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[Ark]

Mercedes come into the 2016 as clear favourites, having already won both the WDC and WCC in both 2014 & 2015. Hamilton has so far emerged the better of the duo, although to his credit, Rosberg starts the season on the back of a short string of victories in the very final stages of the previous season. Expect tensions this year to sky rocket at the German team.

Rosberg’s sudden jump in form last year happened just as Hamilton was cooling off after having won the Championship, so I remain unconvinced that he can really mount a twelve-month long title challenge to what is now, surely, an unrelentingly confident Hamilton. Rosberg also needs to be wary that his contract is up at the end of this year, especially with an already impressive Pascal Wherlain at Manor this year.

I'm going to predict a close championship between Hamilton, Vettel and Thirdsberg. Rosberg going to say some awkwards nonsense in the post race interviews at least three times, Hamilton will have an outlandish haircut and find a new place on his body to put a tattoo.

Mercedes: They will continue to dominate, but internal rivalry will stop them from clinching the WDC this year

Lewis Hamilton: Will win his 3rd straight WDC after a shaky start for the season but will finish in a dominating fashion winning the WDC before the last race of the season.

Nico Rosberg is going to be a dominating force like in the last races of last year but will fade during the Summer period and will never regain his confidence, leading to rumors of being replaced and will fade even more allowing Lewis to win the WDC easily.

Mercedes will dominate once again and will win every race except for 4 during the year, one of them will be lost because of an accident between Lewis and Nico. In the end of the season they will sign Valtteri Bottas and give him Nico's place for 2017.

Lewis Hamilton will continue to be the king of swag, and officially start dating some 19-year-old supermodel, while the basement dwellers of NeoGAF will give him shit for living the life of a rockstar. #blessed #kingofswagstyle Also, at some point this season, while "walking" Roscoe, the dog will get his leash entangled in Hamilton's hoverboard, causing him to crash and hurt his wrist, Susie Wolff will replace him for two races, allowing Rosberg to pose a small challenge to the WDC.

Mercedes will dominate another season and Hamilton will win another championship after some team mate drama.

Ferrari enter this season on the back of a 2015 campaign that was far more successful than even they themselves ever expected. As always, Sebastian Vettel is in imperious form so if Ferrari are truly as close to Mercedes as Winter testing teased, expect some real battles between Mercedes and Vettel. Whether Kimi will figure out post-2008 F1 cars remains to be seen.

I’m half-predicting a Vettel WDC. I wouldn’t even complain if he did. Everything about Ferrari right now is likable and I’ve been yearning for a real Hamilton Vs. Vettel season fight to the Championship for a while now. Kimi will be gone this year for sure, Grosjean will be assumed as a shoe-in for his position but I’m expecting a surprise signing for Kimi’s seat.

Raikonnen will spin out of third place in Canada again..

Ferrari: Close second.
Vettel: He will realise that Kimi is unstoppable and will help him in his WDC bid from race 4 onwards
Kimi: After proving year after year after year that he's the only capable driver to win a WDC if he gets the right equipment. This year is going to be his' and also he'll retire right after winning it

Ferrari is going to be a strong 2nd place during the first half of the season with 2 wins but will once again refocus their development efforts for next year before the Summer break. Will still win a race in the last half of the season but never truly threaten Mercedes.

Despite a win during the year, Ferrari will not keep Kimi Raikkonen for 2017 and will announce Nico Hulkenberg during the Italian GP.

Vettel will learn the Italian translation of "Please let Kimi stay for another year, I like having no competition inside my team" to perfection this year, as he continues to come in third all the time while Kai Ebel pretends there's a Schumacher-style renaissance of F1 in his country.

Vettel will win a couple of races but not enough to challenge the championship in what is still an inferior car. Kimi will have a good last season in F1 and Bottas will replace him.

After their two most successful seasons in a very long time, Williams must be getting bored with near-miss podiums now and will continue chasing that ever elusive non-Pastor Maldonado win. Their drivers are top-performers and Bottas is poised for future greatness, but he could really do with an impressive win under his belt if he really wants either the Ferrari or Mercedes seat up for grabs this year.

