"Cato Batista" 15/03/2012 15:46:21 ID #127
Dear friends Maria, Ian, Manbos, Lou, Curro, Tim, Rodrigo, Matias, Uwe, Fernando, Joe, Alberto, Santiago, Sebastian, Erik, Carlos, Ricky, Rocco, Ricardo, Fredrik and now Ian Macintosh: get set to start the 2012 Season (by the way that was Ladies first and then 2011-Championship positions).
This is what we’ve learnt from the testing sessions:
Ferrari is not making promises; the new car is radical, very complex and it will take time to sort it out. Red Bull is taking chances by running the most aggressive engine mapping (that distinctive engine misfiring sound) to keep gasses flowing off-throttle to help its weakness, high temperatures & wear on the rear tires. McLaren have been confidently quiet, they know they can beat Red Bull. Behind the 2 early favorites the battle between Kmi in the Lotus vs Mercedes vs ALO promises to be just as good if not better. Mercedes showed the best tire management in long stints but was not getting grip from the soft compound, which translates into poor starting positions.
Practice starts Friday morning Australia’s time, we’ll see the real potential of the cars against each other for the first time. I’m sure we’ll have a few surprises.
If you allow me, these are my bets for the 2012 Championship:
Drivers: VET BUT HAM ALO WEB SCH
Constructors: McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Lotus, Sauber
We will not run the “rookie of the year’ class this year because the 2 debutants Jean-Eric Vergne and Charles Pic will drive uncompetitive cars without any chance of getting in the points.
Some members are asking to wait until the 3rd race to submit their Pre-Season-Picks like we did last year. You can do that if you prefer, or send them this weekend with an option to revise them before the Chinese GP. Our website f1.manbos.com is not setup for the PSPs, so please reply to me and/or Santiago & Manbos on this issue.
And by the way, Manbos has confirmed our site f1.manbos.com is up and running ready to start receiving your selections for the Australian GP
I would to introduce our newest member Ian Macintosh. He was by far the most promising of the group of 5 candidates that were tested last year and was willing to conform our fastidious acceptance process. Ian lives in Toronto where we’d meet, he had no problem finding the necessary support votes to join in from the local CFA chapter. Lucky guy.
Next time we talk we’ll have results from the first sessions of track time. Can’t wait!
For those still missing, I invite you once more to participate in the ‘comments’ of the WEB and in facebook
Till tomorrow
Cato