A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
The regs are the same minus the use of DRS in qualification. This gave an edge to the DDRS teams. That will be gone. There likely will be no tire lotto at the start of the season as well.
So...for teams:
1. Lotus
2. Red Bull
3. Mercedes
4. Mclaren
5. Ferrari
6. Sauber
7. Williams
8. Force India
9. Toro Rosso
10. Caterham
11. Marussia
I fully expect Button to fight for the championship with Kimi winning it. Vettel will be in the mix along with Alonso and Hamilton.
1 Red Bull
2 Mc Laran
3 Ferarri
4 Mercedes
5 Lotus
6 Sauber
7 Force India
8 Williams
9 Caterham
10 Torro Rosso
11 Marrusia
Reason why I put Caterham in front of Torro Rosso is 2 folds.
Last year was a dissapointing year for Caterham, whereby they did not understand their mid seadon upgrades at all. In the first couple of races in 2012 we saw Caterham moving closer and closer to Torro Rosso, and then their Big upgrade in Silverstone completely failed. I guess that with John Iley now focussing on the 2013 car and will have full understanding of how the car is designed the upgrades might actually work. In the beginning of the season they will be still down a couple of tenths of Torro Rosso, but throughout the season they just might beat them.
Second reason is the DRS ban for Qualifying. I think the DRS system for Caterham is much worse compared to other teams, and this is part of the reasons for their poor qualifying form.
If Caterham then also find a way how to warm up the tyres faster (which was their biggest problem) then they have a real shot.
I just hope that Caterham will not focus on 2014 too soon and give up on 2013 developments. However 2014 will be the big breakthrough for the team I think.
