In My Opinion (3/18/12)

Australia, Brackets, Racing and More....
So there you have it! The first round of the FIA Formula 1 World Champonship is over, and boy, was that an interesting or what? Jenson Button with a superb race after starting in the first row with his teammate Lewis Hamilton in Pole Position. Current GP2 champ Romain Grosjean started in 3rd and Schumacher alongside in 4th. Unusually enough, not only was Red Bull in the THIRD ROW, but Webber qualified faster than Vettel! So it looks like this season will be nothing like the last 2 years that we've seen...

Which will make my new game a lot more interesting. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the IndianCarBoys-sponsored F1 brackets game! Basically, we've every race and you fill in the driver in Pole Position, driver with Fastest Lap, and the top three finishers per race. Considering the first race is over, look back at the results and guess who will have a good season and who won't with your bracket. And there's no point cheating by making the bracket after a race, 'cause this is for fun for you guys, our readers. To print these pictures, right-click on them and open the images in a new tab. Copy and paste them onto a Microsoft Word document or something along those lines and print!

I know I made my own bracket already, and I guessed the finishing order correctly, but not the Pole Position or Fastest Lap (I went for Button and Webber, respectively). So I hope this is something you'll enjoy.


So my opinion of this week is of Ferrari and their performance after winter testing and the first race weekend. In short, not good. In Free Practice 1 (FP1), Alonso came in 4th, 0.800 seconds slower than the first finisher, Button. Massa came in 18th, over 3 seconds slower and beaten by the likes of Lotus, Caterham, Sauber and Force India.

This basically sums up Ferrari's weekend: everything gone wrong.  

In FP2, Alonso was again in 4th, but off the pace by over a second against Schumacher, who led this session. This time, Massa came in a much more respectable 7th, but still nowhere near the speed Ferrari needs. FP3 was a disaster as they came in 16th and 18th, Alonso again leading Massa, but both over 1.5 seconds slower.

Qualifying was also bad, as neither Alonso nor Massa got into Q3, as they came in 12th and 16th, respectively. Results were mixed as Alonso climbed up to 5th, losing to both McLarens and Red Bulls. Massa retired on Lap 46 due to damage from his collision with Bruno Senna around.

So far, not good. Ferrari is really struggling with their grip, especially by their rear wheels. This is one thing I have a mixed opinion on: I love Ferrari and hope they can win some races, hopefully the Driver's and Constructors Championships, but honestly, their pace is really in need of help, because they need to challenge McLaren and Red Bull if they want a chance. It'll be interesting to see how their season will play out.

I hope my bracket will succeed. At least I know it'll be better than the NCAA bracket I never made!
See you all soon!
AV