F1 2012 PreSeason Thread...

[Son of Southall]

(Let the arguing commence)...

So now the season is done and dusted the pre season shenanigans begin...

No news on the cars yet and obviously no one will be able to form any kind of opinion until the first test in early February. Having said that Mclaren and Button have made a few smug comments about the new car but they did that last season and it was an absolute train wreck in the two tests so much so they had to revert to a spec b design...

My money is on Red Bull dominating again, they had the best car pre blown diffuser in 2009 so anyone who thinks they are suddenly going to become shit now that blown diffusers are banned are clutching at straws and if anything its Mclaren and Mercedes who will be most heavily effected...

You also have to take into account that Red Bull and Ferrari (+ Sauber) have now left FOTA meaning they no longer have to comply with the limited spending regulations they had to in previous seasons. Whether other teams will leave has yet to be seen but its going to be pretty unbalanced if the likes of Mclaren and Mercedes adhere to the Fota spending agreement whilst Red Bull and Ferrari spunk as much money as they want on the development of their car...

Driver wise its going to be very interesting. Absolutely delighted to see Ricciardo and Vergne at Torro Rosso. Its going to be great to see arguably the two best young talents in open wheel racing going head to head in the same machinery, on top of that they are basically battling it out to see who will replace Webber for the 2013 season. Both have tons of ability and Vergne looked lightning quick at the young drivers test at Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago and he's a cocky son of a bitch as well with a very aggressive driving style. Its a bit harsh on Alguesuari as he was starting to look pretty tidy towards the end of the season but the entire purpose of Torro Rosso is to find the next Vettel for the senior Red Bull team... they are nothing more than a feeder team and whilst Alguesuari and Buemi are good drivers they haven't done enough to show they are great drivers...

Happy to see Kimi back but not expecting him to do anything too amazing this season, i imagine it will take some time to get back into the flow of things after his time away doing WRC and Nascar...

Gutted for Sutil unless he gets a seat at Williams, he's far too talented to not be in F1. The same goes for Hulkenberg, hopefully he will partner Di Resta at Force India next season...

Anyway can't wait for the first test to begin so we can get some kind of rough idea where teams will be... deep down I know its probably going to be another year of Red Bull smashing it, I just hope Webber steps up his game!

And sky having this is another huge plus for me...

Bring it on,
SoS

[chelt_mackem]

Hopefully we'll see Red Bull back where they belong in the lower midfield and have McLaren running away with it with nothing more than an occasional challenge from Ferrari to keep things interesting. Sadly, Newey always finds a way to bend the rules and get away with it, so I expect we'll see another season that is, by and large, dull like 2010 and 2011.

[Adamoah]

Vettel and Red Bore to dominate yet again