F1 Fanatic

Does anyone know if Ferrari has significant updates this weekend? I had the impression that Alonso had hinted at that in an interview. What about Red Bull?

@Girts – Especially with Felipé’s record around Interlagos, he could quite conceivably finish between the two!

I was convinced after Quali for Singapore that Hamilton had the championship. He was driving brilliantly, and his car had been the class of the field arguably since Germany. And yet here we are, with Hamilton only mathematically in the hunt by the tiniest of margins, but not realistically so.
My point is that seeming dominance is not an assurance of anything this season. Sure, Vettel looks super strong right now, but if McLaren get back ahead of Red Bull, Alonso would be able to mix it with Vettel much more easily without him starting from pole. Chipping a few points off Vettel without Alonso having to win himself (and provided that Hamilton/Button do instead) looks like a real possibility. This would be improved even further if Ferrari bring some real improvements to the F2012.
McLaren to the rescue for Alonso’s chances?

I think Alonso will be praying for a wet championship finale in Brazil. Fernando and Ferrari have been very strong in the wet this season, and the last thing Vettel would want is a crazy wet race when a normal dry one would more easily grant him the title. Of course, to arrive in Brazil with a chance of winning the title, Vettel must somehow be prevented from winning in Abu Dhabi and Austin, and especially at the former venue I expect Vettel to be strong.

@fanser Average rainfall in Austin in November is 75.2mm, which is about 20mm less than what Spa gets in August but 20mm more than what Silverstone gets in July so rain is a possibility.

Keith- Spot on mate! One error and its all bets are off. For the “old school” that remember Adelaide in 1986, Nigel Mansell had one hand on the trophy until his tyre blew at 300kpm. ANOTHER non-doninate one for Alain.

Kingshark- FAAF!! (Funny as all fuck)- not sure is we are allowed to swear on the site – Keith?? :)
Pastor and Romain either side of Seb would be great- full contact F1 hey!!

For me, as said on previous posts I am Aussie and all Mark Webber and hopefully Daniel in future years. However, I dont have dellusions of granger to say Mark will bet Seb- Vettel is just that 10% better and that is fine. Also a few weeks back Sir Jackie said that Seb would not be 2 x Champ if not for Adrian. Maybe true, but harsh. The best drivers get to the best teams- and Newy is the best!!

That being said I find it hard to see (and open to comments) that Seb is ANYWHERE NEAR Fernando as a driver- and add Lewis, Jenson & Shu (yes i said it- Alonso IS better than Shu) and et alt. Alonso is the best driver (IMO) in the past 10-20 years and I think derserves of his 3rd title to match the great Ayrton. Seb will win but I find it hard to put him up with the greats of Aryton, Sir Jackie, Nelson, Lauda, Prost………………..in time he probably will, but not yet.

Thoughts & critism welcome.

Garns

@pamphlet But going by recent trend of Red Bull almost always dominating at Tilkedromes (read Sepang, Shanghai, Istanbul, Sakhir, Valencia, Singapore, Yeongam, Buddh, Abu Dhabi), and seeing as all Tilkedromes are VERY similar in design (many square miles of runoff, and general layout of start – straight – hairpin – super-long straight – hairpin – fiddly bit of >20 corners – end), it’s safe to assume that Red Bull will, at the very least, be very strong.

@freelittlebirds As for rain in Abu Dhabi, it is possible and there has even been some rain over the last days: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/rain-hits-parts-of-abu-dhabi

However, the rest of this week should be 100% dry.