Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2013 Thread

Still early days yet though - both Lotus and Merc had limited time to develop it, a winter of number-crunching and a new car to fit a revised design into, I'm expecting to see it on a few tracks, although the drop in drag and downforce isn't enough to worry about having an accident if it's a smooth transition - quite a few fast corners have been done with the DRS open this year, the diffuser/floor is often enough of a generator at high speed.

 

Does that mean we'll see Red Bull coasting round the last few races after they've won the championship to avoid fees?

 

The prize money gained more than makes up for the increase of points in the constructor's championship.

 

This season is going to be interesting.
The cars haven't changed much, so I expect only a few surprises in terms of performance. None of them at the front.

I have an undefinable feeling that Merc will be quicker than expected. Ross brawn knows when to cut his losses, and he knows how to play with a budget. It's no coincidence that their infrastructure was heavily upgraded last year. He's planning on going full-attack this year.

I expect the top runners to bunch up a bit more, thee midfield to close in on them, and the backmarkers (caterham and marussia) to get a bit quicker as well.
Little mistakes are going to become costlier than before with a tighter field as well, so I am expecting the more experienced drivers to do markedly better than their younger counterparts (more so than usual).

 

I know it's technically 2014, but SomersF1 has a bit of discussion about the new engines, as well as a bit of speculation about how they will be used. tl;dr? Complex.

Very, very complex things they will be, a powertrain engineer's wet dream to be able to make something like this from scratch with the various energy recovery systems, and being given free reign on designing a compressor/turbine-separated system. They might not sound as brutal as the old V8's, but they'll certainly be sounding interesting, just a shame that most of the technical stuff will probably be kept secret for a long time.

 

Raikkonen if provided a good car will deliver. He's proven to be a strikingly consistent driver. Button might do the same. As for hamilton. That's a rough one. On one hand he could have another Brawn GP mega car. Or not.

As for Ferrari. If they can get it together. They'll have an Alonso with something to prove. If not. Alonso will ditch them. Vettel is a toss up. Probably top 3. The guy is good at what he does.

 

I doubt Alonso will ditch Ferrari after so short a time, imo he's there until his career's done.

 

I don't think Alonso's going anywhere.
He's signed for another 3 years or so, and still wants to win another WDC. He's happy at Ferrari all things considered.

@Krikkit: SomersF1 - WOW. I didn't know about that site... it's like ScarbsF1, but different...

 

I don't know. If another team snatches him up, and they're willing to work with him. It's a definite possibility. Look at Alain Prost, he went from what was the best team with the best engines to a team that was mediocre and still on a downturn. I'm not saying it'll happen. But I can envision Alonso moving ship if he can find another team to build around himself.

Still, He's a force to be reckoned with and he's still one of the most consistent drivers around. A bit dirty in the racing, but not bad at all.

 

Ferrari have singed Pedro de la Rosa as a development driver, and are due to launch their car on 1 Feb 2013 in Maranello.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/1/14193.html

I'm pretty sure this newfound Spanish love at Maranello is Santander's doing. Say what you will, those chaps are smart and know how to get them most out of the millions they're paying Ferrari.

 

But he's already built Ferrari around himself - it's his team, even though Massa is their golden boy, he's taken it completely. They've been lacking in the tech department for a few years, but I reckon they'll be able to turn that around.

None of the drivers at the current big 3/4 will be moving until they've seen the 2014 car imo - LH has already jumped ship based (at least partly) on this, you've got to bank on one of them producing an engine that stands out from the competition, something that would take several races to compete with, leaving the possibility of having a championship sewn up before anyone else can play catchup.

 

2014 has a massive impact overall.
the ERS changes, the higher CoG, the turbo engines.
All of this is going to make it a difficult year in F1 for teams. I am solidly banking on one of the engine supplier "works teams' to take WDC/WCC in 2014.

 

Merc Ferrari have probably already developed the engines they are planning to use for 2014 and may even have tested them in other race cars.

There the 2 I'd back for 2014, think any team that buys engines will struggle as they will get them late on in 2013 and have to basically build the car from scratch.

Whilst the engine manufactures may of built the engine to fit the car you just never know.

 

I'm surprised McLaren don't make their own 2014 engine tbh, given they are investing more in road cars now..?

 

Got Merc engines till 2017 as part of there split agreement. So its unlikely they would put money towards engine development at this stage.

 

Ah, well that makes sense then!

 

None of the engines have been off the dyno yet, apparently, although Renault (iirc) had said they finished with their development engine and were ready to build a v2.0 about November. Chances are they won't get out into a vehicle until they're tested in an F1 chassis - with a decent engine dyno and appropriate testing facilities for packaging (neither of which is a problem for a €50m engine development) you can get them pretty-much ready for running without needing to put them outside.

 

Exepnsive to do R&D. Regardless of their budget. It's much more efficient to work with another company with an engine contract. Even if they have a contract for that long, it's still cheaper to get a version themselves.

Plus it could always be that awkward Honda stage where their newer engines were worse than their older ones.

Also, Krikkit you're right, Alonso probably won't leave. But It'd be hilarious to see him build another team. Basically this year's going to be an interim period before a whole new kinda like this season's opening will happen. 2014 will definitively change things up with 1.5 V6 Turbos, areo and driving.

Poor gearboxes.

 

Aonso's head is a complicated place, having the car, the team and the results wasn't enough for him at Renault, you never know when having it all won't be enough for him again.

If Massa were to beat him, even a few times, that would put the cat among the pigeons. As for whether Massa is up to that, who knows, he had the measure of everyone in 2008, but it takes years to recover from a head injury and he may never be quite that good again.

I would love to see Massa win a race though, just to see the look on Montezemollo's face when the wrong drivers gets up on the podium...

 

He was happy when he had the team, the car, the wins and a team-mate to back him up. Once the wins were gone he decided Maranello had a bigger cheque waiting. Who's going to buy out the prancing horse folks and take him?