FIA Formula 1 World Championship 2013 Discussion Thread

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

"The goal has to be to do better than we have recently, which was Lewis's fifth place in Bahrain," said Rosberg.

"I'm sure we can do a bit better than Bahrain, but doubt we can fight for the win and the podium could be difficult."

Hamilton added: "I think for the race I am going to struggle generally. I have to look over things this evening and think how I am going to limit the tyre degradation, which is going to be a big problem for me.

"It's going to be real difficult tomorrow. I don't think it's going to be hugely different to the last race. We are doing everything we can and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for us."

From the BBC report.

[Northern Goblin]

Considering Lotus still have terrible qualifying pace, 4th is a great position for Raikonnen.

The Mercedes looked to have a hot streak on Saturday after a poor Friday qualifying. Ferrari looked uncharacteristically slow, same with McLaren.

Vettel's probably in the best spot of anyone to win it come Sunday, if he can get a good start he'll have the opportunity early to stretch a good lead, and then win with a good pit strategy.

[Coffer]

Considering Lotus still have terrible qualifying pace

Didn't seem like it this time around. Their 1-lap pace was considerably good in the practice sessions. At the very least, they were matching Red Bull and a resurgent Ferrari, and the latter are known to run with less fuel in practice.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Mercedes are really slow, even being overtaken by the likes of Riccardo in a Torro Rosso!

[laffling]

Yea the race pace is starting to get embarrassing.

[Xanjori]

Mercedes car is terrible in races, this is shockingly bad. Lewis will be pretty pissed at the end of this. Hoping Vettel doesnt get top 3 so the others can close on him. Alonso really doing it in front of his home fans.

[Coffer]

Mindboggingly boring race aside from the first few laps.

[kidsafe]

You must be new to F1.

[Shakadam]

Mindboggingly boring race aside from the first few laps.

Yeah I agree, not quite as bad as the Monaco races though (lucky too see 3 overtakes in the entire race there....). Some drivers had up to 6! pitstops, even 4, which was the average, is a bit too much. 2-3 would be nice but anything more and it just isn't a race anymore, it's just people driving around a track trying to make their tyres not suddenly completely die.

Shockingly bad race from Mercedes, start from 1 and 2 and finish in, what was it, 6 and 12? Doesn't look like they've managed to fix their tyre isses at all.

Glad to see Räikkönen up on 2nd, he's probably gonna be disappointed as usual because he didn't finish first :P, but I think he did a good job, Ferrari's were just so fast today. Good thing for the future races to see both Räikkönen and Alonso close in on Vettel, looking like this year's championship might be a better fight than last year.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Christian Horner on RTL: "Today's race was a bit like a game of chess, and chess isn't exactly the most interesting sport for the spectators."

[Coffer]

Christian Horner on RTL: "Today's race was a bit like a game of chess, and chess isn't exactly the most interesting sport for the spectators."

Even from a strategic point of view it was boring. The podium was largely decided just after the 1/3 point, with the other point-scoring positions being decently easy to predict. Gutierrez was the only nice surprise, but the poor top speed of the Sauber ensured that he wouldn't make it too far.

---------- Post added 2013-05-12 at 06:32 PM ----------

Pirelli confirmed that they will be changing the tyres around Silverstone following scathing criticism from the teams and the fans.

[Coffer]

Honda confirm that they will be returning to F1 in 2015, with none other than McLaren. It's not an exclusive deal, meaning other teams can get Honda engines as well.

Well, that's a double whammy if I've ever seen one. Most veterans ought to be happy. I myself won't be, as I'm neither a McLaren fan nor a Honda fan.

[Deleted]

I think, there can't be exclusive engine deals any more in F1. If it could, I don't think anyone else than Ferarri and Mercedes would be using their respective engines.

[Tore]

Word around the rumor mill is that Williams might also go Honda, and Lotus to Mercedes. Renault is charging much more than Merc or Ferrari for the 2014 engines so it's expected that the midfielders will switch it up. Also with Toro Rosso switching to Renault power means that if no one switches away they'd be supplying to a whopping 5 teams.

Caterham will probably stay with Renault despite the cost given their ties outside of F1.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Maybe McLaren Honda will go back to their old livery too.

[Northern Goblin]

I miss the relationship Jordan had with Mugen-Honda in the 90s, taking both the electronics and the engine and being able to compete with Ferrari and McLaren-Merc.


Also I feel I've missed something here, but why don't Lotus just supply their own engines?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Lotus road cars usually have re-engineered Toyota engines in them. Engine development is extremely expensive, and Lotus Cars doesn't have the capital to do it themselves.

[Ligier]

Maybe McLaren Honda will go back to their old livery too.

It's doubtful, it wasn't a "Honda" livery they used, it was that of Marlboro, and as we all know, cigarette sponsorship is no longer allowed.

I also think it's a poor idea for McLaren to get involved with Honda again, Honda are rather renowned "when the going gets tough, the tough get going", by leaving everyone in the lurch when a global economic crisis hits. They left Button & Barrichello in the lurch in early 2009 and they left McLaren after the '92 recession hit, so the chances are, give it another 8-10 years, another economic crisis hits and it's bye bye Honda.

[Coffer]

The FIA has put a stop to Pirelli's plans to change the tyres.

Incredibly disappointing decision, but then considering how incompetent and idiotic the FIA and the fanbase have been as of late (ever since the second half of last year, and especially apparent this year), it's not too much of a surprise.

Until the FIA gets a considerable restructuring (as in, firing most of its personnel), I am done with the sport.

[kidsafe]

You're done with a sport because two teams out of eleven are crying about tire wear? Please close the door on the way out.