Top contenders in 2015

[jens]

Now I say that let's have a bit of fun ( :D ), before anyone gets angry by saying that predicting so far ahead is useless!

Such idea for a thread came after reading an archive of F1 posts in Estonian local forum, where in 2003 someone predicted that 6 years later drivers like Montoya, Alonso, Räikkönen, Wilson, Webber and Button would be the ones fighting at the top. Obviously JPM and JW were complete misses, but generally not too bad for a guess made such a long time ago. :D Besides that barely anyone knew anything about for instance Hamilton or Vettel at that time.

So what do you reckon, who could be the top dogs in 2015 - both among current drivers or why not newcomers? ;) Let's see, whose guesses may get closer to reality. :p :

[ioan]

Now I say that let's have a bit of fun ( :D ), before anyone gets angry by saying that predicting so far ahead is useless!

Sorry to shot down the fun so early, but 'predicting so far ahead is useless'!

[UltimateDanGTR]

It may be useless Ioan, but its a bit of fun

Personally i reckon Red Bull, Brawn, Mclaren and Ferrari will be the best teams, with Alonso a few years from retirement but still very strong, Vettel as defending world champion and very strong and competitive all the time, Hamilton there still with macca, and still finghting like always, with a very mature manner, The likes of button, barrichello, raikkonen long gone unfortunatly. Nico rosberg doing a steady job for brawn, Nico hulkenburg being very good as well with one the top teams, Massa doing brilliantly for ferrari, the young brit rookie James Cole doing a solid job for williams alongisde Kubica, who is pondering a move to Red Bull in 2016, and a new genration of teams in the mid grid, not toyota not renault etc, maybe with 22-24 cars on the grid if the FIA are lucky, and if they have managed to get the teams to cut costs signinficantly.

how right will i be?

[Sonic]

Oooooo fun game!

So the obvious ones first. Hamilton will be in his prime and probably a multiple champion by this point. Rosberg, Kubica, Vettel and Alonso keeping him honest.

Team wise, Willams will be strong again (please God, please) and I'm predicting Rosberg in one of the seats (his second stint at the team). Alonso will be considering retirement after 5 years and a couple of championships at Ferrari with Agluersari his young apprentice.

New drivers to rise to the top WILL include ( ;) ) Boyd, Kobyashi and Bianchi. Oh and we'll see the first third generation driver in J Hill (not) :p

[CNR]

there will be a young Gina-Maria Schumacher in her first year in f1
Piquet Jnr gets his superlicence back after a 5 year ban

[Cozzie]

Alonso, having won four championships by this time, will remain very strong but be getting towards the end of his career with Ferrari.

Vettel will be a world champion and along with Alonso, will be the class of the field, probably still in a Red Bull.

Hamilton will be a double championship winner and be in his final year with McLaren, whose form will drop off throughout the 2014-2015 seasons.

Kubica will have won one world title but still not be considered as strong as the top three.

Rosberg, tired of playing second fiddle to Hamilton at McLaren will leave the team in 2013 and not score another podium.

[call_me_andrew]

When does the current Concorde Agreement expire?

[Valve Bounce]

Now I say that let's have a bit of fun ( :D ), before anyone gets angry by saying that predicting so far ahead is useless!

Such idea for a thread came after reading an archive of F1 posts in Estonian local forum, where in 2003 someone predicted that 6 years later drivers like Montoya, Alonso, Räikkönen, Wilson, Webber and Button would be the ones fighting at the top. Obviously JPM and JW were complete misses, but generally not too bad for a guess made such a long time ago. :D Besides that barely anyone knew anything about for instance Hamilton or Vettel at that time.

So what do you reckon, who could be the top dogs in 2015 - both among current drivers or why not newcomers? ;) Let's see, whose guesses may get closer to reality. :p :

Vettel, Sutil and Hamilton.

[Saint Devote]

there will be a young Gina-Maria Schumacher in her first year in f1
Piquet Jnr gets his superlicence back after a 5 year ban

:p Great post!!!

I think by that time f1 engines will be so quiet and so small that earphones will be used for spectators to listen to synchronized engine sounds. :eek:

[Saint Devote]

Kimi will win his third world rally champiohsip in 2015.

