111 replies to this topic

[kimister]

Now, since 2013 season is officially over, I am really looking forward for next year. There will be lots of changes . It seems both new rules and driver moves between teams will shake the grid again.Therefore, I wonder what do you expect from 2014 F1 season. I am aware that many people couldn't enjoy the races of this year quite as they hoped , so what makes you excited and more hopeful for 2014 ( if there is any ) in term of competitiveness of cars and drivers in comparison to each other.

[Amin]

Ferrari - Fernando Alonso & Kimi Raikkonen

 

I can't wait to see what happens between these two brilliant drivers.

[charly0418]

I'm scared the Merc teams might be ahead of the pack. But it's just a rumor so who knows

[Shiroo]

I hope that someone will give a challenge to Vettel. I do not mean, to beat him actually. But at least be within 15 pts in the last race.

[Andrew Hope]

I expect IndyCar will once again be the superior series.

 

Additionally I expect F1 to once again be mildly interesting, ultimately worth two hours of my time every Sunday but not a lot more than that. I also expect this forum to be it's usual enjoyable self in non-F1 threads but still a wretched hive of **** and villainy in all the other ones.

 

EDIT: Goddamn asterisks ruining my Star Wars references.. just watch IndyCar.

Edited by Andrew Hope, 24 November 2013 - 21:51.

[Cyanide]

I truly expect Ferrari to challenge and beat Vettel. They've been without a title for too long. Now they have a fully revamped factory, wind tunnel, strong technical background and the best driver lineup, so there are really no more excuses. Next season has to be Ferrari's year. 

[sopa]

I truly expect Ferrari to challenge and beat Vettel. They've been without a title for too long. Now they have a fully revamped factory, wind tunnel, strong technical background and the best driver lineup, so there are really no more excuses. Next season has to be Ferrari's year. 

 

What is without a title TOO LONG?  McLaren hasn't won a WCC since 1998. Ferrari didn't win a WDC for 21 years. 

[KavB]

I'm most excited for Kimi vs Fernando. There are a few people who seem to think Fernando will beat him comfortably but I don't think it will be one sided. Ferrari has to perform next year and they have to win the constructors at least even if they have a slightly inferior car to whoever is fastest. With Kimi and Fernando, I think they should be able to beat the other driver line ups. 

[jstrains]

Vettel dominating 2013 reminds me of Schumacher 2004. What happened in the following year? You all know the answer!

Btw. Seb was very afraid after the last two wins that this might not last forever. Maybe he knows something we do not.

[Clatter]

With the change in rules I expect a team to get it right and be the class of the field. If it's not RB then everyone will hail it to be a fantastic season.

[Clatter]

Vettel dominating 2013 reminds me of Schumacher 2004. What happened in the following year? You all know the answer!

Btw. Seb was very afraid after the last two wins that this might not last forever. Maybe he knows something we do not.

Yes, he has mastered the art of the bleeding obvious.

[midgrid]

I predict more unreliability, bigger differences between teams but also greater differences between individual driver and car performances between qualifying and the race, and during different stages of the race, which should all make 2014 interesting, even if Vettel wins the championship again.

[rasul]

Vettel dominating 2013 reminds me of Schumacher 2004. What happened in the following year? You all know the answer!

Btw. Seb was very afraid after the last two wins that this might not last forever. Maybe he knows something we do not.

I don't think he's afraid. He's just clearly smart enough to understand that this kind of domination doesn't last forever and appreciates it while it lasts.

 

Hmm... 2010...2012...2014 Next season should be a season Vettel narrowly wins the championship in the last race. He will dominate in 2015, as he did in 2011 and 2013,. 

 

On a serious note, I hope Ferrari will get it finally right, but I think Mercedes will be the best package. 

[Kingshark]

1. Alonso to beat Raikkonen easily. Given the enormous fanbase of the latter, the reaction on this forum should be rather fun.

 

1. A competitive season with lots of teams that can compete, not just one team winning everything.

 

2. Hopefully a change in the pecking order. Mercedes to take the top spot away from Red Bull?

Edited by Kingshark, 24 November 2013 - 23:55.

[sopa]

Hmm... 2010...2012...2014 Next season should be a season Vettel narrowly wins the championship in the last race. He will dominate in 2015, as he did in 2011 and 2013,. 

 

 

Maybe the circles will go like 2014 being like the situation after the previous big rule change - 2009 and Vettel narrowly missing out of title before winning one in 2015.

