F1 2013: Red Bull's big tease

There are no more Formula 1 races for the rest of the year, which may be a disappointment to some fans as well as a relief to overstretched F1 team

By Vinayak Pande | on December 3, 2013 Follow us on Autox Google News

There are no more Formula 1 races for the rest of the year, which may be a disappointment to some fans as well as a relief to overstretched F1 team personnel. 

This Friday, however, will see the F1 champion driver and team officially crowned along with those in the other major disciplines that come under the International Automobile Federation's (FIA) sanctioning authority.

The championship winners stand but it makes for a good opportunity to look back at the F1 season that turned out to be a bit of a tease. That's what it seemed like given how Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing gave rivals a glimmer of hope before hammering them senseless.

After the Hungarian Grand Prix - which was the last race prior to F1's self-imposed summer break - it looked like Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes would join Ferrari and Lotus F1's Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen to chase down Vettel or at least give him a fright.

But an all too familiar trend that has been prevalent in F1 since 2009 resurfaced to ensure a historic and record breaking title run for Vettel and Red Bull Racing.

The second half of a season has typically seen Vettel and Red Bull dominate races since the last time F1 cars were overhauled in their design.

Double diffusers, and then exhaust blown diffusers were technical trends that Red Bull's tech genius Adrian Newey has been exploiting since 2009. At times at the expense of development of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS).

It was a technical direction that pretty much sums up the current mentality in F1 of teams not wanting to back down even a little bit in order to consider the long term viability of the sport.

CHANCE OF A CHALLENGE?

A radical overhaul of the F1 engine regulations and two important car design tweaks for 2014 may or may not play into Red Bull Racing's hands again.

Given, however, how keen Renault Sport were on the new regulations it may not be too much of a stretch for them to combine forces with Newey and Vettel to produce yet another winner.

Ross Brawn's exit puts a bit of a question mark on Mercedes' potential to improve upon their one lap and early race pace and produce a consistent winner to challenge Vettel.

It was one of the trends that added to false hopes among the neutral F1 fans who wanted to see variety on the top step of the podium.

FERNANDO'S FIGHT NOT ENOUGH

Although by the time Vettel won the first three races after the summer break, the most consistent challenger to Vettel and Red Bull since 2010 had all but given up too.

Ferrari and Fernando Alonso have seemed on the cusp of a title triumph since refueling stops were abandoned and the onus was put on a driver to be consistent.

However, the Italian team's approach putting all their eggs in Alonso's basket seems to have held them back in terms of developing their car.

THE SCARLET FINN

This probably factored in their decision to lure Kimi Raikkonen back to Maranello. The Finn's consistency proved to be a major boost for Lotus F1 in developing their car as much as possible.

Now with both James Alison and Raikkonen in the same team as Alonso, it is not beyond the realm of possibility to see something truly special coming out of the joining of these three.

However, Ferrari have kept a low profile in terms of revealing details of their 2014 'power unit' - cars won't be powered by old-fashioned 'engines' anymore - like Renault and Mercedes have.

Part of that could be their reluctance in accepting the new regulations, as made very public by Bernie Ecclestone. But the time to adapt is at hand and at the very least one expects Ferrari to do whatever it can to stay afloat.

One can imagine that neither Raikkonen or Alonso will be too thrilled if their efforts aren't rewarded at least with a car capable of giving the Scuderia a constructors title in the near future.

BEYOND THE BIG FOUR

McLaren were put well and truly in the shade this year after their decision to not just evolve their previous year's car did not pay dividends.

Jenson Button kept plugging away as usual but Sergio Perez turned out to be enough of a disappointment for his services at McLaren to be terminated with Danish youngster Kevin Magnussen roped in.

Magnussesn's inclusion in the McLaren race team somewhat countered the Robin Frijns 'scandal'.

The 22-year-old Dutch driver won both the 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 European Cup and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series titles and signed on as Sauber F1's reserve driver.

However, an inability to find sponsors meant that he could not be considered for a race seat in 2013.

That despite the error prone, former GP2 champion, Pastor Maldonado getting a spot at Lotus F1, which was all but set to go to Nico Hulkenberg, who was unable to produce the kind of money that Maldonando has at his disposal.

It's a development that has prompted a lot of criticism leveled towards the championship. There has been a fair amount of introspection too, from those in F1 but frustratingly teams themselves don't seem to want to take the first step to change things.

Costs keep skyrocketing as teams seem unwilling to give up their fixation on aerodynamics.

Even former champion Alain Prost - who was at the launch of the e dams Formula E team - couldn't understand why teams continue to go down that route.

AN ADDED 'HEADACHE'

It's an environment that makes the introduction of the new power unit regulations seem ill-timed.

Costs are set to rise up further with no regulatory framework yet in place to make teams spend dramatically less so that they can actually get a sponsor willing to foot the bill for them.

At the present point of time, F1 team budgets, even for small teams like Marussia are too high, and the chances of the team scoring points or podiums too low for any sponsor to deem it wise to fork out a big, fat cheque.

And yet at the same time Red Bull leverages its relationship with Infiniti to get access to facilities that allow them to 'condition' pit lane equipment to stand extreme temperatures in Abu Dhabi.

That combined with the deep pockets of the Energy drinks manufacturer, Vettel and Newey means that may not be a lot left for other teams to do than watch them rocket off into the distance.

Which kind of makes the manner of Webber's exit from F1 at the Brazilian Grand Prix all the more significant.

The Australian said he removed his helmet at the end of the race while on his slowing down lap to remind people that a human being still sits in a Grand Prix machine.

Perhaps teams should be more concerned about publicizing that aspect a little more than how much water flows through their windtunnels every minute to keep them cool.

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