Formula 1 2013 season preview

The 2013 season is almost upon us. With new driver line-ups and tweaks to the regulations, this season’s world championship is likely to be the most competitive and aggressively fierce in the history of Formula 1 racing.

After becoming the sport’s youngest triple champion in a dramatic finale in Sao Paulo last year, Sebastian Vettel remains the favourite to win his fourth consecutive title for Red Bull Racing.

He joins an elusive hall of fame featuring the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher in achieving the title hat trick. Can Sebastian go for four straight wins? It seems possible but the level of competition is even closer than ever.

Despite missing out on the championship by three points, Fernando Alonso is determined to lead the Scuderia back to the winners’ circle by becoming Ferrari’s tenth champion this season. Can the 2005/06 world champion achieve this? Judging by his remarkable performance last year, Alonso seems more than likely to.

As for the other contenders, Jenson Button remains a strong possibility. The new McLaren seems promising and after winning the Interlagos race back in November plus becoming the team’s new number one driver, Button has that winning momentum on his side.

Kimi Räikkönen is another driver that can challenge Vettel for title honours. His comeback into Formula 1 racing – following two years outside the sport – was outstanding and the highlight was of course, winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It would be great for the Iceman to go for the title, but can Lotus deliver a car capable to match his driving qualities?

As for Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion starts his new career with Mercedes. It’s going to be fascinating to see how competitive the Silver Arrows will be in this year’s 19-race calendar. Hamilton has that driving desire to be a winner again but can the team offer him the opportunity to become successful? Looking at pre-season testing, the Mercedes seems to have potential but it will need that extra speed to beat Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus.

Following the success of the Drag Reduction System – an adjustable rear wing to aid overtaking – plus the excessive tyre wear from Pirelli in 2012, this season’s promises to bring even more excitement and entertainment.

Although the sport’s governing body has modified some key technical and sporting regulations to make the racing more competitive and yet safer. These rule changes introduced for 2013 are the following:

• The rules governing the use of the Drag Reduction System will be altered. Where drivers were free to use the system at will during free practice and qualifying, from this season, the use of DRS will be restricted to the designated DRS zone in a bid to improve safety.
• Tyre supplier Pirelli revised their tyre compounds this year in an effort to provide more pitstops and entertainment. The 2013-spec rubber has a higher rate of degradation and during pre-season testing, many drivers experienced far greater ‘drop-off’ in grip over a number of laps. It will be fascinating to see how well the teams can adapt their race strategy over the course of the season with the new softer set of Pirellis.
• The FIA will remove the rules of ‘force majeure’ to clarify scrutineering procedures. Under the rules of force majeure, cars must be able to return to the pits under their own power during qualifying or else risk exclusion from the results. Race stewards will measure the amount of fuel remaining in the car and compare it to the minimum amount set forward in the rules.
• With HRT pulling out of the sport due to finance reasons, the grid is now reduced to twenty-two cars, meaning a change to the qualifying procedures. Six cars instead of seven will be eliminated during Q1, with six more eliminated at the end of Q2 (as in 2006–08). The pole position shootout remains unchanged, with the ten fastest drivers all advancing to the final ten minutes of Q3.
• The stepped nose look to last season’s cars can be ‘covered up’ with a modesty plate. This panel has been designed to obscure that ugly step without fundamentally altering the aerodynamic profile of the car or offering any aerodynamic gain itself. This is not mandatory but at least some of this season’s cars look far prettier.
• The FIA will completely overhaul testing procedures for front wings in 2013, introducing a more-comprehensive and strenuous series of tests designed to root out the practice of exploiting flexible bodywork regulations. Front wings in particular will be subjected to revised parameters, with a tolerance of just 10 mm (0.39 in) permitted when the wing is subjected to a load of 100 kg (220 lb).
• As a crackdown to improve driving standards, the FIA has introduced a ‘penalty points’ system modelled on road-going drivers’ licences worldwide. Under the system, driving infringements would be assigned a points value that would be deducted from a driver’s Super Licence when they commit an infraction. When a driver accumulates a pre-determined number of points, they face an automatic ban from racing. So take note Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean!
• The ‘double-DRS‘ system, first developed by Mercedes last year will be banned in 2013. The device, which used a series of channels that ran through the car to create a stalling effect over the front wing when the rear wing Drag Reduction System was open, thereby cancelling out the downforce generated under normal conditions, would allow the car to achieve a higher top speed and better stability in fast corners.
• The minimum weight of cars will increase to 642 kg so as to account for the weight difference between the last year’s and the new 2013 specification of tyres.

