In 20 years, perhaps, when people look at the results of the Formula 1 races in the early 2010s, they will think that it was all a bit of a Red Bull walkover. Three consecutive double World Championships looks pretty impressive on paper, but in reality the last three seasons have been anything but dull. One has rarely gone to a race knowing who is going to win in advance. That, of course, is a real problem for any sport because unpredictability is the very essence of what makes a sport exciting. Dominance may be impressive, but it is a turn-off. In the days when Ferrari was completely dominant with Michael Schumacher some may have pretended that people turn on TVs to watch a great maestro at work, but it is not really true. What viewers want to see is tension and excitement. Formula 1 has delivered that in recent years without really compromising the nature of the game, which is rather different to some other racing series where they simply throw a yellow if things get dull. Some will argue otherwise but F1 still has a purity about it, which is appealing.
The other thing F1 has right now is mature regulations. This means that engineers have looked at every loophole and played with every tweak they can think of. They have been forced in recent years to look at ever more esoteric aerodynamic solutions. Airflow has long been analysed and fiddled with, but in recent times the gains have come from double diffusers, air being piped around the cars and exhausts being used as aerodynamic aids. It is an era that has been dominated by the aerodynamicists, with the engine designers barely getting a look-in. All of this has meant that the relative performance between the different teams is much smaller than it used to be as all the good ideas have been spread around.
The problem with stable rules is that while the racing gets better, the sport’s technological image is undermined because the cutting edge leaves the sport behind. The key is to find a nice balance between rule changing and stirring the pot, and close racing. When the teams are as closely-matched as they are these days, it is not easy to predict winners. If you had tried to guess a World Champion in March last year, you would probably have gone for Lewis Hamilton, but Red Bull fought back remarkably as the season went on, and McLaren seemed to lose its drive. Ferrari was chipping away all the time, led by inspiring performances from Fernando Alonso, while Lotus, Williams, Sauber and even Force India had their moments in the spotlight.
Bernie Ecclestone says that he would like to see Ferrari winning in 2013 and there is no doubt that a lot of fans around the world would like that as well. Ferrari is always popular, but will the Italian team produce a car as good as those from the other top teams? We won’t know that until the second or third weeks of testing in February, by which time it will be fairly clear who will have a decent car when the F1 circus tips up in Australia in mid-March.
The sport is at the end of an evolutionary period when it comes to car design and next year we will see some more radical changes as the new turbo hybrid engines kick in.
McLaren is a formidable force and, amazingly, the team has not won a World Championship since Lewis Hamilton’s memorable title in 2008. Even more astonishingly, McLaren has not won the Constructors’ title since 1998, but has finished second on no fewer than seven occasions (eight if one includes 2007 when the team was excluded as part of the espionage furore). Lotus F1 Team needs just a little bit more performance to get in with the top players on a regular basis and a lot of fans would like to see the recharged Kimi Raikkonen winning another World Championship. Williams fans too will be hoping to see Valtteri Bottas quickly getting up to speed and helping the team to get back into contention at very. It may be a little early for that, but seeing a top driver in a Williams again is a good thing. Sauber too has a lot of fans and with Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez it has an exciting new line-up.
So there is a lot to look forward to in 2013… At the moment I’m still enjoying the break, but I expect in a month or so I will start to be a little restless and will want to hear the engines singing again.
Jenson’s going to win. I feel it in my bones.
I struggled this year. Alonso was so clearly head-and-shoulders above the rest that I wanted to support him as I had in the mid-noughties. However, the stain of Crashgate lingers. Fortunately the shenanigans with gearbox seals and whinging about green flags or the absence thereof simplified matters.
I love Kimi to bits, and would love to see him win but unless there’s a major shuffle in car performance that’s not going ot happen very often.
Shameless long time Williams fan. That Barcelona victory has got me wanting more. i dont think ive been that emotional since Damon at Suzuka in ’96 and i think (hope) they’ll be in a postion to do so, after all, this was the year the changes were supposed to take a noticeable effect
I’d like to see Mercedes win some races with Lewis, I expect him to be able to drive around whatever car they produce and show a significant gap between himself and Rosberg at the very least, but some race wins would be good.
I’d also like to see Kimi win some races, back when he was with McLaren I thought he was the fastest driver out there, his car did seem to blow up a lot though.
