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[F1devil_ski]

As a new member i would like to say hi to every one. Although this exciting season has not yet ended teams such as Renault, Mercedes, Force India and Williams have been redirecting their efforts for the 2011. In my opninion these are the teams which have the most chance of joining the front runners, thats why i would like to focus them.

Although it is extreamly difficult to predict it is an intresting disscussion to have. In my opinion Renault and Mercedes could each have a world championship contendor next season, in the form of Kubica and Rosberg.
Starting with Renault this season has shown that they are not as far of the pace of the front row as many would have suspected. I believe that the duo Kubica and Petrov will stay on for next season as a drive partnership. Petrov brings in massive amounts of sponsorship to the team through Russian companies, Renault is actually owned by a Russian private equity company. Im sure they will be happy to use him as back burner to Robert but Vitali has tonnes of talent just waiting to be unlocked. Robert is with out a doubt the number 1 by some way. The team has shown it can upgrade the car well during the season which shows that their technical base is good. If Renault can create a reliable top 3 car then they can be sure Kubica will 19 times out of 20 bring back a podium.


Reasons why i believe Renault could win the world championship
1 Robert Kubica is a great asset and without a doubt one of the best drivers in F1 (does really well at all the really hard driver tracks) Mr precision also lives and breathes all racing(when he was asked about what he wanted as a company car he asked for an EVO 7, he has his own international carting team,RK team, he is super inteligent he once answered over 100 random quick questions in 80 seconds for Polish Tv and got 99 right , he is involved in all the teams work and this is important as the car can be tweeked to his needs and fancies. He has proved he can overtake this season and in the past further more i can recall probably one or two mistakes only for the past season. They have the benefit of devouting alot of their rescources to his car a Petrov is clearly 2 by far.

2The team has a hunger to succeed as the personal is completly different to that which won the titles with Alonso

3 They have steady finances and bags of potential to unearth new sponsors in Poland and Russia

4 They have proved this season they can implement upgrades successfully (fduct, blown diffusor, new floor)

5 They have the Won world championships in the last 5 years, which proves they know how to do it

6 No one expects them to fight for the title so the external pressures and media scrutiny are not as great, meaning they can just get on with it, Red bull also exploded with little warning

[F1devil_ski]

I will talk about Mercedes in a moment as i believe they are currently in a better position then Renault
However I would like to enclose an article which in my opinion presents the arguments for R.Kubica to be a realistic title contendor in a way i could not...

Why Robert Kubica is arguably the best driver in F1

Although Robert Kubica's Japanese Grand Prix lasted only a couple of laps behind the safety car, his qualifying performance emphasised again the Renault driver's claim to being a future world champion.

On the Formula 1 calendar there are only three outstanding driver's tracks - where there is scope for a great driver to transcend the level of his car. They are Monaco, Spa and Suzuka.

The remainder are 'technical tracks', where the lap-time potential is defined almost totally by the car, the difference between a great and a good driver on the stopwatch relatively small.

Renault believe Kubica would be world champion in a good car

At each of those three special tracks this year, Kubica has qualified what is otherwise a lower-top-10-level car on the front or second row.

It is confirmation of a very special talent but one that is still under-appreciated by the wider world.

It is the sort of anomaly that occurs only with very special prospects, such as: Michael Schumacher qualifying the Jordan seventh at Spa on his F1 debut in 1991; Mika Hakkinen out-qualifying Ayrton Senna the first time they were paired together at McLaren in Portugal in 1993; Senna terrorising the field at Monaco in 1984 with a car from the unfancied Toleman team; in 2001 Fernando Alonso qualifying the outclassed Minardi in places it had no right being in.

When taking into consideration the machinery at their disposal, how much they have squeezed from what they have, how few errors have been made, there is a very real case to be made for putting Kubica ahead of all the other drivers this year.

If we can give him a car that's even half capable of getting a championship he'll get one

James Allison
Renault technical director

But for such status to be taken seriously, the 25-year-old Pole desperately needs a front-running car from Renault next year, something the team have not delivered since the Alonso glory days of 2005-06.

That is a long time ago now and technical director James Allison is acutely aware of the responsibility that Kubica's presence brings with it.

"If we can give him a car that's even half capable of getting a championship he'll get one," Allison said. "Not everyone in the pit lane can say that about their drivers.

"He's properly committed to being a world champion, no doubt about that. He is one of those very, very top guys where you know that if the car is not running at the front it's because of the car, not him.

"He's not only incredibly fast but you just know you can rely on him to do a fast lap when that's what's needed.

"You know he will not make mistakes when the pressure is on him and he'll plough out lap after lap after lap at a really good pace.

"He expects a lot from everyone all the time; he's positive, demanding and pushing but puts the work in himself too.

"Having a really top-flight driver like that gives you a fantastic baseline to work from.

Kubica produced another spirited drive at the previous race in Singapore

"In that regard he's similar to Fernando [Kubica's predecessor at Renault] but the area where he's different is he is more intense about it, seems more fully immersed in racing and wanting to be a champion.

"I guess Fernando had already done that but Robert is just brilliantly committed to making this team and relationship a success and helping us to drag ourselves back to where we need to be."