In terms of the drivers taking part this season, it will be fascinating to see the youngest triple world champion Sebastian Vettel going for his fourth consecutive title against a strong field of driving talent with the likes of Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez, Mark Webber, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

The 2013 season sees a host of driver changes featuring a mixture of youth and experience.

Missing from the grid this year are Kamui Kobayashi, Bruno Senna, Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, Timo Glock, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.

Joining the sport in their debut season are Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutiérrez, Giedo van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.

Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas has been offered the chance to race, replacing Bruno Senna. The 2011 GP3 Series champion made regular appearances for the team last year, competing in fifteen Friday practice sessions.

Esteban Gutiérrez, who had previously served as Sauber’s testing and reserve driver in 2011 and 2012 whilst campaigning in the GP2 Series, will be partnered with Nico Hülkenberg at the Swiss-based team.

The 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series winner Giedo van der Garde has been promoted to a race seat at Caterham, joining his former GP2 Series team-mate Charles Pic at the outfit.

After missing out on a drive with Force India (the team opted for the returning Adrian Sutil) Jules Bianchi will now race with Marussia. Ironically replacing Luiz Razia, who had a spot of trouble raising the required sponsorship for the team to compete…

The 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series runner-up Bianchi will be teamed up with GP2 Series driver Max Chilton. Both will face a real steep learning curve at Marussia due to a lack of experience in the top pinnacle of motor racing.

With Kamui Kobayashi out of the sport this year, despite gaining popularity with fans thanks to his aggressive overtaking moves in the Sauber, there will be no Japanese driver on the grid in this season’s Formula 1 World Championship. However there will be two Mexicans, four Germans, four British and four French drivers.

As for the teams, HRT will not be competing this season after running into financial issues. Thesan Capital, the owners of the outfit, put the team up for sale but were unable to find a buyer. After three difficult seasons racing at the back, HRT has left Formula 1 without a single championship point. The best result in 58 races were two P14 finishes…

Right, lets turn our attention to the runners and riders this year. Starting off with the defending world champions, Red Bull Racing.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit go into 2013 gunning for four constructors’ and drivers’ title in a row. Red Bull Racing made their title-winning breakthrough in 2010, were untouchable throughout 2011 and last year recovered from a slow start to overhaul Ferrari in the final set of races.

Chief technical officer Adrian Newey has warned that development on this season’s RB9 has been compromised by the incessant upgrading at the end of 2012 as the fight with Ferrari intensified, so their rivals may seen a glimmer of hope. And yet Red Bull has proved before that even if they start slowly, they can soon get back on top.

Sebastian Vettel is full of confidence and is the favourite to claim a fourth consecutive crown. Last year, his car wasn’t the fastest but thanks to the series of upgrades made to the RB8, he was able to string together the much needed results to take the title. With five victories, six pole positions and six fastest laps, the defending champion is seeking an even greater result this year with the new RB9.

For Mark Webber, 2013 will be his twelfth season in Formula 1 and his sixth representing Red Bull Racing. The gritty Australian is still very fast and experience, just look at his results last season including that fantastic victory in Monte Carlo. But Webber needs to somehow gain an advantage over his young team-mate to win the world championship. He had the best car in the previous seasons and yet was unable to deliver. Hopefully 2013 will lead to even bigger results.

After finishing in the runner-up spot to champions Vettel and Red Bull, Fernando Alonso will lead the challenge for Scuderia Ferrari this year. Ferrari is one of the most successful team in Formula 1 history and the only one to have been ever-present since the championship began back in 1950. The Scuderia has won a record 16 constructors’ championships – its latest coming in 2008 – and 15 drivers’ titles, most recently in 2007 courtesy of Kimi Räikkönen.

For a team with such high standards, anything less than another title this year will be considered failure. As president Luca di Montezemolo points out, Ferrari has excelled in terms of reliability and strategy. Last year’s F2012 went through the entire 20-race calendar without suffering mechanical failure with both drivers completing 95% of the total laps overall.

And yet it comes down to building a better and faster car than their rivals. Hopefully the new F138 has more downforce that can lead to race wins and possibly the titles back to Maranello.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso is under immense pressure to lead Ferrari back to championship glory. After coming so close in 2012, with victory in Valencia as the highlight of a tense and dramatic season of racing, Alonso hopes that the new car can reward his supreme driving talents.

