Your best and worst memories of 2013
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My heart sank every time I saw a DRS flap open. There are plenty of things making me feel disillusioned with the sport right now such as Vettel’s dominance and the number of lifeless Tilke-dromes on the calendar but it’s DRS that I’m finding completely intolerable. The art of defensive driving has been all but killed off and races are littered with “overtakes” that feel completely artificial. My worst moment of the season was in Canada where we saw the two most skillful racers in the field, Hamilton and Alonso, lifting off mid-way through an acceleration zone in attempt to be behind the other driver to gain the DRS advantage. It was a total farce and summed up why DRS in it’s current guise is so damaging to the credibility of the sport.
Best moment was probably Grosjean’s start and his lead for much of the race in Japan. A year on from the lowest point of his career it was great to see him show so clearly that he really is a fantastic talent.
Best:
– Kimi’s victory in Australia
– Bottas’ qualifying in Canada
– Hulk’s race in Korea
– Button vs. Perez in Bahrain
– Massa disobeying team orders in JapanWorst:
– Maria De Villota’s death
– The way how Lotus handled Kimi’s case
– Overly conservative solution for tyre problem after British GP ruining the rest of the season
– Abu Dhabi GP
– Kovalainen’s last GPs of his careerBest moments:
1) The fight between the Bulls during the final laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix.
2) Vettel’s race & celebration in India, superb.
3) The very tight German Grand Prix, really tense in its final laps.
4) Fernando Alonso’s winning the Spanish Grand Prix, the last podium of Felipe Massa for Ferrari.
5) Grosjean’s start in the Japanese Grand Prix.
6) Some performances from Bottas and Hülkemberg, in USA, Canada and Korea.Worst:
1) Just one above all, the friday morning of the Japanese Grand Prix, when we knew about Maria de Villota’s death.
Best: Great battles down the field, even if the race victory was often predictable.
Worst:
– DRS
– the ridiculous tyres (although I wish they didn’t need to modify them partway through the season)
– races didn’t seem that memorable this year… I usually have a couple of races throughout the season that really stick out in my mind, and I don’t have any that really come to mind for 2013
– on a similar note, races at tracks that I typically find thrilling were pretty tame this year (Canada, Italy, Belgium)Not a terrible season, but far from great. Since I started watching in 2008, the most thrilling seasons (to me) were 2008, 2010, and 2012. If the pattern continues, hopefully 2014 will be a fun, interesting year as well…
the worst was when I realised vettel was going to walk the championship again, ferrari had given alonso another dud but the worst was not even watching all the final 6 or 7 races and not really caring
ps i,ve followed f1 like a religon since 1972, maybe i,ve just seen the light!Best:
Alonso and Vettel winning at home, always great to see home victors. Alonso is clearly a very passionate Spaniard and I love seeing him win at home.
British GP – It may have been unsafe, but in my opinion it produced one of the most exciting GPs, with different strategies at the death.
Malaysian GP – Despite losing respect for Red Bull and Vettel it certainly was exciting.
Resurgence of Romain Grosjean – I’ve always felt his criticism was over the top, and having trimmed down on accidents he was fantastic in the second half of the season, and deserved a win in Austin.
Vettel donuts in India – Despite it being obvious from the midway point he’d win, it was still nice to see the celebrations.Worst:
Dominance of Red Bull – F1 could have lost many viewers following some of the snoozefests.
Death of Maria de Villota – RIP
Vettel donuts in Abu Dhabi, USA, Brazil – Made the donuts feel less special, for me, and might join his predictable post race team radios and finger.Best:
Vettel vs Webber in Malaysia and later in that little room waiting for the Podium. Those were the moments!
And it was a fair manouvre, I insist! No way Webber had turned down the engine. What a pass!Worst:
– Not caring that I missed a race for the first time in years.
