Who will beat Whom - Cars 16 & 17

[teabagyokel]

Force India's sluggishness forces me to move on to Sauber.

Already a cult hero, Kamui Kobayashi has now moved from substitute to number 2 to number 1 in two seasons. There will be big expectations on the Japanese driver after some excellent performances in 2010 which came somewhere in between assured and bonkers, as well as the odd moment of inexperience.

Sergio Perez is coming off a runners-up position in GP2 and a bucketload of pesos from the world's richest man, Carlos Slim and his Telmex company. He is Mexico's first driver since Rebaque and has had 2 seasons in GP2, one impressive, one not so. Perez finished ahead of Kobayashi in the 2009 GP2 series table, but was in the field when Kobayashi won the GP2 Asia series.

Since Telmex has a virtual monopoly, it is difficult to find a competitor to name the fence after, so I'm going to call it the BMW Fence. Their name is now off the car.

As for my vote? The man who managed to overtake at Valencia...

 

[Boyle]

KOBAYASHI. He's is probably my favourite driver at the moment. I wonder how much Sauber will be getting from Senór Slim and if that money can possibly get Kamui a points scoring car, I can maybe see him scoring a podium!

 

[snowy]

Kamui is known to me, Sergio could be totally amazing but I suspect he is just quite good.

 

[McZiderRed]

Hmmmm...

Tequila sunrise or Sake in the Land of the Rising Sun?

Well, I try to avoid Tequila when the sun's rising and wait until it's at least above the horizon or setting...

Sake is rice wine, but it can be drank hot or cold. Seeing as it's still winter, I quite fancy a nice cup of hot sake (or atsukan) with my toasted muffin for breakfast...

Therefore, Land of the Rising Sun it is. Mr Kobayashi. Plus, I think Koby will use his slight advantage of being with the team last year, where as Perez is starting from scratch, so to speak.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Going to have to sit on the BMW fence on this one.

Kobyashi is a breath of fresh air when it comes to banzai driving but I think his team mate may take the steady, steady, don't screw up rookie approach which may see him make fewer mistakes and keep him in touch with his team mate.

 

[FB]

2nd full year in F1 for Kobayashi vs a rookie. Got to be Koby.

 

[LifeW12]

Kobayashi. Its going to be very difficult for rookies to come into F1 and be successful considering all the changes that are occuring this year (tyres etc.).

 

[GeoffP]

I'm going for Kamui - and keeping my fingers crossed....

 

[siffert_fan]

KOBAYASHI. I admit to being unfamiliar with his teammate, but I rate Kobi very highly and doubt thathe has anything to fear from the number 2 driver.

 

[sportsman]

I am sitting on the fence in this one.I have great respect for Kobayashi and he will probably edge it.
But I have seen Perez in F3 and he is good very good.He can overtake and drives in very similair style to Kobayashi.
Next season the last thing any of the drivers will want to see in their mirrors is a Sauber coming up behind them.

 

[Brogan]

Fence for me too.

As we've seen in the past, Kamui has a tendency to be slightly over-exuberant at times, which could give his teammate the opportunity to finish ahead on occasion.

 

[Galahad]

My head is telling me Kamui, but like sportsman I saw Perez in F3 and think very highly of him. It won't do him any harm that his mentor is providing most of the team's budget, either.

It's always tough tipping a rookie to outscore an established driver, but I'll take the gamble this time - Perez for me.

 

[MCLS]

Cars 16 and 17??? That cant be right surely

 

[FB]

2011 entries & car numbers.

Red Bull Racing

1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Mark Webber

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

3. Jenson Button
4. Lewis Hamilton

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

5. Fernando Alonso
6. Felipe Massa

Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team

7. Michael Schumacher
8. Nico Rosberg

Renault F1 Team

9. Robert Kubica
10. Vitaly Petrov

AT&T Williams

11. Rubens Barrichello
12. Pastor Maldonado

Force India F1 Team

14. TBA
15. TBA

Sauber F1 Team

16. Kamui Kobayashi
17. Sergio Perez

Scuderia Toro Rosso

18. TBA
19. TBA

Team Lotus

20. Jarno Trulli
21. Heikki Kovalainen

HRT F1 Team

22. Narain Karthikeyan
23. TBA

Marussia Virgin Racing

24. Timo Glock
25. Jerome D'Ambrosio

 

[fat jez]

Cars 16 and 17??? That cant be right surely

There is never a car 13.

 

[RickD]

Does anyone else find this interesting?

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

3. Jenson Button
4. Lewis Hamilton

 

[Brogan]

F1.com and Wikipedia both have it the other way around.

I would expect Lewis to be 3 and Jenson 4 as it is based on the previous season's finishing positions.

 

[fat jez]

F1.com and Wikipedia both have it the other way around.

I would expect Lewis to be 3 and Jenson 4 as it is based on the previous season's finishing positions.

Does it actually matter? Other than the WDC being car no 1, I thought the teams could number their drivers as they wished, in so far as the car numbers allocated to each team are determined by the WCC finishing positions. e.g. Schumi insisting on having car 3 last year, even though it was originally intended to be Rosberg's number.

 

[Grizzly]

...for some reason i seem to remember Lewis not wanting the No 3?

 

[RickD]

I just found it interesting. Jez - I think it is more to do with who is supposed to be the teams first driver. If
Lewis finds the No.3 unlucky, then fair enough.