So here we are after ten races at the official half way
point of the 2013 Formula 1 season. After ten races and two enormous breaks
between races because Bernie Ecclestone couldn’t be bothered to replace the New
Jersey race with another fully prepared venue we’re at the point where the
teams can have a proper break, with the factories required to be completely
shut down for two weeks.
A lot of things have happened so far, many of which
weren’t expected and a few that were, of which I’m going to do a brief run
down.
Still on top
Total non-surprise of the year so far is that the Red
Bull is the most consistent and best car on the grid. The other teams are
continuing to trip over their own feet in order to find the silver bullet that
puts down the red wolf leading the pack while they focus their efforts behind
their golden boy.
The worst result Vettel’s had this year (besides his DNF
at the British Grand Prix) is third and even when he disobeys team orders he’s
perfectly in his right to get away with it within his own team with a little
ruffle of his hair.
Vettel’s a good driver, but he still hasn’t stepped up to
the same racer standards Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen have. Most of his
overtaking moves happen when he’s on fresher tyres then his opponent while his
defensive driving can range from fair enough to quite dirty if he has to do it
(seems the Red Bull generates enough dirty air to keep opponents at bay).
Speaking of them, Hamilton and Raikkonen seem to be the
ones who are the most dangerous to Vettel right now, when their cars allow it.
The Lotus is faster when it’s hot, somewhat hopeless when it’s not while the
Mercedes may or possibly may not grind its tyres away in a race after taking
pole.
The Ferrari in comparison seems to be neither here nor
there, slowly slipping off the absolute pace but still being in contention in
Alonso’s hands, while Massa seemed to get back to his old self before binning it
several times in a row.
Most eyes, of course, were on Rosberg to see how he’d
handle his new team mate Hamilton. The Mercedes is much better than it has been
on tyre wear in a few cases and Rosberg does seem to have stepped up his game
further to try and counter Hamilton, but the Briton regarded the edge once he
got to grips with his new team and car. The 2-1 win ratio between them likely
would be in reverse if it wasn’t for the Pirelli issues in Britain.
The all new Mid Field
McLaren has been an enigma this year. They finished in
Brazil with the fastest car, a car they failed to take full advantage of during
the 2012 campaign. This year, they’ve been hanging around with Force India and
Toro Rosso, battling over minor points.
Perez has done fairly well for the team so far after a
fairly tame start. His aggression was prompted by quite a bit of criticism and
he’s keeping it mostly under control, even if it has gotten away from him as it
did in Monaco.
Force India started the season steadily, threatening some
podiums as the season progressed before they started to drop back again. Di
Resta could very well have gotten a podium if it wasn’t for odd strategy
decisions in qualifying while Sutil seems to have lost none of his racing
prowess in his time off.
The Toro Rossos have been up and down to a more extreme
degrees as they fight over Webber’s soon to be vacated seat as Red Bull.
Despite a higher score, Riccardo tends to get favoured over Vergne but it’s
still up in the air whether either will get the seat, what with Raikkonen in
the picture for it too.
Sauber’s been disappointing after their heroics last
year. Losing Perez and booting out Kobayashi seems to have made little
difference as even Hulkenburg, who was really strong at Force India, hasn’t
gotten much out of this year’s car. Gutierrez, someone who was touted as
something special for a while in GP2 hasn’t delivered, but then when someone
who came fifth in GP2 last year (James Calado, if you’re interested) was said
to ‘make Gutierrez look ordinary’, you have to see the writing on the wall.
Bringing up the Rear
There’s not much surprise in the fact Caterham and
Marussia is bringing up the rear, but what is a surprise is that Williams has
dropped back into the same lull they in during 2011. After their recovery in
2012 that also brought a win for Maldonado, I think many were hoping for
Williams to make a return to their better days rather than slip backwards as
they have.
Not everything’s been doom and gloom, of course. While I
originally wrote off Bottas after he replaced Bruno Senna, who I rated fairly
well, the young Finn has done extremely well, beating out Maldonado a couple
times as well as qualifying a very impressive third on the grid in Canada in
what is a poor car. Maldonado’s still reasonable, threatening points scoring
finishes numerous times before he finally did it in Hungary.
Bianchi and Chilton was certainly an interesting choice
for Marussia, though in my mind not as much as Van der Garde partnering Pic,
who essentially made a sideward move to Caterham. Van der Garde only
occasionally featured in GP2 and I didn’t expect much from him, but after an
expected poor start he’s improved drastically, challenging Pic a few times. The
young Frenchman has also improved throughout his second year.
With Bianchi, Marussia is finally ahead of Caterham in
the constructor’s championship thanks to a single thirteenth place finish,
compared to Pic’s fourteenth. While he’s dropped behind one or both of the
Caterhams as the season’s progressed, Bianchi’s proved his potential that’s
been shown before. Chilton, on the other hand, while a decent driver, simply
hasn’t shown much potential. Of course, the Marussia is hardly great but the
young Briton is regularly at the back of the field, though he has so far
finished every race he’s started (fourteenth being his best finish).
Well you did ask for these Tyres
It’s impossible to discuss Formula 1 these days without
mentioning the tyres, tyres that have been ridiculed across multiple medias
multiple times (the best advise being not to buy Pirelli branded condoms).
The constant desire to ‘spice up the racing with quick
degrading tyres’ came from the 2010 Canadian grand prix, where the bridge stone
tyres wore away much faster than expected. Problem is, that track is much more
abrasive then other circuits and is features heavy breaking and acceleration,
making it difficult to near impossible to emulate onto other tracks.
This lofty goal is ultimately pointless. It wasn’t like
before 2011 ever race was dull with no overtaking and the current wait for
tyres to go off isn’t really racing, just as cars with fresh tyres overtaking
cars with tyres that had just lost all grip aren’t really racing overtakes.
While we hopefully won’t see multiple cars suffering tyre
blow outs again, don’t expect the FIA to realize their current plan to get
Pirelli to keep making the tyres less durable isn’t feasible in the long run.
People in that sort of position aren’t renowned for having any sense.
What next?
The last few times I’ve said ‘legendary track that always
provides good racing’, Vettel’s gone on to dominate in his favoured bore fest
manner, but with it being the all-time classic Spa Francorchamps next it’s
impossible to avoid saying that.
Of course, the Red Bull is still the car to beat, but it’s
getting beaten more and more often by the Mercedes and occasionally the Lotus’.
Christian Horner’s recent comments of ‘Vettel critics disrespect Webber’ comes
across as an attempt to discourage people thinking too greatly about how Vettel’s
been so successful (mostly others tripping over their own feet to beat a Red
Bull tailored for him), as well as to have a go at Webber to a degree.
Back on topic before I start pointlessly ranting in
circles, the rest of the European season’s looking quite open and competitive.
Hopefully, when we reach Brazil, the news of a Formula 1 champion won’t be “oh,
that guy won again”.
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