2013 Formula One Season

[paulgilb]

Some stats/facts re Abu Dhabi (that I discovered/read elsewhere):

Ferrari's 65th consecutive points finish - beats McLaren's record.

Vettel's 7th consecutive win - equals the official record (although Ascari won 9 races only interrupted by an Indy 500).

Chilton is the first driver to finish his first 17 races (although Vettel, Button, and Perez have all completed more laps this year). He beats Tiago Monteiro's record - Monteiro won Race 2 in last weekend's WTCC event in Shanghai. Race 1 was won by Chilton's brother Tom.

3rd time that 100% of the retirements have occurred on lap 1 (after Argentina 1958 and Brazil 2008).

First time there has been a partial solar eclipse during a race.

Vettel's 130-point lead over Alonso is the largest championship lead ever (this is of course skewed by the points system changes).

In both the last 2 seasons, the driver who won from pole in Monaco and won in Britain (leading fewer than a quarter of the laps) scored his 3rd and 4th podiums of the season in races 16 and 17 (finishing 2nd and 3rd).

Only the second time that the Abu Dhabi polesitter has finished the race.

In his 5 visits to Abu Dhabi, Webber has started in each top 5 position once.

Webber reaches 1000 points.

21 finishers – equals Bahrain.

First time Hamilton hasn’t qualified on the front row in Abu Dhabi.

11th time Vettel has led every lap – matches Stewart and Schumacher, trailing Clark (13) and Senna (19).

12 races without a win for Alonso – his joint longest streak since joining Ferrari.

First non-mechanical DNF for Raikkonen since Singapore 2008, and his first lap 1 retirement since USA 2006.

[-Big Dan-]

Felipe Massa has been confirmed as a Williams driver for 2014 alongside Valtteri Bottas.

[Paul]

And BBC reporting that McLaren are taking a punt on Kevin Magnussen!

[Paddy]

Which is highly unfair on perez. Hopefully a seat at lotus for perez or a return to sauber...

[Paul]

That's the way it is I guess. We've seen plenty of drivers have worse seasons and be retained by their team, but Perez simply isn't good enough on a consistent basis. And the rationale for dumping Perez is that they never thought he would ever be quick enough. If you look at his F1 career his podiums came from one wet race that he should have won and two races where he qualified poorly but made a counter tyre strategy work. He should have been much closer to Button on raw pace, especially in duff car. I get the sense that McLaren panicked into signing Perez when he got his podium in Monza last year but regretted it by the end of the season when drivers like Hulkenberg starred.

Let's not forget that Magnussen showed supreme pace and consistency in Formula Renault 3.5. He's probably the must exciting driver to step up from a junior formula since Hulkenberg. It's a very rare example in F1 of a driver being picked purely on their ability, pace and potential rather than their wallet. Absolutely nothing to despair about!

[Panda]

Let's hope he doesn't turn out to be the disappointment his dad was...

[Tom]

Finally got round to watching the Senna film this week and found it both moving and shocking. I wasn't an F1 fan in the period covered, only taking an interest from 1995 onwards, but always remembered seeing Senna's death on the front of a paper back then. I also used to read car magazines which had motorsport news in them so whilst I skipped over that names like Prost, Senna, Hill, and Mansell I think, used to catch my eye. I've also read other stuff since then about the time too so bits were familiar.

I'm pretty sure I'd seen Senna's crash before, but it was the first time i'd seen the other two at Imola on that tragic weekend. Barrichello's one in particular was an OMG moment; I can't believe he came away unscathed. After the other two crashes Senna was not in the right frame of mind to race, but the race should never have gone ahead. There's no doubt that under the same circumstances the race would be scrapped nowadays. Sid Watkins did an interview on Talksport around the same sort of time the movie came out where he explained that the reason for trying to persuade Senna to stop and go fishing with him was that he had a feeling something bad was going to happen on race day. He also knew as soon as he got to the car that Senna was dead. What I never realised before was that it was a head injury he died from and with a bit of luck he could have walked away from it.

The highlight was Senna winning his first Brazilian GP. He seemed to take more pleasure from that than any of his world titles. Just a shame I never got the opportunity to see him race myself.. There was a Monaco race that Panda mentioned ages ago (and put a youtube clip of on here too). Was that the same year? I kept on thinking they were going to show it but I don't think any of the Monaco races they featured were that particular race, but I could be wrong.

