2012 Drivers Championship - Early Predictions

Chris Jenkins · Dec 21, 2011

OK, so we have 85 days until the start of the 2012 season.
I thought it'd be fun for us to lock in some mega-early preditions for the FINAL standings for the WDC.

The rules are simple:
-Copy and paste the list below and fill in your predictions.
-No discussions please. Just your list.
-I will ask the Moderators/Staff Members to lock the thread before the first test in February
-In December 2012, I'll announce the winner. (No prize, just for fun)

Here goes:

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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
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23.
24.

Chris Jenkins · Dec 21, 2011

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Hamilton
4. Button
5. Webber
6. Massa
7. Rosberg
8. Raikkonen
9. Schumacher
10. Di Resta
11. Hulkenburg
12. Grosjean
13. Kobayashi
14. Ricciardo
15. Perez
16. (Unknown Williams Driver)
17. Vergne
18. Maldonaldo
19. Kovaleinen
20. Trulli
21. Glock
22. De La Rosa
23. Pic
24. (Unknown HRT Driver)

Hampus Andersson · Dec 21, 2011

Lewis Hamilton
Fernando Alonso
Sebastian Vettel
Jenson Button
Felipe Massa
Mark Webber
Nico Rosberg
Michael Schumacher
Kimi Raikkonen
Sergio Perez
Paul Di Resta
Nico Hulkenberg
Kamui Kobayashi
Daniel Ricciardo
Jean Eric Vergne
Pastor Maldonado
Romain Grosjean
Bruno Senna
Heikki Kovalainen
Jarno Trulli
Timo Glock
Charles Pic
Pedro De La Rosa
Narain Karthikeyan

Michael Brown · Dec 21, 2011

1. Alonso
2. Vettel
3. Hamilton
4. Button
5. Webber
6. Massa (Beating Schumacher by a small margin)
7. Schumacher
8. Rosberg
9. Raikkonen
10. Di Resta
11. Grosjean
12. Kobayashi
13. Hulkenberg
14. Vergne
15. Perez
16. Ricciardo
17. Kovalainen
18. Maldonado
19. Unknown Caterham driver
20. Unknown Williams driver
21. De La Rosa
22. Glock
23. Unknown HRT driver
24. Pic

Bit of a stretch for Schumacher to beat his teammate, Di Resta to get 10th and Kovalainen to beat both Williams drivers.

Adam Hartwell · Dec 29, 2011

1. Button
2. Vettel
3. Schumacher
4. Hamilton
5. Rosberg
6. Webber
7. Alonso
8. Di Resta
9. Raikkonen
10. Grosjean
11. Massa
12. Kobayashi
13. Perez
14. Maldonado
15. Ricciardo
16. Kovalinen
17. Vergne
18. Trulli
19. Williams Driver.
20. HRT driver
21. De La Rosa
22. HRT driver
23. Glock
24. Pic

Schumacher position could vary from 3rd to 7th, Mercedes will be good, i see Button vs Vettel down to the wire, and i see a clean cut 21st to 24th consisting of Virgin and HRT who will be a mile off the pace, i also see Massa dropping further through the field and Ferrari struggling to keep up, i also see Williams Driver, if it's Barrichello being a way behind Maldonado, if it's not Barrichello it possibly will be higher, Schumacher is above Rosberg because IMO he's got better race pace overall.

stephen · Dec 29, 2011

1.Button
2.Vettel
3.Webber
4.Alonso
5.Hamilton
6.Massa
7.Rosberg
8.Schumacher
9.di Resta
10.Raikkonen
11.Hulkenberg
12.Kobayashi
13.Grosjean
14.Perez
15.Ricciardo
16.Vergne
17.Maldonado
18.Kovalienen
19.Williams driver
20.Trulli
21.HRT driver
22.Glock
23.Pic
24.de la Rossa

I'd say if Mclaren get enough testing done they can make it a very good fight for drivers and constructors trophies, after all Button beat vettel in the second half of the season this year, depending on his form, Hamilton could actually beat Alonso. Further back, Mercedes will probably start to catch the Ferraris near the end of the season. There will be plenty of scraps between Force India, Torro Rosso and Lotus with Force India winning out. Raikkonen will probably take time to re-adjust to the car but Grosjean has much less experience. If Barrichello comes back with Williams he could actually beat Kovalienen. Caterham will leave behind the other 'newbie' teams as they're getting KERS this season. If HRT's new driver is reasonably experienced they will probably beat the Marrussias without too much trouble. I predict de la Rossa will struggle to get back up to pace like he did before and also like Schumacher when he rejoined.

Mark Jameson · Dec 30, 2011

1.Button
2.Alonso
3.Hamilton
4.Vettel
5.Webber
6.Schumacher
7.Rosberg
8.Raikkonen
9.Massa
10.Di Resta
11. Grosjean
12.Hulkenberg
13.Perez
14.Koybayashi
15.Ricciardo
16.Vergne
17.Williams TBA Driver
18.Kovalienen
19.Maldonado
20.Trulli
21.Glock
22.Pic
23.De La Rossa
24.HRT TBA Driver

Lars Brugman · Dec 30, 2011

1. Button
2.Alonso
3.Vettel
4.Webber
5.Hamilton
6.Schumacher(Drives a good season)
7.Rosberg
8.Raikonen
9.Di Resta
10.Grosejan
11.Massa(drove like a 60 year old)
12.Hulkenberg
13.Kobayashi
14.Perez (with very little difference to KOB)
15.Kovelainen
16.Ricciardo
17.Vergne
18.Trulli
19.Glock
20.Maldonado
21.Senna
22.Pic
23.De La Rosa
24.TBA HRT (Barrichello!)