The Renault guys love Kubica and not only because he is fast and almost error-free but also because there is nothing he would rather be doing than sitting in the garage talking about how to make the car faster.

And if it is not that it will be regaling the mechanics with stories from his karting days or talking about the rally car he competes in as a hobby between races.

When Kubica was a BMW driver he was asked what he would like as a company car and they did not know quite how to react when he replied: "A Mitsubishi Evo 7."

Allison is quietly confident that the team can give Kubica something more worthy of the driver's ability for next year. He puts the shortfall of this year's R30 down to key personnel losses in the aerodynamics department that have now been fully recovered.

"We also have much better tools in conceiving next year's car," he stated. "Our CFD department is now a very powerful tool and we now have a tunnel that gives us a much better and more realistic simulation to what happens on the track.

"There's a bunch of other things very helpful, such as how much quicker it speeds up and slows down than the old road.

"Although it's only two or three minutes per run, when you do as many runs as we do that stacks up to an awful lot of time and throughput is a very important thing in a tunnel.

"Our old road used to take about 30 seconds from one yaw angle to our other yaw angle, whereas this one does it in a couple of seconds and that productivity improvement is actually quite substantial.

"I see no reason why we can't be competing at the front in 2011."

That's the technical man talking. So long as the commercial side is resolved to allow that potential to be accessed, there is reason for optimism about Kubica's prospects.

The team's new ownership regime - it is effectively leased from Renault by investment group Genii Capital - has had its rocky moments this year as it adapts to life in the F1 paddock at a time of global economic restraint.

The bald fact is that Renault need a car somewhere close to as good as the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have been this year if Kubica is to excel at anywhere other than Monaco, Spa, and Suzuka next year.

If they fail to provide that, Kubica may reluctantly be forced to seek confirmation of his stature elsewhere.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 080455.stm

[Hammer278]

Talk about coming in with a bang! Nice post and read!

I do believe Renault have a fantastic driver in Kubica, but I feel Kubica isn't going to be favoured very much for the WDC as long as he's in Renault. Somehow, I can't see that team being able to compete with the Big 3, and my tip for a surprise next year is Mercedes. I hope I'm wrong as I drive a brand which is Merc's biggest rival, but I wouldn't be surprised...Ross Brawn is there after all.

[vaptin]

I'm not sure Renault will have the finances and budget to compete next season. Mercedes on the other hand do, but do they have the technical staff?

[scotty]

I think Renault can win a race - they have re-recruited some very key aero staff and this has perhaps shown in their updates this season, seemingly every single thing they have brought onto the car has worked first time. That can't be said for many other teams! In a similar vein, their version of the f-duct (where the air is directed to the plane rather than the flap) appears to have been adopted by every team, including McLaren... that says a lot too. Renault also have a truly top notch driver.

Mercedes are still in an extremely transitional period... so for me it's hard to say just where they'll be.


The thing you have to remember though, is that these new tyres can throw such a big curveball because they're such an unknown quantity at the moment. I am eagerly awaiting those tests at the end of November!

[Mr.Conte]

First impressions of the new rubber for next season is that it is far superior to Bridgestone's.
Look for two new extremely fast cars from Ferrari and McLaren.
Red Bull will be a distant 3rd and battle most likely with Renault.

[spankyham]

First impressions of the new rubber for next season is that it is far superior to Bridgestone's.
Look for two new extremely fast cars from Ferrari and McLaren.
Red Bull will be a distant 3rd and battle most likely with Renault.

After Ferrari win just wait for the howls and screams about Italian tyre company helping an Italian racing team, having just said it, I can't wait for bleating to start. It might even give me as much joy as if Fernando wins the WDC by less than 7 points.

[CarBore]

First impressions of the new rubber for next season is that it is far superior to Bridgestone's.
Look for two new extremely fast cars from Ferrari and McLaren.
Red Bull will be a distant 3rd and battle most likely with Renault.

I don't see why you'd think RB would drop off in terms of pace. The aero rules aren't changing hugely. Yes they lose the double diffuser but so does everyone else.

[88mph]

Will RB be changing engines?

[spankyham]

Will RB be changing engines?

I posted engine details here:-
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9321&start=60#p222205

[CarBore]

you mean supplier?

[88mph]

I meant next season, will RB be using a Merc engine?

[CarBore]

There have been rumors going around that Horner and co were in talks with merc, including McLaren vetoing them getting them this year. (imagine if Vettel didn't have those 2 engine related failures)

But given that fact they have contracted to sell Lotus engine support parts and Lotus having a Renault deal next year i have my doubts

[Hexagram]

Kubica and Massa may also be in the mix next year with the current guys.

[spankyham]

I meant next season, will RB be using a Merc engine?

Oops, misunderstood your query mate.

IMO RB will use Renault engines next year.
IMO Kubica and Massa will be staying where they are next year. Kubica wants to drive for Ferrari. Ferrari wants to wait another season to choose between Kubica and Vettel. There might be a couple of outside name to add to them, but, as of now they are the top of and open Ferrari 2012 list.