Anyway, pointless rant aside, now for the other thing I was hoping to talk about in
this blog: Formula 1. We've had a few brilliant seasons in the last few years,
marred by a few that were a chore to watch (2011 being the worst) but what can
we look forwards to this year? There are a few details still being debated/not taken seriously by Bernie Ecclestone because he's not being offered enough money regarding a possible 20th race, but for now let’s have a run-down of the teams and their
drivers.
First of all, lets look at the top teams. In previous years, you could almost say there were only two top teams (usually Ferrari and McLaren), but this year I can't help but feel there's a huge number of five, or at least from what last year and testing have shown, and here they are:
1: Sebastian Vettel
2: Mark Webber
Scuderia Ferrari
3: Fernando Alonso
4: Felipe Massa
Vodafone McLaren
Mercedes
First of all, yes, I do think there are now a full five teams in the 'top tier of Formula 1. Lotus was consistently quick both in 2012 and during testing while the 2013 Mercedes is looking very strong as well (even impressing BBC pundit and former Jordan engineer Gary Anderson). The big change, however, is Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes which at first seemed like a joke, but with McLaren's less then stellar testing performance, not to mention blowing 2012 completely when they had the best car, it may seem he made the right choice. Lets just hope Mercedes has dealt with it's running rear tyre issues.
It'll be difficult to bet against Red Bull. Out of them, Ferrari and McLaren they were the only ones to have the complete package of top driver, top car and top team (Ferrari lacked the car and McLaren lacked the team). However, good and consistent as Vettel is when in the lead, last year proved again that he's not really able to draw anything extra when under pressure and most of his overtakes tend to happen when he has superior tyres to this rivals, but if he can get out in front and stay there then it hardly matters what he's like in the pack. Thankfully it will matter as the top teams seem very evenly matched, though it's pretty much guaranteed Mark Webber will suffer the usual neglect from his team.
Sauber F1 Team
Caterham F1 Team
As you've probably noticed, Formula 1 will only feature eleven teams this year after HRT fell apart. With barely any sponsorship, I'm surprised they lasted three seasons but now they're gone. What was left has been bought up and is currently being prepared as a 2014 team Scorpion Racing, but that's for another year.
Both Caterham and Marussia have a new line up, one of which jumped ship from one to the other. Charles Pic did well to keep up with the highly rated Timo Glock last year and it seems Caterham were impressed enough to give him a seat along side Giedo van der Garde. van der Garde's a bit of a strange choice to me as, after four seasons in GP2, he's never finished higher then 5th in the championship. He does seem to be reasonably consistent though and that likely helped him secure the seat. The problem is though that after throwing out Heikki Kovalainen and Vitayl Petrov there isn't much experience to push the team forwards.
While Marussia's not been going participially far forwards even with Timo Glock, they have steadily been catching up with Caterham and now they finally have the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System which provides an extra boost to the car) they may well catch up. Again, Max Chilton is a surprise choice but they did also have Luiz Razia in the other seat before sponsorship issues led them to drop him and take on Jules Bianchi who had lost out for the Force India seat. Both drivers are ultimately there because they have money the team needs to keep going forwards, but could do quite well for themselves.
So, who's going to win? At present, I'm thinking the title will ultimately be between Vettel and Alonso again but it's difficult to really say, both teams seem to have been keeping their cards close to their chests. All five of what I've put down as the 'top tier' teams have the potential to win races this year but at the very least, this year should prove interesting. It can't be worse then most of 2011, after all.
Image Credit: Autosport
5: Jenson Button
6: Sergio Perez
Lotus F1 Racing
7: Kimi Raikkonen
8: Romain Grosjean
Mercedes AMG
Petronas F1 Team
9: Nico Rosberg
10: Lewis Hamilton
First of all, yes, I do think there are now a full five teams in the 'top tier of Formula 1. Lotus was consistently quick both in 2012 and during testing while the 2013 Mercedes is looking very strong as well (even impressing BBC pundit and former Jordan engineer Gary Anderson). The big change, however, is Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes which at first seemed like a joke, but with McLaren's less then stellar testing performance, not to mention blowing 2012 completely when they had the best car, it may seem he made the right choice. Lets just hope Mercedes has dealt with it's running rear tyre issues.
It'll be difficult to bet against Red Bull. Out of them, Ferrari and McLaren they were the only ones to have the complete package of top driver, top car and top team (Ferrari lacked the car and McLaren lacked the team). However, good and consistent as Vettel is when in the lead, last year proved again that he's not really able to draw anything extra when under pressure and most of his overtakes tend to happen when he has superior tyres to this rivals, but if he can get out in front and stay there then it hardly matters what he's like in the pack. Thankfully it will matter as the top teams seem very evenly matched, though it's pretty much guaranteed Mark Webber will suffer the usual neglect from his team.
McLaren are looking out of sorts, what with not only losing Lewis Hamilton but also Paddy Lowes, one of their technical directors. I rate Sergio Perez very highly but it seems the McLaren isn't quite the brilliant car it was last year and with Jenson Button leading the team, good as he can be, they may struggle.
Ferrari, for the second time in three years, are out for revenge after Fernando Alonso lost the title once again at the last race to a lucky little German lad (I'm still amazed his Red Bull survived two cars running into it with no significant damage, though if the Brazilian GP was entirely dry things likely would have been different). Last year, Alonso proved he is probably the best driver on the grid when he dragged what was a poor car within touching distance of the driver's championship. Felipe Massa's also recovered from the German GP 2010 (that did far more damage to him then a spring to the head ever could if you ask me) and may just threaten for the podium or win this year as the Ferrari seems very solid.
