Welcome to the Scrutineering Bay, a collection of all things opinionated. No topic is safe from srutineering when there’s a bunch of Badger writers around! After the highs and lows of Albert Park – we mean you Sauber – the F1 circus rolls up in hot Malaysia for round two. So, what better question can we ask than;
“What will happen in Sepang?”
Each week, a plethera of Badgers take the proposed question and put a spin on it in their own way. This time around, we have myself Craig Normansell, Red Andy, and first to predict the race, Benson Jammichello:
– McLaren will disappoint after exceeding expectations in Australia.
– Lewis Hamilton’s teeth will still cause me some alarm. Also, as a complete aside, is it any coincidence that since getting himself a “proper” manager, the “Hamilton to Red Bull” rumours won’t go away? A new (and improved) McLaren contract in the offing, anyone?
– Hispania, were they to qualify (which they won’t), would gain the dubious distinction of being passed on the first lap.
– The Red Bulls will be closer to the pack in both qualifying and the race.
– Massa will continue to disappoint. Actually, scratch that – that implies there are expectations above that. He will continue to chase Alonso’s shadow, not very successfully.
– The Sauber’s will impress again and, this time, might not even be disqualified.
– Force India won’t be any good. At all.
– In contrast to Australia, I might actually be awake when the cars are on track.
– It will be dark by the end of the race. Drivers will complain.
– The adjustable rear wings will work a lot better than in Australia. It will still seem contrived.
A feast of predictions from Benson there. Will any, if not all, come true though? If they do, you can be sure that Benson will cover everything, and more, in Hot Rod/Hot Dog after every race!
The next participant is the returning Red Andy:
In Sepang the teams will now race
Red Bull with the ultimate pace
Which others will score?
I don’t know, but “for sure”
Hispania will have egg on their face.
A brief but brilliant entry from Andy there. Can anyone really argue with that limerick? Don’t forget, you can read the Runoff Area, Red Andy‘s satirical take on all things F1.
Lastly, I weigh in with my thoughts on Sunday’s race:
– There will be up to four pitstops for many drivers. Mainly due to the torrential downpour that is bound to happen.
– Hispania will qualify only one car. Bold to say I know, but they won’t make the grid thanks to Malaysian customs.
– A Mercedes will take out a Williams to return the favour from Australia.
– It will rain.
– It will be bloody hot.
– Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov will not only be very warm in their golden race suits, but will also look like a pair of plums.
– Red Bull will be extremely far in front of McLaren.
– The Ferrari will continue to be bulletproof. Shame that it will also run like it’s covered in kevlar.
– Lotus (the green one) will run too slow to be in the midfield, but faster than Virgin and Hispania. This position in the field will be dubbed “The Lotus Position”
– Eddie Jordan will make the mistake of wearing another dark shirt.
There we have it for another week. As always, all the Badgers will be glued to the BBC coverage Sunday morning to see exactly what is going happen when the five red lights go off. Can you add to any of our thoughts?
