Comments on: F1 2009: the drivers

By: sen

sen — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:29:37 +0000

kimi all the best for 2009 season…
Would like to see a repeat of 2007 season

By: gideon

gideon — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:31:23 +0000

button got decent car, I think he should prove his quality..

well, ruben will challenge him, like last year but now with better spec..

By: Antifia

Antifia — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:12:18 +0000

The way many analyse Raikkonen’s performance vis a vis Massa’s last year resembles a Texan long horn – a point here, a point there, and whole bull in between. What a nonsense to say that he was beaten because he was demotivated. When he is winning, his taciturn behaviour makes him the ice-man, when he is losing it becomes lack of motivation. I, for one, believe that the banning of traction control killed him and if it is true, it will continue to hamper his performance in 2009.

By: sumedh

sumedh — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:28:06 +0000

Massa should get the better of Raikkonen. I have never liked Kimi.

Alonso should beat Nelson Piquet every race. I won’t be surprised to see Alonso lap Piquet too in a few of the races.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:11:13 +0000

Especially since it hadn’t been so much as rumoured anywhere else up to that point, and still hasn’t to the best of my knowledge (apart from sites commenting on the grandprix.com rumour).

By: Will

Will — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:19:24 +0000

Interesting you say that about Jens and Rubens… Rubens is regarded as one of the smoothest drivers out there… hence his uber wet weather skills.. if the car rewards smooth driving then expect Rubens to destroy.

By: PJA

PJA — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:32:47 +0000

My predictions, in order of the difference between the two drivers.

Alonso to easily beat Piquet, probably the biggest difference in team mates on the 2009 grid.

Hamilton to beat Kovalainen.

Rosberg to beat Nakajima.

Bourdais to beat Buemi.

Vettel to be ahead of Webber.

Glock to have the edge over Trulli in races.

These ones I think could go either way.

Button will probably just edge Barrichello.

Sutil over Fisichella, even with Fisichella’s experience if Sutil doesn’t beat him I can’t see his F1 career lasting that much longer.

Raikkonen to beat Massa if he has got his motivation back, if not Massa to be the lead Ferrari driver.

For BMW if I had to pick a driver it would be Kubica, but if Heidfeld has fully solved his problems from last year I can easily see Heidfeld getting the better results, it depends on who the car suits more.

By: Sasquatsch

Sasquatsch — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:02:44 +0000

Some are easy to predict:

Hamilton beats Kovalainen
Alonso beats Piquet
Trulli beats Glock
Rosberg beats Nakajima

And others are more difficult:

Sebastien beats Sebastien (Don’t know which one though)
Vettel beats Webber
Raikkonen beats Massa
Kubica beats Heidfeld
Fisichella beats Sutil
Button beats Barrichello

By: Mark S

Mark S — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:20:02 +0000

I’m interested to see Raikkonen against Massa. Kimi can be very fast and should be able to beat Massa most of the time. However, Kimi rarely seems to be fully motivated and sometimes looks like he can’t be bothered.

I’m expecting Massa to come out fighting from the start of the season. Will Kimi come out fighting to keep his place in F1? I’m doubt it.

By: milos

milos — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:53:53 +0000

If Giancarlo Fisichella or Adrian Sutil don’t come up with the goods, might we see one of them moved aside for a Mercedes driver?

I am not sure where the information originated but not that long ago, few weeks at most, I believe there was a mention on one of the more reliable F1 sites (can’t recall which one) that Liuzzi has a race drive for 2010 with Force India guaranteed somehow in his contract. I remember being surprised by the very matter of fact way how that was mentioned …

By: JohnBt

JohnBt — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:42:14 +0000

My gut feel for 2009:

HAMILTON pips Kovalainen.

RAIKKONEN pips Massa.

KUBICA pips Heiidfield.

ALONSO pips Piquet.

GLOCK pips Trulli.

BOURDAIS pips Buemi.

VETTEL pips Mark.

ROSBERG pips Nakajima.

BUTTON pips Barrichello.

SUTIL pips Fisischella.

For sure, there will be a few surprises.

