It's been just under two months since the last season ended, but within a few weeks the first teams are ready to show their new cars. With the big rule changes already blinking in the horizon and this year having practically no rule changes, this year will be more about recycling the old parts and aiming for the future.
And it ended up being mostly the same in the drivers' front. 3 of the top 5 teams will have the same lineup as last year. The biggest move of the year was obviously Hamilton moving to Mercedes. And I tell you what, what ever the others say, he didn't leave because of the money. He left because he got bored of the gray colour of the car. So he switched to Mercedes where the cars are... Oh...
To fill the gap, McLaren hired Crashez... No wait, Perez who had, until the signing, performed very well. But from that point onwards it was more of a downhill slide for him. So it's going to be interesting to see what's going to happen.
Massa got an overtime pass after what seemed like a mid season kick. Helping him in the fight for the championship is Alonso. Also Red Bull and Renault keep their old drivers. From the rear of the grid, Toro Rosso does the same thing.
Next year we'll see only 22 cars on the grid as HRT's struggle for existence is now over. And Bernie said it was good.
Thanks to the contract roulette spinning so quickly during last year, we're left with just one to three seats to be confirmed.
Lineup of 2013
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Constructor || Engine
Drivers
Red Bull || Renault
Sebastian Vettel || Mark Webber
Ferrari || Ferrari
Fernando Alonso || Felipe Massa
McLaren || Mercedes
Jenson Button || Sergio Perez
Lotus || Renault
Kimi Räikkönen || Romain Grosjean
Mercedes || Mercedes
Nico Rosberg || Lewis Hamilton
Sauber || Ferrari
Nico Hülkenberg || Esteban Gutierrez
Force India || Mercedes
Paul di Resta || Sutil
Williams || Renault
Pastor Maldonado || Valtteri Bottas
STR || Ferrari
Daniel Ricciardo || Jean-Éric Vergne
Caterham || Renault
Charcles Pic || Giedo Van Der Garde
Marussia F1 || Cosworth
Jules Bianchi || Max Chilton
DRS rules will be changed so that it can only be used in the designated spots during practice and qualifying, as opposed to the free use last year.
No mid season testing.
No Double DRS.
The teams have also been given a chance to hide the stepped nose by putting a plate in front of it. Apparently most of the teams won't use it though, so get prepared for some more duck faces this year.
Also, on the technical front, Pirelli has said they would be modifying the tyres again. I have to admit I don't remember what the changes were, but it was most likely to remove a bit of the sudden drop this year's tyres had. And to increase the gap between different compounds.
Because of the small changes, most of the cars will be just updates from last year. The biggest change we see will be from Mercedes, who dropped the last year's failed car completely and went on a copy Red Bull route. Also, expect Ferrari to make some changes to get the car drivable from the beginning of the season.
This year has seen the struggle to scrape up a schedule. The race in New Jersey was delayed by a year because of politics. There were talks about France or Turkey replacing the race, but no money was found to keep the event. Valencia was dropped and will start switching with Catalunya because of the lack of spectators. German GP is supposed to be kept in Nürburgring this year, but the owners have financial troubles, so it might be replaced with Hockenheim. The Korean GP hosts also were crying about the race not profiting, but ended up renewing the contract.
As for the upcoming new GPs, at least the Russian GP seems to still be in schedule and should be on the calendar in 2014 or 2015. There have also been talks about a race in Thailand next year.
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Race Grand Prix Date
1 Australian GP 17 March
2 Malaysian GP 24 March
3 Chinese GP 14 April
4 Bahrain GP 21 April
5 Spanish GP 12 May
6 Monaco GP 26 May
7 Canadian GP 9 June
8 British GP 30 June
9 German GP 7 July
10 --Empty-- 21 July
11 Hungarian GP 28 July
12 Belgian GP 25 August
13 Italian GP 8 September
14 Singapore GP 22 September
16 Korean GP 6 October
15 Japanese GP 13 October
17 Indian GP 27 October
18 Abu Dhabi GP 3 November
19. United States GP 17 November
20 Brazilian GP 24 November
On last year's poll 11 people voted for Vettel winning the championship. So the poll is up there again! Let's see how many gets it right this year! (The poll closes one day before the first practice in Australia)
F1 2013 is GOOOOOOO