F1 World Championship 2013 Thread

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Also, the current list of confirmed drivers for 2014.
 

Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing RB9 ? Renault Energy F1-2014
Team Principal: Christian Horner; Technical Director: Adrian Newey
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Daniel Ricciardo

Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari F138 ? Ferrari TBA
Team Principal: Stefano Domenicali ; Technical Director: Pat Fry
Fernando Alonso
Kimi R?ikk?nen

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
McLaren MP4-28 ? Mercedes TBA
Team Principal: Martin Whitmarsh ; Technical Director: Tim Goss, Neil Oatley
Jenson Button
TBA

Lotus F1 Team
Lotus E21 ? TBA
Team Principal: Eric Boullier ; Technical Director: Nick Chester
TBA

TBA

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Mercedes F1 W04 ? Mercedes TBA
Team Principal: Ross Brawn ; Technical Director: Toto Wolff
Lewis Hamilton
Nico Rosberg

Sauber F1 Team
Sauber C32 ? Ferrari TBA
Team Principal: Monisha Kaltenborn ; Technical Director: James Key
Sergey Sirotkin

TBA

Sahara Force India F1 Team
Force India VJM06 ? Mercedes TBA
Team Principal: Vijay Mallya ; Technical Director: Andrew Green
TBA

TBA

Williams
Williams FW35 ? Mercedes TBA
Team Principal: Sir Frank Williams ; Technical Director: Pat Symonds
TBA

TBA

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso STR8 ? Renault Energy F1-2014
Team Principal: Franz Tost ; Technical Director: James Key
Jean-?ric Vergne

Daniil Kvyat

Caterham F1 Team
Caterham CT03 ? Renault Energy F1-2014
Team Principal: Cyril Abiteboul ; Technical Director: Mark Smith
Charles Pic
TBA

Marussia F1 Team
Marussia MR02 ? Ferrari TBA
Team Principal: John Booth ; Technical Director: ?
Jules Bianchi
TBA

[MightyJordan]

^ Is Ross Brawn definitely confirmed for next year? Niki Lauda hinted he may actually retire from F1 at the end of this season.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

^ Is Ross Brawn definitely confirmed for next year? Niki Lauda hinted he may actually retire from F1 at the end of this season.

 

I wouldn't take the Team Principal/Tech Director info as gospel, because it's what I grabbed off Wikipedia at present, which isn't completely up to date as it still lists Pat Symonds as Marussia's Director :P

[Chemaz]

I think vettel is very good driver, i just think there are better drivers, like hamilton and alonso, put them in a red bull car and i bet vettel would struggle to win.

 

And Webber...jeeze how much bad luck do you want! its like they've put all webbers good spares on vettels car and webber gets vettels used crap parts lol

 

I am really looking forward to next year though, so hard to predict, so many changes to the car, reliability will be a big thing, though guessing the tyre situation will continue to be crap, have no idea why pirelli decided to use a tyre that lasted 3 laps :/

[simonlang]

i think someone must be pretty deluded and probably have missed most races the last 4 years to still think alonso or hamilton are better than vettel. the only thing they seem to be better is complaining and using twitter but thats about it.

read the latest hamilton interview, he acknowledges that vettel is probably the greatest. this is a big contrast and difference to what he was singing till last year.

ask newey (who worked with many champions), prost, lauda, berger, etc. they all think the same, even schumacher kinda expects that this guy will break all of his records (i am unsure here, 91 wins is difficult to achieve esp. with the current points system where consistency is more important, but he already has 4 titles out of schueys 7 and only 26 years old...) and would be pretty happy with it.

never did i expect that after schuey retired that someone would become as dominant again, it would have been like after lance armstrong retired the first time someone like lets say contador went on and win  the tour 4 times in a row.

we can call ourselves very lucky as fans to see this happening for the 2nd time. i have seen schuey winning 5 of his 7 titles, and despite i did not like him as a person back then, and thought the races were often boring, the achievment is still impressive.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Ross Brawn to leave Mercedes at the end of the current F1 season

 

Ross Brawn will leave his position as Mercedes team principal at the end of the Formula 1 season.

 

Brawn and Mercedes have failed to reach an agreement on a role in which he would have been happy to stay at the team, sources close to Mercedes have said.

 

Mercedes will now be run in tandem by their two executive directors, Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe, along with non-executive chairman Niki Lauda.

 

Both Mercedes and Brawn refused to comment on the development.

 

Brawn's impending departure follows months of talks between Mercedes bosses and the man who masterminded Michael Schumacher's seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari.

 

The German company had originally last winter signed Lowe, who was formerly the technical director of McLaren, with the intention of him replacing Brawn with immediate effect.

 

But plans then changed, with Mercedes saying they wanted a 'soft transition', that they would like Brawn to stay and that he was in control of his own destiny.

 

Lauda pushed for Brawn to remain at the team, but the stumbling block was over the level of authority he would have.