Those are my two favourite drivers, I’d like to see McLaren win, I’m sure Button will get a few race wins, but unless their car is significantly better than the others I can’t see them getting a title this year. It’ll probably go to Vettel or (hopefully, just for a change) Alonso.
Mark Webber has earned his ride the hard way and raced with honor and integrity against all odds. Beating Vettel as a “number two driver” would be a magnificent victory. I would greatly enjoy watching Marko eat his words – however unlikely that may be. Vettel will get the setup he wants, so it will be tough, but somehow I think he can pull it off… Hamilton and Alonso – we will see about their cars. Button would be my next hope after Webber – I’ve always liked smart drivers with class. Okay Joe – that’s my pick! Above all I hope for great racing and a reasonably fair fight.
It would be even sweeter given Marko’s latest tirade against him.
Yes, Dr Marko is taking a strong early lead in the Put A Bloody Sock In It standings. Monty will have to spend all of the Madonna di Campiglio event talking about how Ferrari should be allowed six cars, double points, and a 15% “historical bonus extra horsepower allowance” if he wants to make up the gap.
Marko is one tirade away from being able to complete a PhD “Mark Webber: Battered by Helmut”. I cannot recall somebody openly criticising a member within their team so frequently…
Yes, but Marko is also right. In four seasons together it’s been 4-love to Vettel. Vettel has done a better job, and he represents RBR’s best chance of winning races and championships. The team will back him, it’s true, but they’ll back him because he’s earned it by being consistently more successful.
Webber — who I like a lot — had his moment three (?) years ago and just missed. With the maturation of Vettel, I can’t imagine him getting that close again.
Kimi WDC 2013!!
McLaren WCC
I second both of those wishes.
In all honesty, though, I’d be surprised, if either came true.
I’d expect Lotus to win a few more races this year. They seem a very solid team in every department and have been building momentum over the past few seasons. Ferrari might do better, they might do worse. Everyone else will be about the same. I’m interested to see what effect Pat Symonds has had at Marussia, and whether Williams can fulfil their potential.
In answer to your title question, I would love to see Lewis turn that dog of a Mercedes into a race winning car (again) and add to the mix of front runners with Nico
Me too.
Ditto, would be great to see mercedes come good with Lewis.
Lewis yes – and Nico too, but I couldn’t care less about Mercedes – no soul.
Just the opposite for me: Love to see Nico shine in a better Merc and Lewis struggle a bit. I think Lewis will have a difficult transition period into a new team that may not be dedicated to his personal achievement.
hope not
I notice you don’t even mention Mercedes, but in many ways the most interesting thing about 2013 might be to see whether having Lewis Hamilton in the driving seat will inspire the team to develop a winning car. Although I must say I doubt if they can, either in 2013 or subsequently.
I think many people will support Alonso. I have never supported him in the past, but I felt he was by far the driver who most deserved the title in 2012. All the polls I saw showed an overwhelming majority felt the same way, so there may well be a lot of sentiment for an injustice to be righted in 2013.
The real world champion though is Adrian Newey, and it’ll be interesting to see whether he keeps his crown. What would the directors of Ferrari or Mercedes give for his signature on a contract I wonder?
True. Perhaps that is an oversight, but I still need to be convinced that the team has the right structure to deliver the goods. I am happy to eat those words later on if they do well, but I have expected much more for the last three seasons and what has really changed? They have more gear, more people and more money, but they have scored fewer points.
Do the board want results in 2013 or are they willing to let Brawn repeat the 2009 trick with the new regulations in 2014?
Good question.
So you didn’t buy Brawn’s mitigating reasons last week then, Joe? I think his points are that their 50% wind tunnel wasn’t a huge help, and there were also changes at the top (staff-wise) which had an inevitable waterfall effect.
Is he making excuses for not reaching targets or does he have a fair point?
They built a car that was hard on its rear tyres. That was the wrong way to go thus year.
I do wonder if like Lotus in 2012 they can bounce back hard just by fixing their aero balance. This time last year, plenty of people were writing Enstine off. Joe? Anyone?
So Joe what do you think about Lewis saying he might one day return to McLaren? Will this really be a 3-year Merc contract or might he come back to McLaren in 2014 (providing Merc and Perez are both catastrophal…)?
Wait, you’re not the one with the crystal ball…
Don’t agree. 2011 was a RBR walkover. I got to the point where I couldn’t care who was going to win the race, as long as it wasn’t Vettel. And I’m not the only one thinking this.
