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Of the usual suspects Michael is doing alright, DC is doing alright, Heidfeld is doing alright etc. etc. No surprises there.
Who have really upped there game, most notably in the last couple of races when the cars have had there first updates after overseas problems are Giancarlo Fisichella, Jacques Villeneuve who both drove fantasticly in Austria, for Giancarlo to end in a points finish ahead of a Mac, for Jacques not rewarded unfortunately.
Also notable is Rubens performance who obviously has gained most in the change to the F2002. The car apparently has other handling\balance characteristics which suit Rubens well. Given his different driving style it was waiting for him to get a car which didn't favoured Michael's as it did before and he's really giving Michael a run for his money now.
Really bursting onto the scene now is Kimi although McLaren both in performance as reliabilty have degraded to third-best. He's doing an outstanding job and because DC obviously has shown to be on top of his game for a couple of years now it really is not enough to keep Kimi at bay. Given some personal as car development Kimi could be really step up to the front of F1. Remarkable performance so far.
Likewise Rubens resurrection because of more suitable equipment, also Button has gained from that and upped his game. He's more on the pace now and obviously Renault is taking a different approach to car development than Jordan who trusted themselves mostly on Trulli (which is why Frentzen got into a war of words and eventually out of the team). Now Trulli is without a doubt a unique driver with the most amazing natural talent on the grid today, as a development driver he's of hardly any use. He's the type of guy who can take a car, any car, on and drive it around amazingly fast. But given some time and development he would lose out to the ones who are doing the job carwise more thoroughly. So as Renault is Button giving some opportunity to get a bit of his solutions worked out he's giving Trulli a run for his money. I am wondering how long that will last as Trulli is too much to handle really. He reminds me of an event young Michael Andretti described when he was teammate to Ayrton back in 1993. He came into the pits during a GP (I believe it was during practice of Donington) and started telling about how vibrations and handling really made the car undrivable. Senna took that car to check out the problems, drove a extremly fast lap and got back to the pits. Andretti wanted to know how he managed to get the car around so quickly and what his sense of the problems where. No notable vibrations or handling problems Senna replied and Andretti couldn't understand how he got that speed out of that car. Trulli has that same capability of rising above things that are performance limitations to other drivers. Teams are easily lured into self-confidence or neglecting areas which should be developed so for Button I hope Renault works a bit Williams-style, very analytical, so he, and in the end also Trulli, can benefit from that.
Like Kimi also Massa and Sato should be noted. Altough Sato makes a messier apperance and is at times too eager and overdoing things, they both are rightfully in F1 as there capabilities with todays car are outstanding. They are very fast especially if you consider them driving against teammates which are really top of the bill themselves. Because these guys are so young it's also noteworthy what a friendly approach both Heidfeld as Fisichella have towards them. Still hoping for Pizzonia and Alonso to join the grid ofcourse, but given the current performance of 'old foxes' like Irvine, DC, Panis I hope we get to see them next year.
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