2013 F1 topic

[Kev]

2013 FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

Whooooop!
Here we go then.
The 2013 Formula One World Championship is GO!




Melbourne
Race Date: 17 Mar 2013
Circuit Name: Albert Park
First Grand Prix: 1996
Number of Laps: 58
Circuit Length: 5.303 km
Race Distance: 307.574 km
Lap Record: 1:24.125 - M Schumacher (2004)

UK Times
Fri 15 March 2013
Practice 1 01:30 - 03:00
Practice 2 05:30 - 07:00
Sat 16 March 2013
Practice 3 03:00 - 04:00
Qualifying 06:00
Sun 17 March 2013
Race 06:00

Previous Winners
2012 Button McLaren
2011 Vettel Red Bull
2010 Button McLaren
2009 Button Brawn GP
2008 Hamilton McLaren
2007 Raikkonen Ferrari
2006 Alonso Renault
2005 Fisichella Renault
2004 Schumacher Ferrari
2003 Coulthard McLaren

Jenson on board 2012
[youtube][/youtube]

iCal files of the race dates
http://www.f1calendar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (ability to change time zones)
http://www1.skysports.com/formula1/grandprix/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/contact/f1-fanatic-calendar/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Teams and Drivers

Red Bull Racing
Chassis - RB9
Engine - Renault
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger)
2 Mark Webber (Aus)

Scuderia Ferrari
Chassis - F138
Engine - Ferrari
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa)
4 Felipe Massa (Bra)

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Chassis - MP4-28
Engine - Mercedes
5 Jenson Button (Gbr)
6 Sergio Perez (Mex)

Lotus F1 Team
Chassis - E21
Engine - Renault
7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin)
8 Romain Grosjean (Fra)

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
Chassis - W04
Engine - Mercedes
9 Nico Rosberg (Ger)
10 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr)

Sauber F1 Team
Chassis - C32
Engine - Ferrari
11 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger)
12 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex)

Sahara Force India F1 Team
Chassis - VJM06
Engine - Mercedes
14 Paul Di Resta (Gbr)
15 Adrian Sutil (Ger)

Williams F1
Chassis -FW35
Engine - Renault
16 Pastor Maldonado (Ven)
17 Valtteri Bottas (Fin)

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Chassis - STR8
Engine - Ferrari
18 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra)
19 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus)

Team Caterham
Chassis - CT03
Engine - Renault
20 Charles Pic (Fra)
21 Giedo van der Garde (Ned)

Marussia F1 Team
Chassis - MR02
Engine - Cosworth
22 Jules Bianchi (Fra)
23 Max Chilton (Eng)





2013 Race Calendar

01 2013 FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX (Melbourne) 15 - 17 Mar
02 2013 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX (Kuala Lumpur) 22 - 24 Mar
03 2013 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) 12 - 14 Apr
04 2013 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Sakhir) 19 - 21 Apr
05 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2013 (Catalunya) 10 - 12 May
06 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2013 (Monte Carlo) 23 - 26 May
07 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2013 (Montréal) 07 - 09 Jun
08 2013 FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone) 28 - 30 Jun
09 FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2013 (Nürburgring) 05 - 07 Jul
11 FORMULA 1 MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2013 (Budapest) 26 - 28 Jul
12 2013 FORMULA 1 SHELL BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps) 23 - 25 Aug
13 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA 2013 (Monza) 06 - 08 Sep
14 2013 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (Singapore) 20 - 22 Sep
15 2013 FORMULA 1 KOREAN GRAND PRIX (Yeongam) 04 - 06 Oct
16 2013 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Suzuka) 11 - 13 Oct
17 2013 FORMULA 1 AIRTEL INDIAN GRAND PRIX (New Delhi) 25 - 27 Oct
18 2013 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX (Yas Marina) 01 - 03 Nov
19 2013 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX (Austin) 15 - 17 Nov
20 FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO DO BRASIL 2013 (São Paulo) 22 - 24 Nov


Tyres
Intermediate - Green
Full Wet - Blue
Super Soft - Red
Soft - Yellow
Medium - White
Hard - Orange




Driver Changes
OUT
Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG)
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
Bruno Senna (Williams)
Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)
Timo Glock (Marussia)
The HRT Team

IN
Esteban Gutiérrez (Sauber)
Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
Giedo van der Garde (Caterham)
Max Chilton (Marussia)
Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
Adrian Sutil (Force India)

MOVED
Lewis Hamilton (from McLaren to Mercedes AMG)
Nico Hulkenberg (from Force India to Sauber)
Sergio Perez (from Sauber to McLaren)
Charles Pic (Marussia to Caterham)

Only 9 drivers on the grid have raced in more than 2 full seasons.

Hulkenberg, Perez, di Resta and Maldonado are entering their 3rd season.
Grosjean, Ricciardo starting their 2nd full season, have done half a season extra.
Pic, Vergne starting their 2nd season.
Van der Garde, Bottas, Chilton, Gutierrez and Bianchi are rookies.