Really? Where are the others?
I’ll admit a little voice in the back of my head cheers every time Vettel has/had an issue. Heck, I nearly didn’t watch Abu Dhabi 2011, well, until his wheel popped.
One right here – I got very bored in 2011 because I knew Vettel was overwhelmingly likely to win. However, I totally agree with Joe that 2010 and 2012 were brilliant seasons. I just didn’t find the one in the middle very compelling.
OK. That is one.
One more here.
OK, we now have two.
Make it 3….
Same sentiment here, Joe. 2011 was a fantastic year watching the race for 2nd place. Most of the time it was Vettel, starting from pole position, getting a lighting quick start, and being out of DRS range of 2nd position within the first two turns! That, coupled with RBR’s significant improvement in reliability, made the race winner extremely predictable. As I just said, however, the race behind the leader was usually exciting and interesting.
Although I am a Ferrari fan, I am an equally big fan of competition and entertainment in the sport, and from that perspective, I couldn’t really ask for more exciting championship campaigns than 2010 and 2012. We have a truly great rivalry on our hands (between both drivers and teams), and those two seasons for me will go down in history (to me) as memorable and great!
One time Schumi fan, so got preconditioned to not watching the front of the race . . won’t let SV winning a lot spoil things for me this year, if he stretches out a lead by a country mile. The chasing pack looks plenty interesting enough to me.
The racing was still great in 2011. Yes the winner was often predictable, but the TV pictures largely ignored him and we saw some great racing.
It was like Schumacher/Ferrari again.
Joe,
Do you have the capability of hosting polls?
A lot of the forums/blogs I visit can do that. It might be interesting sometimes to post a poll on questions like this, or whatever comes to mind. Or, maybe it it doesn’t interest you…anyway, just a thought.
As for 2011, I sort of fall in the middle. I don’t get bored with domination. I was fine with the Schumacher/Ferrari era. It is what it is. If anything, it makes the times when the non-dominant driver/team wins even more exciting.
But with 2011, I just can’t quite bring myself to like Vettel. I know he’s a good driver. I respect his talent. But for some reason, I just don’t care for him that much. I often for someone other than him to win, just because of that. Maybe part of it is the smugness that comes across from both him and Red Bull. I could be misreading it, but that’s how it comes across to me.
I am not really interested…
Me too, I have to confess.
I like Vettel, but I don’t think he did very much last year to show that he can do the business in a car that doesn’t have the Adrian Newey bespoke exhaust. Full marks to Vettel for reprogramming his driving to fit perfectly the counterintuitive inputs that system requires, but it is interesting that Vettel is only unbeatable when the exhaust gasses are sticking the back end down (2011 and post-Singapore last year). The rest of the time, Mark actually seems to have the measure of Vettel pretty well.
Me and a lot of friends were exactly the same too.
I guess you had to be there…
“Who do you want to see win in 2013?”
- Kimi – because of the enormous amount of emotions shown on the award ceremony and the extensive briefings on the press conference
- Lewis Hamilton – because he’s awesome driver and talent.
- Alonso – because he deserves it.
- Massa – because it will be a great boost
- Webber – in order to shut Marco.
plus one to this list – don’t think Mark will be allowed to win it though. Joe do I gather you rate Bottas highly already?
Kimi or Jensen. Kimi because he has come back and really shown his skill, Jensen because he seems to prove that nice guys can win.
Nice guys can win, I agree Pie Man. But Jenson does not prove this fact. Jenson is a canny, cunning and very smart competitor. Much of what he does is under the radar. He is not a Bad guy by any means. But he is certainly not the epitome of the term “nice guy”. He is politically astute and very aware of the power of the media and therefore perception.
I think you’re mixing up ‘nice’ with ‘naive’. Jenson can be a nice guy and still be intelligent and astute to reality. Nice doesn’t have to mean he’s a blundering romantic idiot unaware of how he comes across.
More a case of who not to win it and I personally would not like to see Seb win it (would not mind if RBR win it with Webber). Nothing against Seb but I’d like to see a few different emotions and he has enough time to win a few more down the line anyway.
Most spectacular would be Hamilton in a Merc, imagine that!
I want to see at least 9 different race-winners again!
If Pirelli does it again, expect your wish to come true.
