- 11 Apr 14, 09:14#398886
I'm expecting Vettel to finish as the best of the Renault engines this years... Would be good to see him mount a challenge on Mercedes, but I doubt it will happen. Mercedes easily have between 5 tenths and 1 second advantage over Red Bull. Everybody knows that that is an insurmountable gap.
Vettel has at times struggled in the first half of a season, but usually get it together during the later half of the season. That could still be achievable as well. 2010 and 2012 is a good example of that. Vettel only really started to lead the championship around Singapore race of those years...
In those years he was also a little bit slower than Webber during the first few several rounds, noticeably Monaco and Silverstone.
In 2012, McLaren appeared to be the strongest team after the first few rounds, however that was the crazy situation where there were umpteen different winners in the first umpteen races....
This season is much different though - Mercedes are incredibly strong, and then the biggest contenders for runners up in the WCC would be either Williams or Force India. At this stage I'd put Red Bull at 3rd, 4th or 5th strongest in the field.
It'll be interesting to see how quickly people minimise Newey's involvement in the team. HE was apparently the one who apparently single-handedly got Red Bull to their winning position. Wonder what the Newey worshipers are saying now....
Vettel has at times struggled in the first half of a season, but usually get it together during the later half of the season. That could still be achievable as well. 2010 and 2012 is a good example of that. Vettel only really started to lead the championship around Singapore race of those years...
In those years he was also a little bit slower than Webber during the first few several rounds, noticeably Monaco and Silverstone.
In 2012, McLaren appeared to be the strongest team after the first few rounds, however that was the crazy situation where there were umpteen different winners in the first umpteen races....
This season is much different though - Mercedes are incredibly strong, and then the biggest contenders for runners up in the WCC would be either Williams or Force India. At this stage I'd put Red Bull at 3rd, 4th or 5th strongest in the field.
It'll be interesting to see how quickly people minimise Newey's involvement in the team. HE was apparently the one who apparently single-handedly got Red Bull to their winning position. Wonder what the Newey worshipers are saying now....
#5 Vettel!