As F1 has entered its 7th decade, and many changes have been introduced, a new field emerges.

The top drivers: Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Massa and Rosberg

The elderly statesmen: Schumacher, Webber and Button

The field: Force India, Williams, Renault, Sauber and Toro Rosso

The cars that are slower than GP2 cars and make up in fact a series of their own: Lotus, Virgin, Hispania

I have not expected F1 to be that fragmented in what was touted to be the most exiting F1 season of all time. More specifically, I am shocked how much behind Schumacher, Button and Button are on pace in what should suit them, considering their experience, race intelligence and alleged greatness. My guess is that Webber and Schumacher are retiring either during or at the end of this season.

What do you guys make of the lacklustre performances of Schumi, Jense and Webbo?

MS is going to be alot better during the season. Jenson performance againts Lewis is hardly suprising. Only die hard fans of Jenson really believed he could beat Lewis.

Webber will be back next race, he's stuck behind Jenson the entire race and the Mclaren has the highest top speed of any car.

Webber and Button are simply outclassed by their teammates. Schumacher has been out for 3 years and has come back to an understeering car. We know he loves and thrives with a twitchy, oversteering car....that may give him issues for a while. Too many factors against him right now.

Dude, its the first race of the season. By half season we'll have a more accurate picture...

2010 was not touted to be the most exciting F1 season of all time.
Webber and Button are not elderly statesmen.
The mentioned performances were not lacklustre; Schumacher finishing only 4 seconds behind Rosberg after three years off is actually pretty good.

All in all this is a stupid thread.

schumacher did better than webber and button in what could very well be an inferior car judging by how much the teamates were able to get in this race. seems hardly fair to put him in the same pot as webber, button. Still, i think all of them can do better in future races, and beat the teammates ocasionally

Yep, agree completely.

Neil

+1. MS's fastest lap is better than Rosberg's.

The top drivers: I'd leave it at Hamilton, Vettel, and Alonso, in any order. Massa is brilliant, though. I think Schumacher can, and will, get back there. Rosberg isn't in the top class, but is very good.

"lacklustre performances" in quali you mean - they all pretty much drove to the car in front during the race which is all they seemingly can do.

As has been pointed out elsewhere if Rosberg hadnt been held in the pit as Button passed then Hamilton would of been right behind Rosberg, not in front, who in turn would of had Schumi/Button/Webber right behind him...

Lets see a few more races before we consign them all to the bargain bin shall we

We will see as the season passes - either the premise of the thread will be proved wrong in part (part 3 and 4 of the premise are indisputable) or we will see further evidence of what has been stated.
I am curious myself, as I have always liked Jenson, with Mark Webber I have a indifferent if positive feeling. With Schumacher, as stated before, I hope that he will not regret his comeback, as I would not underestimate Nico.

2010 was touted in many places to be the most exciting F1 season of all time - though maybe not in the place where you live.
As it turns out, it may become a rather boring season in terms of the races, while the fight for the championship might well turn out to be a thriller between Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso.

Writing not one but three drivers off after only one single race is never a smart idea, no matter how their performances might develop during the season.

rather than button shouldn't rubens be in your list of elder statesmen ?

I think so too.

And Pedro, Trulli.

The average driver age this year is 27. I wonder what it was last year. I would doubt it was 26.

Exactly, Button is just over a year older than Alonso, and Massa is a few months older than Alonso. Button is not ot in the same age category as Webber, Barrichello, Trulli, De La Rosa, and of course Shumacher.
Very odd thread subject.

Don't forget Barrichello in the elderly category b. 1972.
Schumacher b. 1969, de la Rosa, b. 1971, Trulli b. 1974

Button was born in the eighties so I would hardly call him elderly.

The oldies still got it. Age is no problem in motorracing generally. Damon Hill was 36 when he won his only title. Mansell was 39. As long as your car is competitive and your motivation is up there are no reasons why you can't be a great racing driver despite being 40+.

Oldest race winners:
Luigi Fagioli 53 years
Nino Farina 46 years
Juan Manuel Fangio 46 years

Last 20 years:
Nigel Mansell Australia 1994 Aged 41.

Last 10 years:
Michael Schumacher China 2006 Aged 37.

If Schumacher wins a race this season he will beat Mansell for P7 in the list of oldest race winners.

The hype was all in the media. You must be aware that many on this forum were saying that we could be in for boring races with a complete lack of overtaking.

I'm not very good at modesty, so I'd like to remind you of my own contribution:

But you write as if the ages were the significant factor - and they had nothing to do with it at all back then. Quite obviously your surname had to begin with an "F".



Well Schumi cannot win again. The pattern has clearly now evolved to the reverse alphabet of the driver's first names. "N", "M" - and so the next will be "L". Also it is unrealistic to believe the time element wouldn't matter. The first was within 20 years, then within 10, so the next would have to logically fall within 0 years.

----

Haha, you are never too old to party till you say you are.

Yes, Lotus and Virgin were slower in the sense they were actually just over 7 seconds faster than the fastest GP2 cars that were at the same race meeting - don't be so lazy!

Age sometimes got nothing to do with being perceived elderly. "He drives like a grandma!" is something you find in various languages.
In that sense Jense's race was quite elderly, as was Michael's and Mark's.

The way Lewis, Fernando, Sebastian, Felipe and even Nico (to some extent) were driving was fresh and inspired.
The way Michael, Jenson and Mark drove was "eldery" - it didn't give me the impression we were watching some of the supposedly best drivers in the world.

Maybe it's wrong to blame the drivers - maybe it's all the new regs.

Yet watching Sebastian, Lewis and Fernando was inspiring - not so watching Schumi, Jense and Webbo...

I reckon there has only been one race and that it is foolish to try and reach any judgement based on that. Come back at the end of the season when there is some real data to play with.

None of them overtook an opponent who was driving a healthy car (except Fernando at turns 1/2), and Nico couldn't even overtake an unhealthy car.

I did not say they overtook someone - I said to watch them was inspiring.
To watch Schumacher, Button and Webber was not.

Lewis overtook Rubens (new tyres vs old).

The more I look at the OP's posts in this thread, the more I think the whole thing is just a slightly subtle trolling effort.

Neil

One can judge drivers based on the Bahrain parade.

The rules have created an effect of exaggerating car performance. Drivers may be a few tenths off each other's pace with the 2008 rules, but now will be further apart because of tires having to go longer and the differences in a good qualifying car and a good race distance car.

The rules need to be changed, quick - most of the race distance is a limousine tour, then when the cars are light enough to race the tires are shot - all conditions which exaggerate the differences in the cars, which ironically makes the driver input less "potent" to the outcome.

Button and Webber are closer in age to Hamilton than MS. Its MS, RB and PDLR that are the elderly.

Also Button is closer to Alguersuari's age than Schumacher's.

Australia: Button does not belong to the old guard yet - what a fine drive.

Schumacher and Webber should retire, I don´t see them in 2011!