Rule/Technical Changes

- With two fewer cars on the grid, due to the demise of HRT, qualifying is slightly altered. Q1 and Q2 will now lose 6 cars each and Q3 will remain the same with the final 10 car shootout.
- DRS is no longer allowed to be used at will in free practice and qualifying. It can only be used in the designated zones. Also, where feasible, all tracks will have two DRS zones.
- force majeure will no longer be recognised as a valid reason for stopping a car in qualifying.
- The midseason test has been scrapped in cost cutting measures
- The pit curfew rules have changed a little. The exclusion time has been extended from 6 to 8 hours before the first session of the day and teams are only allowed 2 'jokers' instead of 4 to breach that.

- Teams are allowed to add a non-structural 'vanity panel' to cover the stepped nose enforced by the 2012 regulations.
- More comprehensive front wing tests to stop flexible bodywork.
- Double DRS is banned
- The minimum weight of cars will increase to 642 kg (1,420 lb) so as to account for the weight difference between the 2012 and 2013 specification of tyres.


Betting Odds

Drivers Championship

2.62 Sebastian Vettel
4.00 Fernando Alonso
7.00 Jenson Button
9.00 Lewis Hamilton
11.00 Kimi Raikkonen
15.00 Sergio Perez
23.00 Mark Webber
41.00 Felipe Massa
41.00 Nico Rosberg
41.00 Romain Grosjean
201.00 Nico Hulkenberg
201.00 Pastor Maldonado
501.00 Adrian Sutil
501.00 Esteban Gutierrez
501.00 Paul Di Resta
501.00 Valtteri Bottas
1001.00 Daniel Ricciardo
1001.00 Jean-Eric Vergne
3001.00 Charles Pic
3001.00 Giedo van der Garde
3001.00 Jules Bianchi
3001.00 Max Chilton

Constructors Championship

2.00 Red Bull
4.33 McLaren
5.00 Ferrari
13.00 Mercedes
15.00 Lotus
151.00 Sauber
251.00 Williams
501.00 Force India
1001.00 Toro Rosso
5001.00 Caterham
5001.00 Marussia

Others
Hamilton to win a race
Yes 1.53
No 2.37

Hamilton to get pole in a race
Yes 1.57
No 2.25

Caterham or Marussia to score at least 1 point
No 1.44
Yes 2.62

[Ryy]

BRING IT ON!

[Ozmosis]

Can't wait for the season to start... 5 days until FP1...

[trix]

finally!!

[Chungster]

Gonna be watching this on Freeview this season.

Sky has been ditched!

[Kev]

Good preview from sniffpetrol
http://sniffpetrol.com/2013-formula-1-preview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ozmosis]

Well a very entertaining first race:

Nice win by Raikkonen, Lotus looking to have a great race pace while being gentle on the tyres.

Ferrari on the pace, with both drivers. Always good for competetion.

Red Bull there or there-abouts, think the higher temperatures will see a major improvement.

Mercedes looking better than last year with the tyres, couldn't quite pull off a two-stopper though.

Force India could surprise a few, maybe they are this year's Sauber??

McLaren and Williams look like dogs at the minute....

Roll on next weekend in Malaysia!

[Kev]

Not a bad first race. Everyone had their sensible hats on for a change in Australia

Mark Webber bogged down as usual but to be fair his KERS had packed up.... YET AGAIN!

Solid drive from Hamilton and Sutil. Great win for Kimi though. I don't think many had him on the radar as a championship contender. There's a long way to go yet but he could well be in with a very good shout. McLaren look all at sea though.

[GrizzlyGreeno]

Was a great first race for the season. Mercedes look around the same pace as last year so will be interesting to see how they progress. Also glad that Raikonnen won the first race as Lotus derserve it after last season.

I am personally hoping to see a lot less of Red Bull on pole and on the podium this season so lets see what happens.

As for McLaren, I have always followed McLaren but the lack of speed they showed in this first race has some what made me doubt if they will at all be a top contender, I was very much looking forward to seeing Perez racing for them, but it looks like the car hasn't been developed to the standards they will have hoped.

Will be interesting to see how this continues!

[Kev]

2013 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX





Kuala Lumpur
Race Date: 24 Mar 2013
Circuit Name: Sepang International Circuit
First Grand Prix: 1999
Number of Laps: 56
Circuit Length: 5.543 km
Race Distance: 310.408 km
Lap Record: 1:34.223 - JP Montoya (2004)

UK Times
Fri 22 March 2013
Practice 1 02:00 - 03:30
Practice 2 06:00 - 07:30
Sat 23 March 2013
Practice 3 05:00 - 06:00
Qualifying 08:00
Sun 24 March 2013
Race 08:00

Previous Winners
2012 Fernando Alonso Ferrari Kuala Lumpur
2011 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Kuala Lumpur
2010 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Kuala Lumpur
2009 Jenson Button Brawn GP Kuala Lumpur
2008 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Kuala Lumpur
2007 Fernando Alonso McLaren Kuala Lumpur
2006 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault Kuala Lumpur
2005 Fernando Alonso Renault Kuala Lumpur
2004 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Kuala Lumpur
2003 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren Kuala Lumpur
2002 Ralf Schumacher Williams Kuala Lumpur
2001 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Kuala Lumpur
2000 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Kuala Lumpur
1999 Eddie Irvine Ferrari Kuala Lumpur

Vettel on board 2010
[youtube][/youtube]

[Ozmosis]

Hopefully will be another good race. Looks like there's a high possibility of changeable weather too...

