Predictions time capsule

[Born Racer]

Get your predictions in, folks.

The idea is we name five (or more) things that we predict will happen (optimistic ones welcome) this season. You have until the start of FP1 in Melbourne and then we will lock the thread, bury it (we can't actually do that virtually) and re-open it at the end of the season.

They must be verifiable predictions, so you cannot say 'Mercedes will finally have a really good year', but should say something like 'Mercedes will get at least three podiums including one win'.

What can you cook up?
Who's been eating too much cheese before bed?
And who will end up with egg on their face? (I went for the egg thread icon in the end).

[Super Hans]

1. Sebastien Vettel will be World Champion
2. Lewis Hamilton will outscore Jenson Button
3. Kimi Raikkonen will clock up a victory
4. Caterham will get a podium
5. Karthikeyan will once again fail to finish the season

[skells22]

hopefully do better than last year.
1. Webber will win the championship
2. we get a new winner
3. alonso will beat massa
4.we will have a upside down car
5. there will be 3 wet gps

[Born Racer]

I'm going to be brave (and also possibly brighten up the dark nights of late autumn for you all).

1. Michael Schumacher will get a podium.

2. Nico Rosberg will get a win (hmm, I don't mind not getting everything right, you know?).

3. Hamilton will outscore Button (going more realistic now; I'll also go with what Super Hans said there).

4. Sebastian Vettel will score at least 5 wins.

5. Fernando Alonso will not win a race (don't quite believe this, but it's possible).

6. Caterham will score at least one point.

7. There will be no new winners (can I hedge my bets after the Rosberg declaration? Or not- two wrong for the price of one?) This is what I really think.

8. Ferrari will threaten to pull out of F1.

9. If Raikkonen finishes at least 5th in a race, so will Grosjean.

10. Someone will start a thread denigrating/ strongly criticising Hamilton which will manifest itself in the form of at least one moderated post and possibly thread closure if it gets totally out of hand (I will try to be fair not to implement this myself just to get the point).

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by skells22

hopefully do better than last year.

Is that a prediction?

Originally Posted by Super Hans

5. Karthikeyan will once again fail to finish the season

[PEDANT]What happens if they bring him back for a race or a few later in the year? Do you mean he doesn't do all the races of the season?[/PEDANT]

[JeremySmith]

(1) Lewis Hamilton will be world champion..
(2) Sebastian will come 2nd in WDC..
(3) Michael will win a race..
(4) Kimi will win at least one race if not more..
(5) Alonso will come 3rd in WDC..

[ScotsBrutesFan]

1. Vettel wins WDC again
2. Webber makes some form of number 2 driver comment again
3. Hamilton self destructs again
4. No Race Wins for Ferrari
5. Rosberg a podium but not top step
6. Raikkonen will outscore Schumacher in WDC, but both behind Rosberg
7. Caterham will score points in atleast 3 races
8. Charles Pic won't drive in all the races for Marussia

[Truenorth]

1. I predict that I will be a loyal Tifosi no matter the outcome of the season.
2. I predict that I will struggle mightily to not make inflammatorily insulting comments about Crashilton or the history of McLaren's illegal and unsporting interactions (circa Ron Dennis, I adored Bruce and Denny!) even if many of my readers are from England.
3. I predict that little Irish twit with the bad hair piece will annoy me as much as Martin what's his name, and that I will get a little tired of boogity boogity boogity and that I will wish the the Aussies ran F1 coverage the same way they do the Supercars. (Good on ya, Timmeh!)
4. I predict that I will love this season of racing as much as I have the other 45!

[SilverSpeed]

1. Both Mercedes' drivers will get at least 2 podium finishes in 2012
2. Mercedes will finish 3rd in the Constructors Championship and beat Ferrari.
3. Massa sacked mid season
4. Caterham will score at least 1 point in the 2012 season.
5. There will be 2 proper wet weather races in 2012
6. Karthikeyan won't race in every event this year
7. Button beats Hamilton again
8. Bruno Senna to score more than double the points Pastor Maldonado scores
9. At least 10 out of the 20 races will have a safety car.
10. Vettel goes back to back to back and wins his 3rd title in a row

[karting]

1. Vettel to win WDC
2. Hamilton to crash into another car atleast 3 times
3. One of the new teams to score points
4. Schumacher to finish in top 6 of WDC
5. Force India to get a podium

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

1) There will be more than 3 finishers at the Monaco GP.

