2004 prediction

[Irvingthien]

Since all those F1 magazine have their anually preview of the year ahead,so why don't we start our own preview or prediction to the '04 season.
As for me, i predict it will once again be a 3 horse race for the title between Ferrari,McLaren and Williams.With all the drivers from the 3 teams challenging for the drivers' title.
Sauber and Toyota will battle it out for fourth with Renault because Sauber is using the same gearbox and engine as ferrari in'04.Toyota has just hired Gasgoyne so that will be a major boost.As for Renault, they lost Gascoyne and have the disadvantages for having an engine wasn't the same as last year.
Jordan will fight with Jag and BAR for fifth b'cause Jordan are using '04 spec engine thanks to the 1 engine prer weekend rule while Minardi will be last unless they have more cash.
Well, hope the season turn out as i predicted.

[Beostar]

Well I think the same way on some areas. Like it will be a 3 horse race but not between Ferrari,McLaren and Williams but between Ferrari, Mclaren and Renault. The advantage Renault has is they work with this new system that this years car was develloped by a completly different crew than last year. So they have been working on this years car for more than a year already so I'm guessing they will have some problems with Gascoyne leaving but that won't be to damaging. Williams on the other hand will be strong at the start of the season but will begin to loose it after around 3-4 races cause there will be 2 sides within the team. One for Montoya and one for Ralf and since Montoya is leaving end of the season... Don't think this will do them any good. For the rest i think sauber will be the 5th team with jaguar close behind and toyota even closer. Jordan will be better than last year but not good enough to battle BAR all year and minardi will be left on the last 2 spots and I fear that they will make it till the end of the year..

This is how i see this season. Ah and BTW Michael Schumacher will win his 7th title having won 81 races in his entire career.

Grtz
Beostar

[Aradea]

I think it's too soon to predict such a thing. There are new rules & new tracks.. Well, since I think that The one engine/weekend rule is the most important changes for 2004, here's my prediction :

The Constructor's title battle will only between Ferrari & McLaren.. Since they always have reliable package (engine and chassis).
Williams will compete with Renault and BAR for the 3rd, 4th and 5th position.
Toyota and Sauber is next in line.
And since I dont think that Jaguar will (EVER) have a good package, they have to be satisfied competing with Jordan and Minardi.

For the driver's title, the contenders are Schumi, Kimi, and Montoya (I'll go for Kimi to win it..).
Williams will have a few engine failure's throughout the season (maybe BAR too, but hopefully not).
Renault will have difficulties adapting to their new engine.

And Last, Michelin will win the tyre war again. their wets spec tyre will be better than last season..

Huge BAR Honda Fan

[doc f1]

driver
1.kimi
2.jpm
3.alonso

Why ,,,
because they are the only drivers left who race like hell , and race for every point available.
Jacques please come back

[Beostar]

think you didn't see all races last year cause on more than one occasion JPM/Kimi didn't race for every point available. neither did alonso.

I'm not saying they are bad just saying the reason why you put them up there isn't 100% accurate from my point of view.

[drspeed]

I think it'll be an even tighter three way championship than last year. The new Mclaren and Williams look impressively bold. I wonder if Ferrari could catch up this time with another evolutionary car. They already being whipped to race the new car right from the first race.

In 2004 I'm expecting Jaguar and BAR to give the kind of suprise Renault brought last year. Jaguars were one of the quickest in friday qualies thanks to special aerodynamics. If they could bring that to races, then they should be great. BAR was up there in terms of acceleration and speed last year. If Honda could produce a more reliable engine, Jenson Button should be very good compared to last year. And Sauber! Sauber should be extremely competitive with "literally" everything from Ferrari; the chassis, engine, driver, I bet they'll even share Ferrari's tire test data from last year.

It is abit harsh I admit, but I dont expect Minardi nor Jordan to be any better than last year. They're more or less striving to stay in F1 rather than improve.

Renault and Toyota however remain as mysteries. The Renault having made some significant structural changes in the new car, I dont expect them to be as competitive this year as they were last year, but the advantages the slimmer rear might bring remains a big mistery. I think Toyoda would have enough experience now to bring some new technical innovations this season. It's about time they learn something after running a car simlar to the F2002 and even bring bits of modifications of their own by the end of last season. Now that they have Mike Gascoyne, things should boost up this year.



I used to subscribe F1 racing and F1 magazine, but I've grown sick and tired of their hypocritical assessments(or bullshit) of things they hardly know. When Gerhard Berger said Williams will never win a championship they seemed to agree with him only until Williams gave him a blow at Monaco with a win followed by more dominating races. Just after Hungary, they criticised Schumacher for losing his edge to Alonso and said his champioship hopes are over. In their January issue he's apparently the 'man of the year'. As with season predictions in F1 mags, I hope you dont take any of them seriously.

[Scuderia_Russ]

I agree that Toyota could have a few surprises but i think they'll be coming from DaMattas direction more than Panis' (even poorer finishing record than Firman last year!) But i can't see Renault having such the massive drop off in pace alot of people are expecting.Watch out for Briatore though...he's one smart mother!
I'm going for... 1)Raikkonen
2)Schumacher (Snr)
3)Montoya
4)Barrichello
5)Coulthard
6)Schumacher
...Hope so anyway,i put £20 on Raikkonen @ 11/2!

