To be honest, if it's not Hamilton, i would prefer Webber to win the WDC than Button, as they offer the best comination of consistancy and determination this season.

I think the Schumacher fans came up with monobrow and Alonslow, Telfonso probably a invention of McLaren fans. But just because they post on an English forum doesn't mean they're British or Anglo Saxon.

Your original post referred to both Vettel and Alonso.

At the moment it is still Webbers.
Hamilton may get a massive boost from Monza (he could have a 20 point lead) but after that its RedBulls territory. They should easily win 5 out of the next 6 races.

Perhaps. Redbull easily winning and actually winning don't sit well together in reality. Considering they have scored pole position on all but one occasion, have a car on average around 0.4 (at least) per lap faster and McLaren are only 1 point behind them in the WCC, and Hamilton 4 (i think) points in front in the WDC, i'd say the title race is wide open with a slight bias towards Hamilton / McLaren.

if McLaren remains close to the red bull (performance wise) Hamilton will take it.

I'd put my money on Hamilton. He's experienced and clearly the most talented of the bunch. RBR is porlly gonna shoot itself in the foot as well along the way so.

And stop ruining this thread you postmonkeys.

Well, according to Button, he thinks Vettel is too error prone to take the title: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8955015.stm

I think that's a bit off considering he is 4 points behind Vettel and he might end up with egg on his face at the end of the season.

He's obviously pissed about being taken out. But I think Whitmarsh and Button are just messing with Vettel's mind.

I hope Webber wins the WDC, but I think Hamilton will win it.

Hamilton's bad weekends still tend to see him in 2nd, 3rd or 4th, as long as his car keeps going.

Webber on the other hand tends to end up more like 6th to 8th on his bad ones. His teammate is often faster and might grab the big points when the RBR is dominant.

Add in the test changes bringing the cars closer together...I think Lewis will pull it off.

That could backfire

I really, really want Lewis to win the WDC and I will be seriously gutted if he doesn't. Webber is my second choice. I think Vettel is over-rated at present and I'm not a Jenson Button fan, but I would rather any of them won it than Alonso.

Obviously, I would love it if Lewis won, but if he couldn't, I would rather Webber than any other of the 5 contenders.

Crossing my fingers for Mark, of course. But Lewis winning it wouldn't be devastating either. Fernando and Vettel don't deserve it this year. And I cant see Jenson catching Lewis and Mark again after he got Vettel'ed yesterday.

if we assume no more retirements, vettel basically has to finish ahead of webber at every remaining race if he wants to be world champion, that is a big ask

alonso needs to win at least 3 of the remaining races and get good points in the other races, again that is a big ask

button can't win, he's in the same position as vettel but there is no chance he can overhaul lewis AND webber

lewis and webber are in the best position (obviously). webber has the better car so he is favourite but who knows, we have some crazy tracks coming up

Indeed the season could still go pear-shaped for Button, Vettel and Alonso.
If things go on at this rate Webber and Hamilton will ride off into the sunset.

The showdown will be
Best Car versus Best Driver

I want Webber to win it all but this is what will be the difference. Hamilton reminds me of MS in that way, his crappy weekends still nets him bags of points. Winners tend to make their own "luck"

Hoping for Webber, but my head says Hamilton.

Anyone but Vettel!

If I were being really pedantic I'd point out that the word is "phrase". And that the title of the thread should be "Whose title...".

As it is, the world title is worthless. Because the best driver in F1 right now is Lewis Hamilton. Doesn't matter who gets the millionaire's bauble.

There is no such thing as the "best driver in F1". You of all people should know that. There are too many outside factors that dicatate who is and who isn't successful. Most of these guys would post identical times in the same car with the same specs.

I think that Korea will be a Red Bull track while Brazil will be McLaren territory. Also I could see McLaren potentially being competitive in Suzuka.

Another big point could be that the Asian races are often wet.

Personally I think Lewis will win it as long as he doesn't have any more reliability problems or DNF's but you can never know.

Hopefully the Monza plank test pegs RBR back a few tenths to make it more exciting as well.

well singapore will definately be the poorest race for mclaren i think, the rest should be okay

I think that really does sum it up rather well.

I think people are being a bit harsh on the pace of the RBR drivers. I don't buy that RBR has had it all their own way, reliability has been poor and McLaren and Ferrari have had races where they were clearly faster than the bulls. Don't get me wrong, clearly RBR has been the best car but it's not the gap at each track people like to portray.