Wouldn’t Lance Armstrong be the perfect spokesperson for Pirelli? Who/what better symbol could there be?
Why?
Because they share a belief in flexible ethics and a mastery of self-serving spin.
I’ll spare everyone the essay I wrote and just say this: in the first half of the season, tyres that should have been equivalent to each other were not. I suggest that within the supply of a single compound of tyres, there was a deliberately large range of performance from set to set. That’s not sport, that’s entertainment. And it’s only borderline legit. Paul Hembery kept repeating his “We’re just doing what we were asked to do by the FIA” monologue as justification.
I can imagine hearing Lance Armstrong’s voice, paragon of honesty that he is, saying in a Pirelli ad, “We never did anything wrong.”
(I accept that I sound like a crackpot. I have no direct evidence. I know tyres have longish lead times. I know that it’s the FIA that allocates them to the teams at a GP. But there is still plenty of room for monkey business. Monkey business that actually gave me great motivation. It isn’t all bad. Thanks, Joe.)
Sorry, but I think you are dreaming.
Because Lance Armstrong was big on multiple different winners was he?
Hi Joe, Great question! Like everyone here I’m sure, including your goodself, I’m sure we all have our favourite competitors, personally I’d say whichever team and driver deserve it (may the best man/team combo win!). That said I would be a very happy bunny if whoever triumphs wasn’t able to walk it, even though they would deservce credit for doing so. One of the highlights for me this year was the suprise each race as to who had nailed setup etc and hooked it all up (even if we didn’t always like why this was happening e.g. tyre mangement). You note some exciting new driver/team combinations, hopefully the rule stability from 2012 will give us another season of excitement.
I do agree with you however that the technological advancement element of the sport needs careful consideration to allow innovation to take place (whilst I don’t understand it, I enjoy seeing the benefit of such innovations when they appear), but the ‘how’ and ‘what form’ this might take place are for people with far greater knowledge than I. Perhaps some of the current frustration (at fan level) perhaps stems from a lack of clarity about the ‘vision’ for F1 in the future (i.e we (the fans) perhaps want things from the sport that they (the rule makers/commercial owners) simply aren’t interested in?
I’d love to see Mercedes win this year and Ferrari come come back on form. A resumption of Hamilton vs Alonso would be great!
Yes, I wish.
It’s a romantic, but seemingly far-fetched idea. I hope we can all be proved wrong
Jenson for the World Championship, please
Jenson has my wish/vote as well.
Is there a genuine technology angle to F1 these days? I know in all the surveys, there’s always an option to show that ‘technology’ is one of the things one likes about F1. That doesn’t mean that there’s a real technological angle to it though. Think of all the electronics on a new car. Barely any of that is allowed on F1 cars.
I’m not against using the new technology, I just think that having exciting (close) racing far far outweighs the need to display exotic technology. So I’m hoping that no-one will find a magic formula in 2014 when the new regs kick in.
Formula 1 is considered the pinnacle of motor racing. In order to attain this reputation it has to be more than just an engine and four wheels, so yes I think that technology has a huge part to play as it adds to the glitz and glamour of the sport…
I would say that KERS has been an interesting development to follow (not that having trouble getting it to work seems to have hurt Red Bull that much).
Jason, I reckon so much of the technology is stashed away in server farms, or in analytical computer code, that, yes, it’s hard to see what’s going on. But most certainly there is incredible work going on. Take a look back through the blog, when discussion was being a bit more geek, or at the entry for Renault’s new design center, not IIRC reported by anyone else, replete with supercomputing facilities. I think it is just hard to get anyone to open up and show their toys, but there’s toys aplenty, and in a way, you might argue that putting so much energy into design as opposed to driver aids and gimmicks, when it is from behind the scenes, leaves more to the racer than in other eras. The minute you get constrained by say computer speed, in simulation or parts design, it gets to be a much leveler playing field, and I attribute to this factor more of the close battles than I would give credence to the regulations. If you look, say, at benchmark differences between our “stock” office computer and a high end workstation, for most marks, there’s barely 30% improvement for adding a zero. (without hand optimization) Certainly in simulation you pay the extra for reliability: it sucks to run a program for a week and have a corrupt memory chip blow your results. Obviously you need some brains so it’s not SISO, but I get freaked how fast our “bog standard” desktop machines are now. With the testing restrictions, if you can simulate, that effort compensates to some degree, and that trend I think is what is leading to closer races, at least in a good part.
