1. Vettel – RBR will likely be one of the top cars again and if they are able to reduce number of technical retirements close to zero it’s likely Vettel will win again.
2. Button – Without the pressure from Hamilton and full backing from the team, I predict we’ll see Button returning to his 2011 form. I also believe McLaren will produce a great car.
3. Webber – Webber will have a good car and good results, but he won’t quite reach Vettel’s form.
4. Alonso – Full backing from the team will help Alonso, but I doubt the other teams will be quite as scattered in 2013 as they were in the first half of the 2012 season, which helped Alonso a lot.
5. Hamilton – Mercedes will produce a better car than in 2012, but it won’t be quite as good as McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari. Hamilton will have some great races and possibly a couple of victories, but he’ll also do some amateurish mistakes while trying to take the most out of his car.
6. Perez/Massa/Räikkönen – Perez and Massa will have top three cars, but they are known for slumps and/or mistakes. Räikkönen will do good job again, but Lotus probably won’t have a car that is as good as last year. Any of these three could reach top six.
WILD CARD: Bottas – Known to be as fast as Maldonado, so he could be the big surprise of the next season, if Williams will produce a good enough car and Bottas will be able to achieve steadier results than Maldonado. His rookie season could also be hard and disappointing.