[Panda]

There were so many Monaco highlights for Senna as he was so dominant there but the two that immediately spring to mind are in his debut season in 1984, when Prost managed to get the race red flagged in the rain, with Senna rapidly closing him down, and 1992, when he held off Nigel Mansell in one of the most spectacular sequences I've ever seen.

[paulgilb]

Grid for USA:

1 Vettel
2 Webber
3 Grosjean
4 Hulkenberg
5 Hamilton
6 Alonso
7 Perez
8 Kovalainen (replacing Raikkonen for final 2 races)
9 Bottas
10 Ricciardo
11 di Resta
12 Rosberg
13 Massa
14 Vergne
15 Button (penalty for overtaking under red flag during practice)
16 Sutil
17 Maldonado
18 van der Garde
19 Bianchi
20 Gutierrez (10-place penalty for blocking)
21 Chilton
22 Pic (gearbox change)

Chilton receives a drive-through penalty (to be served in first 5 laps) for blocking.

[Paddy]

Be easier to draw grid positions out the hat.

[Shireblogger]

I saw "Rush" (the Hunt vs Lauda film) last night. It is brilliant. A really riveting portrayal of the characters, tells the 1976 season story well, and some terrific action sequences. Shirebloggess really enjoyed it too, which means it isn't just for petrolheads.

Anyone else seen it ?

[Paddy]

Waiting for blu ray

[Robin]

Haven't seen Rush yet but really must, I'm sure i'd enjoy it immensely

[Paddy]

blu ray release date is 27/01/2014

[paulgilb]

Some stats/facts re US GP that I discovered/read elsewhere:

Both Raikkonen and Grosjean have more podiums than either Hamilton or Rosberg, yet Lotus still trail Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship.

First F1 race for Grosjean without a world champion team-mate.

Only tracks Vettel has raced at but not won at: Hockenheim, Hungaroring, Magny Cours, Indianapolis, Fuji. Only the first 2 are current.

14th win for a German driver this year - a new record. However, Britain managed a 100% win rate (from 10 races) in 1963.

13th race in a row in which the German national anthem has been played on the podium.

First time since 2009 that Alonso has gone 5 races without a podium.

Webber has scored more points so far this year than he managed in the whole of last year, despite last season having 20 races and Webber managing 2 wins.

Button’s worst start of the season, and Perez’s joint best.

Force India now top retirements (i.e. failures to reach the chequered flag) table for 2013, 1 ahead of Toro Rosso.

Second race in a row where the only retirement was a lap 1 crash for a driver who was involved in the crash immediately after the final safety car period in Monaco 2008.

Vettel is the only driver to manage 2 separate sequences of 10+ podiums.

First time since Japan 2010 that the front 3 on the grid were all Renault-powered.

Alonso is yet to manage a top 2 finish in Austin – only other such track is Austria (where he had 2 DNFs from 2 starts).

Leo Kinnunen is (again!) the only Finnish driver ever to start a race and never score a point.

[paulgilb]

Grid for Brazil:

1 Vettel
2 Rosberg
3 Alonso
4 Webber
5 Hamilton
6 Grosjean
7 Ricciardo
8 Vergne
9 Massa
10 Hulkenberg
11 Kovalainen
12 di Resta
13 Bottas
14 Perez
15 Button
16 Sutil
17 Maldonado
18 Gutierrez
19 Pic
20 van der Garde
21 Bianchi
22 Chilton

[Paddy]

What a mediocre season, lets hope the rule changes shuffle things about. Front end and rear end of grid.

Hopefully Newey won't loophole the regs... Vettle needs some stronger opponents and some luck to go against him!

Kimi/Fernando in team battle will be quite intense!

And hopefully Massa can lift Williams out the dole drums again.

I really hope Caterham and Maruissa can do something with their level playing field they've been given.

Also, next year there will be only 3 power sources: Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes. Cosworth it is thought haven't planned any building of the new v6 engines.

[smokeyb]

I really got bored with F1 about 6 races ago, when you know who is definitately going to win before the start what is the point in watching. I have watched F1 since the 1980's and rarely missed a race, but even at their height you still didn't know whether Senna, Prost etc was going to win. Only in the Schumacher Ferrari time did you feel who the winner was going to be. When one team is so far ahead of the others, and one driver gets all the attention/favouritism call it what you like the the whole contest is a turn off. I really hope things are different next season, or Vettel could end up winning every race.

