Motorsport Musings Ramblings of a racing enthusiast…

Some Racing Predictions for 2010

OK, here we are, the right side of the winter solstice, and a few verses of Auld Lang Syne away from the start of hopefully another exciting year of racing.

As is almost mandatory at this time of year, I have come up with a few predictions for 2010, with a view of looking back on them in 12 months time and wondering what was going through my mind when I made them.

Gazing into my crystal ball, here are a few of my thoughts on the year ahead:

Formula 1

• McLaren will win the Formula 1 constructors’ championship.
• Lewis Hamilton will win the drivers’ championship, closely followed by Fernando Alonso.
• Mercedes Grand Prix will finish fourth in the constructors’ table. Behind the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.
• Michael Schumacher will regularly blitz Nico Rosberg.
• Campos Meta will fail to make the grid in Bahrain...
• ...which will be won by Sebastian Vettel.
• Of the new mob in Formula 1, Virgin Racing will be the most competitive.
• Toro Rosso will be put back on the market again, and be sold off before the end of the year.
• Barrichello and Trulli will call it a day.

Rally

• Kimi Raikkonen will finish on the fringes of the top 10 in the WRC and commit to another season of rallying.
• Mikko Hirvonen be crowned WRC champion.
• Kris Meeke will announce he is to drive in WRC for 2011.
• Prodrive will announce a BMW Mini WRC entry for 2011.
• Ken Block will head up the Monster-Ford WRC team and be competitive from the off. Finishing in the top five.

Other

• A1GP’s life support machine will finally be switched off - but nobody will notice.
• Valentino Rossi will once again win another MotoGP title - and switch from two-wheels, to sportscar racing.
• Carlos Sainz will win the Dakar Rally.
• The Le Mans 24 Hours will be won by Peugeot once again...
• ...which will also feature David Coulthard and Sebastien Loeb, though not necessarily in the same team.
• Daniel Ricciardo will win the Formula 3.5 championship.
• Jules Bianchi will win the GP2 Series for ART GP on his first attempt.
• Jean-Eric Vergne will win the British F3 championship.
• The winner of the Formula 2 category will impress Williams and be offered a drive.

Of course I'm only expecting some, not all, of these to come to pass as essentially this is all guesswork, because motor racing is completely unpredictable. Which I guess is partly why we love it so much.

You, of course, will have your own opinions.