The long wait is finally over; the highly anticipated 2013 Formula 1 season is sticking its nose around the corner and it all starts this week with the traditional opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

In this article, I want to take the time to explain to you what the key features of the 2013 F1 cars will be, who the early form runners will be, who is likely to challenge for both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, but more importantly, how the changes compare to their predecessors and how it will affect the teams during the course of the 2013 calendar.

Note: This article has taken quite some time to put together and features all the teams on the grid, so best you grab yourself a cup of coffee and a doughnut, you are in for one heck of a read. Enjoy.

2013 Formula 1 tech:

To begin with, the most noticeable changes to the cars has been the addition of the modesty panel.

The modesty panel is a non-structural part of the nose cone which enables the teams to hide the stepped nose that most fans found to make the cars look distasteful.

The stepped nose became a feature in 2012 because of a significant rule change that was meant to enhance safety.

From 2012, the maximum height of the nose was not allowed to exceed 550mm, and that has been done to prevent possible driver injury in the event of a side impact. This led to cars in 2012 sporting a rather unsightly ‘step’ in front of the driver.

Another significant visual change from the 2011 to 2012 cars, is the location of the exhaust exits, which has been relocated to prevent teams “blowing” the diffuser with exhaust gases.

The diffuser, a rather contentious issue throughout last season, allows for exhaust gases to “blow” over or underneath the rear diffuser helping to create more downforce.

However, that only happens when under full throttle, which means that the drivers lose a lot of downforce when they release the throttle when braking for a corner.

Due to clever engine mapping the engineers managed to still create a considerable amount of exhaust gases flowing over the diffuser when off throttle, but that meant a lot more fuel was being used. The FIA decided to relocate the exhaust to effectively ban the exhaust blown diffuser and the accompanying engine mapping.

So where one door closes, another opens, the clever engineers of F1 have improvised by designing the so-called “Coanda Exhaust”, which manages to recreate if you will, a blown diffuser via a Coanda Effect.

The Coanda exhaust is easily identified by the unsightly bulge in the side pods in front of the rear tyres. It might not be as effective as the previous version, but it still has proven to be the must have item in 2012 and now 2013.

Teams:

RED BULL RACING:

Drivers: Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber

First of all, at first glance the 2013 RB9 doesn’t look much different to the 2012 RB8. The RB8 was the best car on the grid come late 2012, this mostly attributed to the fact that Red Bull continued to develop the RB8 right up to the final races, unlike McLaren and Ferrari, who had pushed their efforts into their 2013 challenger.

So what is different about the Red Bull this year?

1. For one, the modesty panel barely covers the step in the nose. The RB9 has a small letterbox slot facing the driver which, by the looks of it, is a slot that feeds air over the bulkhead in front of the driver, which in turn gets fed via a duct from below the nose.

This is all to manage the flow over the top of the car and also to relieve the high pressure area below the nose, where it does create a bit of lift instead of downforce.

2. The other noticeable feature on this years RB9 is the way that chief designer Adrian Newey has managed to slim down the sidepods even further. Slimmer side pods mean less air resistance, thus better top speed.

RB were lacking in this department last year, and this is an area in which McLaren excelled. This season, the Red Bulls will be able to run even more aggressive wing angles for more downforce and less drag.

The Red Bull will be the early best in class car yet again. Will Red Bull Racing have developed the car to the full potential of the 2013 regulations, consider it is basically the 2012 chassis? Only time will tell.

RB has seen no change in their driving team, continuity and innovation at the forefront of what they do. The only thing standing in the way of Red Bull is Red Bull themselves.

Their biggest obstacle during the season is reliability to keep the car on the track, if they can circumnavigate this, there is no reason that they can’t yet again stake a claim on a fourth successive Constructors Trophy.

As for their drivers, Webber drives the same car that Vettel does, yet Vettel usually manages to get more points, although qualifying was much closer in 2012.

While I would like to see Webber compete much better in 2013 than he did in 2012, I think Vettel will once again be the man to beat.

Prediction: 1st. Red Bull and Vettel to make it four in a row

FERRARI:

Drivers: Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa

The F138 this year is a marked improvement to the 2012 car. Ferrari started last year with a car that was two seconds off the pace compared to the front running teams.

That Alonso was able to drag that car into WDC contention speaks more to the character of the driver than the car.

