For all intents and purposes, the 2008 Formula One season may as well be
starting now. The first 10 races have left us with three drivers (Felipe Massa,
Lewis Hamilton, and Kimi Raikkonen) tied on 48 points with one more driver
(Robert Kubica) two points back.
Aside from a few wins and podiums for these drivers, the first half of
season might as well not have happened, given the aforementioned knot at the
top of the championship standings.
No
one driver appears to have a distinct advantage over any other at the top.
Felipe Massa has been more consistent this year, and is tied for the series’
lead with three wins, but is still capable of renaming himself Felipe “Mess Up”
in a given race.
Kimi
Raikkonen is the defending champion, but he doesn’t seem to be on his usual
form this year. Lewis Hamilton has been dynamite in some races, but has
inexplicably struggled in others. Robert Kubica isn’t driving the best car, but
has made the fewest mistakes and been the most consistent.
I
think you get the picture. What we have on our hands is maybe the most
wide-open title chase ever, one year after we saw one of the best ones since
the 1980’s. Just how will this 2008 season end up?
First,
let me address what is the easier of the two title battles to predict at this
point: the Constructor’s Championship. Scuderia Ferrari has built the best car
on this year’s grid. The McLaren and BMW Sauber cars may be quick and
competitive, but the Scuderia’s car seems to have the advantage in outright
pace.
Given
that McLaren is too far back to make a charge, and BMW Sauber isn’t as fast as
Ferrari, look for Ferrari to bag this year’s Constructors championship.
That’s
where the easy predictions end. Ferrari may have the best car, but that far
from assures one of their drivers of a World Driving Championship. As we all
know, the fastest car and team doesn’t always win, but the smartest driver and
team will always win.
So,
who am I predicting to win this year’s WDC? Will it be the Brazilian, the Finn,
the Briton, or the Pole? Well, I am going to go out on a limb, as I did last
year when I predicted (although then on Facebook Formula One group) Kimi
Raikkonen would win the WDC, I will pick Lewis Hamilton to win the 2008 Formula
One World Driving Championship for a couple of reasons.
First,
he could have, and probably should have, won last year’s title. While he was
clearly disappointed with coming one point short, the disappointment of barely
missing a championship will prove to be helpful in the long run. He now knows
what it is like to endure a title chase and what he should (and should not) do
to win it.
Any
athlete that has missed out on a championship, at least at first, will tell you
that going through that experience is helpful in the future due to the
knowledge gained from it. I expect
Secondly,
there is the aspect of teammates.
Even
though bad luck as played a big role in this field, Kovalainen is clearly
behind
Additionally,
Ferrari teammates Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen will have to battle each
other for this year’s crown, as Hamilton and Fernando Alonso did while at
McLaren in 2007. It is very possible, as we saw last year, that two teammates
could get too caught up in their battle, allowing a third driver (Hamilton in
this year’s case) to steal the driving title.
For
those reasons, I’ll pick Lewis Hamilton to be this year’s World Driving
Champion, and the youngest in the sport’s history to do so (a title which,
ironically, Alonso currently holds). Such an occurrence would be a nice
headline grabber for the sport, plus it would send ITV (and James Allen in
particular) out in a heap of euphoria.
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2 months ago
Ohhhhh I would LOVE to see that happen ... It would make my year ! ... Great stuff ... I do have a sneaky feeling its going to be Lewis year ... I wouldnt have said that at the beginning of the season after Melbourne but now things are looking great, while most are thinking that he is having a torrid time I think he has just found the rails and he is back on the straight and narrow and cooking on gas ! I think its his time to shine ... I just hope and pray I am right ... As a McLaren fan its been a crazy couple of years ! We want the bragging rights back !
2 months ago
HAHA great stuff. I'm hoping your predictions are half right, i'd like Mclaren to win the WCC, but it is looking unlikely, as you said.
Lewis does seem to have the advantage with a struggling teammate, who, if he wants to be at Mclaren next year, will have to play along and help Hamilton win.
5 stars matey!
2 months ago
Good points there Kyle!
The dice have been loaded differently this year for sure, but I don't think you'll get the same storm at Ferrari that was witnessed at McLaren last year. Kimi just doesn't seem to care about his teammate's performance and just does his own thing. That is the main difference, and it may come to bite Lewis who would be under the assumption that since Ferrari is battling, he can do his own thing...
5 stars my friend!
2 months ago
good points, good article.
i am in agreement with you, i think you are right about the team mates and i mentioned it in my "roles reversed" article.
5* :)
2 months ago
Nice article but I still believe Kimi is going to defend his championship. I agree this year's championship is fun because just when you are happy(guarded) that your favorite driver won a race, the next race he does a dumb mistake or there is a mechanical issue. Its a nice battle going on.
I believe Kimi will get focussed and have a fantastic second half of the season and win the championship again!!!
2 months ago
I dont think its ever going to happen. Both ferraris tied up at the top, Kimi's sheer bad luck and Massa's "exceptional" abilities proves how strong ferrari is and I am sure it would be left only to the ferrari drivers to fight out at the end. I can see it going down again till the last race but only between Massa and Kimi, with only thing stopping Kimi is his stupifying run of bad luck.
2 months ago
How can anyone rule Lewis Hamilton Out Of Being able to win this title come november , i think he has a Big chance Of taking it .
People seem to forget he is only in his 2nd year , last season was a learning curve for him , this season he aint that rookie anymore but all the ferrari fans are treating him like he is not capable .
Massa has been in formula 1 a few of years, he has experience , yet lewis beat him and a 2 time world champ to 2nd in the WDC , come on guys , if that doesnt make him a bit special then i dont know what will .
And if i must be honest i really dont ever see felipe winning a WDC , most thought last season was his time to win it and it never happened . In fact im off to put a Bet on that felipe will go his F1 career without winning one ,
No disrespect to him , he is a phenominal driver on his day , but he cant string them " days " together to make up a title challenge , this is the only season he has been able to just keep up with the title chase , i see him fatering by september .
2 months ago
If Lewis does win this year, Jameas Allen will have a continous orgasm. jeez, hopefully brazil will be his last race ever.
for some very strange reason, something tells me that BMW may have one more surprise up their sleeve for the final stages of the season. I can see Heikki starting a consistent and strong push too, so who knows, we may six drivers seperated by 10 or less points. that would be wicked, it's nice to dream.
Although I personally want Kubica to win it, and being patriotic (well half of me anyway lol) i want lewis to win, but I see Masa winning, just as long as it doesn't rain again. If it does, he's screwed it seems.
I do know that BMW have a special package for Hungary, and are apparently going to provide a massive final update in Monza, so maybe they really are going for both titles this year.
Should be very interesting.
P.S. I ain't doing practice coverage, I have to do babysitting. Today has turned me right off the idea of having kids, haha.
Good article mate, again, POTD and 5 stars from me.
2 months ago
i think kimi is the one and what ever happens kimi is always best at the end so go kimi.
massa he is very strong after what he had done but will see in the end if he can hold it.
and finally lewis he had shown very strong performance so far against the both ferraries but it can always change very quikly like we saw it last year.
and this is my guess at the end of the year
1. Hamilton
2. Raikkonen
3. Massa
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