Luke McVicar · Dec 31, 2011

1.Hamilton
2.Vettel
3.Alonso
4.Webber
5.Button
6.Rosberg
7.Schumacher
8.Massa
9.Grosjean
10.Raikkonen
11.Kobayashi
12.Di Resta
13.Perez
14.Ricciardo
15.Hulkenburg
16.Maldonado
17.Kovalienen
18.Vergne
Rest won't score so doesn't matter, I Didn't put the Open williams seat as its impossible to predict if you don;t know who it is.

If its Sutil i would put him 13th.

I think Mclaren could make the fastest car in 2012, if it is it is likely to be slightly faster which will really point out the weakness in Button as he is quite bad in qualify which would get him behind the bulls and alonso making it much to hard for him to make up the deficit to Hamilton hence the result, but either way i expect the top 5 to be much closer, similar to 2010
I think Mercedes will step it up in 2012 maybe a win or two, Lotus Should be right behind playing with Massa as hes clearly a 3rd rate driver, maybe a random victory if they can show the kind of innovation they showed at the start of 2011.

Alexander Macdonald · Dec 31, 2011

EDIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1.Hamilton (changed my mind)
2. Vettel
3. Button (following closely behind)
4. Webber
5. Alonso
6. Rosberg
7. Massa
8. Schumachar
9. Raikonnen
10. Grosjean
11. Kobayashi
12. Di Resta
13. Perez
14. Hulkenburg
15. Ricciardo
16. Senna
17. Vergne
18. Maldonado
19. Kovalainen
20. Trulli
21. Glock
22. De Le Rosa
23. Karthikeyan
24. Pic

Patrick Wilson · Jan 2, 2012

1. Button (Truly showed excellence in 2011)
2. Vettel (Shows weakness of cracking under pressure. Example: 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, Last Lap)
3. Hamilton
4. Alonso
5. Webber
6. Rosberg (With 1st Win)
7. Raikkonen
8. Schumacher
9. Massa (Ultimate Disappointment)
10. Kobayashi
11. Di Resta
12. Perez
13. Grosjean
14. Hulkenberg
15. Senna
16. Moldonado
17. Ricciardo
18. Vergne
19. Kovalainen (Scores first points with Caterham)
20. Trulli
21. Glock
22. de la Rosa
23. Pic
24. Me at HRT haha

Christian Burge · Jan 4, 2012

1.Hamilton
2.Vettel
3.Webber
4.Button
5.Alonso
6.Rosberg
7.Massa
8.Shumacher
9.Raikonen
10.Di Resta
11.Kobayashi
12.Grosjean
13.Williams driver
14.Perez
15.Hulkenberg
16.Kovalinen
17.Vergne
18.Riccardo
19.Maldonado
20.Truli
21.Hrt driver (if alguersuari)
22.Glock
23.De la Rossa
24.Pic

Chris Jenkins · Jan 17, 2012

Only a couple weeks left to lock in your predictions.
Senna has now been confirmed as the other Williams driver.

Hampus Andersson · Jan 24, 2012

14 days left to put in your predictions.

It would be fun if you got 1 point for every right so we could crown a champion at the end of the year

Ho3n3r · Jan 24, 2012

1. Vettel
2. Hamilton
3. Alonso
4. Schumacher
5. Webber
6. Button
7. Raikkonen
8. Massa
9. Rosberg
10. Maldonado
11. Grosjean
12. Vergne
13. Ricciardo
14. Kobayashi
15. Di Resta
16. Hulkenberg
17. Kovalainen
18. Perez
19. Senna
20. Trulli
21. Glock
22. Pic
23. De la Rosa
24. HRT Driver

Michael Brown · Jan 24, 2012

I'll update mine when all the drivers have been confirmed.

Hampus Andersson · Jan 24, 2012

Michael Brown said:
I'll update mine when all the drivers have been confirmed.

It might be to late, it´s only 1 HRT driver left and they might as well wait until after the tests.

This thread will close before the first test.

Robert Wiesenmüller · Jan 24, 2012

1. Vettel
2. Hamilton
3. Button
4. Alonso
5. Massa
6. Webber
7. Rosberg
8. Schumacher
9. Kobayashi
10. Di Resta
11. Perez
12. Grosjean
13. Hülkenberg
14. Raikkönen
15. Vergne
16. Maldonado
17. Kovalainen
18. Ricciardo
19. Trulli
20. Senna
21. de la Rosa
22. Glock
23. Pic
24. Second HRT driver

Romano Valente · Jan 24, 2012

1. Vettel
2. Alonso
3. Hamilton
4. Button
5. Webber
6. Massa
7. Rosberg
8. Schumacher
9. Hulkenburg
10. Grosjean
11. Raikkonen
12. Di Resta
13. Kobayashi
14. Senna
15. Ricciardo
16. Maldonado
17. Perez
18. Vergne
19. Kovalainen
20. Trulli
21. de la Rosa
22. Glock
23. HRT #2

24. Pic

stephen · Feb 5, 2012

1.Alonso
2.Vettel
3.Button
4.Massa
5.Webber
6.Hamilton
7.Rosberg
8.Schumacher
9.di Resta
10.Raikkonen
11.Hulkenberg
12.Kobayashi
13.Grosjean
14.Perez
15.Ricciardo
16.Vergne
17.Maldonado
18.Kovalienen
19.Senna
20.Trulli
21.Karthikeyan
22.Glock
23.Pic
24.de la Rossa
edit from my previous post, after seeing ferrari's new car i feel they will put up a very strong fight, massa and hamilton could finish higher than i've predicted depending on their performance, also the williams could do better