By: manatcna

manatcna — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:11:06 +0000

All the “number one’s” will beat their team-mates, with the exception of Ferrari, and assuming Button is Brawn’s lead driver

By: Jay Menon

Jay Menon — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:06:36 +0000

I think Seb will give Webber a run for his money, he has the pace. It will be straight shoot out between Buemi and Bourdais, both with a lot to prove. Can’t pick the Bimmers apart, I feel that Heidfeld will need to prove he is as quick as Kubica, anything can happen.

Nelson Piquest doesn’t have any shot at getting anywhere near Alonso, not a chance. Kimi will pick himself up and overhaul Massa, I’m pretty sure he’ll get the car setup the way he wants in to work, also the change to slicks may play into his hands. Glock will better Trulli, while the latter may be more consistent of the two, Timo is clearly faster.

I think Jens may just pip Ruebens, it looks to be close, I’d like to see Jens ahead. Can’t pick between Fisi and Sutil, but I’m going for the Italian, sentimental values you know? Rosberg will sweep Nakajima aside, the latter is not of this class and it has been obvious. Finally to Lewis and Kovi. If the cars are crap, it could be an even playing field. I get the feeling that Kovi might be working overtime to get closer to Lewis, so it may be a close one, with Lewis just ahead!

By: jonathan102

jonathan102 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:05:20 +0000

I think Rubens is hungrier than ever so i do think that this season Rubens will become Button’s biggest enemy. However having said that, as a Button fan i think that Button will be able to keep Rubens behind.

By: IDR

IDR — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:17:51 +0000

The pairs I’m much more interested on are:

Kimi Raikkonen Vs Felipe Massa.

So much have been told about Kimi and Felipe last year and I’m wondering what are we going to see this new one. I hardly see Felipe acting as 2nd driver actively, and on the other hand, I want to see if Kimi will be motivated enough to fight for the championship all year.

Robert Kubica Vs Nick Heidfeld.

My personal preferences goes to Kubica but having this year a competitive car, I would like to see the battle between both drivers. Is going to be interesting.

Jenson Button Vs Rubens Barrichello

I’m not English (as you see keeping in mind my English skills) so I would like to see if all that have been commented by English fans about Jenson become true.

On the other hand I like a lot Rubens Barrichello and I think he deserves this opportunity and win more races, at least just to balance those in Ferrari that he deserved to win but was denied by his Team status.

By: Striay

Striay — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:03:12 +0000

The drivers i think will be strongest this year:
1)Kimi Raikkonen, has to save his seat so that means impress the higher up’s.
2) Fernando Alonso, he is hungry to get back at Hamilton and win another championship.
3)Robert Kubica,he will probably want to show what he is really mad of. (This goes for Heidfield as well.)
4) Felipe Massa, he will want to get back at last years lose.
5) Jenson button, he will be hungry to do good to show he is better than Barichello and bring brawn to glory.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:09:33 +0000

The easy by a mile ones – Hamilton over Heikki, Alonso over Piquet, Rosberg over Nakajima.

The closer ones – which I think will include some fantastic in team battles…
Jens just over Rubens with a remotivated JB and a car rewarding smooth driving as opposed to wrestling a dog
Quick Nick just over Kubica with no reoccurance of tyre warming issues – I still think he’s under rated
Trulli just over Glock and Fisi just over Sutil with experience winning
Webbo and Vettel will reacquaint by trading paintwork with it being down to whose RBR stays in one piece the longest

By: Roger Carballo AKA Architrion

Roger Carballo AKA Architrion — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:46:34 +0000

Can’t imagine that Hamilton and Fred won’t sweep their teammates…. they’re so good that Heiki and Nelsinho won’t have a chance.

I’ll put my money on Kimi over Felipe this time. Incoming slicks will make him the favour, thinking about the kind of skiding that is allowed with slick tyres.

The rest of the pack….. well, this is my bet

Sutil on Fisi
Jenson sweeping Rubens
Kubica tied with Heidfeld
Mark will put that rookie Seb on his place
Glock wil retire the Trulli train
Can’t imagine Nakajima wining on Rosberg
The time has come to Bourdais to show what he’s got under his pants. His american curriculum tells me he is good enough to beat a rookie.

By: SamS

SamS — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:33:33 +0000

I think that with all of the changes, having a relatively unchanged driver line up will be good to see who will deal with the changes the best! I am so pleased about Brawn GP being there, and fighting, and will be good to see how Buemi handles an F1 car.