MONZA
September 14th

Well I forgot to "predict" for Spa, lucky I guess who could have predicted that?

So this weekend we head straight to Monza, a double header traditional circuit for the F1 circus. On the back of the controversial Belgian Grand Prix I think we will see McLaren dominate qualifying and depending on what tyres Bridgestone bring to the party they will probably control the race as well. Softer tyres will help Ferrari stay in the picture. For McLaren, read Lewis Hamilton (Jon's new favorite driver - did I say band wagon?). The McLaren's worked much much better over the high Monza curbs (vital to lap time to cut across them) last year than any other car although many expect Ferrari to be closer this year.

Kimi Raikkonen should be fired up and no doubt the Italian press will be laying into him this week for his disastrous last few laps at Spa. He will want redemption. Judging by his over-the-top passing maneuver on team mate Massa at Spa I don't think he will be slipping into the role of supporting Massa's title bid quite yet. Massa was very supportive last year and even gave up winning his home GP to let Raikkonen through to win the title. I digress. I doubt even his much vaunted ability (apparently) will be enough to stop Lewis from wandering off into the distance at Monza. The other Fin, Heikki (I will bump into everyone on my way to a penalty) Kovalainen will probably be there about's in qualifying but apart from his lucky win in Hungary he still hasn't found his way come race day. In short, Hamilton has obliterated him.

So I expect at least one Ferrari on the podium, maybe two, Alonso will be in contention along with the BMW's, Torro Rosso's, Toyota's and Mark Webber's Red Bull for 4th place. What we need is a dose of rain again, without traction control it is really spicing up the racing action this season.

VALENCIA
August 4th
I'm still feeling gutted for Felipe, he drove devastatingly well in Hungary and to be robbed 3 laps from the end was the cruelest luck. Mother. I can't help but feel Kovalainen wont be too chuffed with his first F1 win, he hasn't really been "on it" all season and well he was outclassed by Hamilton and Massa on the day.

Up front in Valencia? Well championship contenders Ferrari and McLaren have now established a clear performance gain over BMW, so the title and the race wins in the near future will be fought out between their four drivers. Massa looked great in Hungary so he will be my pick for the win over Hamilton and Raikkonen. Kova? He will be mopping up after the top three... Impressing me this season has been fat lipped Alonso, he's sort of kept his mouth shut and got on with the task of driving an F1 car this year and he has done a pretty good job so far. Renault had the pace over BMW last weekend and also over arch rivals Red Bull (with whom they share an engine). They seem to be still developing at a strong pace, lets hope they keep it up.

The development story is an interesting one because a raft of changes are scheduled to come in for F1 next year, most notably the KERS system. All the teams had a meeting in Hungary to discuss KERS and most were in agreement to postpone it's entry into F1. BMW, Toyota and Williams have made a huge investment so far and are keen to go ahead for 2009 but the other teams are keen to hold off for another year. This story will take twists and turns for the rest of the season.

Continuing on the development angle, Ferrari and McLaren are locked in a title battle of epic proportion this season so they will be continuing development right up until the last race of the season. This is why they are keen to postpone the KERS roll out.

We've still got a lot to look forward to in the last seven rounds, three awesome tracks in Spa, Monza and Interlagos, a night race in Singapore, the top three are seperated by 8 points with 70 still up for grabs. It will be fascinating.

GERMANY
July 20th 17:15 Sunday evening with a particularly smooth Cab/Shiraz...

Mmm, I was a bit slack in getting this prediction out so I've missed out on qualifying....Lewis did well but it has been suggested that he is lighter than Kova?

The race? Well the Ferrari's look very good on the longer runs continuing the trend of them looking after their tyres better than the McLaren so far this season. However the two Scuderia drivers have rather stuffed up on too many occasions, Lewis has had his his silly drama's as well (but he took out his main rival at the same time - Canada - which sort of negated his error). The Ferrrai boys made a complete mess of Silverstone, spinning away merrily like two rookies, the Ferrari was obviously not as comfortable as the Macca in the wet. Lets hope it stays relatively dry for the rest of the season...

So for Germany, for the stadium section where it requires the drivers to make up time because of the nature - 6 turns in all I think is going to be the killer. Hamilton looks good there but so does Massa, Kova went off on the grass a couple of times in qualy but I think he is heavier than Lewis and was trying to make up time.

I'm going to go for Massa tonight followed home by the two Mclaren's, the Beemers will be fairly heavy but it looks to me like the Toyota of Trulli, Alonso and Webber all have the pace over them this weekend. Have they shifted their focus towards 2009 - they were openlt testing a KERS system this last week.

So Massa, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Trulli, Webber, Kubica, Alonso....

BRITAIN
July 6th

France - Well, my, my The Smelly Bogatini's have stretched their lead, while the droves of Hamilton supporters were once again left wondering as to their allegiance...

So in England we arrive for round 9, Silverstone - It's super fast with a couple of big kahuna corners but I expect we will see the Ferrari duo resume their battle once again. Kimi won last year. Lewis should be bolstered by the crowd and just may end up in the kitty litter on turn one, lap one. He really needs to calm down a little. However he could bring the battle to Ferrari on home turf. I'm starting to think Kovalainen's confidence is growing and I think he will be closer to the action here. BMW? Not sure what their problem was in France - under steer apparently, if so they may suffer the same again here. Heidfeld is out of sorts at the moment but Bob should bring home another steady drive.

