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[Ferrari man 009]

We havent seen Ferrari's upgrades yet, so I think they will be a LOT closer to RB in Australia, plus it seemed from the final test that the Ferrari was quite kind on the tyres.

I'm going for:

1. Red Bull
2. Ferrari
3. McLaren
4. Mercedes
5. Lotus
6. Williams
7. Sauber
8. Force India
9. Toro Rosso
10. Marussia
11. Caterham

While Red Bull are fastest, I am predicting that Ferrari and McLaren will be as fast if not faster than Red Bull by mid-season as another thing that was discussed at the final test was that as they have gone for the pull rod setup, there is a higher development potential on the Ferrari and McLaren than there is on the Red Bull.

[Hammer278]

(I think people are really underestimating Macca this season )

Testing has not been too shabby for McLaren by any means. Definitely not worth writing off. It never is.

Its stupid to write them off when they ended last season with the fastest car. I put them where I put them due to time required in bedding in, since they have one driver with special needs and another who's a new guy.

[darwin dali]

with special needs

[Wigglefish]

I think Lotus also look strong think they may get a few more wins this season.

[Coronis]

2013, the year of Webber!

[What's Burning?]

(I think people are really underestimating Macca this season )

Testing has not been too shabby for McLaren by any means. Definitely not worth writing off. It never is.

It's not, I agree but people have a tendency to forget that McLaren came into last season OWNING the grid and did a fine job of handing the keys to Red Bull, effectively they wrote themselves off.

So if with the best car, and the best driving pairing they can manage to do that, it's a little more of an uphill for them this year. Let's see how much extra umph they can get from the pushrod.

[Hammer278]

Speaking about the pushrod.

"Clearly we have taken some risks in changing the car from last year," he told the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in. "We finished last season with undoubtedly the quickest car and it would have been easy to continue to develop that car and make it quicker still for the start of this year, yet we've made a lot of changes to the overall package in the belief that you have to be competitive over 19 races and develop it. So we have given ourselves a platform that is new to ensure we have got the development opportunities over the course of the season. But we'll see, I think we will have an interesting season and I hope we are certainly going to be competitive.

___________________________

Indirectly, this means nearly every other team (Redbull included) do not have much scope for developments to keep up with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari? If it is that much of an advantage for McLaren to take this 'risk', has everyone else (bar Ferrari) miscalculated the strategy and facing a doomed 2nd half of the season?

Development race will be very interesting indeed.

[darwin dali]

I suspect there's a lot of hot air in there...

[RyRy]

I'm typing from my tablet so this will be short and sorry if there are typos.

I'm sure Red Bull will be decent again this year but I'm thinking that Lotus and Mercedes will be both in for a big shout this year if Mercedes and McLaren can both make decent cars this year they'll both do really well because they no longer have to focus on two very different setups.

I'm not sure at all about Ferrari however Felipe Massa has been impressing me lately so it could be one of the toughest and tightest years yet and we can't even rule out Force India or Sauber as we have seen glimmers of hope from both of them.

I'm so excited for this year possibly the most excited I've ever been for F1, I seriously cannot wait!

- Red Bull had a decent car as predicted.
- Lotus had a decent car as predicted
- Mercedes had a decent car as predicted, they have significantly improved from last year
- Ferrari, uncertain of their pace but I still thought they'd be close in the mix and it was pretty tough and tight so was pretty much spot on.
- Force India showed some pace today with Sutil and Di Resta staying in the points however they have some serious tyre graining issues on the supersofts.
- Sauber again showed some pace today, rookie of Esteban Gutierrez was +5 on starting position which isn't that bad as he beat all he needs to beat. We needed Hulkenburg out there to be able to see their true pace but it seems like there around about the 6th best team ahead of the Toro Rosso's

All in all, fairly good predictions as I thought the 3 front running teams would be Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus with Mercedes causing a bit of pressure from behind and then some glimmers of hope from the Force India's and a fair performance from the Sauber(s) (Hulkenburg in Qualifying)

[LewEngBridewell]

Well, who would've predicted that podium?

[RyRy]

Well, who would've predicted that podium?

Well I knew it would be out if Red Bull, Lotus and Ferrari... lol

[LewEngBridewell]

Well, who would've predicted that podium?

Well I knew it would be out if Red Bull, Lotus and Ferrari... lol

I was thinking RBR were going to walk it

[Hammer278]

Yeah when I saw Vettel scooting away at the front in the first few laps I was like f**k this...but thankfully the Ferraris, even though I can't stand them, gave us a race at the front...with Kimi being the dark horse.

[LewEngBridewell]

Yeah when I saw Vettel scooting away at the front in the first few laps I was like f**k this...

Same!

[RyRy]

Yeah when I saw Vettel scooting away at the front in the first few laps I was like f**k this...

Same!

I thought the same too, but then Massa, Alonso, Raikkonen and Sutil gave me hope xD