Alonso is considered to be most complete all-round driver on the grid considering his speed, technical knowledge and experience. To win the title for the Scuderia will be the ultimate dream but it will be difficult if the F138 doesn’t live up his expectations. Fingers crossed his team have produced a much faster car for 2013.

As for Felipe Massa, he has been given another opportunity to convince Scuderia that he is a race winner. He discovered his old form last year but more is expected from the Brazilian. Some observers believe his accident in Hungary 2009 has affected his driving to this day… but I have high hopes that Massa will continue to score championship points aiding the team to win the title.

Whatever happens on the track in 2013, McLaren will almost certainly face fewer distracting headlines now that their controversial son has left home. With Lewis Hamilton’s move to Mercedes, the pressure is now on Jenson Button.

He won the opening race of 2012, but spent parts of the season battling his tyres. Case in point was Canada: struggled with the Pirelli tyres that he ended up being lap by his ex-McLaren team-mate… Button was able to recover come the season’s end with a fantastic win in Interlagos. Now as the team’s new number one, Jenson is expected to lead the Woking-based outfit back to championship glory.

His new team-mate will be Sergio Perez and huge pressure is expected upon the Mexican to deliver big in all the races. The odd couple of results at Sauber are not enough for a race-winning team like McLaren. Can Perez compete at the front of the pack? He certainly can race, just look at his performances at Sepang and Monza, but Sergio needs to improve his qualifying form if he wants to challenge for race wins.

The new McLaren MP4-28 seems to have potential but looking at pre-season testing, the car lacks consistency. Sometimes it’s fast, while other times it lacks balance with a serious case of tyre wear… But can Jenson Button win the title? We shall found out in the first couple of races in terms of raw pace.

The team that previously raced as Renault and now bears one of the most famous and respected names in Formula 1 history achieved surprisingly high standards in 2012. The black and gold cars were incredibly fast from the off with the 2007 world champion Kimi Räikkönen turned that pace into victory from fourth in Abu Dhabi (all the more impressive considering the Iceman’s two years absent while competing in the World Rally Championship).

Räikkönen still has that amazing driving talent to produce a top result but can Lotus provide him a championship-winner car with the new E21? It certainly looks promising in pre-season testing, fastest in both Jerez and at the Circuit de Catalunya, but come a proper race weekend can the car and team string together the results to take the title? We shall see this year.

As for Romain Grosjean, he seems to having great difficulty in keeping his Lotus on the race track… His first-lap collision were embarrassing and causing that massive pile-up at Spa-Francorchamps led to a one-race ban. The team has given him a second chance to redeem his past mistakes and I really hope Grosjean has learned his lessons for the upcoming Formula 1 season. He is fast and capable of winning races, but needs to shake off that trouble-magnet tag acquired in 2012.

It’s all change at Mercedes and that’s if you include the top management level featuring Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff. The biggest signing is of course Lewis Hamilton. The 2008 world champion has taken over the race seat from the departed seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and huge results is expected from Hamilton racing the Silver Arrows.

This is an important year for Mercedes, with the focus on how Lewis Hamilton will adapt to his new team and whether the German manufacturer can consistently run up front given their mighty resources. If not, who will follow Norbert Haug’s sudden exit? One casualty last year was Loïc Bigois, replaced as head of aerodynamics by Mike Elliott. The team’s main problem last season was tyre optimisation. The car was easy on its front, hence the breakthrough win for Nico Rosberg on the front-limited track at Shanghai, but at Singapore and Suzuka the W03 struggled to get heat into its front tyres without damaging the rears.

Hopefully the new W04 has readdress this tyre-wear issue and looking at the times in pre-season testing, it looks quite promising with the the quickest time around the Circuit de Catalunya from both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Speaking of the 2008 world champion, the talented driver faces a challenge amid new surroundings. Can he win races with Mercedes? He is certainly capable given Hamilton is one of the most gifted drivers in Formula 1 thanks to his supreme racing spirit in qualifying, overtaking and going wheel-to-wheel with rivals. But it will be down to the team to give him that opportunity to go for glory.

As for Nico Rosberg, he has finally joined the sport’s winner’s elite in China. Not only did he achieve his first pole position at Shanghai, Rosberg drove a faultless race to score his maiden victory and the team’s first since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. He needs to prove himself once again in 2013 against his new team-mate and the pressure is on Rosberg not to be overshadowed by Hamilton come qualifying and the race itself.