I can (but possibly shouldn’t) confirm that Mercedes AMG have at least had meetings with a few special effects / CGI companies about optimising CFD methods.
The final result each side of the table would be looking for isn’t the same, but the science and the computational methods are.
Makes perfect sense. The big FX houses have thrown huge sums lately at even plumbing type / architectural problems, which you know to be a fair part of the scaling problem, and you can run a team on some Hollywierd FX budgets. I think one of the big efforts towards realism was very close to what F1 teams are interested in: fluid dynamics. The now renamed Millimeter magazine, or any survey of SIGGRAPH papers shows the progression. There’s also a Bernie – Tonne worth of compute farms lurking now, many of which are underutilized.
The science and computuational methods of Special Effects/CGI and CFD are not the same.
Not sure how much encoding of numerical soulution methods of Navier-Stokes Codes goes on with the CGI guys.
However, the use of GPU’s instead of CPU’s might be a common ground which I know lots of folks have explored..
These days huge amounts of it really are the same. Probably wasn’t the case ten, maybe even five, years ago but it is now. The ever increasing pressure on Hollywood films to provide better and more dramatic stunts in higher and higher resolution means that the CGI work has to be more real than ever.
It’s all full blown 3D Navier-Stokes solutions on as many cores as you can get hold of, the artists give an idea of what they want, define as much as they can and the fluid simulation works out what really happens before the rendering starts. The investment in the development work and CFD is still less time and cost intensive than getting artists to “draw” each frame, and looks better to boot.
The only real difference is that cinema is often looking for multiple-phase / multiple-fluid applications (water/air, smoke/air, water/ink) for a visual end product and with focus on transient effects and engineers are (mainly) after single-phase (air only) simulations with the steady state case as the primary goal and transient modelling at the sharp end. In F1 though, the sharp end is old hat, the bleeding edge is where it’s at.
That said, the old ways are sometimes still best – the Metro newspaper praised the top notch CGI in “The Impossible” in their review last week, but I’m reliably informed that it was mostly done with specially built tanks and scale models.
If you`re lagging behind the flow physics required for generating plausible images for Hollywood artists then you’re nowwhere near the leading edge I`d respectfully suggest.
I guess we have all sat watching a hollywood film and said to ourselves as the alien sapceship
Damned android phone!
…said to ourselves as the aline spaceship bursts into flames “well they haven’t modelled that boundary layer very well”
Is it just me that didn’t even know you could have a boundary layer in space?
Sometimes I feel we’ll out of my depth around here…
I like to see the Force India or Sauber teams win a race just as a confirmation that the relative small changes in the rules will result in the mid field teams being able to compete for wins.
I like to see Lewis Hamilton win a race in the Mercedes and I would like to see either Nico Hulkenberg or Paul di Resta win a race or be on the podium just to confirm their reputation as the two top talents in F1. It would also be nice if Valteri Botas can be on the podium but I guess that is maybe asking a bit too much.
Odd, I’d see the changes of the rules (mainly banning of things) being the detriment to the “technical cutting edge” image. See also my various previous comments made about the usefulness of F1 development to roadcars.
That said, tighter rules and restriction encourage out-of-the-box thinking (and bad clichés), you can bet that no-one in the early-90s was considering fiddling engine mappings to sort out a blown diffuser – ABS, traction control and active suspension were more effective means of getting the job done.
2013 looks like being a stonking season. Perez has it all to prove. Raikkonen as the constant dark horse. Button needing to return to 2011 levels. Vettel desperate to keep the run going. Alonso desperate to stop him. Hamilton desperate for anything frankly, which could be brilliant or disastrous. Grosjean can’t afford to be as crash-tastic. Massa surely needs to actually deliver this year?
It’s going to be ace.
But the shake-up in 2014 worries me. A new ruleset will shake the landscape – perhaps good in the long term (though at a risk of the teams who drop down the table eventually leaving F1), but for the first six months to a year we can expect one or two teams to crush the opposition.
P.S. Doesn’t including McLaren’s 2007 Spygate season still leave them with seven 2nd places and a Constructor’s title?
>> Doesn’t including McLaren’s 2007 Spygate season still leave them with seven 2nd places and a Constructor’s title?