I can’t see Massa staying much longer past the expiration of his contract, so this could totally be one of his last seasons in F1. Bottas on the other hand definitely needs a win. Hopefully we’ll see Williams win at least one race this year, they certainly deserve it after all of their efforts.

Valtteri Bottas will get his maiden win this year but will be a disappointing year for Williams by not being able to compete with Ferrari in most GPs.

Williams will keep making questionable strategy calls.

The drama at Red Bull should be well-known at this point. They’ll compete this year using a re-branded Renault engine and continue riding it out until someone cuts them some slack.

I’m not expecting anything different from Red Bull this year. Solid mid-field pack, no wins, Ricciardo will ultimately end up aiming for the Mercedes or Ferrari seat this year.

Redbull: Will battle it with Williams for the 3rd place, no wins but solid podiums

Red Bull will finish 3rd in the WCC standings because of major improvements shown during the season by the Renault errr Tag Hauer engine. Marko and Horner will keep complaining about the engine but for 2017 they will still be supplied by Renault.

Red Bull will have another forgettable year and replace one of its driver by the end of the season.

edbull is going to bitch about their engines, Newey's going to bitch about Mercedes power, Lauda's going to essentially call them wankers at some point on top of God knows what else...I guess Lauda's going to be Lauda,

Force India really out performed a lot of people’s expectations last season with their ‘spec b’ car. Finishing fifth in the Championship overall was a huge gain for them in the same year that Hulkenberg managed to win the Le Mans 24 Hours along with Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy. Expect another promising performance from them this year, as long as the finances remain secure at least.

Hulkenberg will be better than his form in the last half of last season...well he better at the very least. I'm also expecting Perez to impress, I will admit him getting kicked out of McLaren was the best thing for him since they put him inside of a piece of shit car and expected him to work miracles with it.

Nico Hulkenberg will finish 6th in the WDC behind Lewis, Nico, Vettel, Kimi and Ricciardo and will get 2 podiums during the year. One of them will be in Baku.

Force India will be very competitive and will get renamed when Vijay Mallya is arrested.

Renault are back! The formerly known Lotus team have been re-bought by Renault and have two entirely new drivers to boot. Ex-McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen, having allowed his contract to expire and cut ties with the British team, has signed with Renault (obviously). Jolyon Palmer, the 2014 GP2 champion, has also been brought onboard. Don’t expect anything great from this team until the second half of the season at best. They spent a lot of time last season messing around with finances and legalese.

Jolyon Palmer will be the biggest flop of the year and will be replaced mid year after being unable to compete with Kevin Magnussen. Ocon will replace him and will be kept for 2017.

Toro Rosso. 2015 Ferrari engines. Max Verstappen. What could possibly go wrong? As good as Carlos Sainz could ever be, he’ll never have the mindshare that Verstappen has right now. The seventeen year-old dominated the F1 media last year and we should expect him to do more of the same this year, if the Toro Rosso package allows him to get near any other comparable cars, that is.

I'm going to assume Verstappen will be a tad bit more conservative this season and will beat Sainz again.

Max Verstappen will have a very rough 2nd season with a lot of driving errors while driving in 6th/7th place earning him the Pastor Maldonado 2016 Driver Award. He will still get promoted for Red Bull for 2017.

Verstappen will end up taking several podium finishes this year, including a second place which will include Rosberg throwing a fit over an unexpected overtake. Sainz will perform equally as great, also getting at least one podium finish, but Nature Boy will throw a fit anyways, claiming the team is not giving them equal cars. Both drivers will move up to Red Bull next year, as Ricciardo will leave for Mercedes and Kvyat gets replaced after underperforming.

Sauber. There really isn’t much to say about this team anymore. They’ve gone from a plucky underdog to a disliked breaker of contracts. If they make it to the end of the season without being bought out, I’ll be surprised.

