Just under a month to go, so I think we can start the thread!
Precious little action early on, but I'm looking forward to seeing Alonso return and to some interesting new driver/car combinations - Vettel at Aston Martin, Sainz at Ferrari, Perez at Red Bull, Ricciardo at McLaren. Maybe they'll even give us some hope of a serious contest until Lewis Hamilton starts to run away with it after about half a dozen races!
Unless something pretty drastic has changed in the close season, I can't really see far past this prediction for the championship, except maybe with 2 and 3 reversed:
1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Verstappen*
I reckon that it will be a close-run thing between Alpine (formerly Renault), Aston Martin (formerly Racing Point) and McLaren for the Second DIvision constructors' championship - in other words, third or fourth place dependent on whether Ferrari have got their act together. (They can't be that bad again, though, can they?)
And if Hamilton gets championship number 8, given his single-year contract extension I think he'll retire. That or a "vanity" stint at Ferrari, although that looks highy unlikely with two top young drivers now in place there. Maybe if they'd hung on to Vettel for just one more year...
* Edited to add: But OK, Formula1.com understandably begs to differ:
5 key reasons why the F1 pecking order could be shaken up in 2021
Precious little action early on, but I'm looking forward to seeing Alonso return and to some interesting new driver/car combinations - Vettel at Aston Martin, Sainz at Ferrari, Perez at Red Bull, Ricciardo at McLaren. Maybe they'll even give us some hope of a serious contest until Lewis Hamilton starts to run away with it after about half a dozen races!
Unless something pretty drastic has changed in the close season, I can't really see far past this prediction for the championship, except maybe with 2 and 3 reversed:
1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Verstappen*
I reckon that it will be a close-run thing between Alpine (formerly Renault), Aston Martin (formerly Racing Point) and McLaren for the Second DIvision constructors' championship - in other words, third or fourth place dependent on whether Ferrari have got their act together. (They can't be that bad again, though, can they?)
And if Hamilton gets championship number 8, given his single-year contract extension I think he'll retire. That or a "vanity" stint at Ferrari, although that looks highy unlikely with two top young drivers now in place there. Maybe if they'd hung on to Vettel for just one more year...
* Edited to add: But OK, Formula1.com understandably begs to differ:
5 key reasons why the F1 pecking order could be shaken up in 2021