– Getting excited about visiting my first Grand Prix in 2014, and then having all my enthusiasm for it killed by Vettel and Red Bull.Best:
– The Malaysian GP. It was the best GP of the season, by far IMO. The battle between Vettel and Webber was so tense, because of the past, because of the team orders, and because they were team mates battling for the win. Regardless of what happened before and after, it was just a great battle.
– Vettel getting a new way to celebrate. Love it ! even if repetitive, people at the stands surely enjoyed it, and it’s something different that’s very welcomed.
– Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg. Specially Romain, very nice to see him improving like that. From first lap nutcase to the only man able to follow the Bulls. Suzuka was for Romain what Interlagos 2010 was for Hulkenberg.Worst
– Maria de Villota’s death. Such a shock the morning I read about it. RIP.
– Chinese GP. First GP I switched off intentionally. It was all set for a good race, and it was exciting until the DRS was enable and it was ruined.
– DRS. More and more… I totally hate it.
– British GP. It was exciting because it was terrifying. At one point it got really ridiculous and incredibly dangerous. It was the worst non-processional GP of the lot, which is sad, because new Silverstone produces great races.
– Red Bull dominating. I still watch F1 when 1 driver wins everytime. I survived 2002, 2004 and 2011 very well. I’m a fan of motorsport and real racing. But… it’s a lot more boring when things are so clear cut.
Best:
– A promising opening few racesWorst:
– DRS and tyres just hurt so many races’ abilities to be interesting
– Red Bull and Vettel domination hurt so many races’ abilities to be interesting
– Farce of the Malaysian GP and the controversy of the British GP, the two “interesting” races of the year.
– The BBC coverage was APPALLING. Ben Edwards shouting loudly that the Abu Dhabi GP is, in fact, exciting, whilst David Coulthard tells you that F1 is like a game of chess.
– Maria de Villota’s death
– Mark Webber’s departure, his car failures and his two stopped wins at Malaysia and Japan.
– Disappointing rookies and the money situation surrounding the lower teamsMost of the positives have already been mentioned. I must say a big negative for me was the seemingly poor safety exhibited this year. The most prominent incidents I remember were Webber’s loose wheel in China which unfortunately turned out to be a prelude to the shocking pit-lane incident in Germany which injured the FOM cameraman; Jules Bianchi’s Marussia rolling backwards unattended in Germany; the barrier obstructing the track in Monaco following Maldonado’s contact; and the farcical scenes of a 4WD cruising down the back straight in Korea before the safety car had been deployed. I feel that most of these incidents were quite preventable and utterly ridiculous in this age of Formula One which has prided itself on safety over the last couple of decades. I couldn’t help but feel these had arisen due a certain sense of complacency that a serious accident has not occured for quite some time. Given the tragedies we’ve seen in other series over the last few years, I think F1 needs to re-evaluate its procedures…
Best Moments (that haven’t been mentioned):
– Rosberg getting more wins than Hamilton – I’m not sure anyone saw that coming (I sure didn’t).
– Brundle and Croft now being used for the Asian F1 coverage – after our previous commentators, it was like manna from heaven.Worst Moments:
– Quantum – The similarities to QADBAK are all too obvious. And it’s not doing anyone any good, unless the money does arrive (which I doubt).
– Maria de Villota – Yes, this has been said, but it needs to be said again.Best:
Vettel overtaking mark in Sepang, Malayasia.
Hamilton entering McLaren’s pit in the same race.
Tyres blowing up in Silverstone.
Hulk’s drive in Korea.Worst:
Red Bull having their way with the tyres after Silverstone.
Everytime Vettel pulls away from 2nd Placed Rosberg in the 2nd lap of a race and you know what’s the result going to be.
Everytime Croft says, “Vettel’s got a pitstop in his pocket now.”
And obviously, Lotus’ Alan Permane being a twat in India.Best: Vettel doing doughnuts, and Vettel overtaking Hamilton at the end of Kemmel straight(am I the only one who was surprised about that, byt he way?)
Worst: Missing the last 2 grands prix. They were held in the middle of the night, and I didn’t wake up from my sleep to watch the race when I was supposed to.
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