Sauber is going to announce some new drivers right before they get their shit impounded for not paying their fees.

Sauber will either fold or get bought by Honda.

A shadow of it’s former self, McLaren has recently endured the worst seasons in the team’s entire history. Winter testing has shown promise however, and Alonso and Button might, at the very least, be able to consistently finish races and fight in the mid-pack this season. New leadership at Honda’s F1 program lends further promise too. Make no mistake, the team is coming back to the front, it’s just a question of when. Absolutely expect this to be Jenson Button’s final year in Formula 1 as McLaren seeks to replace him with 2015 GP2 Champion, Stoffel Vandoorne (who is currently racing in Superformula in Japan thanks to Honda.

Teflonso is going to bitch and moan, Button will say something cheeky to his race engineer after his Honda catches on fire...I predict Ron to still be salty about Hamilton leaving.

Alonso: Will samurai his way through, and will criticize Ferrari in every single opportunity he gets. This will also be his last year in F1

McLaren Honda will be a lot better this year but will not get a podium but will end ahead of Manor, Sauber, Renault and Haas. Button will score more points than Alonso. Alonso will start whining about Ron Dennis at Silverstone leading to a very tense couple of months of manufactured Red Bull and Mercedes links but he will stay put because nobody else will want him for 2017.

McLaren, Haas and Manor will have a fierce competition over 17th position, until McLaren retires and Haas improves after gaining some much needed F1 racing experience and moves up the midfield. Wehrlein will pretend driving second to last is better than driving first in another race class, hoping he finally gets Rosberg's seat next year until Ricciardo gets it.

Rising from the jaws of bankruptcy comes a new Manor team, with a good logo and a nice livery! A new technical partnership with both Williams, coupled with current-spec Mercedes engines should see the team finally thrust itself into the points at least semi-regularly. Mercedes’ promising young driver Pascal Wherlain is the headline act here, and a lot of eyes will be following his progress throughout this season.

Rio Haryanto will cause a major upset during the season by crashing into a leading driver while being lapped.

Renault, Manor and Haas will all be comparable, with Haas coming out on top.

Newcomer Haas F1 will be looking to gain as much as ground as quickly as possible this year. With countless years of racing pedigree behind it, a very close Ferrari technical partnership, and a very solid and motivated driver in Romain Grosjean, we should expect to see Haas in the mid-pack of the grid by the second half of the season, if not before.

Haas will score points but will only finish ahead of Manor during the year.

Team mate battle winners: Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Verstappen, Nasr, Alonso, Wehrlein, Grosjean

Constructors: Mercedes - Ferrari - Red Bull - Williams - Force India - Toro Rosso - McLaren - Renault - Sauber - Haas - Manor

Champion - Hamilton, the best driver - Wonderboy, the worst driver - Haryanto, who will be replaced mid-season

New quali format will be a disaster with lack of running especially in Q3 and no real fight for pole, because of clown tyres. I'm expecting a quick change there.

And that's it. I don't even want to write more about it, because this is me being the least interested in F1 since the very beginning in 1999 New season of MotoGP, Indycar or WEC, though, bring it on!

The biggest rumor during the season will be Sebastian Vettel for Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton. But will end after Lewis signs a new deal with the team in September.

Sadly it's going to be a two horse race. No question in my mind at all that Button and Alonso are going to be lapping a significant amount of the field, leaving #blessed and #germanjesus desperate to find their way into a McLaren contract next year.

Alonso eventually winning out, causing a particular GAF poster to propose immediately to Peter Prodromou, with the eventual wedding featuring Ron Dennis as best man.

McLaren, Haas and Manor will have a fierce competition over 17th position, until McLaren retires and Haas improves after gaining some much needed F1 racing experience and moves up the midfield. Wehrlein will pretend driving second to last is better than driving first in another race class, hoping he finally gets Rosberg's seat next year until Ricciardo gets it.

The following drivers will retire or leave F1 at the end of the season: Alonso, Massa, Kimi, Nasr, Hulkenberg and Haryanto (might exit before the season is over).

