Your best and worst memories of 2013
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plus:
– Raikkonen win in Albert Park
– Vettel vs Webber on Sepang with spicy Multi 21
– Grosjean run of brilliance in second half of season
– Spa’s qualifying
– Ferrari announcement of Raikkonen for next yearminus:
– Pirelli strikes. tyre preservation in first half of season
– Pirelli strikes again! blowout in Silverstone
– oh my God, Pirelli’s revised tyre clearly make the grid dull
– Maria de Villota. certainly reminds me of death
– the whole financial situation of Lotus and Sauber
– Spa racedayThe best moments of this season :
– Grosjean’s “redemption”. At the end of last year (and even this year after Monaco), everyone thought his career was over. But Romain has managed to supress his ability to make mistakes, and now he can show his potential. This driver has a bright future, after he’s had a difficult past.
– The Spa-Francorchamps qualifying. The most thrilling day of the season. The end of Q3 was tense and unpredictable, and even when everyone thought the deal was done with the Red Bull toping the time, Lewis surprised everyone when he snatched pole at the last second!
– Hülkenberg confirms his talent. The Sauber was garbage, yet Nico managed to deliver extraordinary results (while his teammate was miles behind). The Korean GP is the highlight of his season.
– Rosberg’s two wins. Nico Rosberg has been an underrated driver for quite some time. I always believed he was as talented than Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton. He proved this this year : Lewis didn’t anihilated him. Rosberg has managed to score more wins than Lewis, and could have been much closer on points ibut he had more bad luck with his car
– Raïkkönen’s win at Melbourne. This was unexpected, and it was nice to see Lotus win a race.The worst moments of the season (and there are quite a lot of them!) :
– Mercedes’ tyre managment. Mercedes was an interesting team this season. Their car was a big improvement this year, and I felt it could have been a challenger to Red Bull for the title. BUT, it didn’t happen, because of the awful managment of the fragile Pirellis. Instead of seeing great battles between Nico, Lewis, Sebastian and Mark, we saw awful races from the Mercedes’ falling back behind other cars in races (like Bahrain and Spain).
– McLaren’s season is for me the worst thing that happened this season (as you might have guessed). It was painful to see it’s favourite team going from having the fastest car to having an average car. McLaren could never fight for podiums, was beaten by Force Indias at the start of the season, and managed to finish races without scoring points (without retiring). I came to the point when I was happy if a McLaren finished in the top 5, which would have been unthinkable in 2012. I still hoped for a miracle like it happened in 2009, but this miracle never came…
– The Pirelli’s disaster in Silverstone … and it’s outcomes. The tyres blowouts in Silverstone was a pitiful sight to see. It transformed the race into a russian roulette, which wasn’t nice to see, and could have been dangerous for other drivers. And the outcome of this event was even worse : Pirelli reversed to the old tyres, which was like a gift card for Red Bull to win both championships.
– Raïkkonen’s attitude at the end of the season (and whoever is behind it…). Ok, it’s never nice to not being payed, but Kimi’s attitude was really bad. It showed that for him money is more important than racing, and that goes against the spirit of racing, something that we fans like to see. Ferrari’s actions behind the scenes (if they are true), is also a bad aspect of the sport. It shows that Ferrari cannot win fairly.
– Vettel’s actions and reactions in Sepang. The fact that Vettel disobeyed his team orders just because he wanted to win could be considered childish, but I didn’t mind it too much now, because we saw a nice battle on the track. The fact that he then said he shouldn’t have done that was a nice thing to say. But I really didn’t like his reaction later, when he said he was right to do so. It felt like he treated his teammate like s***.The funniest moment of the season
The truck nonsense at the Korean GP : that was pretty funny!The most awesome camera shot of the year :
The slow motion of the bird flying off in Monaco :)although i,ve already had a go at this, the best of the bestest part of the season was the 2.5 hours spent in the inner sanctum during the pit lane walk about at monza on the thursday afternoon, we got to sit in and watch driver and team principles interviews and celeb watch, it was flammin fantastic
the worst bit was then the realisation that most of the questions being asked were complete and utter no brainers, especially the ones posed by the european female interviewers, how the likes of hamilton can be bothered with that aspect is beyond meon a seperate topic rush was pretty good too
Worst:
– Not caring that I missed a race for the first time in years.Yup, missed the first 25 laps of Canada. I never looked it back, couldn’t be bothered – something I would have found unimaginable a few years back.
