[Official] Predictions Time Capsule 2021

[Born Racer]

So, here we make outlandish predictions (or sensible ones or a mixture) and lock the thread before Bahrain FP1, opening it again after Abu Dhabi, where we all see how wrong we were. Have fun.

Make as many of them as quantifiable as possible, then you can see how many you had right.

1. Lewis Hamilton will win his eighth world championship by fewer than 10 points from Max Verstappen.

2. Hamilton will not announce his retirement up to and including the day of the final race.

3. Hamilton will speak out in Saudi Arabia about human rights.

4. No drivers will get COVID.

5. No races will be cancelled or rescheduled.

6. Pérez will win as many races as Verstappen.

7. Alonso will get at least 2 podiums.

8. Mazepin will get a ban or be replaced by his team during the season (or do something outrageous).

9. Gunther Steiner will swear at least 5 times in Drive to Survive Season 3 (haven't finished it yet).

10. Haas will score no points.

11. Ricciardo will score more podiums than Norris.

12. Raikkonen will not announce his retirement up to and including the day of the final race.

13. Vettel will outscore Stroll.

14. Gasly will win another race.

[BertMk2]

Ok - here we go:

1. Hamilton will win his eighth title.
2. Mercedes will win their eighth consecutive title.
3. Bottas won't be 2nd in the final standings and won't be at Mercedes in 2022
4. Haas won't score any points.
5. Williams will score.
6. Ferrari won't win any races.
7. Albon won't be re-called to either Red Bull team for 2022.
8. No team other than Mercedes or Red Bull will win a race.
9. Gasly will have another good season but won't get back into the Red Bull team.
10. There will be no overtakes at Monaco after the first lap.
11. There will be no driver substitutions.

The one I'm least sure about is 5, I hope I'm wrong on 8.

[Aysedasi]

1. Hamilton will win his 8th title (and will deny all rumours that he is going to retire and breed goats....)
2. Verstappen will finish runner-up in the WDC
3. Bottas will be replaced at Mercedes by Russell at some point in the season
4. Vettel will win at least one race for Aston Martin during the season
5. Perez will out-qualify Verstappen at least 6 times
6. Sainz will outscore Leclerc at Ferrari
7. Leclerc will be involved in at least 3 shunts ending his race
8. Mercedes will win the Constructors Championship
9. Williams will score points
10. Tsunoda will score points

[crmalcolm]

A prediction for each driver - in the order I think the final WDC will stand:

1-Hamilton. 8th title, by less than 10 points with his 100th F1 win coming at the British GP.
2-Verstappen. Will lead the WDC 3 times during the season, including being in the lead going into the final race of the season.
3-Pérez. Two race wins, and enough points (alongside Verstappen) to see Red Bull take the WCC.
4-Bottas. No race wins, will be asked to sacrifice position for Hamilton three times in races from Monza onwards.
5-Alonso. Will win two of the sprint races.
6-Ricciardo. Will lead the field into the first corner at Imola, and finish with five podiums. Will win one sprint race.
7-Gasly. One win, in a wet race.
8-Norris. Will have a better qualifying record than Ricciardo, but not as much success in races.
9-Leclerc. Will finish ahead of Vettel in the final standings by one point. Will end up qualifying last as a result of a sprint race.
10-Vettel. Will be given a 'dubious' strategy on at least two occasions, that will see him finish behind Stroll. Will get into robust defence against Stroll, and cause Stroll at least two DNFs (or damage that requires a pit-stop).
11-Ocon. Will be DOTR in the Ten-Tenths polls on two occasions.
12-Sainz Jr. Will retire with mechanical issues five times during the season.
13-Stroll. Two podiums, one race win.
14-Räikkönen. One podium, four DNF's.
15-Tsunoda. Will be driving a Red Bull car due to injury/illness at Mexico, will qualify in the bottom five at Japan and finish two laps down.
16-Russell. Will crash out at Monaco, Baku and Montréal, before getting a top-ten finish at Le Castellet.
17-Schumacher. Will be in the points twice during the season.
18-Mazepin. Will be fined for an off-track incident during the season. Will score a point in the US GP.
19-Giovinazzi. Will cause a red flag at São Paulo during the race. The event will then go beyond the 2hr mark.
20-Latifi. Will be the only driver to not get a point all season, and will retire the car with no apparent issue in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi.

[Richard C]

1. Hamilton will win his eighth title.
2. Verstappen will be second in points.
3. Perez will beat Bottas in points.
4. Williams will score points.
5. Haas will not score any points.
6. Tsunoda will outscore Gasly.
7. Perez will win at least one race.
8. Mazepin will have a rough season including at least one penalty that negatively adjusts his grid position.
9. Alonso will not be on the podium.
10. McLaren will win a race.