2) However, there will be less than 25 finishers at the Indian GP.

3) Sebastian Vettel will score more points than Alberto Ascari did in 1954.

4) The drivers world championship will almost certainly be won by someone using Pirelli tyres and V8 engines.

5) However, Narain Karthikeyan will NOT win the drivers world championship.

6) Michael Schumacher will score more points than he did in 1997.

7) Michael Schumacher will score more points than his brother Ralf will.

8) However, Michael Schumacher will be outqualified by Nico Rosberg more times than his brother Ralf will.

9) Jarno Trulli will NOT complain about his lack of power steering.

10) However, Luca di Montezemolo will complain at least once this season about one of those topics: 2 car/team limit, lack of testing time, bottom 3 teams getting endlessly on Alonso's way.

11) Lewis Hamilton will have "one of the best races of his life" at least 3 times this season.

12) However, Lewis Hamilton will hit someone else at least 3 times this season.

13) Nick Heidfeld will NOT win his maiden Formula 1 GP this season.

... but neither will Chris Amon, Jean Denis Deletraz, Giovanna Amati and Bernard Charles Eccelstone.

14) However, Bernard Charles Eccelstone will make A LOT of money this year.

15) Even though Jean Alesi and Rubens Barrichello are set to make their Indianapolis 500 debut this year, Greg Ray and Buddy Lazier will NOT attempt to drive in the 2012 Monaco GP.

16) Rubens Barrichello will have a lot of fun this year.

17) Mark Webber will finish 5th at least once this year.

18) Fernando Alonso will pass Felipe Massa on track at least once this year.

19) Vitaly Petrov will amost run into something at the season finale.

20) However, Lucas di Grassi will NOT finish 15th at the season finale.

[Born Racer]

I like your thinking W.A Trichlorostyrene.

[stripedcat]

1. Red Bull will win the constructor's title again. Although, I think it will be a little more competitive this year.

2. 'The New Mansell' will get his third title on the trot. Surely, he will become the 'new Schumi'?

3. Going out on the limb, I say that Button will be runner-up again.

4. Lewis will be more competitive, but I still think that he will have 3 crashes in the season.

5. Massa will get his backside kicked by Alonso. Plus, I think he will have a bad season. He will be on his way out by the end of the year.

6. Rosberg will get a podium for Mercedes.

7. This will be Schumi's last year in F1. He will get outscored by Rosberg(only just) and call it quits at the end of the year.

8. The Ferrari will only score 1 win this season. It will be about the middle of the season.

9. There will be two wet weather races this season.

10. Webber will get 2 race wins this season.

11. Webber will leave F1 at the end of the year.

12. The Williams team will be no where again. They will score no points.

13. Most of the time, Vettel will get pole position again. I don't think he will have quite as many as he did as last year though.

14. The Bahrain GP will go ahead. "Show me the money." - yes, Bernie.

15. McLaren will be 2nd in the WDC, Ferrari 3rd and Mercedes 4th.

16. Schumi will have a 'you can't pass me moment' again, during the season. I think maybe with his former nemesis - Alonso.

17. Martin Brundle will say : "An F1 car is like an upside down aeroplane wing 4 times this season".

18. Kimi will get a 4th place finish.

19. I don't think there will be any new winners.

20. The US track(Austin) will have a low attendance figure.

21. Vettel will win the Monaco GP.

22. Talk of the Red Bull reliability issues will be exaggerated. They will have a few mechanical failures(2 or 3), but still be the car to beat.

[skells22]

yes, i want to do better than last year. ps make sure the driver walks away if the car does a number 4 on my predictions please.

[kerrmanningjarv]

1. Sebastian Vettel will win the world championship with Jenson Button in 2nd, again.
2. Michael Schumacher will finish on the podium at least once, and finish ahead of Nico Rosberg in the drivers championship (Schumacher 7th, Rosberg 8th).
3. Lotus will finish 4th in the constructors championship, with Kimi 6th in the drivers standings.
4. Nico Hülkenberg will finish on the podium in a rain-affected race.
5. Either Charles Pic or Narain Karthikeyan will be the first driver to be replaced this season.

