KL-racer's F1 management: 2007 Season finale/ROTY UP!

[Phoenix]

Yeah, why not? I'll press on for 2008.

[KL-racer]

The ROTY podium:

First off, I would say that this season was kind of dull compared to the 2006 season of this series. But regardless, there were quite a few choices for ROTY, but before I get to the ROTY podium itself, here’s some possible candidates that did NOT make it on the final podium.

Super Aguri: I have decided against putting so called “Super Best Friends” on the podium because there were no real expectations for them to beat Carlin again especially after Carlin got the customer BMW engine before the season even started.

Midland: Yes, as mrfakeboullier admitted, he failed following up Midland’s improbable 2006 season, but still there are positives to make out of it. Nico Rosberg ended up being massively improved from his 2006 form, that fact alone was enough for Midland to escape the ROTY podium.

Giedo van der Garde: I was considering putting him on the podium, until I realized that overall the 2007 Toyota wasn’t as good as the 2006 version, so therefore, he escaped the ROTY podium, for now.

Jenson Button: Maybe, he lost motivation of not getting a seat at the beginning of 2007, but when he did get a race seat, he was relatively slower than usual. If he didn’t scored a single point, then maybe he would be a stronger case for him to be on the ROTY podium. He barely escaped the ROTY podium simply based on the fact that he did scored 2 points this year.

Honda: Despite falling down four places in the final standings, there was a team that took a more massive nosedive than these guys. Therefore, they escaped the ROTY podium

As for the 3 drivers/teams that did make the podium here they are from 3rd to 1st

3rd: Red Bull

Wow, what a difference a season makes, last season Toro Rosso, made the ROTY podium. This year, the roles are reversed, and it’s Red Bull racing ending up on the ROTY podium because of them being whooped by Toro Rosso and many other teams in the process. No wonder red bull wants to remove their logos off the toro rosso cars, it’s just an embarrassment for them!

2nd: Sakon Yamamoto

When your teammate, which by the way was Lewis Hamilton among all people, scores 62 points as a rookie and you scored none, that’s worthy of being on the ROTY podium. However, the reason why I only put him on the second step though is because there was simply one candidate that had a stronger case for being on the top step of the ROTY podium than him.

1st: Jarno Trulli

I had to admit that it was a tough one to decide. He only scored around a quarter of the points this year than in 2006. But if you look a little deeper into that statistic, he was demoted by McLaren on two separate occasions. The first time was for Markus Winkelhock and the second time was for a one off race for Luca Badoer at Monza. And not to mention, he was expected to get rewarded for his fine 2006 season, when he almost won the title for Midland but only to experience engine issues at Interlagos. He got paid alright, however he suffered through was simply a massive regression. Most of it was him not performing in the beginning of this season. In addition, the McLaren had more than their fair share of reliability problems and often at the worst times. No wonder, Trulli has recently stated that he has no interest in resigning with McLaren for 2008. The question now, is what's his future?