[Kev]

I'm afraid Vettel has gone down massively in my estimations. Webber has been told many times to hold station and has done so. Vettel was clearly told 'multi21' which must be their code for stay put, and he ignored it to pull a fast one over his team mate. Very poor sportsmanship.

I feel sorry for Nico too. Hamilton obviously felt bad about the team orders for that one, but, there's nothing to stop Hamilton braking a bit early for a corner and just letting him through if he felt it was the right thing to do.

[BenBAC]

That race has left a bitter taste to be honest, none of those drivers seemed to happy at all about being up on the podium which is sad. That is supposed to be an achievement but it was manufactured by poor sportsmanship and political team orders. Vettel got booed after the last race so this wouldn't have done anything for his reputation at all.

You have 2 sides of the coin for this one, I personally would like to see a race but I understand teams have certain orders. You have Vettel being told to stay put and doesn't and Nico being told to hold station and does. I feel sorry for Webber because I think he has had the rough end of the stick for a while and Vettel is the favoured driver, also Nico has been with Mercedes for a while but Hamilton is allowed to stay ahead when it appeared Nico had the quicker car. It has spoilt the race outcome and in my opinion needs to be looked at. The drivers should be left to race, some people might not agree but that to me is what racing is all about.

[Ozmosis]

There seems to be one faction that has created this issue in the first place: The FIA.

Now the FIA have been trying to put on "A Show" for the last few seasons, with DRS and KERS, and asked Pirelli to deliberately make the tyres the way they are... With other restrictions in place to (ahem!) reduce costs, there are limited engines and gearboxes for the season etc etc... THIS is why the teams took the option to get their drivers to hold station. As Ross Brawn said to Nico "There's no-one behind us who can catch up, and no point trying to catch the guys in front". The sport itself is being degraded with every race at the minute, simply because they guys can only 'race' for about 30% of the time.

Yes I guess Sebastian Vettel should have obeyed his team (I guess they wanted to give Mark Webber the taste of victory so he would be more supple if required later in the year), and may have actually shot himself in the foot if he needs Mark to help out at any point...

I found it amazing that ALL THREE guys on the podium looked very uncomfortable to be there... That says it all really.

[Ryy]

Yeah, It seems nobody has mentioned it (I can't find articles) but it really has bashed F1 up a bit. There needs to be a banning of team orders so blatantly. You can see that the cars were not racing each other and if Vettel wanted to do that he should be allowed. Button and Hamilton raced each other many-a-time, but this needs resolving. If they do it quietly, we won't know and we all know they will support a driver heading the for the championship, but ffs, Lewis is nowhere near going for the title yet. It's the 2nd race for gods sake. So it should of been everyone going for it. If Brawn / Horner wants to say "Watch your fuel, you can't race as you won't make it to the end" and they do, then whatever, if they don't that's for the team and drivers to sort out in private. WE WANT A SPECTACLE!

Thankfully, I love the tech too, so will always watch and be interested in F1.

[Kev]

Maybe one way to stop this last pit stop, fuel saving, position holding business is to force the teams to put a greater minimum amount of fuel in so they DO have enough to gun it the whole way. One of the problems is that they don't have enough to do the race distance in order to save weight, so at some point in the race the teams HAVE to do a fuel saving exercise. The best time to do that is at the end when the status quo has been sorted out and there aren't many battles still going on.

[RisingRoc]

Team orders this early in the season almost says that the team bosses don't trust the drivers to race cleanly and fairly. Button and Hamilton did so at McLaren in a good few races - why can't other teams give us that excitement too?!

[BenBAC]

Agree, it was the 2nd race and team orders are being used already. As mentioned above the fuel saving issue seems to be coming into play more and more, with sepang you do get a high risk of rain so the teams may have thought they could run them lighter if the heavens opened. Most of us just want to see good racing, so having that extra fuel in the cars from the start will allow them to go for it, but I doubt this will happen anytime soon. It's supposed to be the pinnacle of Motorsport with the best of everything, it should be treated that way.

[Ozmosis]

Yes Ben I agree, the weather was expected to play a bigger part in the race, plus there is often a safety car at some point during the race in Malaysia, so maybe the teams were fuelling for that too...

I just read something very interesting about the Pirelli tyres, from the Pirelli guys: They have been told to "level the playing field" by the FIA, and this is the result. They also think that if the tyres were not like this, then the Red Bulls may have lapped EVERYONE at this circuit!

[Ryy]

Maybe one way to stop this last pit stop, fuel saving, position holding business is to force the teams to put a greater minimum amount of fuel in so they DO have enough to gun it the whole way. One of the problems is that they don't have enough to do the race distance in order to save weight, so at some point in the race the teams HAVE to do a fuel saving exercise. The best time to do that is at the end when the status quo has been sorted out and there aren't many battles still going on.

Bring back re-fuelling. BRING BACK SPLASH AND DASH!