Petem95

Anyone else really looking forward to the 2008 F1 season?!

Only 6 weeks or so until the first race in Melbourne - can't wait!

McLaren and Ferrari have been looking strong in testing - and Hekki is really looking quick in the McLaren. Wouldn't be surprised to see him match Hamilton for pace, and McLaren have a history of successful partnerships with Finnish drivers, so could be one to watch.

Difficult to say who will be the 3rd strongest team this season. BMW seem to have got off to a bad start with their 2008 car having some handles issues. Hard to say with Renault and RBR. Williams however are looking stong. I'd love to see them get back to the front of the grid on a regular basis - massive repect for Sir Frank and Patrick Head, and the team has a great history.

Roll on Melbourne!

Jaybird-UK

Not me!

Gave up on it years ago and its failed to grab me since.

Although I still have a liking for Monaco

FlightMan

If I can get the timings right, work will be flying me out to Melbourne, business class, for 10 days of work, on the Sunday before.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

im looking forward to it, I think Renault will be back up there with alonso, he has been flying in the new car, very close to the big 2, then I think it will be very close between williams, toyota, bmw and honda and maybe even red bull if they sort out their poor reliability.

Alonso went very fast in last years car as well, which confirms what I thought for a long time that fishichela isnt very good

stilover

ME

Never missed a race for over 15 years.

I think Hamilton will start to struggle this year. Second year Blues if you like.
He might struggle being the lead driver (no officially though) in apraising new parts etc. Something Alonso was very good at.

Ferrari. Well I had Massa down to win the Championship last year. I think if he can get a few early wins, he could be in with a chance. Kimi will be very strong this year and again if he get a few early wins, he'll be unstopable this year.

Alonso? Will deffo improve Renault, but they have fallen to far behind to compete this year.

BMW for me will be the team that could upset the big 2. Heinfeld could get 1 or 2 wins this season. He just needs a good car.

Button? I am a Button fan (can't really get behind Hamilton) so I'm hoping Ross Brawn can get the team moving this year, with maybe a spec B car coming in the second half of the season with his design idea's installed.

Red Bull? They really should take a huge leap in performance this year. They have the best designer, but reliability could still be an issue. They need to improve with outright pace too.

Just my thoughts.

Leslie

As ever I am looking forward to it too. I think Fisichella can go fast when he is in the mood. We shall see anyway. I hear the the Williams has been putting in some very good times as well. The Championship could be even more interesting this year.

Les

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

Do you really reckon newey is the best designer? I think his ideas are probably quite innovative, but since he left williams, the teams he has been 2 have been unreliable.

lozgti

Obviously this bloke is The Press Association: Record price for 'F1' number plate

Sorry for the mini hijack

richardg

definately looking forward to it and last week mrs g paid for my ticket for silverstone!

richardg

that was on one of the ECC cars until recently. 1F was "donated" to Essex County Council in the 50's or 60's i think and was also on one of the council's cars until it was sold at auction a couple of years ago.

stilover

Actually, I think he's the second best. Rory Byrne was the best, but as he's not working anymore ........

EddScott

I love F1. Nothing better settling down at lunchtime with a beer, a few munchies and an F1 race. Wife and nipper out the house so just me, martin and the other fella.

Everyone makes it round pretty much OK for the first 3 laps, I have a cheeky yawn and wake up as the last one crosses the line.

Living the dream my friends!

EddScott

When he was with Toleman (Now Renault over the years) he and Ross Brawn and some of the others (The dude with the dodgy teeth at Renault) used to use my dads pubs as their local.

Got a vision in my head of Rory passed out at the bar with serviettes tied in his hair.

stilover

Pat Symons. (Spell check)

Honda should hire him aswell.

EddScott

Aye, thats the fella.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

Even better on the 5am races sets the day up nicely

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

think honda may do well towards the end of the season when it gets back to europe

Petem95

I would like to see Button in a winning car also. As well as being quick he's also very smooth, so I think he could benefit this year from traction control being banned (about time!). This could mean his tyres dont suffer as badly as some, and he's got the skill to keep the thing on the track.

Hamilton could suffer from traction control being banned as his driving style is quite aggressive and was hard on tyres last year even with TC. He hit the gravel traps a fair bit in testing as well when driving without TC.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

with hamilton coming from gp2 though it shouldnt really affect him as they didnt have tc either.

I think of all the drivers the no tc rule will suit jenson better though, as like mentioned he is a smooth and fast driver, just never really had the car under him to be a regular winner.

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

I dont buy that at all.

Really great drivers will win races in cars that are not the best cars - MS, Senna, Prost etc proved that early in their careers.

People seem to believe Button is such a good driver then why hasn't he been driving for a top team by now? Surely if all the teams rated him so highly then he would have been poached to drive for one of the top 4/5 teams by now?? I think most teams rate him as a good driver but not with the true talent or drive to warrant a top team drive.
He seems more interested in which nightclub to go to then anything else.

Sorry but he has had 8 (?) seasons in F1 now with one lucky win, in a car that I admit isn't a top car, but still good enough to win races in the right hands.

KiwiGTI

Not me, couldn't find a more boring or pretentious sport.

A1GP, Touring Cars (Aus+DTM+BTCC), Rallying etc is all much better.

GaryCat

I'd like to see Nelson Piquet Jr beat the spantard n a regular basis.

Leslie

I think you are being unfair to Button. He showed his ability in his early drives in a competitive car.

Believe me, if your car is short of performance, especially in F1, it is very difficult and frustrating trying to match their performance, no matter how good a driver you are. Used to be possible years ago but not really any more.

All F1 drivers are well above average to even be in the car so the differences are not so great as to be able to make up for poor car performance.

Les

karl h

looking forward to some of this march 9th

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

I cant wait, Im hoping to go along to another one somewhere this year.

EddScott

Nah, theres 2 wheels missing.

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Races, yes, but championships? I don't think so.
Name one year where schumi didn't have a competitive car..... and one the championship!.............................
1994 doesn't count as the driver's at Benetton didn't have the same equipment.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

disagree

rubens barichello is a race winner and he has been consisently beatn by button, usually by a fair margin. Rubens in his last year at ferrari was quite close comparatively speaking to schumi