Formula 1 Season 2013 (of Doom!)

**Steve's Right Peg of Doom** · 03-11-2013, 11:07 AM

Thought I'd try to make a bit of a go at a decent F1 thread this year.

So this is the place for all F1 chatter, news, rumours, race day thoughts and results round ups (and try to keep the truncated icosahedron talk to a minimum

)

The new season kicks off this weekend, with the opening round from Melbourne Australia. As with any preceding season, winter testing doesn't really hold much water when it comes to the actual season, so even though Mercedes and Ferrari have had relatively strong testing over the last few weeks, I still think Red Bull are the team in Pole Position this year and it will be hard to overhaul Vettel and prevent his 4th World Title on the spin.

Over to you lot....

**Tomsta666** · 03-11-2013, 11:11 AM

My loyalties are kinda split this year with Hamilton not driving for Mclaren. So i'm gunning for Button all out this year. Still wish Lewis all the best though.

**Steve's Right Peg of Doom** · 03-11-2013, 11:12 AM

Smacks of desperation to me, I hope their season doesn't come apart because of it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21741052

**Steve's Right Peg of Doom** · 03-11-2013, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Tomsta666

My loyalties are kinda split this year with Hamilton not driving for Mclaren. So i'm gunning for Button all out this year. Still wish Lewis all the best though.

Yeah I'm torn too. Always like to see the British drivers do well but Button is at a British team (well apart from Perez

)

**VanHooliganX** · 03-11-2013, 11:24 AM

So Lotus are keeping based Kimi and Crashjean (Good driver when he isn't nearly killing people! :'()

Apparently The Icemans car is supposed to be at the best it's ever been with Lotus so you might see Kimi do a bit better than last season.

**Steve's Right Peg of Doom** · 03-11-2013, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by VanHooliganX

So Lotus are keeping based Kimi and Crashjean (Good driver when he isn't nearly killing people! :'()

Apparently The Icemans car is supposed to be at the best it's ever been with Lotus so you might see Kimi do a bit better than last season.

Yeah think I'm going to have a cheeky bet on Kimi winning the title this year.

**Tommy Thunder** · 03-11-2013, 11:40 AM

Red Bull are definitely still the team to beat this season as far as the constructors championship goes. I think we'll see them pushed to the limit by Ferrari, Lotus and McClaren though.

As far as the drivers championship goes, I think Vettel is still the man. I think Räikkönen will have a shout this year based on what I've been reading and seeing. I really hope we'll see Webber offering a sustained challenge this year too. Alonso and Button are the other 2 I'd like to see challenging for the top.

As far as wild cards, I'm curious to see how Perez does at McClaren. He's shown that he has pace and he now has a car and a top team behind him. I think Force India and Paul DiResta specifically can have a good year. It'll also be interesting to see how Massa does this year. He battled well towards the end of last season to earn his one year extension. One wold think that he has to deliver throughout this year now if he wants to stay at Ferrari beyond this coming season.

**Steve's Right Peg of Doom** · 03-11-2013, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by Tommy Thunder

Red Bull are definitely still the team to beat this season as far as the constructors championship goes. I think we'll see them pushed to the limit by Ferrari, Lotus and McClaren though.

As far as the drivers championship goes, I think Vettel is still the man. I think Räikkönen will have a shout this year based on what I've been reading and seeing. I really hope we'll see Webber offering a sustained challenge this year too. Alonso and Button are the other 2 I'd like to see challenging for the top.

As far as wild cards, I'm curious to see how Perez does at McClaren. He's shown that he has pace and he now has a car and a top team behind him. I think Force India and Paul DiResta specifically can have a good year. It'll also be interesting to see how Massa does this year. He battled well towards the end of last season to earn his one year extension. One wold think that he has to deliver throughout this year now if he wants to stay at Ferrari beyond this coming season.

Yeah Perez will be an interesting one to watch and Force India too, especially the return of Sutil. I think Massa is on a downward spiral despite a decent showing toward the end of last season, the year he lost out to Hamilton was his best and I think only chance to be World Champ. I think Hamilton could have gone to Ferrari but I think Alonso but the breaks on that potentially happening, he prefers to be the outright No. 1 driver for the team.