Formula One

[Mo-Nercy]

With qualifying for the first race of the season due to start in about 3 hours, how excited are all you F1 fans of EoFF that it's back again? :D

Who's going to win this first race at Bahrain?
Who's your tip to win the driver's title?

[tminus31]

In honesty, I'd have to go with one from Button, Hamilton, Massa, Vettel or Webber, provided it's as close as it was last year... even with the new points system

[Mo-Nercy]

Well, qualifying's just wrapped up now and from the looks of it, the McLarens are slightly slow than the Ferraris and Red Bulls. The only reason why McLaren won a few races last year was because of their fantastic KERS system, the car itself took all year to get developed in some semblance of drivability. And they still elected to fight Ferrari all the way to Abu Dhabi for third in the constructors championship even though Ferrari moved onto 2010 development a little past the halfway point of the season (which is testament to Kimi Raikkonen's ability to drive an F1 car). So I think Macca are paying for it now.. they're only a bit slower, but we've seen championships won by a single point a couple of times in the past few years. And as you've said, the new points system will reward race winners much more. Pressure's on McLaren!

I'm surprised you left Alonso out of the mix for the championship btw, tminus. I'm going to come right out and say Button's got no chance. Hamilton can scrap together decent times with a dodgy car but Button really needs something good underneath him to perform. Along with your tips for the Ferrari and Red Bull, I'd add Mercedes into the mix, but not Michael Schumacher. He genuinely looks slower than Nico Rosberg. Bahrain is a bit of a slow-ish track so you could make the argument that it's not an accurate comparison of skill but these days, F1 is full of tracks defined by slow corners anyway. So Schuey's gotta shape up to save face.

Oh yes. And my money's on Alonso to win tomorrow. Red Bull have had some reliability issues and I think the combination of bumpy track and cars full of fuel will exacerbate their problems.