This year Ferrari are starting out 2013 with a much better car, Alonso and Massa have had only good things to say about the pace of the car after the tests in Jerez and Barcelona, which means that their season can only fare well. So what have they changed from 2012?

1. Ferrari have also included the now familiar modesty panel on the new car which has cleaned up the looks of the car considerably.

It will certainly help them clean up the airflow over the top of the chassis and permit more down force which was lacking last year.

2. A hidden detail is the slot below the nose of the car behind the front suspension. By all accounts that slot feeds into the cockpit, not for cooling the driver down but rather feeding the high pressure air away from underneath the nose into a neutral zone.

This is different to the Red Bull and Sauber cars, they blow that air out of a slot facing the driver which is on top of the bulkhead.

This could also influence the airflow over the cockpit which cleans the airflow over the side pods for a cleaner flow to the rear diffuser. I can see a lot of other teams adopting this solution sooner rather than later.

Prediction: 2nd. I see Ferrari performing much better at the start of the season and being able to carry that success long into the season to allow Alonso a much better shot at winning this years Drivers title.

Massa in the second part of last season showed once again why he is such an excellent driver.

His accident in Hungary left him, well, running at half mast, and facing a very near axing of his Formula 1 fortunes with Ferrari finally turned up the heat hot enough to even beat Alonso in quite a few Qualifications.

If he can come back this season burning that hot or hotter, well then Ferrari really have a formidable driving team, one that functions well in competing for each other, rather against each other like some of the other teams.

With this selflessness by both drivers, working in tandem, with a much better car at their disposal, a Drivers and Constructor Championship is easily at their disposal.

McLAREN:

Drivers: Jenson Button and Sergio Perez

McLaren are sporting an entirely brand new design for this season. McLaren hands down had the fastest car on the grid last year but just weren’t able to make that pace count for anything tangible.

This year they have decided that the development potential for the M4-27 was exhausted and a brand new design was called for, and at first glance, the MP4-28 looks stunning, which brings me to the main changes:

1. The front suspension is now pull rod actuated, which is very similar to the one that Ferrari introduced last year. This will actually bring an aerodynamic advantage to the car since it moves key components of the front suspension out of the way of the airflow coming off of the front wing and onto the front splitter.

2. Once again, the designers have concentrated on the side pods. It seems that all across the board, side pod designs are crucial to promote an even and stable airflow system over the car and rear diffuser, and one can see that McLaren have spent considerable time perfecting that area.

3. McLaren is also one of the teams sporting a modesty panel on their nose. In 2012, McLaren were one of the few teams to not have the unsightly ‘duck-nose’, with their nose being under the minimum height.

This season, I see McLaren yet again being one of the front-runners, if not even the team to beat, come Melbourne.

The new developments suit the team very well and this should allow them to take the opening honours.

What McLaren have going for themselves this year is a good car, but do they have the right team of drivers to make it work? Button since winning his maiden Drivers title, in my opinion, lacks bite.

His smooth driving style saves on tyres but it doesn’t allow him any significant advantage come race time to turn that advantage into podiums.

With a relative rookie co-driver in Sergio Perez, I suspect much time will be put into getting him to come to terms with performing in the sport’s top teams.

He does have the talent and skill to deliver results otherwise he wouldn’t be there, but is he a worthy replacement for Lewis Hamilton?

Prediction: 3rd. McLaren to win their fair share, maybe even to run RB close. Drivers will elude them but they could do well to compete for the Constructors provided both drivers deliver results.

LOTUS F1:

Drivers: Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean

It is well known that the team from Enstone doesn’t have the biggest budget, which is why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Lotus have pretty much stayed with the same chassis design as last year.

The chassis is said to be partly new, but there have not been any big changes, instead they have rather opted for some details of the overall package to be refined. This is obviously a philosophy that can only be to their advantage.

The 2012 car was a very competitive package in the hands of Raikonnen and Grosjean. The car had good pace, looked after its tyres very well and had it not been for some conservative race day strategy choices, they could well have won more races than just the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

If the lap time during the past tests are anything to go by, they have a very competitive race package yet again, although I am not too sure how good their single lap pace is in regards to qualifying. I do however expect Lotus to embarrass the richer teams on more than one occasion.

Prediction: 4th. With minor changes to the team, continuity in the driving department, I feel that given their 2012 season, they have lost the element of surprise. Competition will once again be fierce this season.

Kimi in his second season back will be better settled and after the chaotic year that Grosjean had, he displayed a lot of resolve and character to become a better driver in the latter stages of the 2012 season. With these two drivers building on a successful 2012, 2013 could be yet another successful year for them.