It will be either very close season on the top IF Ferrari did make that huge step and Mercedes did not, or it will be like 2015. Mercedes in front, with occasional chance of Ferrari victory. Of course, we do not know how new quali format will be and how will Pirelli rubber 'evolve'... I still think that Mercedes sandbagged in preseason tests and they were masking their true pace and giving 'they are close' speeches over PR. But as everybody else I would like to see close battle between top two teams.

I expect quite packed midfield with many teams competing for points. And the main question is, who will be the backmarker? Manor, Haas, Sauber or Mclaren? Those teams will seek their chance for important points in first 1/3 of the season, because they will be left behind in development race. The main ? is Mclaren , or more like Honda. Did their solve their issues or not? We will see in this loooong season.

Do we have an Autosport GP Predictor league made?

If not, join this one! NeoGAF 2016.

 

[amar212]

First?

I am the World Champion!

2017 here we come.

Good OP Ark, thanx for the effort

 

[Big Takeover]

 

[Tubie]

Great job Ark!

Let another season of Honda false promises begin!

 

[chadskin]

Thanks for putting this together, Ark, great job.

Let the games begin!

 

[NihonTiger90]

Wonderful job, Ark

 

[ElTorro]

Great job Ark.

Begun the new star wars has.

 

[Ark]

Thanks guys

And I'm going to kick off predictions for the league ;D

Given that it's already 3am, I might as well stay up for qualy. But I really need to sleep, lol. I'll catch the qualy highlights on Channel 4 or Sky. I'll definitely be around for the race on Sunday though.

 

[Hasney]

Worth noting that in it's 3rd year, Alt+F1 on Giant Bomb is a damn competent and fun F1 weekly podcast. Now doesn't need a subscription to Giant Bomb either.

http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/altf1/

Not just for casuals, they go into some detail and has the same crossover as us in the NeoGAf F1 thread.

 

[chadskin]

FP3 off to a great start!

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

I should listen to that and start writing on my defunct f1 blog.

 

[theignoramus]

A pit lane collision not even a minute into FP3, wow.

 

[jambo]

Ahaha, what a fuck up.

 

[markao]

what a mess


not the OP Ark, great Job

 

[Hasney]

Wait, shit, it's 3am. How is it every year I'm always drinking heavy the night before the opening qualifying?! Once again, may as well stay up and POWER THROUGH

 

[ElTorro]

FP3 off to a great start!

Missed it. Who crashed? Who are the heroes that are upholding the spirit of Maldonado in 2016?

 

[Mastah]

Why am I not surprised this collision involved Haryanto? I loved how our Polish commentator explaining yesterday new quali rules said "after first 7 minutes Rio Haryanto is eliminated and then every next 90 seconds another drivers", lol.

 

[Shaneus]

No shit, the RB12 looks positively fluorescent in person compared to every other car, especially in these overcast conditions.

Cars don't sound much different from last year (from memory), still not very loud.

 

[Mastah]

Missed it. Who crashed? Who are the heroes that are upholding the spirit of Maldonado in 2016?

 

[chadskin]

Missed it. Who crashed? Who are the heroes that are upholding the spirit of Maldonado in 2016?

Two drivers I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun with this year: Grosjean and Haryanto.

 

[bigred50]

Damn, the Renault's look sharp in yellow.

 

[Hasney]

Why am I not surprised this collision involved Haryanto? I loved how our Polish commentator explaining yesterday new quali rules said "after first 7 minutes Rio Haryanto is eliminated and then every next 90 seconds another drivers", lol.

Ahahaha, the Polish commentators are clearly brilliant.

 

[ElTorro]

What's the weather prediction for tomorrow? Any chance of rain?

 

[Juicy Bob]

(8) His name is Rio and he crashes in the pits.... (8)

 

[Hasney]

What's the weather prediction for tomorrow? Any chance of rain?

Rain is possible.

 

[dubc35]

Let's do this!

