MOTORSPORT: Last hurrah for F1's V8s

Already that appears to be enticing back Honda as an engine supplier. It and McLaren, which together dominated the sport a quarter of a century ago, are expected to reunite for 2015, ending McLaren’s long tie-up with Mercedes-Benz.

The Mercedes factory team is the focus of most attention on the eve of the 2013 season because of its recruitment of Lewis Hamilton, winner of 21 GPs in his six years at McLaren (winning a world title in his second year). Furthermore the team is under some pressure to succeed three years after securing a world title as BrawnGP – named for the owner who acquired the team when Honda pulled out of the sport.

Gone from Mercedes is Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion whose three-year comeback yielded merely one podium, while Nico Rosberg – who delivered the tri-star team’s sole victory at last year’s Chinese GP – stays as Hamilton’s teammate.

Pre-season testing told little, other than that there appears to be little between the top five teams of last year – and that Mercedes, now headed by Austrian Toto Wolff and with Niki Lauda involved as well, above team principal Ross Brawn, may be about to step up to play seriously in the big league.

Tyre wear was a big issue in testing, but monopoly supplier Pirelli blamed that on the cool temperatures in Spain. Melbourne has been sweltering for weeks, although cooler conditions are forecast for the weekend.

Most of the tweaks in F1 this season are aerodynamic – drivers can only alter their rear wings in the designated areas in practice and qualifying as well as races, noses of the cars are stiffer and most of last year’s ugly “steps” above the front bulkheads are gone, covered by “vanity panels”.

The Lotus E21 is an exception, and Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, on notice to clean up his driving act, are quite content with that.

McLaren’s MP4-28 has an innovative pull-rod front suspension and Sauber’s C32 much narrower sidepods.

McLaren has brought in Mexican Sergio Perez from Sauber in place of Hamilton to partner Jenson Button, while Sauber has an all-new line-up – German Nico Hulkenberg, with some F1 experience and now touted as a potential Ferrari driver, and Mexican rookie Esteban Gutierrez.

There are four other newcomers – Finn Valtteri Bottas at Williams, Frenchman Jules Bianchi and Brit Max Chilton at Marussia and Dutchman Giedo van der Garde at Caterham.

There’s one less team with the demise of Spain’s HRT, so a field of 22. The first round of qualifying will eliminate six drivers, the second round another six, with the remaining 10 sorting the front of the grid in the third qualifying stanza.

Sebastian Vettel is F1’s youngest triple world champion but never topped the timesheets in the 12 days of testing, although the genius of designer Adrian Newey surely will ensure Red Bull’s Renault-engined RB9 car is competitive from the get-go.

It is a defining year for Vettel’s veteran Australian teammate Mark Webber, now getting towards his late 30s and the oldest driver on the grid follow Schumacher’s second retirement.

A nine-time GP victor, Webber retains the confidence of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner but not so much that of Helmut Marko, the powerful adviser to Red Bull energy drink tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz.

Webber needs to do much better than last year’s sixth in the championship in the same equipment as Vettel to earn another year with the sport’s top team. Winning his home race on Sunday would be a great start. Fourth last year is Webber’s previous best in Melbourne.

It also is a crucial season for Perth youngster Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull’s junior team Scuderia Toro Rosso. Ricciardo not only must beat French teammate Jean-Eric Vergne but prove he is worthy of promotion into Webber’s seat if it opens up at the end of this year. Otherwise it could be Vergne or even a driver from outside the Red Bull “family” filling that slot.

The Mercedes-engined Force India team has survived its owner Vijay Mallya’s financial troubles and has reinstated German driver Adrian Sutil after a grevious bodily harm conviction last year for glassing former Renault F1 chief Eric Lux in China in 2011. Sutil was fined about $250,000 and is on an 18-month suspended sentence, claiming to be confident he will be allowed to race in all 19 GPs around the world – but he may get a rude awakening when trying to enter the US in November.

Ferrari started last season technically well behind the eight ball but looks to be in much better shape this time with its F138.

Fernando Alonso, still the most complete and consistent driver in F1, shoulders its hopes of returning to the glory days of the Schumacher era.

Brazilian Felipe Massa needs to provide competition and support to Alonso to hold the spot he almost lost last year or he could well be out of F1’s most famous team before the turbos arrive in 2014.

Alonso has identified Hamilton in the Mercedes as the danger man this season. They had a tumultuous year together at McLaren in 2007 and a renewal of those hostilities would add great spice to another potentially terrific season.

And then there is Vettel, Button, Raikkonen, and others – hopefully including Webber.

2013 Formula One team line-ups
Red Bull-Renault – Sebastian Vettel (Germany), Mark Webber (Australia).
Ferrari – Fernando Alonso (Spain), Felipe Massa (Brazil).
McLaren-Mercedes – Jenson Button (Great Britain), Sergio Perez (Mexico).
Lotus-Renault – Kimi Raikkonen (Finland), Romain Grosjean (France).
Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain), Nico Rosberg (Germany).
Sauber-Ferrari – Nico Hulkenberg (Germany), Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico).
Force India-Mercedes – Paul Di Resta (Great Britain), Adrian Sutil (Germany).
Williams-Renault – Pastor Maldonado (Venezuala), Valtteri Bottas (Finland).
Scuderia Toro Ross-Ferrari – Jean-Eric Vergne (France), Daniel Ricciardo (Australia).
Caterham-Renault – Charles Pic (France), Giedo van der Garde (Holland).
Marussia-Cosworth – Jules Bianchi (France), Max Chilton (Great Britain).

2013 Formula One world championship calendar
March 17 – Melbourne, Australia.
March 24 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
April 14 – Shanghai, China.
April 21 – Sakhir, Bahrain.
May 12 – Barcelona, Spain.
May 26 – Monte Carlo, Monaco.
June 9 – Montreal, Canada.
June 30 – Silverstone, Britain.
July 7 – Nurburgring, Germany.
July 28 – Budapest, Hungary.
August 25 – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.
September 8 – Monza, Italy.
September 22 – Singapore.
October 6 – Yeongam, South Korea.
October 13 – Suzuka, Japan.
October 27 – New Delhi, India.
November 3 – Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi.
November 17 – Austin, Texas, US.
November 24 – Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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