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Siao7 wrote:

shoot999 wrote:Some quite interesting choices. I would have thought the obvious first driver to pick would be Hamilton. Surely you would want your man to have a chance to beat the current and 6 x WDC on his way to a title?
I would have thought most would want to see someone take his crown in battle, rather than Hamilton eventually retire undefeated as he never got a car to compete after 2019.
Or alternatively just grab the popcorn and watch a season long Vettel/Leclerc Ferrari firework show?

Well Hamilton is in over 60% of the voting, so it is the obvious choice. Just not by a landslide and I think it is maybe because there is a hint of saturation with him and people may want to see something new. I voted for Leclerc vs Max myself as I see them to be in a long rivalry in the future.

Max v Leclerc was also my first thought, but then I liked the idea of Hamilton's successor taking the crown from him. My other reservation with the Max/Leclerc fight was would it be an unfair fight? Max clearly RB No 1 v Leclerc who would also have to fight against his teammate who will in no way accept a No 2 position? Will we have to wait for Vettel's retirement before we see a true battle royale between the two?

shoot999 wrote:

Siao7 wrote:

shoot999 wrote:Some quite interesting choices. I would have thought the obvious first driver to pick would be Hamilton. Surely you would want your man to have a chance to beat the current and 6 x WDC on his way to a title?
I would have thought most would want to see someone take his crown in battle, rather than Hamilton eventually retire undefeated as he never got a car to compete after 2019.
Or alternatively just grab the popcorn and watch a season long Vettel/Leclerc Ferrari firework show?

Well Hamilton is in over 60% of the voting, so it is the obvious choice. Just not by a landslide and I think it is maybe because there is a hint of saturation with him and people may want to see something new. I voted for Leclerc vs Max myself as I see them to be in a long rivalry in the future.

Max v Leclerc was also my first thought, but then I liked the idea of Hamilton's successor taking the crown from him. My other reservation with the Max/Leclerc fight was would it be an unfair fight? Max clearly RB No 1 v Leclerc who would also have to fight against his teammate who will in no way accept a No 2 position? Will we have to wait for Vettel's retirement before we see a true battle royale between the two?

Well they do say to be the best you must beat the best.

Mod Aqua wrote:This is not directed at anyone in particular, but rather a trend a few recent posts have followed:

As options without Hamilton have been provided in the poll, they are clearly legitimate options for people to pick. This is also a poll asking for personal preference, and personal preference can be due to many different reasons, from wanting the two strongest drivers to fight, to wanting the drivers who may not have the chance again, to wanting your favourite drivers / favourite teams to fight, to not wanting particular drivers or teams to be fighting.

Feel free to discuss the reasons, but trying to pick apart people's choices in a personal preference poll and insinuate that choice is implying something the poster hasn't stated, will end up derailing thread.

Inappropriate post removed.

I want and believe we will get Hamilton v Max v Leclerc

Lets be greedy

shoot999 wrote:Some quite interesting choices. I would have thought the obvious first driver to pick would be Hamilton. Surely you would want your man to have a chance to beat the current and 6 x WDC on his way to a title?
I would have thought most would want to see someone take his crown in battle, rather than Hamilton eventually retire undefeated as he never got a car to compete after 2019.
Or alternatively just grab the popcorn and watch a season long Vettel/Leclerc Ferrari firework show?

I would agree. There is a decent chance of a single driver having a shot at Lewis for the championship in 2020. The idea of two drivers surpassing Lewis in the points and battling for the WDC is a very, very, very long shot IMO. If Hamilton isn't the driver any would be champion has to overcome, it will be a major let down and more of a melt down that Seb has exhibited in the last several years. The measure of the next new WDC champion is whether they can overcome Lewis while Lewis is at the height of his powers.

We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

Asphalt_World wrote:We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

Edit: The three top choices put together total 84% of the votes. They also are some combination of Hamilton, Verstappen, and Leclerc. Coincidentally these three are also the points leaders for each of the big three teams in the sport. I don't think it will come as much of a surprise that the huge majority of fans want to see the team leaders from the big three teams battling it out for the championship.

Toward the end of this year we seem to have gotten to a rough parity of performance between the big three teams and that hopefully bodes well for an excellent championship battle next year. Each of the teams will have tracks that align with their perceived strengths and so each will have races that they are expected to win. As we get closer to the start of the season I think it will be interesting to see what races fans expect each team to win.