[aridshelter]

Here goes nothing:

1. Petrov to get Caterham's highest finish of the season, but neither car will score points.

2. Narain Karthikeyan and Michael Schumacher to be closer in the championship than Vettel is to second place.

3. Step noses to be banned for 2013. Inexplicably, the posts that used to be for holding the outboard mirrors to continue to remain legal.

4. Only one of Boullier, Grosjean & Raikkonen to be at lotus at the final race of the season.

5. Neither Force India car to outscore Adrian Sutil's total in 2011 (42). In addition, the pair to crash into each other in at least one race in the season (significant enough to put one of them back to the pits/out of the race).

[mattt]

1. Vettel will win his 3rd title
2. Red Bull will win the constructors title
3. Both titles will be decided by the penultimate race
4. Hamilton and Button will finish 2nd and 3rd in the drivers title
5. Alonso will win 1 race and finish 5th
6. Lotus will beat Ferrari and Mercedes in the constructors title
7. Rosberg will beat Schumacher again and
8. the fan boys will claim Schumacher was still the better driver than Rosberg this season
9. Caterham will score a point
10. Lotus will get on the podium

[Oldtony]

1: RBR and der Seb will both have the titles won with 2 races to spare.
2: At least 2 races will either be cancelled, held at another venue or delayed.
3: Mark Webber to leave F1 but will go out on a high with a late season win.
4: The team formerly known as Renault will get more than 1 podium.
5: Caterham to get it's first point.
6: Button to beat Hamilton, Rosberg to beat Schumacher.
7: Ricciardo to score a point.
8: Force India to be run by the receivers before the end of season.
9: Class action by Texas lawyers against F1 over "hearing damage" to patrons after Austin GP.
10: Kimi to given audible, informative and interesting press conference during the year.

[andy666]

Right , I will try to get at least one right this season .

1. More than three different pole sitters .
2. B Senna will score more points than P Maldonado .
3. A Mercedes GP driver will be on the podium at least twice .
4. A Lotus driver will be on the podium at least once .
5. I will feel sorry for Fernando at least twice this season .

And now the big one ......

6. With 2 races to go Vettel and Button will be title contenders with Vettel winning (Sorry Jenson !!)

[Born Racer]

A few more from me:

11. Jake will make reference to Eddie's shirt on at least three separate occasions (i.e. a qually programme is different from a race programme).

12. David Coulthard will still be calling the current world champion Sebastian Vett-el by the end of the season.

13. Red Bull mechanics will still be hovering around the back of the car to conceal it by the end of the season.

14. There will be at least two driver changes.

15. A vote on coverage will reveal even though many will watch with Sky (probably myself included when I replace my expensive internet, TV and phone package with something cheaper that happens to be Sky), those who have seen both will prefer the BBC's sober style over Sky's razzmatazz.

My last one's not so verifiable, I accept.

[stripedcat]

Just a few more :

23. One of Button's GP wins will be in a wet weather race. The track will either be dry at the star and then go wet; or wet at the start and then turn dry.

24. Eddie will wear a shirt which looks like it could burn the retinas from your eyes!

25. Bernie will go on about how much better the Sky TV coverage is. Yes, Bernie, you need more money.

26. Sutil will make some remark about Hamilton being 'a coward' in a TV interview.

[chunterer]

1. Perez, Hulk to net first podiums. Not sure which step though...
2. Rosberg nearly nets first win but denied...
3. Schu doesn't finish the season.
4. Hamilton is WDC.
5. Both ferrari drivers win races.
6. Grosjean beats Kimi in points.

[Grandpa_Rob]

1, Vettel will come 3rd in the WDC
2, Ricciardo will take a win
3, Raikkonen will take more than one win
4, Senna will take a podium
5, Webber will win at Monaco
6, Button will take the WDC
7, De La Rosa will get at least one point

[Bononi]

Wow, people are really pushing hard this season... can't wait to see the outcome.

[Born Racer]

Ah yes, when Jonathan Legard commentates (apparently to replace James Allen at some races), he will say 'pushing on', 'kicking on' or a similar phrasal verb with 'on'.