 

Team X gets a huge head-start in the beginning of 2014 and wins lots of races. My guess is Mercedes. Red Bull-Renault, as always, impressively develops in mid-season and comes strong late in the season, but not quite to overhaul Mercedes in the points. So Vettel second in WDC. Just like 2009.

[Cyanide]

Vettel dominating 2013 reminds me of Schumacher 2004. What happened in the following year? You all know the answer!

Btw. Seb was very afraid after the last two wins that this might not last forever. Maybe he knows something we do not.

 

Nothing lasts forever and this era of RBR domination will come to an end. Sooner rather than later, I assume. And Vettel knows that. 

[JeordieX]

Rosberg to win championship

Hulkenberg to win a race

Button to retire end of season

[fabr68]

That the front and rear wings are completely banned from all cars or Newey will be shooting fish in a barrel again.

[sopa]

Nothing lasts forever and this era of RBR domination will come to an end. Sooner rather than later, I assume. And Vettel knows that. 

 

The question is if we get another domination. Mercedes four championship doubles on the trot? Or McLaren-Honda? Ferrari?

 

Because if there is no domination, Vettel should be quite happy. Because Red Bull would still be thereabouts and he can compete for the title, if there is no other team clearly above them and making it impossible for them. After all, actually this is what 2012 was mostly about.

[Zoetrope]

Maybe the circles will go like 2014 being like the situation after the previous big rule change - 2009 and Vettel narrowly missing out of title before winning one in 2015.

 

Team X gets a huge head-start in the beginning of 2014 and wins lots of races. My guess is Mercedes. Red Bull-Renault, as always, impressively develops in mid-season and comes strong late in the season, but not quite to overhaul Mercedes in the points. So Vettel second in WDC. Just like 2009.

So Mercedes will leave the sport in 2015 and team will be renamed? 

[sopa]

So Mercedes will leave the sport in 2015 and team will be renamed? 

 

Who knows. They are a car manufacturer team and as people always like to say - car manufacturers come and go just as they like.

[Pothead4Philosopher]

1. Alonso to beat Raikkonen easily. Given the enormous fanbase of the latter, the reaction on this forum should be rather fun.

 

2. A competitive season with lots of teams that can compete, not just one team winning everything.

 

3. Hopefully a change in the pecking order. Mercedes to take the top spot away from Red Bull?

 

Yea, we have seen the quality of your predictions before -- I, always, bet the other way and make money. By the way, wouldn't that apply the other way as well? ;-))

 

Kidding aside. I rely on the wisdom of the technical heads of the top teams. Unreliability will play a part, as does the systems integration process (more stuff needs to crammed in the package). The season will see some serious ups and downs with all teams, but at the end, the teams with big budgets will be on top. That is the nature of F1, namely, money rules.

[scheivlak]

Reliability will be extremely important. I will be surprised if it's even remotely near the level we had the last few years.

Wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of  protests and discussions about rules, regulations and possible loopholes.  

 

I expect quite a few twists and turns in this inaugurative year with the biggest regulation change since 1966 but I wouldn't underestimate Renault's resources....

[olliek88]

Vettel wins, Alonso out performs his car, Mclaren continue to flounder, Ricciardo gets his first win, DRS becomes even more infuriating & unnecessary, Pirelli go conservative. 

[DrF]

Red Bull will dominate and Vettel will romp to a fifth title with ease. Riccardo will struggle.

Williams to improve with Pat Symonds in the Engine room. Massa with a new Lease on Life. Bottas continues to improve.

Ferrari... if they can't get the WCC in 2014 then they may as well quit F1. Everything but the Kitchen Sink. I expect their drivers to be very evenly matched and for Team Orders to come into play very, very late in the season, if at all.

Mclaren occasionally gets into Q3.

Lotus. Change name. Fight with Marussia and Caterham.

FI. Different drivers, same results.

Sauber, same again, generally mediocre, occasionally brilliant.

Mercedes, no idea. If they can get on top of the tyres then they'll be battling Ferrari and Red Bull for podiums.

Edited by DrF, 24 November 2013 - 22:32.

[charly0418]

I excpect Lotus to fall down to the midfield and Williams to put up a better fight next year.

 

Also if FI do go with Hulk/Perez I think they'll win the midfield battle with ease

[fabr68]

Ricciardo to become a leyend

[Lights]

I expect Red Bull to dominate and Vettel to take the title with his teammate just not bringing it. 