MERCEDES GP:

Drivers: Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg

Mercedes have more technical directors on board than any other team in the competition, but by their own admission they work with a very limited budget.

Their pre-season race pace has been sublime and hands down marks them as the Dark Horses of this years Calendar. That being said, I just do not see them being able to make a huge impact this year.

Lewis Hamilton, their star acquisition to replace Michael Schumacher, makes the car look a lot better than what it actually is, but even after the last test, the team remains cautiously optimistic. I don’t see a lot of visual changes this year on their car.

1. The front wing is a new five element affair that should provide better airflow to the rest of the car.

2. A revised rear suspension should help curb the car’s voracious ability to chew through their tyres at an alarming rate.

Prediction: 5th. Much talk has been made over Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes and whether or not it was the right move.

Given enough time, we will know what this move brings to Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton alike. One thing is for sure, Lewis seems happier and more content in the team which could only translate to success on the track. A happy worker is a productive worker.

It will be up to Brawn to harness this harmony, and seeing as they have been able to improve the car somewhat, Lewis is good enough to win a race with it, and as far as pre-season tips go, I tip that Lewis stands a good chance to win in China which is where his co-driver Nico Rosberg cruised to his first GP win.

Rosberg is such a good driver, he really is, he just seems unlucky to never have been able to combine his skill with a decent car.

Be that as it may, he still does his bit to qualify well and to be in the mix. He started 2012 in good stead, but as the car failed, so did his ability to maintain. For his sake, I hope that 2013 is not more of the same.

SAUBER:

Drivers: Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez

Sauber are a very well supported and to be honest, very well liked team. This year they have taken a bold step, their car in 2012 was also, much the same as Lotus, a very good package with which they almost caused an upset at the Malaysian GP.

For a solid midfield team, they have done a lot lately to reduce the gap to the front runners and if their design this year promises as much as it looks, I see them winning their first GP under the Sauber name.

They last managed a win when the team was still owned and run under the BMW banner. Sauber, in the off-season, have not been sitting idle, and the car shows it.

1. The side pods are by far the narrowest side pods of all the teams this year. The idea to make them that narrow actually comes from the accident Sergio Perez had in 2011 in Monaco. When they took the car apart afterwards, they saw the components all squashed together, and they have sought to replicate that by designing a much tighter components package which they have succeeded in doing. I see it being good for reducing drag and promoting a cleaner airflow over the rear diffuser.

2. Sauber have also employed the duct that connects the high pressure zone below the nose to the top of the cockpit bulkhead. Since Red Bull and Ferrari actually copied this design from Sauber to begin with, it speaks volumes of how brilliant the design actually is.

This is a very clever solution and also shows that with a better development budget, Sauber should be a team competing more regularly at the front of the grid.

Prediction: 6th. In the hands of Nico Hulkenberg, I would like to say I see Sauber celebrating their first win this year, but as already mentioned, there is very strong competition to deal with and I suspect it may just be another case of “always the Bridesmaid, never the Bride”.

However, the design is very good and if they can really make it work for them, I reckon that it is a possibility that should they go all the way, Monza would suit them best. You heard it here first.

WILLIAMS:

Drivers: Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas

Williams surprised all and sundry with their car last season. Unfortunately for them their drivers let them down.

Maldonado’s behaviour was too errant and not at all constructive – resulting in collision and unusual scenarios.

Bruno Senna in contrast does little to uphold the name carried by his famous uncle, which isn’t fair on the one hand, but he does reap a lot of benefit by carrying it.

Neither of the two drivers were truly capable of making the car shine. Williams have done themselves no favours by chosing to take part in the Jerez Test with their 2012 car.

They only revealed the FW35 at the second test in Barcelona. Not much can be said about the new Williams other than it sports a modesty panel over the nose and that the gearbox seems to have been slimmed down even more.

Thankfully, all is not lost as the first impressions from both drivers have been very positive.

The FW35 is a marked improvement on the previous car, but since all other teams have improved as well, I can’t see them making inroads into the top of the midfield.

Prediction: 7th. Williams are by no means an uncompetitive team, however they just don’t have that extra something that makes them anything more than a back marker. Williams fans best prepare for a long season.

THE BOTTOM HALF:

FORCE INDIA:

Drivers: Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil

Most worryingly, Force India have only just announced their second driver, Adrian Sutil. The German is making a comeback to the team with some upside – he has driven for them before.

