When the 2011 Formula 1 season came around most here were hoping for a season that would be even more of a spectacle than the year previous, where the championship was decided at the final race in Abu Dhabi. That season didn't prove to be nearly as drama-filled as 2010, but 2012 delivered excitement in spades.
It's not easy to predict what this season will look like, especially given the changes to the driver line-ups of late. Off-season testing doesn't provide a good metric for performance as the teams are careful not to give too much away so soon. Our first true taste of what 2013 has to offer will come in Q3 of the Australian Grand Prix, now less than a week away.
This years calendar has been trimmed down from the previous year. The European Grand Prix normally held at Valencia has been removed, bringing this years total to nineteen races.
Like last year, I'll be linking the race previews to the appropriate banner on this post.
There have been a few notable changes to the grid this year which started back when Lewis Hamilton announced he would be leaving McLaren, the only team he has ever known, to replace Michael Schumacher at the Mercedes factory team. It's safe to say that moving from a team that has given him many successes to a team that hasn't entirely proven themselves is a very risky gamble, but a gamble that may pay off in 2014 where new engine regulations come into play. Replacing him at McLaren is young Mexican Sergio Perez, who impressed throughout the last season with several notable drives and three podium finishes, but began to raise some eyebrows when his performance started faltering towards the end of the year. Sauber, now left without drivers after not re-signing Kamui Kobayashi, turned to Nico Hulkenberg and rookie Esteban Gutierrez to fill their seats. With Hulkenberg departing Force India, the Silverstone based team made the last minute, and controversial, decision to bring Adrian Sutil back into their ranks. Sutil comes back after being out for a season and with troubling off-track history.
Bruno Senna was not re-signed by Williams, the UK based team instead opting for Valtteri Bottas, who had been in a testing role since 2011. Caterham released both Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen, who were tasked with bringing the team into the mid-field now that they had a Renault powered chassis to compete with. They signed Charles Pic, formerly of Marussia, and Giedo van der Garde, who finished 6th during the previous year in GP2, the premier Formula 1 feeder series. Marussia chose not to retain veteran driver Timo Glock and instead picked up Max Chilton and initially Luis Razia, who was replaced at the last minute by Jules Bianchi.
HRT failed to secure their team for 2013 amidst financial issues and poor performance.
After the summer break and once we (hopefully) hit OT2, I'll come back and sprinkle in some commentary for each team from F1 GAF.
Team Principal
Christian Horner
Technical ChiefAdrian Newey
ChassisRB9
EngineRenault RS27-2013
First Season2005
World Championships3
Highest Race Finish1 (34)
Pole Positions46
Fastest Laps29
Team Principal
Stefano Domenicali
Technical ChiefPat Fry
ChassisF138
EngineFerrari 056
First Season1950
World Championships16
Highest Race Finish1 (219)
Pole Positions207
Fastest Laps227
Team Principal
Martin Whitmarsh
Technical ChiefTim Goss
ChassisMP4-28
EngineMercedes-Benz FO 108F
First Season1966
World Championships8
Highest Race Finish1 (182)
Pole Positions155
Fastest Laps151
Team Principal
Eric Boullier
Technical ChiefJames Allison
ChassisE21
EngineRenault RS27-2013
First Season1981
World Championships2
Highest Race Finish1 (36)
Pole Positions51
Fastest Laps34
Team Principal
Ross Brawn
Technical ChiefBob Bell
ChassisF1 W04
EngineMercedes-Benz
First Season2010
World Championships0
Highest Race Finish1 (1)
Pole Positions1
Fastest Laps3
Team Principal
Monisha Kaltenborn
ChassisC32
EngineFerrari
First Season1993
World Championships0
Highest Race Finish1 (1)
Pole Positions1
Fastest Laps4
Team Principal
Vijay Mallya
Technical ChiefAndrew Green
ChassisVJM06
EngineMercedes-Benz
First Season2008
World Championships0
Highest Race Finish2 (1)
Pole Positions1
Fastest Laps2
Team Principal
Frank Williams
Technical ChiefMike Coughlan
ChassisFW35
EngineRenault
First Season1975
World Championships9
Highest Race Finish1 (114)
Pole Positions127
Fastest Laps131
Team Principal
Franz Tost
Technical ChiefJames Key
ChassisSTR8
EngineFerrari 056
First Season2006
World Championships0
Highest Race Finish1 (1)
Pole Positions1
Fastest Laps0
Team Principal
Cyril Abiteboul
Technical ChiefMark Smith
ChassisCT03
EngineRenault RS27-2013
First Season2010
World Championships0
Highest Race Finish11 (1)
Pole Positions0
Fastest Laps0
Team Principal
John Booth
Technical ChiefPat Symonds
ChassisMR02
EngineCosworth CA2013K
First Season2010
World Championships0
Highest Race Finish12 (2)
Pole Positions0
Fastest Laps0
Sporting Regulations
-At the June 2012 meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, the FIA announced plans to introduce cost-control measures for the 2013 season, which would be policed by the FIA pending the agreement of the teams. This follows a failed attempt by former FIA president Max Mosley to introduce a budget cap for the 2010 season, and the withdrawal of Ferrari, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Sauber and Red Bull from the Formula One Teams Association in December 2011 over the implementation of the Resource Restriction Agreement, a voluntary agreement between teams to limit costs in the sport.