Best:
– Grosjean’s skills coming together. Seeing him settle into a calm and fast driver has been a joy to watch
– Witnessing Vettel’s dominance, ok it can be boring at times but that Red Bull just suits him. Clearly the combination of the team and driver brings the magic.Worst:
– Maria de Villota’s death
– The tyres. I defended them last year because we saw some good racing and some interesting strategies but this year it has become a joke. There are races where I can’t even tell you what happened because they were so boring with predictable pit strategy and tyre conservation meaning you knew early on where everyone was likely to finish.Best
– Great wins from Raikkonen (Australia), Alonso (Spain), Vettel (Germany) and Hamilton (Hungary).
– Grosjean looking like his maiden win was coming in Germany and Japan.
– Promising start to the season.
– Mercedes finally getting it together.
– Hulkenberg’s drive at the Korean GP.Worst:
– Silverstone’s tyre shenanigans.
– Malaysia’s team orders.
– Grosjean nearly throwing away his career at Monaco.
– Red Bull and Mercedes constantly whining about the tyres in the early part of the season.
– Not being able to remember a large part of the season or seeing Vettel actually win 9 or those 13 races.Best:
– Bottas’ incredible performance in Montreal. He took advantage of one of the few chances to prove his talent, and that was real star of the future stuff. He proved himself on Sunday as well, having a very mature race, especially placing his car perfectly in a wheel to wheel battle with Alonso.
– Qualifying in Spa. Toro Rossos were disappointingly eliminated in Q1, and van der Garde, Bianchi and Chilton took advantage of the conditions to make Q2. In Q3, Paul di Resta and Force India did the same and it nearly paid off with a pole position.
– Vettel’s celebrations in India. It was great to see some sporting spontaneousity – celebrating properly upon winning his fourth world championship.
– Red Bulls battling for the win in Malaysia. Forget Multi 21, it was a great fight for the win of the race between two of the best drivers, lengthy and close.Good –
+ The rise of Romain Grosjean. He’s had such obvious speed for a while now but has struggled to harness it, like in Monaco. But his second half of the season was tremendous. The change of tyres and long wheelbase Lotus may have helped but he used them effectively whilst drivers rated much more highly were underperforming and getting caught up in incidents.
+ Nico Rosberg. Two tremendous wins and firmly established himself up with the big boys. For me he outperformed Hamilton over the season, despite having a lesser points tally.
+ The Bahrain GP. Whether you think there should be a race in Bahrain or not, we did get an afternoon of wheel to wheel throughout a lot of the field, some great overtaking moves, and a variety of strategies at play.
+ Alonso’s start in Spain.
+ Ricciardo getting the Red Bull drive. Yes, it would have been to see Raikkonen vs Vettel, but I think it will be nice to see a new face near the front in 2014.
+ Grosjean’s start in Japan. 4th to 1st by the first corner made the Japanese GP a lot more interesting than it probably had any right to be based on most of the other races from the second half of the season.
+ Webber in Brazil. Given the amount of bad luck he’s had in his career (this season alone losing wheels in China and Germany, and catching fire in Singapore and Korea) I was sure something bad would happen to him. Yes he was beaten by Vettel but his moves on Hamilton and Alonso were top draw and it was great to see him get a fantastic reception on the podium.
+ Button’s overtakes at the Brazilian GP. Past two cars at once, then round the outside of Gutiérrez at turn 5. Nice to see some spark at Mclaren after a terrible year.Bad
– Mclaren. Only Mclaren would choose to ‘go radical’ after ending 2012 with the fastest car when there was only one season to go before a massive regulation change. It made no sense and F1 was poorer for not having them up at the front in 2013.
– Lack of a world championship fight. Yes it was tedious watching Vettel reel of his wins, but its not his fault – he should have been challenged harder. 2013 felt like a season where only Vettel really turned up for all of the races. Alonso had some fantastic drives but more uncharacteristic errors than usual (Hoofing Vettel in Malaysia, leaving doors open in Monaco, lack of pace in India). Hamilton was dazzling on occasion but unusually quite anonymous in a lot of races and aside from Singapore and Korea, Kimi’s second half of the year was largely quite poor. Only Vettel seemed to be able to string a series of results together.
