So the 2008 F1 season is two-thirds over. There are 6 more races:

• Spa: fast and long with lots of elevation changes and good overtaking opportunities.
  
• Monza: fast and long again, another overtaking track.
  
• Singapore: new street circuit and the first night race.
  
• Fuji: mediocre track, short, medium-speed. Toyota's home ground.
  
• Shanghai: long with some impressive straight sections. Typical Tilke flavour.
  
• Interlagos: anti-clockwise circuit, lots of elevation changes, somewhat bumpy, technical corner combinations, overtaking spots for the brave.
  

So how will the teams fare? And the drivers?

My picks:

McLaren: Going from strength to strength. Hamilton seems to have gotten over his noob-ness. Kovi performing well. Advantage at Spa.

Ferrari: Needs a serious look at the engines, they're falling apart in heat. Kimi has a problem, but he's shown he can bounce back. Massa is on a high, and probably will continue to nip at Hamilton. Advantage at Monza if they fix their engines.

BMW: Is Kubica getting back on form, or is it the whole team? Kubica likes streets, so advantage at Singapore.

RBR: Terrible weekend in Valencia. Webber complains about lack of power from the engines, and there are plenty of engine-heavy tracks coming up. Coulthard is in retirement mode, not going anywhere fast.

STR: Their new chassis is the best thing that's ever happened to them. Vettel is getting more consistent, the street circuits favour Bourdais. Will Ferrari's engine woes trouble them in Spa and Monza? Looks adaptable, advantage at Singapore.

Renault: Alonso is lower than ever, but he is twice WDC, and shouldn't be underestimated. Piquet has improved markedly with some great drives. Consistency will be key for this lot.

Toyota: Great form lately. Trulli looks to be on top of his game, and Glock is picking up the pace too. Definitely the best of the rest, after BMW. Advantage at Fuji... they know it well and Trulli likes the track.

Honda: No more upgrades for the rest of the year, means bad juju.

Williams: Flashes of brilliance, but no consistency. Not expecting much from them.

Force India: Backmarkers, but they're blowing their trumpets loudly about improvements. We'll see.

I would reverse your advantage Spa/Monza calls.

Ferrari are strong on high speed aero corners - Spa will suit them and Kimi quite well. McLaren ride those kerbs at Monza very well and have good straightline aero efficiency when they don't have to use it to go around corners too.

around 2/3 of those are ferrari circuits...if singapore is anything like valencia, maybe ferrari might have an edge too. (but maybe the low tempture will change everything.)

This is my tips:

Spa: Ferrari domination with Massa leading
Monza: Ferrari and mclaren going head to head hamilton will most ikely win.
Singapore: same as monza but with Massa ahead
Fuji: If it rains expect the adrian newey cars to shine but Hamilton will win, if dry i expect the same result but either ferrari close behind or even a toyota.
Shanghai: one word, Mclaren
Interlagos: Complete Massa domination

Im tipping Masa for the title but if he wins i expect hamilton to be within 3 points from him.

Quote from JJ72 :

around 2/3 of those are ferrari circuits...if singapore is anything like valencia, maybe ferrari might have an edge too. (but maybe the low tempture will change everything.)

Singapore will have much less grip then Valencia, and will be WAAY tighter but not at Monacos level.

Quote from JJ72 :

around 2/3 of those are ferrari circuits...if singapore is anything like valencia, maybe ferrari might have an edge too. (but maybe the low tempture will change everything.)

Singapore is on the equater so think agian.

but it's a night race, and in singapore the air cools down qutie rapidly when the sun goes down, you might get a daily shower even.

McLaren won't win.

)Spa: fast and long with lots of elevation changes and good overtaking opportunities.
Monza: fast and long again, another overtaking track.
Singapore: new street circuit and the first night race.
Fuji: mediocre track, short, medium-speed. Toyota's home ground.
Shanghai: long with some impressive straight sections. Typical Tilke flavour.
Interlagos: anti-clockwise circuit, lots of elevation changes, somewhat bumpy, technical corner combinations, overtaking spots for the brave.

Spa : Fast corners and elevation changes. Advantage : Ferrari.
Monza : High speed, mixture of corners. Bumpy. Advantage : McLaren.
Singapore : Don't know about weather. Possibly bumpy. Advantage : probably McLaren.
Fuji : Wet. Slow corners. Long straight. Advantage : McLaren.
Shanghai : Bog-standard tilkedrome. Boringly smooth. Advantage : Ferrari.
Interlagos : Elevation changes. It was resurfaced last year ( ) but I don't know how bumpy it is now. Advantage : Unsure.