 

Brawn, 58, wanted to stay in overall charge, as he made clear at the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this month.

 

However, sources close to the team say that option was never open.

 

Mercedes believe a single team principal is an outdated concept given the complexities of modern F1. They were hoping to persuade Brawn to stay on in another role that did not involve the day-to-day running of the team.

 

Negotiations reached an impasse and Brawn decided he had no option but to leave.

 

Wolff, the executive director (business), will now run the political and financial sides of the team, while Lowe, the executive director (technical), will be in charge of the sporting and technical aspects. Wolff is also the director of Mercedes' motorsport operation.

 

Brawn's future is unclear. He has emphasised that he would not try to line up a new job elsewhere while still in his present role, but he is now free to find one if he wishes to continue working in F1.

 

He has been linked with roles running Honda's new F1 programme when the Japanese manufacturer returns to the sport in 2015 as engine partner to McLaren, as well as to a position with governing body the FIA.

 

FIA president Jean Todt used to work with Brawn at Ferrari, in roles very similar to those now to be occupied by Wolff and Lowe at Mercedes.

 

Brawn moving to Honda is considered unlikely by some insiders, who say he had grown frustrated with certain aspects of working with the company when he ran their F1 team in 2007-8, particularly dealing with Honda management and repeated trips to Japan.

 

Claims Brawn will move to McLaren, though, are incorrect, according to sources.

 

Source: BBC Sport

[MightyJordan]

Claims Brawn will move to McLaren, though, are incorrect, according to sources.

Damn. :/

[heslo]

i think someone must be pretty deluded and probably have missed most races the last 4 years to still think alonso or hamilton are better than vettel. the only thing they seem to be better is complaining and using twitter but thats about it.

read the latest hamilton interview, he acknowledges that vettel is probably the greatest. this is a big contrast and difference to what he was singing till last year.

ask newey (who worked with many champions), prost, lauda, berger, etc. they all think the same, even schumacher kinda expects that this guy will break all of his records (i am unsure here, 91 wins is difficult to achieve esp. with the current points system where consistency is more important, but he already has 4 titles out of schueys 7 and only 26 years old...) and would be pretty happy with it.

never did i expect that after schuey retired that someone would become as dominant again, it would have been like after lance armstrong retired the first time someone like lets say contador went on and win  the tour 4 times in a row.

we can call ourselves very lucky as fans to see this happening for the 2nd time. i have seen schuey winning 5 of his 7 titles, and despite i did not like him as a person back then, and thought the races were often boring, the achievment is still impressive.

 

I know you won't agree but I believe Alonso is a better driver than Vettel. He's done exceptionally well this year struggling with the turd of a car Ferrari have given him. Put him behind the wheel of a Red Bull and Vettel will be shown up

[simonlang]

I know you won't agree but I believe Alonso is a better driver than Vettel. He's done exceptionally well this year struggling with the turd of a car Ferrari have given him. Put him behind the wheel of a Red Bull and Vettel will be shown up

 

its easy to disagree with you on that one. should at least have taken alonsos 2012, but in 2013 he was not only nowhere,  its 8:6 or something against massa in quali, he has also fallen out with di montezemolo and domenicali and rumored to leave at the end of next year. also his drive has become erratic, malaysia for example when he crashed into vettel or bahrain when he repeatley pressed the drs button even after his team told him not to do so.

he is 32 now, has maybe 3 or 4 years left in f1 on a competitive level, vettel is only 26 and will simply get better over the next years.

 

the reason alonso is not driving a redbull is simply just down to him. he got an offer in 2008 and 2009 but decided to go to ferrari.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

its easy to disagree with you on that one. should at least have taken alonsos 2012, but in 2013 he was not only nowhere,  its 8:6 or something against massa in quali, he has also fallen out with di montezemolo and domenicali and rumored to leave at the end of next year. also his drive has become erratic, malaysia for example when he crashed into vettel or bahrain when he repeatley pressed the drs button even after his team told him not to do so.

he is 32 now, has maybe 3 or 4 years left in f1 on a competitive level, vettel is only 26 and will simply get better over the next years.

 

the reason alonso is not driving a redbull is simply just down to him. he got an offer in 2008 and 2009 but decided to go to ferrari.

 

To be fair, at that point he wasn't to know that Red Bull would be so competitive come 2009, in 2008 they were nowhere near.

 

Shame about Brawn, if that means his exit from the sport he's had a fantastic career that he should look back on fondly. Brawn should go back to Ferrari next year and complete the other half of the duo ;)

[2xSilverKnight]

its easy to disagree with you on that one. should at least have taken alonsos 2012, but in 2013 he was not only nowhere,  its 8:6 or something against massa in quali, he has also fallen out with di montezemolo and domenicali and rumored to leave at the end of next year. also his drive has become erratic, malaysia for example when he crashed into vettel or bahrain when he repeatley pressed the drs button even after his team told him not to do so.

he is 32 now, has maybe 3 or 4 years left in f1 on a competitive level, vettel is only 26 and will simply get better over the next years.

