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2013 Championship about to start - What do you think ?

Who are you supporting ?
Is it still as exciting as 2005 ?
Do you think it will be a good season ?

Me, I'm still hoping that our two remaining ex drivers can both have a good year.

Comments

  • Im supporting Caterham, but even though they have a much better car, Marrusia have leapfrogged them. So I wish they kept Heikki as a benchmark :(
    Is the comp on this year?
  • I still support Webbo but at this point don't think he will do much versus Vettel. Also going for whoever can unseat Vettel unless they happen to be Alonso. Like PistonBroke I prefer Caterham over Marussia but Marussia being faster this start of the season is surprising.

    Seems like the Mercedes is better than last, McLaren a bit slower than expected, and it could be interesting with Williams, Sauber, and Force India. At least one can hope they give the top boys a run and don't sink back into mediocrity.
  • Ohhh could this be the end of Red Bull dominance?
  • Dont think so. They still have the fastest car, and the crappiest race management team.

    These starts of Webbers' have become a joke. I cant imagine that they cannot find a way around this.

    The telling thing from Oz were the tyres. The option was not an option, but a handbrake. Look at poor old sutil. The car fell of the cliff, then it came back. Looks like the early performance drop off was too severe and I'm sure Pirelli will be onto this.

    If the Lotus is as kind to its tyres as Kimi is suggesting, then the other teams are really going to have problems, because maintaining good lap times, whilst running long stints is what won this one.

    Macca's dominance on the hand is fast becomming history. The car is rubbish, and Perez is quickly looking like second tier. Makes ya wonder about how good that Sauber really was last year.
  • From CrashNet

    Red Bull initially suspected Webber's problem was caused by a failure of the standard ECU, which is supplied by McLaren Electronic Systems (MES).

    However, post-race inspection by MES has pointed to an issue in the garage instead.

    Peter van Manen, the managing director of MES, told AUTOSPORT: "There was an issue with Mark Webber's data system in the garage during the formation lap. The ECU on the car was fine.
  • From McLaren

    McLaren issues statement re ECU
    19/03/2013
    McLaren Electronic Systems (MES) has issued a statement regarding its ECU, apologising for the problem which compromised Mark Webber's Australian Grand Prix.

    It reads:

    There is a new standard ECU (Engine Control Unit) in 2013 that featured on all Formula 1 cars that took part in the recent Australian Grand Prix.

    It will power the 2.4-litre V8 engines this season and the new 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged parallel hybrid engines in 2014 and beyond.

    Supplied by McLaren Electronics Systems, the new ECUs were run for the first time on the track by most teams in winter testing in February, just six weeks before racing began in Melbourne.

    They replace the previous ECUs that have been running very reliably since the standard ECU was introduced by the FIA in 2008.

    An ECU comprises several thousand parts, tens of thousands of solder connections and hundreds of thousands of lines of software. It is a very complex piece of equipment that controls the powertrain and DRS, and acts as a car's primary data system.

    The electronic units themselves ran without incident in Melbourne, but there was a software-related issue that meant that Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing car's garage data system had to be re-started during the formation lap. That disrupted his preparations for the start of the race, for which Mark and the team has our apology. We are working together with them to prevent any recurrence.

    McLaren Electronics Systems supplies standard ECUs to Formula 1, NASCAR and IndyCar.
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