six way fight for the drivers championship?

[onon]

could it be that this year's championship will be fought between the 6 driver's. as i see it now it is quite possible. if you look at the standings only 9 point spread between the 1st and 6th.

Drivers’ championship standings

1. Kimi Raikkonen 19
2. Nick Heidfeld 16
3. Lewis Hamilton 14
4. Heikki Kovalainen 14
5. Robert Kubica 14
6. Felipe Massa 10
--------------------------------
7. Jarno Trulli 8
8. Nico Rosberg 7
9. Fernando Alonso 6
10. Mark Webber 4
11. Kazuki Nakajima 3
12. Sebastien Bourdais 2

[P_O_L]

Could be. It sure makes it interesting. What about that kovalainen ey. The whole britpress assumed he was gonna be lewis lackey but he outraced lewis now 2 races in a row. And Massa was very, very impressive today.

[donskar]

Kimi and Ron Dennis (He-Who-Sometimes-Speaks-in-English) both allude to the championship really beginning in Europe, so it will be interesting to see how things go in Barcelona.

It's not a 6-way driver competition anyway; it's a 3-way fight among Ferrari, McL, and BMW. I think Ferrari and McLaren are slightly more mature and a bit deeper in human and technical resources than BMW: they might be able to win the development war that is underway. And I fear Williams, Red Bull, and the rest will slowly fall further off the pace.

Wonder if that "radical" new Ferrari front wing will appear in the next race.

[johny]

It's always interesting to see the evolution of cars in the first european race, also we'll see where the big three are.

[morsus]

sure would be great, but i think we need to wait and see how things turn out in Barcelona..

[teecof1fan]

absolutely not.....as much i desire bmw and williams (screw mclaren ) to be in the drivers title hunt, this season will be stricly between the ferrari drivers, much less an incredulous 6 drivers. theres another topic named "ferrari are going to walk it" and subsequently a topic called "ferrari arent gonna walk it"...well honestly whoever said ferrari arent going to walk it must be stupid; they made their claim based on one race, and a bad race at that. and if they arent already kicking themselves surely they will be shortly. to think that any other team than ferrari will dominate is...well, moronic.


now heres the insight: im not a ferrari fan. if it were up to me, the drivers championship would be between kubica and rosberg, but that wont happen for a few years. what will happen is that bmw will beat mclaren this year. earlier today some idiot named ron dennis said that bmw sucks because they havent spent as much money as him (that bmw cant develop their car as quickly as mclaren). well i just laughed because ron, as smart as he is, will be supremely disappointed to see that during this year the bmw is going to consistently beat his team. bmw crushing the opposing german forces (mercedes) will be great, and they will become a significant (but not dominant) force.

[tomislavp4]

I sure am very happy for BMW but I don´t think we can expect from them to keep up with ferrari and fight for the title this year. Next year absolutely, if they continue like this!

I think ferrari are going to walk it actually something´s wrong with the mclarens this year, actually I expect ferrari to finish first, BMW around 20 points after and, mclaren will be 3rd... But we´ll see if the season really starts in europe

[Belatti]

I´m tired to hear the phrase "the championship really beginning in Europe".
That discredits the first races...
I think the one who says that is stupid or only wants to relief pressure on its shoulders cause a bad season starts.

If this year Raikkonen wins the WDC against Lewis for 1 point, the season definitely would not have started in Europe, just to give an example.

The season has X amount of races and each one gives 10 points for the winner...

[Jersey Tom]

It will come down to consistency. If Ferrari are all cleaned up and this performance seen at Bahrain happens at every GP, from both KR and FM.. they will win.

If FM slips up or they have any technical troubles, if BMW keeps up their current system they can potentially do quite well or win. Hard to say if NH or RK would be able to win drivers championship, but together they consistently score points.. whereas currently Massa has two modes.. win or crash

[donskar]

Hello bellati

I´m tired to hear the phrase "the championship really beginning in Europe".
That discredits the first races...
I think the one who says that is stupid or only wants to relief pressure on its shoulders cause a bad season starts.

I don't think the intent is to discredit or devalue the opening races. They ARE crucially important.

However, once the series arrives in Europe, development can truly begin, because it is more realistic to develop the cars between races in Europe than it is in the "fly away" races.

My understanding is that there is far less chance to develop the cars between the first three races tan it is between European races. Right?