Finally, Lotus. There's not really a lot to say as Raikkonen proved you can return to a sport and be competitive while Romain Grosjean has hopefully learnt not to twitch around on the run to the first corner. The car itself is looking solid and should challenge for podiums and wins, maybe even a French win for Romain.
11: Nico Hulkenberg
12: Esteban Gutierrez
Sahara Force India
F1 Team
14: Paul diResta
15: Adrian Sutil
Williams F1 Team
16: Pastor Maldonardo
17: Valtteri Bottas
Scuderia Toro
Rosso
18: Jean-Eric Vergne
19: Daniel Riccardo
Moving on before I completely lose track of what I'm doing here, the mid field has drawn much closer to the top tier teams in recent years, Sauber especially and lets not forget Williams' first win in years at Spain last year in which some of the electronics were so shocked they burst into flames.
Anyway, out of the mid field teams it seems Sauber has undergone the biggest changes, what with an entire new driver line up and a colour scheme that looks like the 2010 HRT. Nico Hulkenburg is certainly a worth while driver, though it seems to me more of a side step then a step up, though after some of his runs towards the end of last year, not to mention Sauber's performances on the whole, I can see him doing well. Gutierrez has been highly rated and despite only finishing 3rd in the GP2 championship last year he is one of the few GP2 drivers to make the leap to Formula 1 this year. At the moment, I'm just waiting to see what he does.
Force India seem to be the absolute middle of the field at the moment, along with Toro Rosso. With their current driver line ups largely remaining the same (along with the surprise return of Adrian Sutil when frankly better drivers were available) I can't see them really moving anywhere. Of course, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Riccardo are going to be pushing as hard as they can so they may avoid the same fate as Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari so they may be worth watching.
Williams seem to be pressing hard to regain more of their former glory again after Pastor Maldonardo managed to go an entire race without the red mist. Keeping Pastor is likely going to be a good idea, but he still has a way to go to calm the hell down after throwing away several high scoring points positions last year for simple foolishness, not to mention intentionally running into Sergio Perez in Monaco qualifying (how the hell he avoided a race ban is beyond me). Valtteri Bottas, despite clearly being more favoured then Bruno Senna after the Brazilian lost most of his practice sessions to the Finn, is a bit of an unknown quantity. He may surprise us by giving Maldonardo a run for his money, but losing the consistent and reliable Senna may prove a bad move in the long run.
Anyway, out of the mid field teams it seems Sauber has undergone the biggest changes, what with an entire new driver line up and a colour scheme that looks like the 2010 HRT. Nico Hulkenburg is certainly a worth while driver, though it seems to me more of a side step then a step up, though after some of his runs towards the end of last year, not to mention Sauber's performances on the whole, I can see him doing well. Gutierrez has been highly rated and despite only finishing 3rd in the GP2 championship last year he is one of the few GP2 drivers to make the leap to Formula 1 this year. At the moment, I'm just waiting to see what he does.Force India seem to be the absolute middle of the field at the moment, along with Toro Rosso. With their current driver line ups largely remaining the same (along with the surprise return of Adrian Sutil when frankly better drivers were available) I can't see them really moving anywhere. Of course, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Riccardo are going to be pushing as hard as they can so they may avoid the same fate as Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari so they may be worth watching.
Williams seem to be pressing hard to regain more of their former glory again after Pastor Maldonardo managed to go an entire race without the red mist. Keeping Pastor is likely going to be a good idea, but he still has a way to go to calm the hell down after throwing away several high scoring points positions last year for simple foolishness, not to mention intentionally running into Sergio Perez in Monaco qualifying (how the hell he avoided a race ban is beyond me). Valtteri Bottas, despite clearly being more favoured then Bruno Senna after the Brazilian lost most of his practice sessions to the Finn, is a bit of an unknown quantity. He may surprise us by giving Maldonardo a run for his money, but losing the consistent and reliable Senna may prove a bad move in the long run.
Caterham F1 Team
20: Charles Pic
21: Giedo van der Garde
Marussia F1 Team
22: Jules Bianchi
23: Max Chilton
As you've probably noticed, Formula 1 will only feature eleven teams this year after HRT fell apart. With barely any sponsorship, I'm surprised they lasted three seasons but now they're gone. What was left has been bought up and is currently being prepared as a 2014 team Scorpion Racing, but that's for another year.
Both Caterham and Marussia have a new line up, one of which jumped ship from one to the other. Charles Pic did well to keep up with the highly rated Timo Glock last year and it seems Caterham were impressed enough to give him a seat along side Giedo van der Garde. van der Garde's a bit of a strange choice to me as, after four seasons in GP2, he's never finished higher then 5th in the championship. He does seem to be reasonably consistent though and that likely helped him secure the seat. The problem is though that after throwing out Heikki Kovalainen and Vitayl Petrov there isn't much experience to push the team forwards.
While Marussia's not been going participially far forwards even with Timo Glock, they have steadily been catching up with Caterham and now they finally have the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System which provides an extra boost to the car) they may well catch up. Again, Max Chilton is a surprise choice but they did also have Luiz Razia in the other seat before sponsorship issues led them to drop him and take on Jules Bianchi who had lost out for the Force India seat. Both drivers are ultimately there because they have money the team needs to keep going forwards, but could do quite well for themselves.
So, who's going to win? At present, I'm thinking the title will ultimately be between Vettel and Alonso again but it's difficult to really say, both teams seem to have been keeping their cards close to their chests. All five of what I've put down as the 'top tier' teams have the potential to win races this year but at the very least, this year should prove interesting. It can't be worse then most of 2011, after all.
Image Credit: Autosport
No comments:
Post a Comment