F1 » Blundell's view: 2009 F1 season preview

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 86 days until the Australian GP, Im excited!!!
Pretty soon the cars will be revealed, thats when the season really begins and we can start speculating which cars are championship winners.
Interesting that Mark thinks Raikkonen will win the championship, i hope he puts more into the next season, this season it just seemed like he couldn''t be bothered.
I think the title contenders will be Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen, Kubica and Alonso. I''d love to hear everyones predictions for both the constructors and drivers championships!
O, and Happy New Year everyone!!!

My predictions for 2009 are:
Drivers:
1. Hamilton
2. Massa
3. Alonso
4. Raikkonen
5. Kubica
6. Heidfeld
7. Vettel
8. Kovalainen
9. Bourdais (providing he stays of course)
10. Rosberg

Constructors:
1. Ferrari
2. BMW
3. McLaren
4. Renault
5. Red Bull
6. STR
7. Williams
8. Toyota
9. Force India
10. Honda (if they're bought!)

These are just MY opinion!

hannah, i think that your top five are reasonably safe choices, if not neccessarily in the order you think. re the constructors, i would have toyota higher up the list, probably above str (now that vettel has gone)
however, i would be wary of any forecast at this moment in time, as i think that some surprises might occur, with some outsider possibly making better use of the new rules. i hope so anyway, as a better mix could improve racing.

Rich ard- Who do you think will win? I hope youre right about the teams shuffling, Id LUV to see Sutil win a race (ok, so thats a bit far fetched but you get the idea!)or Bourdais or even Rosberg.
I hope STR do well, but we dont know who the drivers are yet, do we? So who knows what will happen. Im hoping Bourdais maintains his seat, i think he could be very good.
The other thing is the KERS system coz if turns out to be very helpful will Ferrari be at a disadvantage at the start, with teams such as McLaren, Williams and Force India with an advantage.
Are there any major rule changes taking place?

hannah, somehow i think that massa has the fire now, and all thins being equal, he may shade it. however i am cautious as to the effects of new regs. i too think that sutil has promise,and with merc engine coupled with reduction in aero, FI may come good. last season, i think it was the aero that let them down as ferrari engine had the power. rosberg will suffer as a result of franks finance problems. bourdais, i dont rate, although i did when he was in cart. i think that vettel is the real dark horse, provided rbr come up with the goods. the lack of fuelling may cause problems. where are the teams going to place their larger tanks, and this will affect c of g.
slicks are also a ponderable.

hannah contd. it may be that bourdais will have more knowledge of use of slicks, without tyre warmers. these unheated slicks might cause a few incidences where the new wide nose wing gets damaged, stirring up the field during a race. i dont think that lack of kers will affect ferrari,as their cars will be lighter and probably a lower c of g. and others may suffer teething problems. maybe a wise move by ferrari, not to use until well tested. but i would agree that ferrari should win constr championship, as they have the best pairing.
a better assessment will be able to be made, when teams start testing, although there may be the usual sandbagging. but as i said, i expect a few surprises.

i worry about red bull and STR with their new car coming so late(if the reports are true)

does the in season testing ban start next year? i thought the fuelin ban was 2010 rich? tho i hope it is next season.

Here are my picks for '09:

1. Kimi
2. Massa or Ferdi depending how good of a car Merc will produce
3. Kubica or lulu (the weight distribution of KERS might render RK to the back of he field)
4. Kovi
5. Glock or Vettel

brendan, i may be getting confused with all the fia pronouncements. i am not too sure abou the timing of the fuel ban, but i think it came out with the announcment that tyre warmers were also banned. it is soooooo confusing. maybe someone can clarify

Im positive the refuelling ban comes into place in 2010 and i think the tyre warming thing does too.