-Following HRT's omission from the provisional entry list, the grid was reduced to twenty-two cars, prompting a change to qualifying procedures. With twenty-two cars on the grid, six cars—instead of seven—will be eliminated during the first period of qualifying, with six more eliminated at the end of the second period (as in 2006–08). The third qualifying period remains unchanged, with the ten fastest drivers all advancing to the final ten minutes of qualifying.
-The rules governing the use of the Drag Reduction System (DRS) will be altered. Where drivers were free to use the system at will during free practice and qualifying, from 2013, the use of DRS will be restricted to the designated DRS zone in a bid to improve safety.[114] In response to this, the FIA announced plans to include two DRS zones at every circuit on the 2013 calendar where it was feasible to do so.
-The FIA will remove the rules of "force majeure" to clarify scrutineering procedures. Under the rules of force majeure, cars must be able to return to the pits under their own power during qualifying or else risk exclusion from the results. However, if a team can adequately demonstrate that circumstances beyond their control forced them to stop a car on the circuit before it could return to the pits, then the rules of force majeure dictate that the team and driver in question are exempt from any exclusion. Under new regulations, force majeure will no longer be recognised as a valid reason for stopping a car. From 2013, race stewards will measure the amount of fuel remaining in a car that has stopped on the circuit and compare it to the minimum amount set forward in the rules, and calculate any penalty based on the difference between the two. These changes were first proposed in the aftermath of the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when Red Bull Racing instructed Sebastian Vettel to stop on the circuit after qualifying. Although race stewards initially accepted the team's explanation that the order came because of an imminent technical fault that threatened lasting damage to Vettel's engine, it was later discovered that Vettel had insufficient fuel in his car at the time and had been ordered to pull over so as to preserve the mandatory one litre sample required for testing at the end of qualifying. As a result, Vettel was excluded from the results, and the changes to force majeure were put forward.
-Following a crackdown on driving standard by race stewards in 2012, the FIA has sought to introduce a "penalty points" system of enforcing driving standards modelled on the points system used for road-going drivers' licences worldwide. Under the system, driving infringements would be assigned a points value that would be deducted from a driver's Super Licence when they commit an infraction. When a driver accumulates a pre-determined number of points, they face an automatic ban from racing.
-The practice of mid-season testing, which returned to Formula One in 2012 after having been banned in 2009, will be discontinued in 2013 as part of cost-cutting initiatives.
-The FIA introduced a curfew system in 2011 that prohibited team personnel from accessing the circuit in the six hours before the first session of the day, with teams given four "jokers"—exceptions to the rule that allowed them to stay within the circuit boundaries past the curfew hours without penalty so as to complete work on cars—to use throughout the season. The rule will be revised for 2013, with teams limited to two exceptions over the course of the year. The curfew hours were also extended from six hours to eight.
-Teams will be faced with an increased entry fee for the season. Whereas entry fees had previously been fixed at €309,000 (US$396,637) for all teams, from 2013, entry fees will be based on the World Championship points a team scored during the previous season. Teams will now pay a basic entry fee of $500,000 (€389,525), plus $5,000 (€3,895) per point scored. The reigning Constructors' champions will pay at a premium rate of $6,000 (€4,614) per point scored. With a final tally of 460 points, Red Bull Racing were presented with an entry fee of $3,260,000 (€2.5M).
Technical regulations
-Changes to the rules in 2012 resulted in the development of a "platypus" nose, with teams designing cars with a visible change in height along the nose assembly of the car. The design attracted criticism, with Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber labelling the cars "ugly" and Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali calling them "not that pretty". At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, Charlie Whiting, the FIA technical delegate, announced that although the changes to the sporting regulations planned for the 2014 season would effectively remove the "platypus" effect, the sport's governing body is planning to phase the stepped nose out for 2013. The FIA later accepted a proposal that would allow teams to cover up the stepped nose with a "modesty plate", a panel designed to obscure the step without fundamentally altering the aerodynamic profile of the car or offering any aerodynamic gain itself.
-The FIA will completely overhaul testing procedures for front wings in 2013, introducing a more-comprehensive and strenuous series of tests designed to root out the practice of exploiting flexible bodywork regulations. Front wings in particular will be subjected to revised parameters, with a tolerance of just 10 mm (0.39 in) permitted when the wing is subjected to a load of 100 kg (220 lb).
-The "double-DRS" system, first developed by Mercedes for the W03 in 2012 will be banned in 2013. The device, which used a series of channels that ran through the car to create a stalling effect over the front wing when the rear wing Drag Reduction System was open, thereby cancelling out the downforce generated under normal conditions, would allow the car to achieve a higher top speed and better stability in fast corners. The system was the subject of several legal challenges early in the 2012 season, and rival team Lotus developed a similar system of their own before teams agreed to a ban in July 2012. However, while the regulations specifically banned the system developed by Mercedes, they make no provision for the variant developed by Lotus.
-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.
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Much thanks to SunhiLegend for the amazing .gif banners once again. Never fails to disappoint. General information and statistics taken from Wikipedia and Formula1.com. All pictures used in banners are from f1fanatic.co.uk.
OT1/OT2/USGP/Pre-Season