The Red Bull's will go well here, Mark likes the place and Dave (I have my own hotel in Monaco Coulthard) would like to put on a good sure in what could be his last British GP. Renault have made progress and so have Toyota. What a drive Trulli put in at Magny Cours, I've put him as my lead driver for the Bogatini's for Silverstone, go Jarno!

I think there will be a big effort to get Lewis on pole even if they sacrifice a couple of laps in fuel to get him there.

So the grid: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Massa, Kovalainen, Trulli, Kubica, Webber, Alonso
The race?: This is a difficult one...Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa, Kovalainen, Kubica, Alonso, Webber, Piquet

Actual result: Hamilton, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Alonso, Trulli, Nakajima

France
June 23rd

Phew!! I never thought we (The Smelly Bogatini's) were in with a chance after qualifying in Canada and after Lewis bolted in the race, well I thought Martin would easily take the championship lead and the rest of the Hamilton followers (14 teams chose him as their No1 driver for Canada) were going to make up ground, but as I mentioned below I think Lewis used up all of his luck in Monaco. The result of his 'er miscalculation is that we have a very tight F1 drivers championship with the guy who is leading it, is the least likely to win it...I wasn't even close to the race prediction though - although I picked Bob for the Bogatini's...

So in France on the super smooth Magny Cours circuit I expect that the superior aero of the top teams will again play their parts. Raikkonen established himself there last year but Massa was quick as well, the McLaren's should go well as well. I don't see BMW repeating their Montreal win. If it is dry Ferrari will be on top with out a doubt.

So the grid. Massa, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber....
Actual grid: Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso (Hamilton P3 but penalised 1o places), Trulli, Kovalainen, Kubica, Webber
The race: Massa, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber. not very imaginative but I think that Magny Cours will be pretty boring compared to the previous two GP's.
Actual results: Massa, Raikkonen, Trulli, Kovalainen, Kubica, Webber, Piquet, Alonso

Montreal
June 3rd
Mmm...Well Kubica nearly pulled it off for me in Monaco, it was only Lewis Hamilton's extraordinary run of luck that robbed 'Bob' of his and BMW's first win. I'm still very depressed that Lewis won in that manner. If he had won clean, outright etc okay but to make such a mistake and reap the rewards, it's killing me...

Speaking of the McLaren driver (and I don't like to) we are heading to the scene of his first win where he did a pretty good job last year. Predicting the results this time however is not going to be easy. I expect Ferrari will be back in the fray, can Massa continue to out qualify Kimi? Contrary to popular belief Montreal is a relatively low down force track and despite being a street circuit it is a real drivers venue. The track surface is rough, the curbs hurt you, you've got to look after brakes, engine and tyre's, there's some big stops and some long straights, lack of wing lets the cars slide and the tyre's get abused. It's what F1 is about and the race is usually a thriller.

I don't expect BMW will have gained anything since Monaco, so I think the grid will be a battle between Ferrari/McLaren, BMW on the third row, Nico in the Williams, Fernando in the Renault and Mark in the Red Bull following. Jarno Trulli in the Toyota will have a say as well.

So the grid? Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Webber, Trulli, Alonso
Actual grid: Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Alonso, Rosberg, Massa, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Webber

The race?
I don't know, who started this prediction thing????? Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Massa, Kubica, Heidfeld, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg - Hamilton has to have some misfortune after being so incredibly lucky at Monaco....
Actual result: Kubica, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Glock, Massa, Trulli, Barrichello, Vettel

Monaco
May-12th
So for Monaco what can we expect? BMW have been chirping away that they will get their first win this season and Monaco could be the place they do it. Supposedly the F1.08 is good in slow corners and the streets of Monte Carlo are just that. Kubica for his first win? McLaren locked out the front row last year with Alonso on pole, I think he will go well here again and the Renault should be better than it was in Turkey. Rosberg will also capitalise in the leveling atmosphere of Monaco and so will the brilliant Mark Webber.

Because of their superior machinery the Kimi/Felipe show should be right there and so will Hamilton/Kovalainen but I am expecting a few surprises in the top ten.

So the grid? This is very difficult to predict in a place like Monaco but here goes...

Kubica, Alonso, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Massa, Raikkonen, Webber, Trulli, Rosberg, Kovalainen

The race?
Kubica, Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Webber, Heidfeld, Rosberg.
Actual result:
Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Webber, Vettel, Barrichello, Nakajima, Kovalainen
I'm not confident Massa can carry his form into Monaco but we will have to see. Kimi looks like a man focused on title no2 already so I think he will be going for a finish here again until they get to a circuit that really suits the Ferrari.

Turkey

Felipe Massa was on pole at the Turkish track last season and went on to win by over 2 seconds from team mate Kimi Raikkonen. By my reckoning or is that 'Raikkonening' Kimi has thing's much more under control this season and will have the pace to settle the matter in his favour this time around. Massa may slip his F2008 on pole but The Kimster will take the win.

I nearly forgot there are a few other teams also in F1 at the moment, 10 more in fact, of this bunch the order of battle will be between McLaren, BMW and Renault. The Frenchies have made a small step forward and it has allowed them to play with the big boys again. So I expect that these three will be fighting over 3rd spot, I'll have to give it to Hamilton then Kubica over Heidfeld and Alonso. It's good to see Renault getting closer to the pace, hopefully Piquet can get his act together and register a good finish. I think the pace is there but the Brazilian is struggling with his minimal experience.

In short?

Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Kovalainen, Webber.
Actual result:
Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg

Home | FormulaOne.com | Autosport | ESPN | JamesAllen | Grandprix.com | PaddockTalk | Pitpass.com | KART | EnterF1 | F1Fanatic | PlanetF1