Success comes at a price. After establishing themselves as contenders for race wins in 2012, it’s all change again at Sauber. For the first time ever, the team reached the podium on more than one occasion last season, with Kamui Kobayashi in Suzuka and Sergio Perez at Sepang. But both drivers have now gone, with the latter now driving for McLaren.

New to Sauber are Nico Hülkenberg, who already has plenty of experience and shows glimpses of brilliance including leading from the front in the season-finale at Sao Paulo last year for Force India (not forgetting pole position at the same venue with Williams in 2010), and Esteban Gutiérrez (after being promoted from a test driver role).

Esteban Gutiérrez is a perfect replacement for Perez; not merely to keep the Mexican sponsors happy but as an exciting talent who has been nurtured by Sauber over the last couple of years.

Force India might have a grand emperor as the their figurehead (the larger-than-life Dr Vijay Mallya, who brought the struggling Spyker team and renamed it Force India ahead of the 2008 season), but they are one of the smallest teams in terms of their resources. Their CFD capability is less than Caterham’s and they don’t even have their own simulator (part of the technology deal with McLaren is for Force India to use the McLaren machine in Woking).

But over the past few years, the Silverstone-based team have been consistently in the midfield, and on occasion, have pulled themselves up towards the front of the grid. Case in point, Belgian Grand Prix 2009 with Giancarlo Fisichella starting on pole position and finishing second in the race. And yet, every season the team has shown promise, but the results have not followed.

For Paul di Resta, the former DTM champion started 2012 strong but against Nico Hülkenberg, the Scotsman finished 17 points behind come season’s end. Hopefully di Resta can produce a more consistent performance for this season against the returning Adrian Sutil.

After a year away from the sport, Adrian Sutil has been given a second opportunity with the team. Force India was criticised for the late announcement over the identity of Paul di Resta’s team-mate leading up to pre-season testing. The team finally reveal Sutil – over their reserve driver Jules Bianchi – on the final test session at the Circuit de Catalunya but with limited running, Sutil faces a race against time to get comfortable with the new VJM06 and the 2013-spec Pirelli tyres.

Williams experienced the highs and lows in quick succession last year. As the team celebrated Pastor Maldonado’s first Formula 1 win and the team’s first since 2004 (on the same weekend as Sir Frank Williams’s 70th birthday), a pit lane fire destroyed the team’s equipment. Though injuries were mercifully few, it proved to be a turning point. In the following race at Monaco, Maldonado made contact with Sergio Perez and Pedro de la Rosa, and such incidents would plague the rest of the Venezuelan’s season.

Maldonado needs to cut down his aggressive driving style as it costs Williams the chance to finish higher up in the constructors’ championship. He has the speed to be successful but must refine his racing attitude in order to benefit himself and the team in terms of scoring points.

As for his team-mate, the exciting Finnish rookie Valtteri Bottas has taken over Bruno Senna in the second seat at Williams. The 2011 GP3 Series champion made regular appearance in Friday practice sessions last season and made quite an impression on the team with his pace and technical feedback. Williams have rewarded him with a race drive and it will be fascinating to see how Bottas will do come the pressure of a racing weekend this year.

Last season’s STR7 was reliable but too slow, and Scuderia Toro Rosso’s inexperience driving pairing performed minor miracles to scrabble together as many points as they did. Following a nine-race pointless streak in mid-2012, technical director Giorgio Ascanelli was replaced by James Key, formerly of Sauber and Force India, and expectations and standards increased for the remainder of the season.

For 2013, the team which became independent from Red Bull in 2010, will have a settled driver line-up in the shape of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo, hope to build on that solid base of finishing in the points. Both Vergne and Ricciardo have a year’s experience of the circuits so will spend less time learning the tracks on Fridays meaning better preparation for qualifying and the race.

The new STR8 looks promising thanks to James Key’s technical advances. Hopefully the drivers can deliver solid results in the upcoming Formula 1 season or risk facing the axe from the demanding Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

It’s been a tough few years for Caterham, who have been dogged by upheaval during their short existence. First there was the dispute over rights to the Lotus name (which became rather ridiculous to be honest), then Mike Gascoyne, one of the team’s key architects, was taken off the Formula 1 programme.

