My prediction for F1 this season.

[Smiffy]

Lewis to equal Schumacher's record by winning World Championship by 5 or 6 points from Leclerc.
Verstappen will finish 3rd and Lando Norris will finish 4th. Lando will then replace Lewis at Mercedes when he goes to Ferrari.
Norris will then win World Championship in 2021/22 (or I will eat my hat).
Lando is a nice guy, reminds me a lot of Jenson Button, and has World Champion written all over him.
You read it here first......

 

[bobmac]

And Vettel will have a punch up with Romain Grosjean and get kicked out of F1

 

[Smiffy]

And Vettel will have a punch up with Romain Grosjean and get kicked out of F1

Correction Bob. Everybody will have a punch up with Grosjean.... lol!
Shame, 'cos I quite like him personally.

 

[robinthehood]

Depends if Ferrari can avoid another meltdown. But probably same as last year.

 

[Old Skier]

Red Bull to give Mercedes a run for their money Vettel to retire at end of season.

 

[harpo_72]

Depends if Ferrari can avoid another meltdown. But probably same as last year.

The success they had under Todt, Brawn, and Stepney will only come again if there are people of a similar ilk, having witnessed first hand this era

 

[harpo_72]

Mercedes have also identified that F1 is costing more than the benefits.. as an engineer a true challenge is to put an ordinary driver in your car and win races.
Williams had this philosophy and kept driver pay capped. Problem is you have to have a strong engineering team that work together- which is harder to attain.

 

[tigerwes]

I really can't see Lewis moving to Ferrari until he has passed Schumachers record. But money talks. Am I right in thinking they have some big rule changes coming after this season, who knows which team will come out on top after that.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I don’t see Lewis leaving Mercedes aftr this coming season, even with the expected another championship under his belt. Vettel I think will retire one way or another to be replaced by someone willing to play second fiddle to Leclerc.
I’m not sure about Verstappen this year, as he seems a little to emotional at times

 

[Russ_D]

Ferrari have insisted Vettel is their first choice to partner Leclerc for 2021. Possibly true possibly a red Herring. Either way for this year Hamilton wins title number 7 beating Leclerc, and Verstapen. Verstapen misses out on the title having spent the first part of the season playing bumper cars with the rest of the field.

Williams yet again trundle round at the back of the field.

 

[harpo_72]

Ferrari have insisted Vettel is their first choice to partner Leclerc for 2021. Possibly true possibly a red Herring. Either way for this year Hamilton wins title number 7 beating Leclerc, and Verstapen. Verstapen misses out on the title having spent the first part of the season playing bumper cars with the rest of the field.

Williams yet again trundle round at the back of the field.

I am interested in Williams performance. I went for a job and they rejected me for not being technical enough. Which was a bit strange given my experience and achievements. Before going to the interview I did a quick assessment of their performance. They had strategy issues and tyre tuning problems. All of which if corrected would have yielded a significant time improvement.
So if they trundle around at the back this season it will be a missed opportunity. But hopefully I will have something interesting to get on with!

 

[robinthehood]

Mercs 1 and 2 in pre season testing.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Mercs 1 and 2 in pre season testing.

And by a way too. Looks ominous although different on race weekends naturally

 

[Smiffy]

And by a way too. Looks ominous although different on race weekends naturally

Testing is like a game of poker Homer.
There will be a bit of sandbagging going on....

 

[ger147]

Testing is like a game of poker Homer.
There will be a bit of sandbagging going on....

Yep, absolutely. Which makes you wonder just how fast the Merc will be when Lewis puts his foot down.

 

[Russ_D]

Testing is like a game of poker Homer.
There will be a bit of sandbagging going on....

Yep, like Lewis driving one handed and Bottas driving with an eye patch. That sort of sandbagging?

 

[harpo_72]

Have a look at this
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...s-from-day-1-2020.17g10WO6ofCptL7kxWMKyJ.html

The real graph of interest is the time of day of the fastest lap.
Barcelona takes time to warm up but the hour before lunch is when you go for a quick time, then in the last hour before the session ends but that can still be slower than the morning run because of the track temperature (tyre drag) air density (engine power efficiency) desperate traffic .. however the circuit will have rubberred in more.

The key data to look for is long run data, work on the basis that every 10kgs of fuel is worth 0.28 -0.3 seconds and roughly depending on the circuit and the car consumption I think was around 2.3kgs per lap (but I am trawling a poor memory !). So if they do a fast lap at the end of a run you can work out quickest time on old tyres and then factor that in.

I would suspect that the lower order teams, or those that are tight on budget are running in the 20-30kg region and the sand baggers will be around 60kgs and then will do full tank at the start of a long run to check their balances.

 

[MegaSteve]

Well, my prediction [at the end of last season] that Seb will of retired over winter appears to have been well wide of the mark... So, instead, I am predicting he won't be seeing the season out...

Mercedes clone Racing Point appears, in testing, to have some excellent pace... Good to see Williams shouldn't be right at the back... If their test times are a true indication where they are at in relation to the others...