Asphalt_World wrote:We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

Jenson's Understeer wrote:(And before anyone says it, yes, I know we would all love three or more of them to be fighting for the title. I'm just curious which two of the current frontrunners we most want to see lock horns over a full season)

Mort Canard wrote:

Asphalt_World wrote:We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

Edit: The three top choices put together total 84% of the votes. They also are some combination of Hamilton, Verstappen, and Leclerc. Coincidentally these three are also the points leaders for each of the big three teams in the sport. I don't think it will come as much of a surprise that the huge majority of fans want to see the team leaders from the big three teams battling it out for the championship.

There's more to it than that, I think. If you look at each of the top 3 teams, it's not just the current team leaders (not that I'd necessarily say Leclerc has the support that Verstappen and Hamilton do from less successful teammates, let alone management of their respective teams) that are winning the polls, but also the driver most likely to win future titles. Vettel is widely seen, rightly or wrongly, to be on a slow downward trajectory towards retirement, perhaps a la Piquet. Bottas isn't on Hamilton's level. Albon simply isn't experienced enough yet, but also isn't showing much to rival Verstappen on Sundays, except maybe consistency. But not by a huge margin.

Basically, I think people are voting not so much for the team leaders, as for the current and future champions. None of us want to see Stroll, Grosjean, Magnussen and Giovinazzi fighting for the title for exactly that reason.

Asphalt_World wrote:We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

I was thinking of that, how many times have we had a 3-way (and more) fight to the title as opposed to a duel? I bet a two-horse race was the case in the vast majority.

Siao7 wrote:

Asphalt_World wrote:We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

I was thinking of that, how many times have we had a 3-way (and more) fight to the title as opposed to a duel? I bet a two-horse race was the case in the vast majority.

Well the prospect of a 4 way fight in 2020 is very real: Hamilton, Vettel, Leclerc and Verstappen. To be honest had Hamilton not driven so perfectly in the first half of the season then we could have gone to the wire this year aswell (although no doubt Merc would have sustained development deeper in to the season)

The Ferrari drivers will have it rough and ultimately suffer over the season as i think with the pace being quite similar between the teams Bottas won't have enough to maitain a season long challenge for the WDC and will end up in a supporting role for Lewis (same for albon, whereas vettel/Leclerc would need to be forced into a secondary role while potentially having the chance to win the WDC), it's unfortunate for them but it just seems to be the reality, he should still enjoy the fact he will be able to pick up a few wins though.

Surely 2 drivers in contention from the same team would preclude an overall WDC as they will be taking points from each other. Of course it depends on whether Ferrari operate a lead driver policy. Recent history sort of confirms that Ferrari will do everything they can to avoid overall success.

Option or Prime wrote:Surely 2 drivers in contention from the same team would preclude an overall WDC as they will be taking points from each other. Of course it depends on whether Ferrari operate a lead driver policy. Recent history sort of confirms that Ferrari will do everything they can to avoid overall success.

I don't think it's that black and white. It helps of course but you can till win a WDC with your team mate fighting for it as well. Vettel in 2010 for example.

Jenson's Understeer wrote:

Asphalt_World wrote:We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

Jenson's Understeer wrote:(And before anyone says it, yes, I know we would all love three or more of them to be fighting for the title. I'm just curious which two of the current frontrunners we most want to see lock horns over a full season)

I understand that, but I simply don't want a 2-way battle. I want more drivers than that.

Asphalt_World wrote:

Jenson's Understeer wrote:

Asphalt_World wrote:We should want far more than 2 drivers fighting for the WDC.

Jenson's Understeer wrote:(And before anyone says it, yes, I know we would all love three or more of them to be fighting for the title. I'm just curious which two of the current frontrunners we most want to see lock horns over a full season)

I understand that, but I simply don't want a 2-way battle. I want more drivers than that.

Then start your own topic rather than dragging this one into an argument.

Vershtappen wersis Hamilton or Vershtappen wersis Leclerck. Prefer former over latter, but both will do. I just want Vershtappen murdering another driver on track in a close battel.

I find it amusing not many are looking forewords to Vettel batteling. How the fallens have mightied.