Last summer, Caterham moved from their Hingham base to the old Super Aguri and Arrows factory at Leafield. The IT/CFD infrastructure is good, but their cars have never been competitive, the main issue being a lack of downforce, something that must be addressed urgently if this team are ever to score a point. And yet the biggest question is, for how long will Tony Fernandes constantly tolerate putting in money for so little return?

In the terms of the drivers, Charles Pic has made the switch from rival Marussia to lead the team. The Frenchman is well-rounded young star but his inexperience might cost Caterham in terms of development. As for Giedo van der Garde, the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series winner has been given this unique opportunity to race in Formula 1, but faces a difficult challenge racing in a back-of-the-grid car…

Short on cash, building a car that failed a pre-season crash test, over-estimating the importance of CFD design, a serious injury to test driver Maria de Villota and missing out on tenth position in the constructors’ championship to Caterham in the very last race (courtesy of a driver who had announced he was leaving to join said rivals)… last season went from bad to disastrous for Marussia.

The best they can realistically hope for in 2013 is an occasional Q2 spot, using their new KERS system to leapfrog Caterham and slot in behind Toro Rosso. Like Caterham, they have gambled on youth over experience in the cockpit with Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton.

Initially the team signed on Luiz Razia to partner Max Chilton, but the 2012 GP2 Series runner-up faced a sponsorship issue meaning a series of missed payments to Marussia. Razia was unable to compete at the second week of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya due to this funding situation and the team decided to terminate his services even before the championship began…

What a massive disappointment for the Brazilian and yet it proves that having the financial backing is the only way to get into Formula 1 in these modern era. It is a sad but that’s the truth in these harsh economical time.

Stepping into his seat at this very late stage is Jules Bianchi. After missing out on the chance to race for Force India, the 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series champion will now represent Marussia. With little to no running in the MR02, Bianchi faces a tall order in the upcoming season with a lack of circuit knowledge and car set-up. Best of luck to Bianchi in this difficult period as a Grand Prix rookie.

As for Max Chilton, the British driver has at least some racing mileage under his belt thanks to running in the Abu Dhabi practice session last November and pre-season testing this year. Chilton has the potential to be successful and seems very enthusiastic to race in the pinnacle of motor racing, but will the car’s shortcoming be a disadvantage to Chilton to showcase his talent? We shall see in the upcoming races.

So that’s the grid. In terms of the circuits, for the next eight months the Formula 1 circus will be travelling around the world with the opening round of the championship taking place in Albert Park, Australia on March 17th.

The Nürburgring will host this year’s German Grand Prix as part of the ongoing race share with Hockenheim. The purpose-built track for the United States Grand Prix – the Circuit of the Americas – was a hit with the fans and drivers alike, and yet the prospect of the New Jersey Grand Prix which was planned for this season (a street race with the famous New York City as the backdrop) meant this year’s championship is down to 19 races.

A possible replacement race at Austria’s Red Bull Ring (renamed from the A1-Ring) and at Turkey’s Istanbul Park were considered but in the end were not feasible due to the high race fee demanded by Bernie Ecclestone.

As always, the final race of the championship will be held at the popular Interlagos circuit, scene of many dramatic title showdown including Sebastian Vettel’s spirited recovery drive from the back to take the title glory in 2012.

Just like last season, the UK’s television coverage will be a joint broadcasting partnership between Sky Sports and the BBC. Meaning all the practice, qualifying sessions and races will be shown live by Sky, while the BBC will be televising qualifying and the race live from nine selected events, with extended highlights on the remaining races on a delayed broadcast.

The new arrangement was a big issue for armchair fans in 2012 but it did provide more airtime devoted to Formula 1.

With a dedicated channel on the satellite network, Sky Sports F1 HD brought more in-depth coverage on the sport with extensive programmes like documentaries, magazine shows previewing upcoming races plus countless hours of practice, qualifying and racing action.

The Beeb did a great job despite not covering all the events live thanks to a well-like team of experts and nicely edited highlights without missing out on the main action.

As for the changes in presenters, Georgie Thompson has now left Sky Sports F1 HD and will join (ironically) with ex-BBC F1 presenter Jake Humphrey. Both will be fronting BT Sport.

With Humphrey out of the picture (pun intended) at the Beeb, former MotoGP presenter Suzi Perry will take over the lead role. This will be Suzi’s first season covering the sport and it’s going to be a tricky transition to match her predecessor.

So there you have it. Not long to go before the first race in Albert Park, Melbourne on March 17th. It’s going to be one hell of a battle. Bring it on!