Rossi will STILL be considering a switch to Ferrari.

The only manufacturer left in racing will be Mercedes Benz - and good riddance to the rest of them.

[UltimateDanGTR]

New drivers to rise to the top WILL include ( ;) ) Boyd, Kobyashi and Bianchi. Oh and we'll see the first third generation driver in J Hill (not) :p

forgot to mention Bianchi, he'll be there as well.

as for merc being the only remaining manurfactuer in F1 SD, Id say them and ferrari......

[jas123f1]

2015 – hmm ... I think Vettel is as defending WDC, Hamilton is still one on the top together with Rosberg, Grosjean, Sutil and some new talent drivers like Hulkenberg, Petrrov, Bottas
Retired WDC :s are Alonso, Raikkonen, Button… :) :

[jens]

My take :) :

Probably Hamilton and Vettel are the 'safest' bets in such long run. Of course they might have a bad year/crap car in that particular year of 2015. :p : But generally in that era (mid-2010's) they should be there or thereabouts. Massa and Alonso will be 33 years old by then - if they have motivation and also keep performing at the highest level, there is no reason, why they shouldn't be contenders as well.

Regarding Rosberg, his next team choice could prove crucial - at McLaren alongside Hamilton he could become the next Barrichello/Coulthard - perennial #2. However, in Brawn alongside Button he might be able to become the lead driver.

Kubica could become another Häkkinen/Button - keeps driving for years waiting for a top car, which finally arrives. Difficult to say, in which year and in which team exactly that might happen though. ;)

Among newcomers Hülkenberg could be a serious contender by that time plus someone currently in F3 (a'la Bianchi/Bottas) could be up there too. In addition a certain Mr X, who no-one knows anything about at the moment, will be a real top star by 2015 and considered as the best driver in F1 by many. ;) We don't know, what his name might be, but by that time we'll know. :D

[SGWilko]

Piquet Jnr gets his superlicence back after a 5 year ban

And is one of the motorcycle riders taking taking DNF drivers back to the pits.

Can he be trusted with this job do we think, or will he muck that up too? ;)

[5001]

Hamilton will probably have his 4th Championship by then, Mercedes will have boughtout Mclaren, Bruno Senna will be pushing for the championship with Brawn,USF1 may have won the constructers championship or come very to doing so, Danica Patrick will be regreting going to Nascar instead of F1,Alonso will have parted with Ferrari under a cloud, There be a woman getting regular top5 finishes and Bernie will be considering holding a race at the North Pole. Who knows what will happen in the next 6 years whatever it will be I hope it will be interesting and get more people watching the sport

[V12]

Well, its a moot point because by 2015 Bernie will have decided that venues such as Turkey, Bahrain and Malaysia are too "traditional" and "old fashioned" and will have decamped the entire F1 series to run on the Moon for sanctioning fees in the trillions of dollars, despite there being no fans to actually watch the races.

Max meanwhile, deciding that it is too unfair and too expensive to pay millions of dollars for individual drivers to drive a car, will implement a new initiative, to both "cut costs" and "level the playing field" by implementing a ground breaking measure called a "standard driver", using human cloning to ensure that the driver of every car, which are already identical, will be piloted by a human being with identical DNA to all of his competitors, using newly developed human cloning techniques.

He will open a "tender" to select the appropriate human to supply the DNA for the "standard driver". He may back track on this whole idea, but any new entrants attempting to enter the sport will be required to declare their intention to use the "standard driver", or their entry will not be accepted.

He will later extend this idea to the WRC, F2, F3 and WTCC under the guise of a "world driver". He will be quoted as saying "He could work in doped-up form in F1 and the top level of WRC, down to normally-aspirated form in F2"

[UltimateDanGTR]

,USF1 may have won the constructers championship or come very to doing so,

you sir, are a brave man. this is a very wild prediction IMO, personally i expect usf1 to be i the midfield by then, so the question remains which one of us will be forced to eat our words? :D

[jens]

Massa and Alonso will be 33 years old by then

Sorry, my bad. They will turn 34 that year. But my point stands. :p :