Track Limits – Romain Grosjean makes, in my opinion, the overtaking move of the season by going around the outside of Massa at turn 4 in Hungary. He goes a few inches over the edge of the track whilst doing this whilst doing this and gets a penalty. A few races later, the drivers seem to be able to go wherever they like in India, without penalty. There is no consistency.
– Hulkenberg not being picked up by Lotus – Its very sad that such a brilliant driver is yet again stuck in the midfield because of money being more valued than talent. The fact that its in relation to the team that finished 4th in the constructors championship is similarly shocking.
– Pastor Maldonado – I am not his greatest fan anyway but accusing your team of tampering with your car in order to slow it down is ridiculous. Especially when the team in question only had 1 point at the time and needs every point they can get.
– The sad death of Maria de Villota.Best:
– the unpredictability of the start of the season: in both qualifying and race there was a question of who was going to finish first (yes, Mercedes scored a lot of poles, but it was always close and anyway Mercedes have two drivers capable of getting the pole).
– Ricciardo’s season: I think he was superb on Saturdays, and even if he was not quite as consistent on Sundays, I feel he was still better than Vergne. I think he deserved the Red Bull seat for 2014.
And from a Hamilton fan:
– Hamilton’s weekend in Hungary. He was fantastically quick all weekend, and on race day he was simply on fire. He made passes as soon as he came up on other drivers on a track where it is difficult to overtake – in stark contrast to his end-of-season struggles where he was unable to overtake even on circuits with straights of over 1km.
– Hamilton’s pole lap in Silverstone. He was half a second faster than Vettel which had Sebastian wondering out loud whether Lewis had found a shortcut somewhere.Worst:
– The financial struggles of F1 teams, with drivers and suppliers not being paid.
– The farcical Quantum investment saga. From the outside it very much looks like Lotus is being strung along by a con man for six months and counting, making everybody involved look like fools.
– Ferrari choosing Raikkonen over Hulkenberg. I would have loved to see Nico get a top drive and take on Alonso.
– The way Pirelli is treated by the FIA and the F1 community. The tyre supplier should be able to test its tyres to ensure a safe quality product, and not be hauled in front of a tribunal when it does. Finally, Pirelli being left in the dark about a 2014 contract, with the threat of Michelin being brought in at the 11th hour, was very poor form.
– The seeming decline of F1. The only good thing to have happened to F1 in recent history is the US Grand Prix in Austin, but reading the comments on this site it seems many long-time fans are falling out love with the sport. Even Keith, the Head F1Fanatic himself, seems to have his doubts over the current era of F1.
– As a refinement of the above: the proliferation of silly rules in F1. The Q3 tyre rule, the mandatory pit stop rule, DRS; the problem is that these things do not go away after some time, and the next stupid rule is already looming: two mandatory pit stops per race.Worst is easy – obviously the death of María de Villota……sad :(
Also for me it’s Mark’s departure and knowing we won’t see him again in F1….
Best….not so easy
Best – Vettel’s donuts.
Worst – Everything else
This season has put me off F1 so much and sadly I don’t see it improving any time soon.
I am gonna take an unusual one for the best, it’s just one simple move, but this was freakin’ awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ZzcdPRviEThe worst as many said before was the passing of Maria de Villota.
I forgot the worst thing of the season :
The harshness (and somewhat inconsistency) of the marshals. I hated the huge number of harsh decisions by the marshals. Soon, a driver will fart and he will receive a drive-through. The decisions went far beyond the goal of assuring safety and fair racing. They went for the principle of putting rules and enforcing them at every occasion possible. We haven’t had defensive moves which were made to avoid an accident being puished because they didn’t respect track limits. I think that’s going too far.
The list of silly decisions this year is very long : the Alonso-Perez incident in Monaco (Alonso had to give the position back), the Massa – Grosjean incident in Budapest (drive-through for going 3 inches off track), the Hulkenberg-Perez incident in Singapore (Hulk gave the position for free), the Bianchi penalty in the Korean GP qualifying (the Marussia is penalised because it’s car is too slow), the Massa drive-through in Interlagos… and many more!
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