B4rad proposed the idea of opening up a discussion thread to use over the next 3 weeks until the next race. Seemed like a good idea to me so discuss away.

Who do you think will make the greatest development bump during this downtime?

With Ferrari and McLaren having caught up to Red Bull, do you think it was foolish for RBR to begin development on their 2012 car?

Rumors have been swirling that Kubica might get back in an F1 car for Brazil. Maybe we'll see him granted some testing time during this break?

 

I don't think he be back this year, I don't think his body could handle the lateral G Forces he would be put through, but stranger things have happened.

RBR was being a little cocky when they decided to start working on next year car and now I bet they are getting worried. Vettel doesn't seem to be the driver like he was last year or the star of this year.

 

In my opinion Ferrari and McLaren will both develop the most, in past years these teams have developed the most after the breaks, and as for Red Bull even if they don't dominate as much after the break, the will still have both Championship the gap is too big. but still by starting on next year's car they underestimated the powers of Ferrari, McLaren and the other big teams.

As for Kubica I really hope he will be back and stronger than even but I don't think he will be as good as he was if he gets back this season he needs time, I always wondered what would've happened if he was racing this season... even though Petrov improved a lot, I personally think that Kubica has and will always be a better driver than him, and as for Heidfeld he confuses me with all his experience you would expect more from him...

Thats my personal opinion..

 

Vettel could still take a three-race break and still be leading the championship.

 

Every team is already working on next year's car, that's a given.

 

Thanks for making this I think Red Bull are going to have their work cut out if they want to stay ahead of Ferrari and McLaren. I am really hoping that McLaren and Ferrari will bring faster cars to the next race and I wouldn't be complaining if some development was done on Webber's car!

I am still hopeful that Kubica can make a return this year, and Eric Boulier has said that he is happy to get Kubica back whenever he is ready. I would love to see Renault developing an awesome car for the 2012 season so we have the four teams fighting out for the championship rather than just 3.

 

I'm a member of the autosport forums and some guy over there did the math. McLaren could 1-2 the next 8 races, with Hamilton leading home Button in each case and still miss out on the Driver's title. Plus, the Ferrari in Nando's hands looks competitive, so realistically HAM, BUT and ALO will all be taking points off each other. I think the WDC is safe for Vettel.

As for the constructors, I believe that's still up in the air. McLaren have the better driver pairing, have found some midseason form, and have a few favourable tracks (Spa, Monza, Singapore and Abu Dhabi) coming up. Hopefully it'll be interesting.

 

Mclaren might have a genuine chance for the WCC. Vettel has the WDC in the bag, unless of course bad luck comes his way and he DNF's multiple times.

 

How about the rumors surfacing that Ricciardo is going to replace Webber?

That would be incredible.

 

Won't happen, he's not ready and hasn't earned being the #2 driver for the senior team.