![]() Two highlights of Massa's season instantly stand out: third place in Spain, accounting for his only visit to the podium, and the news that he will still be on the grid in 2014 with Williams. WEĬhampionship position - 8th Points - 112 Best result - 3rd An area where the 32-year-old needs to improve, however, is qualifying having been beaten eight times by Massa this season and failing to make it onto the front two rows of the grid between Bahrain and Brazil. Moves such as the overtakes on Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap in Barcelona on his way to victory also underlined that Alonso had lost none of his natural racing ability. He dominated the intra-team battle, finishing with over twice as many points as Felipe Massa, proving how much more he was extracting from the F138. It was another impressive season for Alonso, even though Ferrari once again failed to deliver the car the Spaniard needed to challenge Sebastian Vettel for the title - his comment of wanting "someone else's car" for his birthday sums up the Scuderia's recent offerings. JGĬhampionship position - 2nd Points - 242 Best result - 1st (x2) Sporting, let alone F1, history is littered with people who just go on that little bit too long but Webber, from the second step of the podium at Interlagos, could count his F1 retirement call as a fitting 2013 victory. Webber's finish of three seconds, one third and two Vettel-beating poles in his final five GPs were thus both an impressive testament to his talent and professionalism. Given he announced his intention to head for a new life in sportscars with 12 races still to go, it would have been easy to mentally check out of F1 altogether too - particularly with wounds still fresh from 'Multi-21' in Malaysia. Having turned 37 in the summer Webber, not one to cheat himself or the fans, made no secret of the fact in his closing weeks as an F1 driver that his motivation and form of his peak years were no longer there. But when you consider that the driver on the other side of the garage is Sebastian Vettel who, at 11 years the Aussie's junior is operating at a level of relentless supremacy rarely seen in F1 before, Webber was up against an extraordinary benchmark. For the first time since 2008 he also didn't win a race, while his stable-mate cantered to 13. On the one hand the Australian was nearly whitewashed by his team-mate in qualifying and collected just 50 per cent of the sister car's points - the fourth-worst record on the grid. It's hard to know how to assess Mark Webber's valedictory F1 campaign. PGĬhampionship position - 3rd Points - 199 Best result - 2nd (x5) If during the course of his record-breaking season Vettel finally won the admiration of Webber, perhaps it really is the case that he won everything in 2013. Given, on the one hand, Alonso's reputation and close affinity with Webber, and, on the other, 'Multi-21' and Vettel's infamous non-relationship with his team-mate, it was quite the stop-in-your-tracks accolade. If he's very much a PlayStation driver of his age, it's also true that he's become very much the driver of his age.Įven Mark Webber thinks so, describing Vettel and Alonso as the "two best guys of our generation" as he made his farewell from the sport. The car matters, but so, unquestionably, has Vettel's talent, intelligence and ability to instantly adapt to the fickle but all-important Pirellis. ![]() A four-times World Champion who rounded off a near-faultless year with nine consecutive victories and a host of new records, Vettel has achieved a fearsome level of domination over a field oft-regarded as one of the best in the sport's history. When the 2014 season commences in March, eight months will have passed since anyone other than Sebastian prevailed in a F1 race. Vettel won everything in 2013 - or at least it felt that way.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |