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I see no reason why BMW can't get a bit closer to the top. My main concern is that they don't seem to make big leaps. It was very much maintaining the difference last season.
Red Bull with 24 extra points would be above Williams but 3 points behind Renault. It's not too bad for Red Bull as McLaren have been thrown down to the other end of the pit lane so they are about where they are. Newey cars have always been unreliable but if they can cure it, they are damn quick.
I think Alonso is right to say Renault won't be chasing any titles in 2008 but Renault might go back to building an Alonso type car, which might creep them up a bit.
Williams will continue to be where they are and will continue to chuck bits at the car in the hope something works.
I think Honda will be back in the pack behind Ferrari. With the findings not so long ago (which I had said when the car rolled out and underperformed) that the wind tunnel was giving misleading results and with a reshaped team, I think they can move up.
The interest will be for the last podium place next season and hoping a Ferrari or 2 have problems with reliability. Unless some team tries something radical, I can't see Ferrari being challenged.
Now that they're clear to compete next season I don't think sponsorship will be a problem. I can see them dropping back from Ferrari and possibly even fighting with BMW & Renault for second best behind the reds.
Can BMW keep up their rate of improvement? They've taken big steps in each of their previous two years, but they can sustain that rate of improvement, can they? Perhaps next year will be more of a plateau - continuing with podiums but remaining winless?
Red Bull have said that they have to work on reliability. It cost them about 24 points this year, which would have put them ahead of Williams I think (off the top of my head).
Could be a Ferrari runaway with a tight fight between McLaren/BMW/Renault/Red Bull/Williams(?) for the best of the rest.
The apology looks to have saved McLaren more punishment but there are more problems. Ron Dennis' position is under threat and his position may be untenable. McLaren will have to redesign the Ferrari affected areas and it seems investment money is hard to find. Pressure from the Spanish sponsors may have forced McLaren to put De La Rosa in the 2nd car. Thankfully, Kovalainen has got the 2nd seat at McLaren.
This could make McLaren less of a force in 2008 and could see them slip behind a couple of teams.
I'll sort something out in a few weeks. Got a few ideas.
I reckon it'd make more sense to have a thread for the 2008 season now, no? :)
McLaren find out whether they get punished for Ferrari data on their 2008 car in February, which could really mess them up.
Montagy, Liuzzi, Klien and van der Garde are also apparently up for the second seat. I reckon Liuzzi's most likely to get it.
Prodrive won't be on the grid for the 2008 season because of the customer car problems.