That time of year when we make our way to the starting line for the Formula 1 Championship races is upon us once again. Although the season started just under a month ago, it’s easy to make some predictions about which teams and which drivers we might see on the winners’ podium when all is said and done.
The obvious pick for winning driver is Sebastian Vettel since he won last year’s Formula 1 championship. Vettel definitely has the fastest car and could easily win just based on that fact alone. Plus, despite some mechanical failures, driver errors, and wrecks during last year’s run, Vettel has gained the confidence a champion needs to regain his title.
Vettel’s cars are being designed by Adrian Newey, arguably the best Formula 1 engineer around and he has Red Bull footing the bill for him. Put all of these things together and you have a recipe for a winning F1 driver.
If Vettel doesn’t bring home the trophy, the next likely candidate is Fernando Alonso and there are several reasons we see him as the favorite to win right behind Vettel. We admit Vettel might have the fastest car, but Alonso is the best driver by far. When you consider that Alonso has won championships for three F1 teams and was definitely the most successful of the Renault drivers, you can’t argue that he’s not the best driver.
Think about it, even though Ferrari didn’t have the best car last year, Alonso was still very close to becoming last year’s Formula 1 champion. Alonso is definitely the best driver Ferrari has and even though that may not be enough to help Ferrari when it comes to the Constructor’s Championship, it will go a long way to helping Alonso in his continuous battle against team Red Bull. If Ferrari continues to make its cars faster and/or Red Bull has some of the same stumbles it had last year, Alonso could easily slide in and take the F1 championship title.
This isn’t ground breaking F1 news, but Mark Webber is definitely this year’s dark horse when it comes to winning the F1 championship title. Webber almost pulled an upset to win last year’s championship and it wasn’t until the end of the season that we realized he wouldn’t be the F1 champion Some argue that the obvious tension between Webber and his teammate Sebastian Vettel – both on team Red Bull – will cause Webber to either leave the team or be forced to leave, but none of that matters when you consider that Webber is still driving a Red Bull car this year.
If Webber can overcome Vettel, he will have completed the hardest part of becoming this year’s F1 champion. But, even if he can do it, Alonso and team Ferrari could still take the championship from both of them.
Although, when all is said and done, we could see someone like Lewis Hamilton sweep in and take the championship for team McLaren. McLaren is still struggling with some of the same challenges they had last year so that probably won’t happen, but this is Formula 1 racing – anything is possible.