[-Big Dan-]

Non Red Bull drivers would've surely given their right arm to drive the car that Vettel had this season, and hearing him yell in celebration at the end of every race like it was his first victory really was starting to get very boring. I hope other teams can buck up their ideas next season and actually make it more of a competition.

[paulgilb]

Some stats/facts that I discovered/read elsewhere re Brazil/2013:

9th consecutive win for Vettel, tying Ascari's Indy-500-excluded record.

13th win of the year for Vettel, tying Schumacher in 2004 (curiously, both drivers had scored 11 wins 2 seasons earlier, and had had a much tougher fight in the intervening season). Schumacher's 2004 season was in a way the reverse of Vettel's 2013 season - Schumacher dominated the season up until the Hungary-Spa gap, then after that it was more competitive.

397 points for Vettel this year - the most ever (obviously helped by the change in the points system).

Final win of V8 era was Renault powered, just like the 2 previous engine configurations (Australia 1994, China 2005).

Button is now the most experienced British driver ever, with 247 starts, 1 more than DC.

All 4 Red Bull owned cars started in the top 8 for the first time ever.

5th Vettel-Webber-Alonso podium (in that order) - apparently the most common podium ever.

In the last 8 races, Rosberg has finished in every position from 2nd to 9th once.

First time since 2001 that the Drivers' Champion's team-mate failed to win. First time since 1972 that the top 2 in the championship both had team-mates who failed to win a race that season (2011 failed at the last moment when Webber won the final race).

Button finished 4th in both the first and last races of the V8 era.

In the first seasons with both of his teams, Hamilton has finished ahead of his team-mate in the championship, despite the team-mate being the first to win a race.

100th 2nd-place finish for car #2.

Webber is the first driver to set fastest lap in his final GP since Jim Clark in 1968.

Webber is the first driver to finish on the podium in his final GP since Alain Prost in 1993.

Nobody other than Vettel, Alonso, and Button has finished in the top 2 of the championship since 2008.

First time since Fisichella in 2005 that the winner of the season-opener did not win again that year.

First time since Brabham in 1970 that the team that won the season-opener did not win again that year.

3rd year in a row that the Silverstone winner did not win any subsequent race that season.

First time since Spain 1999 that the podium was car numbers 1-2-3 in that order.

8th podium at Interlagos for Alonso (most for any circuit) without a win - a record for a driver at one circuit.

12th time Vettel has led every lap - 1 more than Schumacher, only trailing Clark (13) and Senna (19).

First season since 2001 (obviously excluding 2002) that Alonso has not managed a front-row start.

First season in which Kovalainen has not managed a top 13 finish.

Second season in a row in which Lotus has been the only team to make a driver change.

First season in which Hamilton has only managed 1 win.

First time that Hulkenberg has raced at Interlagos and not led at any point.

di Resta's last 5 starts - 12-12-11-11-12.

Second time in 3 seasons that Williams have scored exactly 5 points, 1 of which was scored by Maldonado.

In his 3 seasons to date, Ricciardo has scored 0, 10 and 20 points. Somehow I fear he will score more than 30 next year...

Alonso, Raikkonen and Webber between them finished 2nd in all bar 3 races this year.

McLaren's first season without a pole position since 2002.

McLaren's first season without a podium since 1980 (a year in which Ferrari also failed to reach the podium).

100th race in a row in which at least 1 Renault-powered car has scored points (last no-score was Europe 2008). Ford Cosworth hold the record with 228.

Vettel's pole lap was the slowest ever at Interlagos.

In each of the last 3 odd numbered years, Ferrari have managed no poles and 1 second-place start.

5 2nd-places for Webber in 2013 without a win - equals Patrick Depailler in 1976, and trails Francois Cevert in 1973 (6 2nd-places in his final season, albeit for a different reason to Webber).

19 consecutive races finished outside the points by Chilton - equals Kovalainen from last year.

McLaren are the first team to have both cars classified in every race of the season.

Vettel scored more points in 2013 than the second-placed team - last driver to manage this was Schumacher in 2004.