...Mercedes domination


Great OP!

 

[chadskin]

Fastest FP3 lap last year was a 1:27.867 by Lewis which Ricciardo already beat. Quite promising.

 

[Leunam]

Go Lou.

 

[scorcher59]

Is Jock Clear a made up name? seriouse question

 

[jey_16]

Mercedes finally unleashed

 

[Juicy Bob]

Keep thinking there's a 2002 Jordan on the track...

 

[ElTorro]

Hope dies last. If the times so far are representative, then Ferrari is pretty close.

 

[theignoramus]

FP3 last year had the fastest lap time of 1:27.7 for Rosberg, between the softer tyre compound and 2016 upgrade, the Merc gained an extra two seconds of pace.
edit: in 2004, when all those fastest lap records were set, with the v10s and 19,000 rpm engines, Schumacher put in a free practise lap of 1:25.093 and one at 1.24.718

 

[Hasney]

Hope dies last. If the times so far are representative, then Ferrari is pretty close.

The new fucked up qualifying means it only needs one mistake for Mercedes to not be on pole at least.

 

[Celebrimbor]

Hope dies last. If the times so far are representative, then Ferrari is pretty close.

Vettel is still out, so he drove the fastes time at the start of a 10-lap run and he made a mistake in the third sector. The mercs also drove less laps.

 

[Lunar FC]

Lets get it Haas!

Spoiler

And Vettel

Edit: Can we ban Haryanto from the track already? Smh.

 

[Vostro]

Nice OP! Great that the season is back.

 

[DasRaven]

Subbed. Time for #4 for #44!
I'm hoping for 400 points this year.

 

[DrM]

Mercedes finally unleashed

Yeah and it looks like they have some reserve for qualification on supersoft compound

Vettel is still out, so he drove the fastes time at the start of a 10-lap run and he made a mistake in the third sector. The mercs also drove less laps.

Supersoft compound works best in first five laps, then its performance goes away.

 

[RaySpencer]

Yay! New season!


I hope its more exiting this year!

Spoiler

But I still want Hammy to win, Hes been my favourite since he started, and I want him to catch up to Vettel, haha.

 

[RoKKeR]

New season, hell yeah!

Hoping qualifying is good. Still think the new format sounds dumb as hell but I guess we'll see.

 

[Mastah]

If it's as close as it seems to be, there won't be any 3-way (Kimi is shit) fight for pole in dying moments of quali, because everything will be decided with few minutes before the end. What a great show that would be.

 

[theignoramus]

Dont the new quali rules leave the door wide open for the kind of Q3 "mistake" that wrecked everyone's final run at Monaco a couple years ago?

 

[Mastah]

Albert Fabrega ES ‏@AlbertFabrega 26s26 seconds ago

Haryanto será penalizado con 3 posiciones en la parrilla y 2 puntos en la licencia por el incidente con Grosjean en la FP3

New Maldonado has arrived, as predicted. Less reckless, but also less talented. 3 place grid penalty and 2 points on his superlicence for collision with RoGro in the pitlane.


And Wolff confirms the possibility is real. He just said in Q3 they will go for one fast lap, pit, go for another and that's it, last 3-4 minutes we probably won't see cars running.

 

[Aiii]

Wolff's shit eating grin is even less tolerable at 6AM.

 

[RaySpencer]

Whens Quali actually start?

 

[chadskin]

Whens Quali actually start?

At the top of the hour

 

[RaySpencer]

At the top of the hour

Ok, nice a whole halfy to go! Thanks.

 

[Hasney]

Lads, I've drunk half a 500ml bottle of 40% ABV IPA beer, plus 4 bottles of 12% ABV hardcore IPA "tonight". It's 5:30am right now, so I apologise for any posts during quali

 

[Mastah]

Tobi Grüner ‏@tgruener 31s31 seconds ago

Not only was Haryanto handed a 3-place grid penalty. He also has to use an old frontwing spec for the rest of the weekend. #nospares #AMuS

HaHaHaryanto.