Lotus E21

2013 will be one the most competitive years in the history of Formula 1, no question about it. The best part is that 6 or 7 teams will be fighting for podiums, and perhaps even wins. What makes 2013 also unique is that it will be an end of an era, the V8 era, forever. With 2014 switching back to Turbo V6's, and bigger electrical energy recovery systems, 2013 will be a tricky year. All teams need to direct a majority of their resources toward 2014, to ensure that they remain competitive. So most of the updates and development of the car will take place quite rapidly towards the beginning of the year, and will tail off midway, and most teams will shift almost all resources to develop the 2014 car.


The 2014 car is so different from the previous cars that the team have to design the cars from scratch. The cars will bear almost no family resemblance to the current cars. It is a huge change. So 2013, with the newPirelli tyres which promises more tyre wear and faster lap times make this one the most challenging seasons in Formula 1 history. Changing the regulations dramatically might actually ruin the racing and we might see only the top teams dominate. The resources required for 2014 are too much for smaller teams to handle. As a result, Timo Glock was fired so that Marussia could get a pay driver just to survive. So only the bigger teams will be competitive in 2013 and in 2014 as well, as they can afford to develop both cars at the same time. I don't think this massive change is a good idea, as it will ruin the competitive racing we've seen lately. If the FIA had proceeded stepwise, they could've have made it work, but then again, the FIA had to do something to justify Formula 1 in current climate of Global Warming, and with various conference being held around the world to save the environment.

McLaren MP4 28

The 2013 season will be a difficult season to predict. Caterham and Marussia will barely have an impact on the proceedings of the race, and are simply trying to survive 2013 for a competitive car in 2014. Sauber and Williams might try to score a few points this year so that they get sponsorship and prize money to help develop the 2014 car, so I expect them to be very competitive this year. Torro Rosso will continue to be average this season, and will finish just ahead of Caterham and Marussia in the contractors standings. They will serve as training program for future Red Bull drivers, and Jean Eric Vergne will probably get Mark Webber's seat in 2014. Force India might surprise everyone and be challenging for podiums this year with Paul Di Resta committed to put in a good performance to impress the bigger teams and will have a good year. Mercedes will have an average year as well, but with Lewis Hamilton committed to prove to everyone that he made a right choice, they might just win a few races, and a handful of podiums.

Force India at Silverstone

Lotus will be a very competitive team. The have a lot of potential. James Allison's car and with a fast and consistent Raikkonen along with Grosjean who is looking to prove his worth adds up to a team which will probably finish in the top 3, with Raikkonen in the mix for the drivers championship. The problem Lotus faces is that, in this hyper competitive top 4 teams of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull, they cannot make a single mistake. Red Bull, and McLaren will have the fastest cars from the word go, and Ferrari will be up there as well, with Fernando Alonso as motivated and consistently quick as ever. It will be brutal in the fight for wins between the top 4 teams, and the championship will be won by the team which keeps developing till the very end. It will be very very exciting to see what happens and the fans will have fun.