Despite McLaren staging a faux-awards ceremony in the pitlane for photographers and presenting Ron with a small trophy which they said was to make up for the constructors’ trophy that they had been denied, because of the Alonso-blocking-Hamilton-in-the-pitlane-in-Hungary incident McLaren would have – had the points penalty not been imposed – marginally lost the constructors’ championship by a single point.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Formula_One_season#Constructors
Indeed, I somehow blanked the Hungary thing.
Ross Brawn gave a stirring interview a couple of months ago in some new F1 magazine, it gave me confidence Mercedes could actually put together a decent package for 2013. I think Lewis’ experience in 2009 will help him guide the team from a development perspective and the composure he showed in 2012 will help him lead the team. 3 race wins and consistent points could bring him the championship.
Kamui! oh, wait . . .
+1
me too… that guy is the proper kind of crazy…
Persomally I’d love to see Massa continue his late season form and fight for the championship this year, not only because I am a fan but it would be fascinating to see how Alonso reacts.
That’s a good one! I agree that for the interest generated it would be a very interesting thing to see how Ferrari and Alonso would respond to that.
Not hard to figure how Ferrari would react…..I can hear Rob Smedley on the car phone now. Can’t wait to see Fred driving around tossing his toys from his pram tho’
The start of 2010 and 2011 showed that Ferrari are prepared to start the season equally, so I don’t think there’s any reason to believe Ferrari will make Massa pull over in the first race or anything.
I am both a McLaren and a Lewis fan, but maybe Alonso needs a break (though I have not forgiven him for trying to blackmail Ron).
Luca has been developing his trash talk over the last few months, maybe in the hope that if his exhortations to be aggressive in design again this year are as successful as last, at least he can cause some friction amongst the other teams.
Vettel was beginning to remind me of the Schumacher Ferrari era back when my wife took an interest, she actively hated “that nasty German who cheats”
Webber needs to show his grit in what may well be his last season in F1, I’d like to see him beat Vettel on a regular basis. If nothing else it would end the rumours about his car.
I would like to see Caterham drag themselves into the land of the living and for Mike to produce a revolutionary car to match his personal nautical achievements. We had great expectations of Tony’s team, we need a huge leap forward this season.
However I am sure I read that the CA is not yet signed for this season, so how can testing start? And with no doctor either!
The bloke in the safety car. He’s good at getting to the front.
There’s another guy with the same knack. i think his name is Ray Sleader or something like that.
I would love to see Kimi win another title. I think refueling should return to F1, it adds that extra dimension and unpredictability. Regarding McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh is part of the problem – he appears to lack passion and “win at any cost” attitude, I do not see in 2013 Jensen winning the championship or Mclaren winning the Constructors title.
Wrong about MW.
2007 was the last time McClaren won a constructors title (Ron Dennis team principal) 2008 Drivers title with Lewis Hamilton and Ron D team principal. Since MW took the reins no WDC or Constructors titles, I see a pattern here.
I’ve may a slight advantage here, I must confess. I’ve spent time talking to him during a wdc/wcc fight which we (I was a Mclaren memlost. (Losing sucks, btw). Though I owe him no favours, I wouldn’t accuse MW of lacking passion for racing.
I would hate racing to go down the football route of calling for sackings based on stats and peoples impressions based on TV soundbites.
Sorry, hit wrong button on android phone. Should read “we lost, (I was a Mclaren employee at the time).”
I too have an insight into McLaren having contracted for MTS Systems I have met many folk at McLaren going back 20 years. I just don’t feel MW is the guy.
Of ocourse you’re entitled to you opinion, but seeing people work 1st hand day to day gives you a better feel for their character. MW has flaws (I know some ex-BAe folks who definitely dislike him intensely) but the lack of racing passion or desire to win isn’t one of them.
People on the outside (and that includes me now) don’t really know the insides of the teams. It’s a bit like all the flak Ron used to get for Ronspeak and his idiosyncracies, but the guy’s heart is definitely in it.
rmm – fans only have that to go on, other than people’s records. For me Ferrari have the same problem – two representatives who are so much better in their roles compared to the previous incumbents in terms of PR but less successful running the team. After all, MW lost Lewis. You can’t argue with the facts.
So should fans then have any say over who runs a team? Definitely no!
Did MW lose Lewis, or did Lewis just need to go. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. the last time I saw Lewis he was a GP2 racer who looked like a schoolkid.
