Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2013 Thread

Hes one of the few thats really been looked at for a drive thats still in question. Lotus and McLaren seem to have the only 2 open seats at the moment. Expect Massa to take 1 of the 2 even if its just a 1 year deal to help with 2014 development whilst driving for them.

Not heard alot of positive rumours for Di Resta ill still be shocked if hes on the grid next year. Dont think his constant blaming of team or not owning up to his own mistakes is doing him any favours. Force India may finally decide they are better off without him.

 

Lol pay driver syndrome.

Why isn't our driver winning??!
Because we're having a bad year for car development.
Then why is he not beating his team mate
His team mate's a world champion with fourteen years of F1 experience.
We demand that he beat his team mate
His team mate is better than him.
We demand that you make sure he beats his team mate
No, that would ruin our constructor's championship position, which is more valuable than your sponsorship.
Then we refuse to pay! Either our driver wins and shows the superiority of Mexican products or we pull or funding
I'll get back to you.

#beepboopboop#

Hello, Werner? How would young Nico like to drive for Mclaren next year?

Based on Perez' showing this year, either Hulkenberg or Massa would be much more valuable than his points and non-paying sponsors. He's completely failed to assert himself against Button after the first four or five races. Massa brings reliability and sponsorship if Mclaren are that short of cash, Hulk deserves a seat that at least has some chance, he's wedging that Sauber into places it shouldn't fit.

 

Yeah, we know you don't like Di Resta, change the tune.

I'm not expecting Di Resta to have a different drive next year, but I'd be surprised if they dumped him - I think he's a canny individual, he won't waste his time, his tyres or his fuel needlessly trying to defend against a car that WILL be getting past him at some point. As to his DNFs, if you're in a mid-grid team alongside the likes of Maldonado there is a greater risk of being involved in an incident.

Hulkenberg looks to have some great options for next year - I'd like to see how he performs in a competitive car. Massa is still worthy of a decent drive - if he leaves, it'll just mean another seat taken by a pay driver. and another nail in F1's coffin.

 

I would also be surprised if PDR doesn't have a seat in 2014.

I COULD even see him in a McLaren.
The way it looks now, McLaren is tyre kicking around, trying to get Telmex to pay up. If Telmex don't pay, they have a seat open. Hulkenberg and DiResta seem the logical options there, though we can't forget about Massa.
Hulkenberg has the edge on Paul in terms of pace, but, as far as I know, DiResta is signed to the same management team as Button, which has got to count for something. Also, it would bring McLaren "back to Britain" in a way.

 

Button and DiResta would be a rubbish pairing, they're both too defensive.

I think they should stick with Perez, he will improve into next year and was always an investment for McLaren anyway. If they don't get Telmex money then I'd put Massa in. If they choose Hulkenberg or DiResta, I wouldn't be at all confident that McLaren could push for race wins next season.

 

I think Hulkenberg might lose out, if Massa goes Lotus, Perez stays at McLaren, I can't see him doing a u-turn and ousting DiResta from Force India.

 

Hulk won't U-Turn.

Worst case, he stays at Sauber.
I am expecting Perez to stay at McLaren, PDR to stay at FIndia, and I am expecting to see Hulk at Lotus (the big speech about 5 year planning by Lotus' boss makes that seem likely to me). Massa is the big question mark here, really.

He'd make sense in various seats, but I can't quite see it happening.

 

I think Sauber will go with two paid drivers, the Russian and the Mexican, especially as Guitterez is showing signs of improvement.

That tallies up with what EJ said about someone taking time out of F1 and it being good for them, but I want to see Massa in F1 next year

 

Daft as it may sound I'd like to see a top name at one of the filler teams to really give them a development push, maybe see if they'll ever be competitive.

 

That would be nice for the sport, but not the top name, who will want to win. Hulkenberg isn't exactly trying to push the development of the Sauber at the moment, just trying to get whatever points he can. Massa has said he will only go to a team that will win races. i.e. Lotus or McLaren.

 

Barrichello rumored for a Sauber return in 2014

While I'd love for him to return, I hope he's not the only Brazilian on the grid next year.

 

Meanwhile, the 2014 provisional calender is out:

16 March Grand Prix of Australia
30 March Grand Prix of Malaysia
06 April Grand Prix of Bahrain
20 April Grand Prix of China
27 April Grand Prix of Korea *
11 May Grand Prix of Spain
25 May Grand Prix of Monaco
01 June Grand Prix of America, New Jersey *
08 June Grand Prix of Canada
22 June Grand Prix of Austria
06 July Grand Prix of Great Britain
20 July Grand Prix of Germany (Hockenheim)
27 July Grand Prix of Hungary
24 August Grand Prix of Belgium
07 September Grand Prix of Italy
21 September Grand Prix of Singapore
05 October Grand Prix of Russia (Sochi)
12 October Grand Prix of Japan
26 October Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi
09 November Grand Prix of USA (Austin)
16 November Grand Prix of Mexico *
30 November Grand Prix of Brazil

* Subject to the circuit approval
Source

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 22 races? That'd be rather tight, not that all those provisional circuits will make it. Jersey is already off, I'd be surprised if Korea isn't there though!

 

New Jersey is apparently back on the calendar.
Also, Silverstone vs Wimbledon.

 

If at that point in the season finger is still driving off into the distance from lap 1 then Wimbledon, If the new rules do actually shake things up like I'm hoping and there still isn't a clear favourite then Silverstone all the way!!

 

That firefighter car will result in few million dollars penalty or it made the current Korean race a last one.

 

Not just that, I got the impression that the marshalling in general was pretty piss poor today.

Fantastic 4 way scrap from Maldonado, Massa and co though!

 

Great racing behind 1st, that Sauber is powered by magic! Unreal traction and great straight-line speed choice.

The marshal's work was fairly comedy - they dealt with the stripped tyre well enough, but that fire car ending up on the circuit was truly bananas. Thankfully the drivers dealt with it properly - having had SC flash up on their dash it doesn't matter what the car ahead looked like.

Unfortunately that's game, set and match for the WDC now - Ferrari needed a miracle to be able to do anything like win, which didn't materialise.

Yet again Webber got massively unlucky in this race - a puncture after the delamination, then getting an oil line ruptured with Sutil's mishap (both FI's having an unannounced end-swap today).

 

The only way for Alonso to win it is for Vettel to score 0 in all remaining races, and that could only happen if he gets injured to keep him from racing until end of the season. And that won't happen when Vettel is racing all alone.

 

The racing for 2-10 was pretty good today, and Kimi was a genius overtaking Grosjean at the right place at the right time.

Hülkenberg was the best today, keeping Hamilton, Alonso, etc behind himself for pretty much the whole race by not making any mistakes and coming up with a good setup.

The track in South Korea is an interesting one, but the Grand Prix overall is rather bad and I doubt that F1 will keep racing there.