After already running the second test without a designated driver to which the car could be suited to in terms of handling characteristics, they are setting themselves up for a less than ideal slide into the bottom of half the midfield.

The new car sports only slight improvement such as the modesty panel on the front nose and maybe some evolved front wing elements and side pods.

Whether Force India can actually survive this year financially is another big question that needs to be considered. The way it looks now, the prospect does look a bit bleak.

TORO ROSSO:

Drivers: Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo

Not much can be said about the Junior Red Bull team at this stage. The new design sports a modesty panel much the same as the rest of the field. Other than that the only other physical change I can see is that it sports bigger Red Bull decals than the senior team.

Rules dictate that technology transfer is not allowed between teams, that is why Toro Rosso are increasingly falling further into the bottom half of the midfield, so much so, that at one stage last year, instead of trying to catch up to the rest of the midfield, it was nervously looking at the rear view mirrors for the Caterhams breathing down their neck.

The arrival of James Key, who departed Sauber, should hopefully see Toro Rosso grid a better car this year and hopefully a more consistent points scorer.

It remains to be seen if they can make their presence in the midfield felt a bit more prominently. For their two driver’s, Ricciardo and Vergne, this year they must show that they have what it takes to be a front running driver that deserves a top seat.

Otherwise they too will face the same fate as Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari who at the end of 2011, were replaced by the current duo on very short notice.

CATERHAM:

Drivers: Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde

It will be the fourth year for the team that first appeared as Team Lotus in 2010 as the first of the new teams entering F1. As much as the team have improved their car from year to year, their efforts to break into the midfield and to score their first point in a race are still bearing no fruit. The team have made improvements, but not enough.

The 2013 car looks remarkably similar to the 2012 car, which makes me wonder if they even bothered with a new chassis? I guess they feel that the development potential was not fully exploited out of their 2012 car.

I see that they have done a bit of redefining on their exhaust outlets and also the cooling vents at the rear of the car. These are the areas which makes the most sense to develop, since those areas can yield the most gains in lap time if developed correctly.

This will also be the second year in which they will be running the KERS system, and by now they should have been able to see how they can get the best advantage out of it.

The fact that their two drivers, one of which is a rookie and the other, Charles Pic, who comes from Marrussia, a team that didn’t even have KERS last year, and will need time to familiarize himself with KERS first, does put them at a disadvantage.

The upside is that Charles Pic did show good promise last year, so I do see him putting in some stellar drives that are bound to get him noticed by the top teams.

MARUSSIA:

Drivers: Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi

The Russian team have done a lot of work lately in the development department. The former Virgin Racing Team that had their chassis developed purely through Computational Fluid Dynamics through Nick Wirth, without the aid of a wind tunnel, proved that that direction didn’t re-write the rules of F1 car design.

Changing the development to wind tunnels has seen their car make remarkable leaps forward in pace, and at one stage were on par with the Caterhams, even though they didn’t run KERS.

This year they are sporting their first full wind tunnel aided car, whose development includes KERS. That is obviously a system they have to get to grips with since they have absolutely no experience with it, either from a cooling perspective, or to understanding how it will affect the braking balance of their car since the batteries for the KERS system get recharged by the braking force of the rear wheels.

They are at this stage the only team that still runs the Cosworth engine. Unfortunately the Cosworth unit seems to be rather underpowered, so I can see how that can hamper their progress into the midfield.

However, almost finishing above the Caterhams last year, I see this as the team part the 2012 new team arrivals, most likely to score a point this year. They have been making steady progress and are sure to keep it up, but this will only happen if their rookie drivers do not disappoint.

Jules Bianchi was signed at the eleventh hour after Luis Razia’s sponsorship fell through and was subsequently dropped from the Team. Bianchi is a Ferrari development driver with some good potential. I reckon if there is one person that can score Marrussia’s first championship points, he is the man to do it.

NB: I would like to highlight that I have not focused on the lap times of the tests in Jerez and Barcelona. The lap times run during testing are never the true reflection of pace and neither are they an indicator as to where exactly in the pecking order a car truly lies.

I have however used the times as a yard stick of sorts, but have mainly focused on development in conjunction with historical data from 2012.

The only time I will be able to tell who with more certainty which is the fastest car, is when the cars have taken to the track and completed the first qualifying session of 2013 at Albert Park, Melbourne.

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