Who will be the 2011 Formula One runner up?

Vettel leads the pack but who will be second?

Following on from my last post, it seemed only sensible to take a look at the Formula One standings and comment on the state of play there.

Sebastian Vettel leads the standings by a massive margin, having seven victories to his name this season alone. His points tally looks unlikely to be overhauled by the end of the season, in fact I predict he will be crowned champion around three races earlier than the season finale. However, behind him the battle has been fierce.

Currently in the second position is Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber. Webber has only once finished ahead of the other Red Bull driver this season and in my opinion hasn’t gotten the most out of driving the dominant car this year. However he’s still a good bet for second place as I would not be surprised to see team manager Christian Horner use team orders to cement the top two spots in the championship for his two drivers.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is third in the championship standings at the moment. There’s no doubting his tenacity but as Ferrari are likely to bring few further updates to the car after Monza, I can’t see him having the machinery to take the second place. The Italian Grand Prix may well be his last chance to improve his victory tally this year.

Very closely matched this year have been the all-British McLaren pairing of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. McLaren have had the second fastest car this year and have taken four wins but both drivers have suffered with luck and in Hamilton’s case, a tendency to get involved in racing incidents. Button’s strength is his management of tyres and also mastery of weather conditions while Hamilton is a great overtaker and is more likely to be the one to get the most out of a car that isn’t perfect. For me, Button is the most likely to take the fight to Alonso and Webber in the remaining rounds of the 2011 Formula One World Championship.

Who will be the 2011 GP2 runner up?

Grosjean leads the field but who will be best of the rest?

With Romain Grosjean confirmed as 2011 GP2 series champion, the question on everybody’s lips is who will be the runner up?

The significance of second place may not be immediately evident but a glance at the six year history of the series reveals that all previous runners up have secured Formula One drives – Heikki Kovalainen, Nelson Piquet Jr, Lucas di Grassi, Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov and last year Sergio Pérez.

While Grosjean has dominated the series this year, the battle behind him has been fierce. Currently leading this battle is Giedo van der Garde. The veteran of three GP2 seasons hasn’t won a race in the series since 2009 but is a regular points scorer and it is this consistency that has put him in the frame for second in the championship. Monza was the scene of his last victory so he is certainly one of the favourites for the crucial second championship position.

Jules Bianchi is a Ferrari test driver and was runner up in this year’s GP2 Asia series behind Grosjean. He trails van der Garde by only one point and is many people’s pick for success at the forthcoming Italian round. Despite suffering a fractured vertebra in 2010 he recovered to take third in that year’s standings and this year hopes to go one better.

Currently in fourth place is another Frenchman, Charles Pic. Despite two wins this year his weakness has been consistency. As van der Garde’s teammate he may find himself at a tactical disadvantage. However he is only seven points away from his teammate so a strong weekend could still secure second position.

Also in the running is Luca Filippi, another driver whose consistency has been his weakness but his two victories have come in a late season streak of improved form so it would be rash to write him off.

Three more drivers have an outside chance, Britain’s Sam Bird, Italy’s Davide Valsecchi and Spain’s Dani Clos. Bird needs at least twelve points from the remaining maximum possible of twenty, Valsecchi needs nineteen and for van der Garde to fail to score and Clos would require a perfect weekend while those ahead of him fail to achieve their points targets to secure the runner up spot.