To me, with Alonso's poor year Hamilton is the clear best driver on the grid, a true great in the making. However, even when the Merc has struggled (like last year) he has had a really fast car in a straight line every year in F1 which has helped a little in regards to race craft. Conversly, the Red Bull has been poor in a straight line for two years. It's a great car for lapping F1 tracks in clear air, it appears a little less useful in a dog fight than the Merc to be fair. Hamilton also has a rather ... solid team mate rather than a guy who can REALLY switch on the pace. Webber and Vettel have to contend with each other. Better drivers than Button? Maybe not but to me both are quicker at "lapping" so to speak than Jenson.

Too many people here react week to week but it's pretty clear the balance of power swings wildly from track to track. It's not always updates either, just the way the car suits the track. On paper the McLaren was always a threat in Spa and will be at Monza. From there it could be anyone's but maybe the Red Bull is the most consitent car over the remaining races.

To answer the question, IMHO Alonso is gone and so is Jenson ... McLaren will surely give Hamilton the preferable calls from now on no matter what they say. I'm about ready to write Vettel off too, he has a LOT to claw back on Hamilton considering what a pest Webber has been to him. Mark is thereabouts but IMHO needs RBR to get Vettel out of the way in terms of preferable pit strategy etc (not pulling over to be clear, just getting the first call on which lap to pit, the past run in Q3 etc etc). If RBR don't favour Mark then the RBR guys will cancel each other out.

So right now i'd back Hamilton with the one caveat that the McLaren "bad races" pace wise are not as poor as they have been this season where they fight for Q3 all of a sudden after winning the last race or whatever.

The races where McLaren are off the pace will determine a lot.

Vettel is out.
Button is out.
Hamilton is in.
Webber is in.
Alonso is probably in too.

My bets is that, race after race, everything changes.

So there are two main contenders, Webber and Hamilton, and a driver watching the haunt: Alonso.

I really think its less about any supposed changes to the RB6 and more about getting the McLaren to work on medium high, high downforce tracks. When there are bumps included the thing is a dog. Fortunately they have Lewis and Jenson who manage races very well and barring reliability and other mechanical darts entering their cars they will still score good points. Their engine advantage and therefore top speed allows them to fend off and pass those just behind the top 2 teams with relative ease so they don't fear bad qualifying as much as both Ferrari and especially RedBull.

4 other teams may cause some bother for McLaren as they have made pretty decent gains and if we see some Hungary like performances they may push them down the field a bit on pure qualy pace making it a more difficult task up front. Renault, Williams, Sauber and Force India have all shown at times very good qualy pace they may be a huge factor. They have certainly stuck their noses in there when any of the top 3 teams drivers have been a little off pace. But it would most concern McLaren and Ferrari IMO.

I expect it to be tight right to the last race, based on expectations Lewis is looking really strong for the title and this is his best season to date IMO driving wise. Mark Webber will always have a question mark over him when in traffic, although he has displayed when he is out front he doesn't make mistakes and is very rapid even in comparison to his team mate.

I would like to see Mark Webber win the WDC, I have no expectation of that happening, too much has happened to him in the past, self inflicted or otherwise to have any confidence realistically for the last 6 races. I hope I get surprised!

As to the front wing issue, SPA was not reflective of anything much, its downforce levels used probably wouldn't give us any indication of what is going on there, though some fans would like to use what they saw as evidence to the contrary, once the racing resumes high levels of downforce I don't think we will see much difference in the RB6 performance to be honest, everyone has been chasing a shadow this year with regards to the RB6 and I still don't think they have managed to nail the specific thing that makes it glue to the track like it does.

so the driver in 5th place with probably the 3rd best car is still in? :/

i guess your an alonso fan

I'd bet millions against Alonso, he's absolutely no hope at all.

Is it?

On pure ability I'd say Vettel should be able to do that. But then there's the Vettel that turned up at Spa . . and a few other places. He really is the joker in the pack both ways for me.

It is likely to be Hamilton the way things are going, although as a proud Aussie I'd love Webber to be our first WDC in 30 years.

Webber.

ultimately resources are going to play a very big part in the championship. McLaren are more likely to have the resources to continue to develop the car to the very end of this season and balance the creation of next years car.
Red Bull might find it more difficult and we may see this years championship efforts manifest itself in next year car, to the detriment of the team.