 

the reason alonso is not driving a redbull is simply just down to him. he got an offer in 2008 and 2009 but decided to go to ferrari.

 

I personally think that Alonso is the best race driver, and Vettel/Hamilton are the best Quali driver.

 

To be able to get up there on the podium almost every races after a ****ty quali session is impressive, except the last few races, they stopped the car development a while ago and it shows.

 

Grosjean is also a very fast driver, and now he is proving it. He worked really hard psychologically this year as well, because last year was a disaster for him, and now he`s getting a good reputation in F1. He would also have finished in 2nd place in Singapore if it wasn't of that air flow problem. And now he has multiple 3rd place finish in a row, and was running in front of the redbulls in japan. Almost was able to hold it in front of webber at the end, but the redbull is just too strong this year.

[heslo]

Agreed. Alonso's race craft is unmatched in the field I believe

[MightyJordan]

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[JoeC]

He's coming. Someone get a tissue.

 

Sorry!

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Abu Dhabi GP, FP1 result.

 

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

FP2:

 

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Kimi Raikkonen willing to skip final F1 races of 2013 in Lotus row

 

Kimi Raikkonen has warned Lotus that he will consider not finishing the 2013 Formula 1 season if the team does not sort out its financial problems.

 

As AUTOSPORT revealed on Thursday, Raikkonen's future with Lotus has been plunged into doubt following the non-payment of his salary and amid heightened emotions after a tense Indian Grand Prix radio exchange.

 

Speaking for the first time about the matter in Abu Dhabi on Friday, Raikkonen confirmed that he did come close to not racing this weekend, and has not ruled out skipping either of the final races in the United States or Brazil.

 

"I came here only because hopefully we found an understanding on the certain issues we have been having," said Raikkonen.

 

"Hopefully it will be fixed and we can finish the season as well as we can."

 

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he would contemplate not taking part in the final races if the outstanding matters are not resolved, Raikkonen said: "For sure. I enjoy racing, I enjoy driving - but a big part of it is business.

 

"Sometimes when that is not dealt with like it should we end up in an unfortunate situation.

 

"You have to put the line somewhere, and if it goes over that... it is not really my fault any more."

 

Radio exchange not main issue

 

Raikkonen's relations with the team were strained by the radio exchange in India, when he was ordered to move aside for Romain Grosjean, but his main frustration is relating to outstanding wages - which are believed to be in excess of $15 million.

 

Speaking about the radio discussion with trackside operations director Alan Permane, Raikkonen said: "It is a part of it. It is true those things should not happen but they have happened. That is not really the issue.

 

"It is all the other stuff, and all the things come together in the end. Like I said, it is easy to say that is the reason but it is not that."

 

The 2007 world champion also expressed frustration at the fact that his loyalty to the team has been questioned at a time when he has not been paid.

 

"Sometimes it is not very nice when you hear that you are not really a team player, and you don't have the interests of the team [at heart] - but you have been paid zero Euro the whole year," said Raikkonen.

 

"It doesn't put you in the best place, but that is how it goes and hopefully, like I said, we found an understanding on both sides on how we should deal with the situation right now and fix the issues, and try to finish as well as we can."

 

Source: Autosport

[Lingwo]

I'm sure if the rumours are true that Maldonado might be getting the spare Lotus seat. Then i'm sure Maldonado will pay Kimi what he is owed :laugh:

On that subject. If he does goto Lotus. It'll be clearly a paid driver move by Lotus.

 

I want to see Hulkenberg. It'll be a big shame if he doesn't get a seat next year.

I honestly believe Mclaren made a mistake signing Perez instead of Hulkenberg.

[MightyJordan]

On that subject. If he does goto Lotus. It'll be clearly a paid driver move by Lotus.

Yep, that's exactly how he got into F1 in the first place. (Y)

 

 

Did anyone notice the IndyCar rotating cameras in the practice sessions today?

[MightyJordan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiE0cC8BkL4

[123456789A]

I hope Yuji Ide makes a return to F1. He's so far ahead of the field, Vettle and the rest of the competition would be afraid to race him.

 

Get Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide on the same team, and you've got some IDE-SATA Hard Drivin' championship material.

[MightyJordan]

I hope Yuji Ide makes a return to F1. He's so far ahead of the field, Vettle and the rest of the competition would be afraid to race him.

 

Get Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide on the same team, and you've got some IDE-SATA Hard Drivin' championship material.

...what a pun.

 

Funny you mention Yuji Ide though, his old Super Aguri team was officially revived today; they're gonna compete in Formula E.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[Lingwo]

Looks like another qualifying i'm going to skip :laugh:

[MightyJordan]

Looks like another qualifying i'm going to skip :laugh:

Yep, Taki's got the same idea...

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