[elf]

My crystal ball tells me:

Jordan to beat Jaguar in the constructors;

Button to score all of BAR's points, Takuma to get an 'L' plate stuck on his rear wing as a practical joke ;

Alonso and Montoya's close battle for 1st place in Melb;

Mark Webber to score all of Jag's points;

Mark Webber to get a new team-mate midway through the season;

Jaguar to make whole-sale aero changes prior to midway through the season;

Ferrari & all other Bridgestone runners to struggle up until Monaco;

Stoddhardt to set a world record on non-stop whingeing;

Bernie and Max caught in a s&m sex scandal... with each other!!!

A 4 horse scramble coming into Brazil for the driver's title between JPM, MS, FA and KR, with 6 points separating them all.

Barrichello to finally win in Interlagos, MS to bunt JPM, and himself, out of the race... but Montoya to have the last laugh by wining the drivers championship!!

Constructors C'ship to be:
1. McLaren
2. Williams
3. Ferrari
4. Renault
5. BAR
6. Sauber
7. Toyota
8. Jordan
9. Jaguar
10. Who else? Minardi

[Scuderia_Russ]

You forgot to mention Jaguar replacing half of their management staff and squandering most of the budget...gotta love them yanks!

[Flyer23]

1 - JPM
2 - KR
3 - RS
4 - MS

1 - Williams
2 - Ferrari
3 - McLaren
4 - TOYOTA

I think Toyota will be the surprise of 2004 and will finish on the podium more than once with DaMatta.

[SpeedTech]

1. JPM

2. KR

3. MS

4. RB

5. FA



1. Williams

2. Ferrari

3. Mclaren

4. Renault

5. Toyota or BAR

[rodders47]

yep agree with speed tech totally..

R.S will be an also ran, but I think maybe Minardi will surprise some people and may not end up LAST as usual. As for BAR, well what can anyone say about that over budgeted, underperforming team !!!

[FerrariManiac]

I do believe that reliability will judge the game this year.
In these terms Ferrari and McLaren have the best packages with Williams and Renault following.

M. Schumacher of course is the man to beat, and Kimmi is the outsider, JPM is the third of choice.

So,

Drivers :

M. Schumacher
Kimmi
JPM
Alonso
Barichello (those two battling for this place)

Teams :

Ferrari
Mclaren
Williams
Renault
Bar
Sauber (those two battling for that place)

Cheers.

[JC]

Lets start with what we do know, Ferrari and Williams have been strong in testing so far, so those are the two main title contenders. Ferrari have a reliable and consistently fast car, Williams have the best engine and a very competent aero package. McLaren on the other hand, have a got a shonky engine that won't mate well with the chassis, but because they are Mclaren they are bound to get into some sort of form, HOWEVER Renault have stepped up their game immeasurably and arguably are looking better in testing and development than McLaren. This season will be a lot closer between the top 5 teams i believe, and points distribution will be more spread between these 5 as inevitably there will be more retirements from engine failures(one engine weekend rule) or engines blowing up prior to the race(10 position penalty) which will mix things up a lot. One thing is for sure is that 2004 will be the most unpredictable season in the past 5 years, where 4 teams are title contenders and B.A.R/Button can hopefully get on the friggin podium.

So therefore:
Williams
Ferrari
Renault
McLaren
B.A.R
Sauber
Toyota
Jaguar
Jordan
Minardi

I say also people underestimate Coulthard and he may just be the dark horse of 2004(Sato and Trulli will also be surprises)





The biggest B.A.R fan.

[Power of Dreams]

So I guess most of you here took the pre-season testing form of BAR-Honda as bullshit light fuel loads as did most of the media.

Well lets see now, alot of you had McLaren winning the title or placing second with Raikonnen the champion. Hate to pour salt into your wounds, but they SUCK this year. I can't be any happier at their demise. Another posted, what can you say about BAR and their over-budgeted and something else, well I can say right now they are tied for third in the constructor's championship with JB scoring 2 podiums in 3 races and actually look to be Ferrari's biggest challenger this year. Yes it is early, but this is what the season looks like so far. For the other, JB will score all of BAR's points, hmmm, well Sato has 4 points(21%) so far and would of had another 1 or 2 if the engine didn't die. Maybe you should wear the big L around your neck for trying to jump all over this guy. Do you know his background? He didn't start driving professionally until he was 19, he used to race bicycles. This alone should be commened by everyone. Most racers start off very early and usually the latest is around 13. The guy in British F3, placed third in the championship in his first full season and then the next completely dominated the field by winning 11 of 12 rounds and that same year won the Marlboro Masters and the Macau GP. He has loads of talent and natural speed, he just needs to learn to harness it some. He loves going fast and sometimes he pays for it. Why not mention anything about Massa, he has way more offs than Sato? And was actually dropped by Peter Sauber because of his offs, the only reason he is with Sauber now is because Ferrari want him there and Sauber is now the Ferrari B team.

I love when people just spout off a bunch of bull----, especially when they don't really research and just follow the human band-wagon. So I suppose alot of you will possibly jump on the Honda wagon once it steams to the front again.