Should be interesting though.
Head - Hamilton
Heart - Webber.

Eh... your the bookies ideal customer. Thinking something is impossible when the odds are
http://www.oddschecker.com/motor-sport/for...rs-championship.

How come you don't see one or two Ferrari wins ?

If Red Bull are forced to make changes, I doubt they'd go sticking the original parts back on once the FIA's back is turned for thirty seconds. Even if they thought they could get away with it; the risk of being caught is too great. They'd be excluded from the championship for sure.

Wouldn't they have to pass scrutineering every time they finish in the points?

Most of them? How many times have there been dead-heats between team-mates in the 115 year history of the sport?

They have to pass scruitineering every time they show up. Or maybe it's random draw. But even if it is, there is a chance that they will have to go through the process at each and every round. The FIA might scale back testing limits after Monza, but that's no reason to put in the old flexible parts - if it creates a noticeable physical difference in the car, the other teams will pick up on it. That's why the FIA ramped the tests up in the first place, because the RB6 and F10 were spotted on camera with front wings running incredibly close to the ground in Budapest. The notion that Red Bull could be forced to make a change to their car and then switch out the new parts for the old when no-one is looking and get away with it is pretty much impossible unless everyone on the grid is somehow blinded or made ignorant. Red Bull won't be stupid enough to try.

Webber only lost out in Spa because of his shitty start.

This is something that is being understated by some at the moment. Red Bull were always predicted to struggle at Spa and Monza, if you think about it 2nd place was a very good result for Webber last weekend - stay as close as possible when you're not the quickest, just as Lewis has been doing. Everyone thought that RBR had been caught after Turkey and Canada and it was McLaren's to lose, but then Red Bull dominated again once they got back to the tracks where top speed wasn't so important. Even with these wing restrictions, they aren't going to be standing still either with development.

As for the title - I would be happy with either Hamilton or Webber, so I'm hoping it really might be between the two of them.

I dont think so. I think the mac and hammo would have been to good on race day, and he was probably a bit relieved to not have to be the conditions and strategy pioneer at the front while fending off a quick lewis at the same time. And it's possible vettel getting past him made vettel feel a bit more antsy about stretching that gap out, which we saw what led to.

To be honest I think the shitty start was the best thing that happened to him in the end.

After webbers first race debut in melbourne, he finished 5th in a minardi in I think wet conditions. There was a cartoon in the paper here the next day showing him ice skating around crashed cars while quietly whistling to himself. Couldnt find it anywhere but it seemed relevant to his spa weekend!

Oh and the australian media again show they know jack shit about F1 when reporting "webbers disastrous belgian race where he lost the lead in the WDC." Idiots.

It all depends what the new rules mean to RB, I tend not to believe Horner's happy clappy bull5hit one minute, but none of use yet have is a real handle on the scale of the problem for them.

Didn't they pass the tests at Spa? And what is there to say they'll fail them at Monza?

Come on, wake up, its been the main subject across the autosport media world for weeks... there are new tests aimed at limiting flexible floors introduced for Monza

How much work RB - Ferrari -McLaren have to do to conform from here on will be fundamental to the outcome of the championship. Maybe they won't have to do anything, or maybe they will have to do some pretty fundamental redesign, or maybe they have already done it. Who knows outside of the teams....?

I seem to recall talk of flexible floors, with the suggestion that Red Bull is using them. That doesn't mean they actually are; back at Hockenheim and the Hungaroring, everyone believed they were using flexible front wings. Look how that turned out.

which is why I finished with....'who knows outside of the teams'

If you want to start a row, go some place else. Try Engel, he always seems keen for one. I'm in a good mood today.

The way things are going, I'll say it will be Hamilton followed by Webber. Alonso makes too many mistakes, Button isn't going to out-race Hamilton at "crunch time" and Vettel... what can I say? Maybe next year...

I thought it was derived from Germany


English here and in the past supported Senna, MS, Alonso and now Lewis, never supported the likes of our Nige or Damon, praise be if we support our own.

If think any dislikes towards either Alonso or Vettel have been brought upon by themselves, nothing to do with nationality


I think name calling for Alonso started in 2007 and was very much tit for tat with the names Alonso supporters were giving to Lewis


You think all the drivers are the same?