouble.

 

[Jos the Boss]

Kewee I meant the luck of no real mistakes by his team or car! Obviously he's been a country mile ahead in performances but it can't be forever he goes without a sticky wheelnut or an overheating engine

 

[Kewee]

Jos the Boss.......Your quite right, Ferrari as a team have been fabulous but there's no reason to believe that will change. It's been a long time since we've seen a Ferrari parked in the middle of a race and it puts Alonso in an incredibly strong position when others are needing him to suffer a car failure and it's very nearly reached that stage.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Very interesting no one has voted Vettel.

I voted Hamilton but more out of hope than expectation. In order, I think the drivers with the best chance of taking the WDC are :

1. Alonso
2. Hamilton
3. Vettel
4. Webber
5. Kimi

 

[Jos the Boss]

Kewee I think the last retirement for Alonso was in Spa 2010? Where he binned it somewhere I can't remember, and that race he did survive being T-boned by Barrichello remarkably! I just hope that the championship can be a bit closer for a tight race in brazil

 

[Kewee]

Jos the Boss........His last retirement was Canada 2011, last year. Your right about Spa 2010. He was T-boned by Barrichello in very wet conditions which affected the handling of his car. He was only able to drive around the problem for so long before he rode the kerb and binned it. I don't think many would disagree when people say he's driving better today than he ever has, and that includes his championship years, so I think a mistake from Alonso is about as likely as his Ferrari stopping mid race.

 

[Wombcat]

Kewee I meant the luck of no real mistakes by his team

How about Canada? Trying just one pitstop didn't really work. You could easily argue that he lost some points there due to a miscalculation of the team.

 

[Jos the Boss]

But that wasn't really a bad strategy, Grosjean did it and it went well for him, it was varied success for different teams

 

[Kewee]

Wombcat.......Fair comment. We've been talking more about driver errors, or lack of them in Alonso's case and reliability of the car and team. Throwing strategy into the mix is fair enough but to be honest, I find it hard to be critical of the teams or judge a bad strategic call as a mistake this year especially in some of the GP's, Canada being a good example, when the teams had no idea how tyre behavior was going to pan out. Ferrari knew they were taking a chance with their strategy in Canada but decided to take the chance. It didn't pay off but I wouldn't have called it a mistake considering all the unknowns they were dealing with.

 

[Wombcat]

Jos the Boss if it didn't work for Ferrari, it was a bad strategy for them, even if it was a good one for Grosjean. You should do what is best for your car, not what is best for another teams' car.

Kewee, OK, I included bad strategy calls in mistakes of the team. And I would call it a mistake, but I guess that discussion was already done after the Canadian GP.

 

[Viscount]

Caught between Raikkonen and Hamilton, but I'll choose Raikkonen since I think the new Lotus DDRS might propel them to the front in qualifying.

Courtesy of Adam Cooper, Raikkonen stat: he's 48pts behind with 9 races to go. In 2007 he was in effect 42.5 (17 x 2.5) behind with 2 to go...

 

[Speshal]

I've voted for Alonso but I hope it will be Lewis so he can join Seb and Ferdy in the 2xWDC club.

You never know, 1 DNF for Alonso and a decent win for any of the chasers and it could all be turned on it's head again.

 

[Slyboogy]

I voted for Alonso, it's a big lead. The Ferrari cars last gremlins I can remember was in Malaysia 2010 where Alonso's engine blew up. Add to the fact that the team not known for great pitstops or strategy after Ross Brawn left, have been terrific this season. I feel the team doesn't get much credit for this when they should. Then there's no team-mate getting in his way.

For all the others, they'll be tripping over each other, as it different tracks different cars excel, while the Ferrari and Lotus have been the consistent ones so far. Then there's the equal oppurtunity aspect for both Lotus and McLaren drivers, fair enough for Red Bull as they both are so close in the championship. In a season like this at this time of the year when there's a clear number 1 in the standings you have to back him no matter what, but I don't see it happening at McLaren or Lotus.

Unless Alonso has non points score, then I fear the title is over, unless we have another 3 races in a row where Alonso finishes 5th-7th like in Hungary and most of his rivals gain on him.

Out of the 5, I would like it if Kimi Raikkonen won. It would be great, as he's been great since his sabbatical, plus I'm a fan of his, and the Lotus car just looks bad ass. But if not him, then Lewis Hamilton, I'm no way a fan of his, but he's been ever so unlucky this year, but he's kept his head down and delivered, kind of a contrast year for him compared to Alonso.

Webber's had his car problems often, but at anonymous and does a Rosberg.

Vettel has been unlucky on a few occasions, the sliced tyre in Malaysia, the penalty he and Massa for in Spain, and we all remember Valencia.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

Alonso

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Alonso

For me he's the one that wants it the most. He capitalises when he has too but also knows when to apply damage limitation. He's so cool an all this season, he just has the look of a man who wants to be and will be crowned a world champion. None of his other competitors really look up for bringing him down, maybe Hamilton possibly been the exception.

 

[Quintessentially]

Very interesting no one has voted Vettel.

He's seen as a dark horse but personally I think he should be favourite seeing as the Redbull is still arguably the fastest car, last weekend's race nothwithstanding. Let's not forget what happened in 2010 when he didn't top the standings till the last race and the fact the Redbull have both drivers up there again means they are going to be hard to cover. Operationally they are very stable unlike McLaren which leads me to think that Hamilton will continue to veer between moments of greatness and abject failure (largely borne out operational errors) until the end of the season, leaving Nando and the Redbulls to fight it out. McLaren just do not have the operational capability to consistently compete at the top when the car suddenly drops off in performance and they seem to be over compensating for it with their pit stops.

 

[P1]

I am supporting Hamilton and Kimi. However if I were forced to place a bet, I think Alonso would be the smart bet.

I am curious no one here thinks a Red Bull driver has a realistic shot. Do you guys believe they are out of the running due to the rule clarifications.

 

[Kewee]

Red Bull's drivers will take points of one another, so will Lewis and Jenson. By the time the teams realize they need to back one driver it will be too late. Ferrari still have a development program moving forward so they will get stronger during the last nine races. If they step it up during the next four races they may well be uncatchable.

 

[Jos the Boss]

I don't see Jenson taking points off Lewis!