Do the fans knopw the facts, I’d say not.
On the original topic, who do I want to win in 2013? Whoever does the best job. That probably means Mr Newey. I used to say I was a flag waver for anyone who paid me, but I’m over that now.
Sorry for the grammar and punctuation in my last few comments. At times, I have the typing skills of a drunken walrus.
I agree with you there on A Newey. I’m waiting for him to work for Ferrari – now that would please Mr Ecclestone! Re Lewis, you’re probably right, in any case he needed to go just for the experience. How hard McLaren really tried to keep him we’ll only know when someone ‘in the know’ writes their biography I suppose.
That might have more to do with Adrian Newey finally getting Vettel and his team together and prior to that Brawn having a double diffuser and jensons late blossoming talent. Ron Dennis was still in charge when Lewis was caught ignoring his illegal overtake in Australia. Can’t lay the blame for all those things at the door of MW. otherwise you’re seeing patterns where none exist – a human failing for many of us obviously.
McLaren did not win the WCC in 2007, on points they finished 2nd but they were excluded from the standings.
rez, you are correct, McLaren last won the WCC in 1998.
The FIA had that bullshit intervention of taking away the team points in Hungary, without that they would’ve been WCC…
I would love McLaren to win the WCC but can only feel that they are weaker this year. Maybe Perez will have a season like Lewis did in 2011? I do however expect his breakthrough win and Jenson to be nibbling around the top of the standings.
It was interesting to read Helmut Marko’s interview in the ‘Red Bullitin’. He talks with some authority and makes a LOT of sense. His points about Webber make for very interesting reading. His is not as one eyed as most would have you believe; pun intended.
IF, Webber has a clear run with a stable platform throughout the season then I expect a title push from him but of course I am sure Vettel has to be the nailed on favorite.
Would not be unhappy with Alonso taking the WDC and a win or two for Massa but along with Joe, I really want to see Lewis put it amongst them and spice things up. Of course, we have the Lotus boys who I am sure will play a big role, both of them.
I am pretty sure Nico Rosberg will be found out this year…
2010 and 2012 were great, but let’s also not forget about 2007 and 2008, both of which had tons of drama and epic finales. And 2011 may have been a season where Vettel was relatively dominant, but it had one of the most thrilling races of the modern era, when JB won the Canadian GP (and the preceeding race in Monaco was also very good). We’ve been rather spoiled for the last half a decade or so…!
Jenson, and both Williams drivers please.
As a Brit I would like to see the Brit’s do well. So…Chiltern for the championship!
Another vote for Kimi from me. I’ve long been a fan. I love that he came back on form. I doubt he’ll have the car to really compete, but it’d be cool to see.
Until 2014 for me it’s Red Bull again I’m afraid, with McLaren and Ferrari just behind. I really don’t think Martin Whitmarsh is a strong as Ron Dennis at the helm of McLaren and Stefano Domenicali strikes me as a good No2, not No1. Maybe Lotus might surprise us all – seems to be wishful thinking to consider Merc this year.
No doubt Lewis is one of the quickest drivers but he seemed to want to distance himself from McLaren, and more so as reliability declined.
His move to Merc gives Jenson full opportunity to shine. I’d like to see him repeat his title in 2013.
Vettel continues to amaze. Wouldn’t mind seeing Massa run faster than Alonso, just saying.
I’m surprised there are so few Alonso fans out there. He did an amazing job this year and almost pulled it off. I’m wearing my Ferrari hat as I think about strangling Romain Grosjean. If I had to pick an alternative (since year to year you never know if Ferrari is going to show up with a decent car), I love to see Jenson back on top.
jenson doing his magic in the rain and the wdc
What am i looking forward to in 2013? The official F1 calendar would be nice. (And i don’t mean the kind you get in WH Smiths!).
Team Willy, Alonso, Lewis and Massa.
Actually, I haven’t seen a anyone talking about Perez. I have always been a big fan of Sauber, and seeing him take 3 podiums last year! It was incredible! I’d really like to see Checo winning races in Mclaren! But Sauber is still my favourite team, so I hope that Hülkenberg and Guttierez will take some podiums!
Lots of Perez comments but, likely he is in the right car this year. Sauber do need a breakthrough, but Sergio did not deliver. He will now.
