Formula 1 in 2013 so far

After a two year gap, I have decided that now is the time to resume blogging (even though I'd barely started last time!). A lot has happened in that time: Sebastian Vettel has become a Triple World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen has returned, Michael Schumacher has retired again (collecting just one podium in three years), Fernando Alonso suffered another marginal defeat in 2012 and Lewis Hamilton is no longer with McLaren. And BBC no longer has the UK television coverage to itself, until 2018 at the earliest.

Prior to Winter Testing, the general consensus was that many teams, including Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes, had all made gains by developing their 2012 car, whereas McLaren were confident that their significant changes over the Winter had made a difference.

However, come the first test it was clear that McLaren were struggling and the teams that had evolved their 2012 cars chose the right path.

A few tests later (one was covered on Sky Sports F1) and the teams arrived in Melbourne for the first race of the season.

Red Bull locked out the front row, however Mark Webber had one of his slow starts, leaving the door open for a number of significant drivers to pass him before Turn 1.

On different strategies, Kimi Raikkonen, who duly won, impressed along with Adrian Sutil, on his return after a year away, probably due to the GBH charge brought against him after an incident in China. However Sauber might have been able to score points with Nico Hulkenberg from 11th had the fuel system problem not occurred between qualifying and the race.

The first race indicated that while Red Bull had the outright one lap pace, along with Mercedes, the race pace was severely compromised for the RB9 by extracting 100% in qualifying, whereas Lotus didn't have the speed over a single lap but its E21 appeared to be very kind on its tyres, along with Force India's VJM06, which outpaced McLaren's MP4-28 all weekend. Towards the back, Marussia had comfortably outpaced and outraced Caterham, who had beaten them in their various guises for the last three years. Both teams had new line ups for 2013, with Pic (moving from Marussia) and Van Der Garde in the CT03, as well as Bianchi (a last minute replacement for Luiz Razia, whose sponsorship money failed to materialise) and Chilton in the MR02.

Heading to Kuala Lumpur, Mercedes believed that despite the mechanical problem for Nico Rosberg in Australia, their W04 made them a lot more competitive than 2012, with Lewis Hamilton finishing 5th and Nico keeping up while he was still in the race.

This showed in Malaysia, as Mercedes were clearly the second fastest team there behind Red Bull, where Webber had made an excellent start for a change! In contrast, Fernando Alonso made a good start, but any chance of points disappeared when his front wing fell off at the start of the second lap, leaving him in the gravel trap - the drying track conditions could have given him a decent chance of a podium. On around lap 35, the order was Webber was ahead of Vettel, with the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fighting over 3rd place.

However, any hopes of their driver pairs scrapping until the end were called off after Vettel broke the Multi 21 message given to him to take the lead, where he stayed, and Ross Brawn told the Mercedes drivers to hold station.

This left Vettel on top with 40 points after two races, with Kimi, Fernando and Lewis starting to emerge.

The third race in China was quite different to the first two races: Lewis Hamilton took pole for Mercedes, but the higher tyre wear rate left him vulnerable to Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. The RB9s of Vettel and Webber were unable to make the podium - Webber's weekend was ruined right from the offset, from the Malaysian GP controversy to a Qualifying breakdown and then a tangle with Vergne in a Toro Rosso left him unable to finish the race. As for McLaren, Jenson Button managed to muscle a fifth place, but Sergio Perez was still outside the points.

Then the F1 circus moved to Bahrain. After a pole position for Nico Rosberg and a broken suspension for Lewis Hamilton (relegating him to 9th after a grid penalty), a 2012 podium repeat and a near podium for Paul Di Resta were the main stories, as lower down the points a McLaren tussle between their drivers, Perez  coming out on top for 6th. At the back, Caterham managed to turn the tables on Marussia after drafting in Heikki Kovalainen for FP1 to help sort the car out.

In Spain, Mercedes took a front row lockout but they soon slipped back with tyre trouble. Fernando Alonso  capitalised to win at home with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa completing the podium. It proved another disappointing race for McLaren, who barely made the points in 8th and 9th, and Williams who again failed to score, one year on from the 2012 win for Pastor Maldonado.

Appearing to have aced the last sector in Spain, Mercedes were the pre-race favourites in Monaco. It worked for them in qualifying, taking a second consecutive front row lockout and a fourth straight pole position. Sure enough, Nico Rosberg dominated the entire weekend and won in style, but not without the news of a three day Pirelli 1000km tyre test with Mercedes (the International Tribunal meeting takes place tomorrow), but Lewis Hamilton slipped back in the race during a Safety Car period behind the two Red Bulls. McLaren had a stronger showing but Ferrari and Lotus both struggled around the tight street circuit, the latter were lucky to score points after Perez and Raikkonen touched at Nouvelle Chicane.

In addition to the Safety Car periods there was also a Red Flag after Max Chilton sent Pastor Maldonado into the wall at Tabac, wrapping the tyre barrier around his car.

After a number of compromised races, Adrian Sutil returned to the points in an impressive 5th, ahead of Jenson Button in 6th.

The main talking point heading into the Canadian GP weekend was undoubtedly the Pirelli tyre test Mercedes had conducted after the Spanish GP, but rain in qualifying ended the Mercedes pole run by less than a tenth of a second as Vettel took pole for the third year in a row in Canada, and Valtteri Bottas impressed for Williams in third.

In the race, Vettel made a typical getaway and with the lower tyre degradation managed to hold the lead, barring a few laps during pitstops. Bottas fell back outside the points, where McLaren ended up for the first time since the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP. A late crash for Esteban Gutierrez brought out a crane, which ran over and fatally injured Mark Robinson, a Canadian marshal. He became the first F1 death for over 12 years and this overshadowed the weekend where Vettel broke his Canadian GP curse.

After 7 Races, the top 4 order is Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton as it was in 2012. In the constructors, Red Bull lead Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus. Force India are holding McLaren off for 5th place for now.