In the beginning their competition might occasionally beat them on pace but we all know what happens in the 2nd half of the season.

 

Not sure if I just described next season or any of the past 4 though.

[andyF1]

Kimi and Fernando at Ferrari has to be number one. I really hope that Ferrari produce the best car and give the drivers equal treatment as that should mean we'll see something very special

 

Ricciardo to surprise everyone and challenge Vettel

 

Finally the law of averages means that we are long overdue a classic race and also a few wet races

 

This is what I really hope will happen, not what I think will actually happen

Edited by andyF1, 24 November 2013 - 22:44.

[tmzxaar]

Hamilton to finally get another WDC...

[sopa]

Let me predict the biggest surprise or should I say underdog result of 2014. Nico Hulkenberg wins his first race in F1, for Force India-Mercedes. It is a wet race and Hulkenberg together with Button is one of the few, who stays out on slick tyres. The gamble pays off, Hulkenberg doesn't repeat the mistake from 2012 Brazil and brings the car victoriously home.

[RC127]

Can you believe that first pre-season test is only NINE weeks away!

 

Melbourne 2014 will be here in no time!

[P0inters]

I think it will be Mercedes at the top with Red Bull/Ferrari sapping at their heals , but Ferrari and Alonso win the WDC + WCC due to reliability and consistency.

Also , Magnussen to comfortably beat Button and Kyvat to comfortably beat Vergne.

[BenettonB192]

Mercedes could have their breakthrough thanks to the new engine regulations.

Red Bull will be up there and competive but not as much as this year.

Vettel will beat Ricciardo but it will be closer then the last couple seasons against Webber.

The championship will be decided between Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg.

Some freak results in the first couple races thanks to reliability issues and rain (yes its about time for a rain race again).

Ferrari team duel will be fascinating to watch. Kimi and Alonso will take away too many points from each other to play a role in the championship battle. Everything will end in tears and then Fernando will go to McLaren-Honda the year after.

[Bawdy]

Ferrari to truly challenge Red Bull and the WDC to be decided on the last race between Nando, Kimi and Seb. Also looking forward to seeing how KMag and Ricciardo will do against strong team mates.

[P123]

I expect a lot of retirements, and plenty of hot air expended on rewriting the WDC points table in this place from those who have grown too used to the bullet proof reliability the drivers tend to enjoy these days.

[Pyrone89]

I expect IndyCar will once again be the superior series.

 

Additionally I expect F1 to once again be mildly interesting, ultimately worth two hours of my time every Sunday but not a lot more than that. I also expect this forum to be it's usual enjoyable self in non-F1 threads but still a wretched hive of **** and villainy in all the other ones.

 

EDIT: Goddamn asterisks ruining my Star Wars references.. just watch IndyCar.

IndyCar the superior series 

[RealRacing]

1. Don't want to start with a pessimistic note, but unreliability will rear its ugly head again, influencing some important results and making it a lackluster championship.  

 

2. Hulk to win a race.

 

3. Massa to disappoint...again...in a different team. He'll finally retire.

 

4. Alonso to be told once that Kimi is faster and all the ensuing drama. This alone would make the season for me.

 

5. A battle between Kimi and Ferrari. I still think they were never made for each other. If not, a battle between Alonso and Ferrari.

 

6. Some Maldonado crashes. A feud between Maldonado and whatever team he ends up going to.

 

7. DRS will be crap.

 

8. Tyres will be better than 2013.

 

9. Abu Dhabi will still have the building that looks like a giant...

 

10. Stewards will interfere with races too much.

 

11. At some point Alonso will say his car is not good and imply he's overdriving it. Some people will buy this.

 

12. We'll get shots of Horner's foot moving.

 

13 .They'll ban donuts.

 

14. Lewis will break up with some chick.

 

15. Sutil will run funny.

 

16. Expectations about aero changes will not be fulfilled.

 

17. One, some or all of F1's stakeholders will make stupid decisions.

[DanardiF1]

• Mercedes to grow even stronger. They have all the elements of an F1 superpower now.
• McLaren to sort their act out. A bad year has given them the opportunity to focus on the next season. It worked for Mercedes in 2012 and despite being in the last year of the Mercedes engine deal which might mean reduced support as Honda begins to ramp up their work with the team, I think that they'll get the chassis right, 2013 has been a big lesson for McLaren, similar to 2009 but without the 'comfort' of big regulation changes to mask their flaws, I hope they learn from it.
• Vettel taking time to adjust. From the moment the RB5 took to Silverstone in 2009 Vettel has had a car perfectly in tune with his needs and style. That's 4 and a half seasons of constant refinement around him and the car, using elements and concepts that these regulations allowed to be big performance differentiators. Those concepts are gone for 2014, and so has what Vettel has based his entire attitude to driving around. Whilst his natural talent makes it likely he'll still be a great driver, changing the fundamentals of what you do is hard. Other drivers on the grid have a more wide-range of experiences to fall back on, but Vettel has spent all but the total of 2 seasons (back end of 2007, 2008, some of 2009) inhabiting the RB5/6/7/8/9's tricks. He has to hope that Red Bull provide him a similar platform.

[DanardiF1]

IndyCar the superior series 

 

Don't laugh. Watch it and be more than pleasantly surprised.

[Andrew Hope]

IndyCar the superior series 

 

If you can think of anything in F1 that is more exciting than its IndyCar equivalent I would be happy to hear it. It will not be a long list.

[Pyrone89]

• Vettel taking time to adjust. From the moment the RB5 took to Silverstone in 2009 Vettel has had a car perfectly in tune with his needs and style. That's 4 and a half seasons of constant refinement around him and the car, using elements and concepts that these regulations allowed to be big performance differentiators. Those concepts are gone for 2014, and so has what Vettel has based his entire attitude to driving around. Whilst his natural talent makes it likely he'll still be a great driver, changing the fundamentals of what you do is hard. Other drivers on the grid have a more wide-range of experiences to fall back on, but Vettel has spent all but the total of 2 seasons (back end of 2007, 2008, some of 2009) inhabiting the RB5/6/7/8/9's tricks. He has to hope that Red Bull provide him a similar platform.

I think this might be the best prediction yet

[Pyrone89]

If you can think of anything in F1 that is more exciting than its IndyCar equivalent I would be happy to hear it. It will not be a long list.

For starters the actual technical development as opposed to running overweight, outdated cars filled with drivers that were deemed not good enough for F1 or any other premiere European racing series

Edited by Pyrone89, 24 November 2013 - 23:31.

[charly0418]

I do watch IndyCar from time to time and I agree it's more exciting as there is way more wheel to wheel racing.

 

The problem I have with it is the age of some drivers and the fact they are behind F1 in technology.

 

IndyCar is and could always be more exciting than F1 but it will never be on its level money/technology wise

[SealTheDiffuser]

flat sound, ugly cars and shredded rear tires, team demises and one shock winner

[George Costanza]

IMO, Mercedes will beat Red Bull and Ferrari.

 

Champion: Lewis for 2014.

 

If Ferrari gets it right, then Fernando will win it for 2014.

 

I suspect 2014 and beyond Mercedes will be hard to beat. They have everything that can possibly have in their staff.

[Mandzipop]

The power unit sounding like it has laryngitis.

[Kingshark]

Yea, we have seen the quality of your predictions before -- I, always, bet the other way and make money. By the way, wouldn't that apply the other way as well? ;-))

 

It has been erased.   

 

Though in all seriousness, I suspect that Mercedes will be an immense force to reckon with in 2014. They will probably have a mighty engine and great chassis, combined with a stacked technical department and solid team management. Merc could be a real Formula 1 sovereignty in the years to come.

Edited by Kingshark, 24 November 2013 - 23:58.

[George Costanza]

It has been erased.   

 

Though in all seriousness, I suspect that Mercedes will be an immense force to reckon with in 2014. They will probably have a mighty engine and great chassis, combined with a stacked technical department and solid team management. Merc could be a real Formula 1 sovereignty in the years to come.

 

 

I think Lewis can rake in the titles if he can focus.

[sock22]

I am cautiously optimistic about 2014 after a pretty boring 2013 season. My biggest hope is for a closely competitive season, preferably with some different faces at the front. As for my expectations...

 

1. The first few races could be mixed as teams get to grips with both pace and reliability. Having said that, Brawn dominated the first few races of 2009, so even this could be blown out of the water.

 

2. Red Bull will face their sternest test yet. The last few seasons have all been built on the same underlying advantage in aero philosophy. With that gone, as well as other variables to consider in 2014, it will be interesting to see how they cope.

 

3. We will have at least one technical row/scandal/minor scuffle that gets labelled with something ending in 'gate'.