Now, driver by driver.

Lewis Hamilton : Unlucky (Massa not getting a penalty for nearly ramming Sutil, punctures etc.). Quite good in the wet. However he is quite tyre-hungry which causes some setup infelxibility. Definately has a chance.
Felipe Massa : Makes stupid mistakes (spinning five times at Silverstone), useless in the wet. If we get two or more wet races looking unlikely, but if things stay dry and he keeps it on the island he has a chance.
Kimi Raikkonen : Bad results recently, I doubt he will take this one.

Let's hope a prancing donkey doesn't win it this year, I'm tired of them manipulating the FIA to their ends.

Quote from BlakjeKaas :

McLaren won't win.

I hope

Quote from samjh :

STR: Their new chassis is the best thing that's ever happened to them. Vettel is getting more consistent, the street circuits favour Bourdais. Will Ferrari's engine woes trouble them in Spa and Monza? Looks adaptable, advantage at Singapore.

what?? Vettel outpaced Bourdais in Valencia (which is considered as street circuit) all the weekend

Quote from DevilDare :

what?? Vettel outpaced Bourdais in Valencia (which is considered as street circuit) all the weekend

Vettel outpaced Bourdais everywhere.

Quote from DevilDare :

what?? Vettel outpaced Bourdais in Valencia (which is considered as street circuit) all the weekend

I wasn't comparing Bourdais to Vettel or any other driver, but himself. His performance seems to improve on temporary street circuits.

As Zeugnimod said, Vettel has outpaced Bourdais everwhere (well, almost everywhere).

Looking at points table, it will be very interresting battle, even Heidfeld still has theoretical chance of winning (btw. he should win at least one GP before he retires:tilt. If Lewis doesn't reset his car or crash into something red at the end of pitlane, or if Ferrari does solve their engine problems, then we'll see good and interresting six races.
Hopefully Singapore will be better than Valencia, that was half and hour of boredom. Cold weather (tyres) could play big role and if rain will be involved in this race, then it will be Massacre.
But in the end i can imagine Felipe taking the title, because Kimmeh looks like every woman on stands is distracting him from racing, though he's running at 300 kph around them and Lewis is somehow still not so good to win it. Other drivers are out of pace, BMW has stopped work on this year's car and Heikki has not so great speed in best McLaren, that has been built for years.

/post

I don´t know which/who team/driver could be the champion but, I´d like to see at last 1 point for force india.

I don´t have any favorite driver, all is around kub, ham, mas, and rai. all they are good for me.
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what happenden with my avatar?

Don't forget that the Ferrari's (or at least Kimi) will have to use the same engine in Spa AND Monza, those tracks are really hard for the engine and with what has recently happened I wouldn't trust them too much.

Edit: Actually, Massa will be running with a used engine on Spa. Pay attention to Massa next race, he might not finish if things continue like this. Both of the Ferrari engines have broken with one GP and approximately 4/5 of the next one.. 500-600km

Massa siad he might use his joker for that race, as every driver gets 1 free engine change per year.

...I think Massa will win it.

Quote from aoun :

...I think Massa will win it.

I hate to say it, but that would be very good.

As for Kimi, don't under-estimate him folks. He was floundering last year too, but still managed to snatch the WDC crown.

I'd really love to see a driver from one of the "rest" (ie. not McLaren, Ferrari, or BMW) win a Grand Prix. Toyota and Renault were within sights, although both were gifted their second-place finishes. It would be neat to see a young gun or an older never-won driver from the middle teams win a GP.

"To win a race, you first have to finish...


...in the best car"

Quote from samjh :

I hate to say it, but that would be very good.

As for Kimi, don't under-estimate him folks. He was floundering last year too, but still managed to snatch the WDC crown.

I'd really love to see a driver from one of the "rest" (ie. not McLaren, Ferrari, or BMW) win a Grand Prix. Toyota and Renault were within sights, although both were gifted their second-place finishes. It would be neat to see a young gun or an older never-won driver from the middle teams win a GP.

In that case I'd say Webber. Or my personal favorite Vettel.

As for who is going to win the wdc I hope that it's Massa. He deserves it the most I think

Quote from FlyeThemoon :

Interlagos: Kovalainen

How about: Piquet Jnr? I'd laugh out loud if Barrichello won it in that tortoise of a Honda.

I expect:

Spa- Massa wins.
Monza- Hamilton and Mclaren dominates (Ferrari hates kerbs).
Singapore- Kimi makes a comeback and wins, Massa second.
Fuji- Hamilton again.
Shanghai- Hamilton.
Interlagos- Massa