A few not particularly controversial things (such as additional title for Lewis).

Richard

[chillibowl]

1. i will copy everyone else's first pick...LH will win his 8th title.
2. Dan Ric will win a race.
3. Alonso will not take every race start this season.
4. George will be called up to fill in for Merc for at least 1 race.
5. Williams will beat Haas in the constructors.
6. Mclaren will beat Aston Martin in the constructors.
7. at least 4 different drivers will win a race.
8. Hamilton, Alonso, Vettee, and then Kimi will be the finishing order of current WDCs on the grid.
9. Schumi will beat his team mate in the drivers table.
10. Ferrari will finish no higher then 5th in the constructors.

11. Forgot about the sprint races...they are going to be awesome!

[BTCC frog]

1. Lewis Hamilton will win another championship, but both Bottas and Verstappen will be closer on points at the end of the season than they were in 2020.
2. Sergio Perez will finish a distant fourth in the championship and will not win a race.
3. Antonio Giovinazzi will beat Kimi Raikkonen in the points, but both Alfa Romeo drivers will be out of F1 in 2022.
4. There will be at least one controversial collision (the drivers will have different opinions about who is at fault), between Vettel and Alonso, but Vettel will comfortably beat Alonso in the championship.
5. Lance Stroll will take yet another lucky podium.
6. Esteban Ocon will struggle and will not be an Alpine driver in 2022.
7. Seven teams and eleven drivers will take podium finishes.
8. Both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will still be Mercedes drivers next year.
9. Charles Leclerc will finish best of the rest in the championship (after Mercedes, Red Bull), but Sainz will struggle with a difficult Ferrari and will not take a podium.
10. And I'll end with a bold one - due to prediction 8 and prediction 9, George Russell will be a Ferrari driver in 2022.

And the final championship results:
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Verstappen, 4. Perez, 5. Leclerc, 6. Vettel, 7. Ricciardo, 8. Norris, 9. Alonso, 10. Gasly, 11. Sainz, 12. Stroll, 13. Tsunoda, 14. Ocon, 15. Giovinazzi, 16. Raikkonen, 17. Russell, 18. Schumacher, 19. Latifi, 20. Mazepin
1. Mercedes, 2. Red Bull, 3. McLaren, 4. Ferrari, 5. Aston Martin, 6. Alpine, 7. Alpha Tauri, 8. Alfa Romeo, 9. Williams, 10. Haas

[Richard C]

A bit of an asterisk regarding my predictions. I am pretty much ignoring the Sat sprint races in my list.

If I wanted to comment on those.. I predict they will be a success and that people will like them. So expect more in 2022!

Richard

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

A bit of an asterisk regarding my predictions. I am pretty much ignoring the Sat sprint races in my list.

If I wanted to comment on those.. I predict they will be a success and that people will like them. So expect more in 2022!

Richard

Likewise for me Richard, I ignored them completely. Life is already too complicated.....

[Hawkwood]

1. Hamilton will win the WDC.
2. It will be announced before the end of the season that Hamilton or Bottas will not drive for Mercedes in 2022.
3. Perez will win at least 2 races.
4. Between them, Mercedes and Red Bull will win every race except 1.
5. Mazepin will beat Schumacher in qualy head-to-head.
6. Haas will finish last in the WCC.
7. Giovanazzi will outscore Raikkonen.
8. There will be at least one driver change during the season.
9. Stroll will beat Vettel in the WDC.
10. It will be announced before the end of the season that Gasly will join Alpine for 2022, replacing Ocon.

[peterelise]

1. Riccardo will finish with more points than Norris
2. Vettel will have more points than Stroll
3. Leclerc will have more points than Sainz
4. Verstappen will dominate Perez who won’t get a contract renewal
5. Tsunoda will start slowly but by the back half of the season will be finishing ahead of Gasly more often than not.
6. Alonso will still have it and will finish with more points than Ocon
7. Mazepin will outperform Schumacher early but by the back half roles will be reversed.
8. George Russell will be announced as a Mercedes driver for 2022
9. Hamilton to take 8th title and improve his case for GOAT-ness by outperforming Verstappen in more equally matched cars.
10. Alfa Romeo will finish the WCC ahead of Alpha Tauri, Williams and Haas.

Edited to provide some reasoning/explanations

Am Australian and massive fan of Ric (so a good dose of hope in this one given I rate Norris)
Think Perez has been massively overrated by outperforming Stroll having (in my view) been outperformed by Ocon
Think Bottas will perform well (and that we will look back on him as being a top talent who was “unlucky” to be Hamilton’s teammate) but that Mercedes will have to sign Russell to stop Red Bull or Ferrari grabbing him and he will either replace a retiring Hamilton or Bottas will have to leave.

[gert]

01. Bottas will once again outscore Verstappen
02. Williams will score 0 points
03. At least 4 different teams will win races
04. At least 7 different drivers will win races
05. Tsunoda will be the only rookie to score points
06. Russell will succeed Hamilton at Mercedes
07. Raikkonen will announce his retirement before the end of the season
08. McLaren will score more points than Alpine and Aston Martin
09. Verstappen will retire on the first lap at least twice
10. At least 3 different drivers will have to miss a race

[S griffin]

1) Bottas will never be more than 25 points behind in the championship
2) Williams will score more points than in the last 3 seasons combined
3) McLaren will get onto the podium with both drivers
4) Ferrari will replace Binotto
5) George Russell will end somewhere other than Merc
6) Kimi will end his career at Merc
7) Tsunoda will finish highest of the rookies
8) Ocon will be destroyed by Alonso and will be on his way out
9) Aston will win a race, at least one
10) A new team will join in 2022.
11) Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel will leave F1

[skells22]

1 new world champion
2 car upside down
3 a pile up
4 one change of venue due to covid
5 2 wet races
6 Schumacher be best rookie

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by S griffin

6) Kimi will end his career at Merc

Wow!

[S griffin]

Stranger things have happened. F1 has always had things happen we least suspect

[Greem]

Keeping it simple:

1 Hamilton champion
2 Kimi, Vettel retire from F1
3 Stroll gets his arse handed to him
4 The calendar will not remain as it is
5 Two drivers will miss races due to positive COVID tests

[karting]

1. Max Champion
2. Red Bull Champions
3. Vettel to out score Le Clerc
4. Norris to lose to Ricciardo
5. Russel signed twitch Merc before end of Season
6. Ocon leaves F1
7. Kimi Retires at end of season
8. French GP gets cancelled
9. Every driver scores a point
10. Haas to finish last overall

[S griffin]

I still think it will be tough for anyone other than Merc to win. And there are some cynical views on here, hope most of them don’t come true!

[VIVA GT]

I thought I ought to get my half-dozen predictions in before it's too late:
1. Sir Lewis Hamilton will win his 8th World Championship.
2. Alonso will beat Ocon.
3. Williams will score more points than Haas.
4. The top 3 teams will be Mercedes, Red Bull & McLaren.
5. Ferrari will battle with Renault/Alpine (but I'm not sure where that will be in the standings).
6. Verstappen will have more DNF's than Perez.

[P38 in workshop]

1.Verstappen will win the Championship.
2.Kimi announces new deal before Monza.
3.Williams outscore Haas an Alfa Romeo.
4.Alpine finish ahead of McLaren.
5.Stroll seeks alternative career.
6.Sir Lewis achieves more musical success than Jacques Villeneuve.
7.Tsunoda achieves three podiums.
8.Giovanazzi and Schumacher swap seats for 2022.
9.Vettel wins three races.

[Oldtony]

1.Tight 3 way fight for WDC but Hamilton misses out due to missing more than 1 GP.
2 Red Bull dominant in WCC and wins comfortably,
3. Riciardo tops Norris at Mclaren but it's close.
4. Vetee tops Stroll
5. 5 different makes score wins.
6 Williams fails to score a point again and disappears fron the grid at the end of the season.
7. Alpha Tauri gets more than 3 podiums with tight points battle between Gasly and Tsunoda.
8. The othe new boys fail to place higher than 6th.
9.e given the most exciting seaon in the history of F1 but some fans still complain.
10. Kimi actually does retire.

[chunterer]

1. Hamilton will win his 8th title having been pushed much harder than he liked and then prices himself out of a drive.
2. Bottas will be closer and Wolf announces he will be retained joined by Russell for '22.
3. Max cements his rep as the fastest but not there yet.
4. Checo runs him closer than any other teammate to date.
5. Alonso wins 1 race and scores plenty of podiums.
6. Tsunodo flatters to deceive and is pumped by Gasly.
7. Ocon does well against Alonso and is retained.
8. Aston Martin disappoint and Vettel having lost all mojo leaves F1 at the end of the year.
9. Both Alfa Romeos get on the podium.
10. We see at least 2 reserve drivers get a race during the year.
11. Ferrari pair equally matched but only one wins a race. The car is quick one weekend and nowhere the next.

[chavez]

1. Verstappen fans will excuse any accident or incident involving Max on Max being new to F1.
2. Lewis to win the title.

[wolfhound]

Hamilton to win title no. 8
Verstappen to be in title fight to the final race.
At least one of the scheduled GPs to be postponed / cancelled.
One new GP winning driver.
All teams to score points.