Kimi – he has a REAL personality, managing to avoid the chav celebrity image, unlike some of them.
Romain – to confound the critics
Lotus – lifelong fan
I’d like to see Raikkonen or Hamilton win it. Either would be a hell of a story. Have to say it, anyone but Alonso would be fine by me.
Simple: in order:- Jenson Button if he can get it together, Fernando Alonso if Jenson can’t, followed by anybody except blimmin’ Vettel !!
I genuinely like vettel as a person but my pick is basically Anyone But.
I’m a mclaren fan though so either Jenson beating Lewis to the double or Perez stunning the world with an awesome big league debut (I don’t see it personally but I can always hope).
Would love to see Maldonado get another win for Williams, Hulk to get a win for Sauber and for Nico to surprise lewis with how quick he is.
The last World Champion I never saw race was Hawthorn. Every year has its excitements and all I really want is the winner to be deserving. A close finish would be better still! There are periods of dominance, periods of innovation, periods without either; it’s all part of F1′s rich history. The powers that be might want a magic bullet every year but the trick for the real fans, I think, is to try to appreciate each year for what it is.
We all have personal favourites and the sport is full of names that should have had a championship (Moss, Ickx, Peterson, etc.) had the cards fallen differently but multiple successes are synonymous with greatness. A sport without greats has no heritage, which makes occasional dominance necessary and to be applauded, otherwise we might as well regard the junior categories as the pinnacle because change is the norm.
From a commercial perspective, of course, the hardcore fans are inconsequential because we will always be there, the drive is for new markets.
Kimi or Alonso are my first choices, Long shot would love to see Romain get it together, he has both speed if he could only mature a little to harness all that talent.
Kimi.
Williams F1
Anybody, preferably Webber, apart from Vettel. I’m sick of that finger !!!
Now that Kabayashi is out, Kimi and Nico Rosberg are the only guys I’d like to see win. I have no problem with Vettel, but 3 in a row is enough for him.
Doubt if I’ll be watching though, as I’d have to up the tier on my cable to get NBCSN, and F1 is the only thing I watch on tv anyway. Not worth it IMO.
For me, I’d love to see Caterham win the WCC with Charles Pic winning the WDC via an F1 soul destroying 19 straight wins.
Can I have my free tickets now Joe?
Stupid comment.
Oh come one mate. Just a joke. The ones who matter know that your journalistic integrity is top notch. I’m a Joe Fanboi, through and through, just having a go.
Very casually you entered “which is rather different to some other racing series where they simply throw a yellow if things get dull. ” in the text.
Exactly which racing series are you talking about, Joe? I cannot say I watch every racing series, but I see a lot and can´t recall a single occurrence of a ‘random yellow’…
Having asked that, I don´t really care who wins, as long as we see some close and masterful racing this year (and maybe the oddball Grosjean/Maldonado hiccup).
You obviously don’t watch much NASCAR.
Although NASCAR from a racing perspective isn´t very interesting for me and I don´t watch it often, I still see no random yellows there. They are very fast, yes, too fast with yellows, true, but there´s always a reason (other than the boredom argument).
I’d like to see Sauber win a race and Williams win a race or two. Other than that, I root for a good, exciting season with no injuries.
Grosjean or Maldonado – just to have a laugh at the ‘shouldn’t-be-in-F1′ brigade.
If not, then Webber or Vettel – enabling a ‘drinks-company’ to prove once again that the ‘serious’ players aren’t up to scratch.
I’ve been following the sport for around 50yrs – F1 has become an ossified formula and is no longer interesting or relevant from a technological perspective so it might as well focus solely on the ‘entertainment’ angle.
And you haven’t been to a race since when?
Since TV coverage, the internet and your cogent blog obviated the necessity.
Same as every year – Lewis Hamilton. It would be even more magical if done with a Mercedes. Yet sadly, I think Adrian Newey has this one sewn up again.
There’s only three teams I can see being serious contenders for the WDC: McLaren, Ferrari and RBR. The owners of Lotus are not, I think, in it for the long run and are not truly interested in racing. Merc are the wild card, and it may be that Brawn and his beefed up technical team manage to work the trick this year – but I’m not convinced, I’d LIKE to see Button do it again, but my head says it’s another Vettel v Alonso showdown, unless Ferrari build an even worse car or unless Newey goes off the boil and stays that way for the best part of a season (which can happen and has).