F1 Fanatic

I have reviewed the 2012/13 F1 off-season, picked 100 F1 Fanatic articles that tell the story of it and divided them into 11 groups.

Did you enjoy the off-season? What were the best and worst moments?

Driver announcements
28-Nov-2012 Bottas joins Maldonado at Williams for 2013
17-Dec-2012 Kobayashi says he won’t be in F1 in 2013
17-Dec-2012 Grosjean to remain at Lotus in 2013
18-Dec-2012 Chilton to make F1 debut for Marussia in 2013
16-Jan-2013 Ferrari recruit de la Rosa and confirm car launch date
21-Jan-2013 Marussia confirm Glock’s departure
22-Jan-2013 Red Bull retain Buemi as test driver
25-Jan-2013 Glock joins BMW in DTM after losing F1 seat
28-Jan-2013 Davide Valsecchi joins Lotus as third driver
01-Feb-2013 Van der Garde completes Caterham’s line-up
06-Feb-2013 Razia confirmed in Marussia’s all-rookie squad
28-Feb-2013 Sutil to make F1 comeback with Force India
01-Mar-2013 Bianchi takes Razia’s place at Marussia for 2013
01-Mar-2013 Rossi and Ma get Caterham practice opportunities
07-Mar-2013 F1 has least-experienced driver line-up since 2004

Team personnel news
13-Dec-2012 Haug to step down at Mercedes
17-Dec-2012 Williams’ chief operations engineer Gillan leaves
19-Dec-2012 Steve Nielsen quits Caterham role
16-Jan-2013 Toro Rosso hire Caterham’s Nielsen
17-Jan-2013 Raikkonen and Webber trade race engineers
21-Jan-2013 Wolff to join Mercedes but keep Williams stake
30-Jan-2013 Horner and Red Bull agree contract extension
04-Feb-2013 Williams reorganise race engineers for 2013
10-Feb-2013 Byrne returns to Ferrari to work on 2014 car
25-Feb-2013 McLaren confirm Lowe to leave at end of year
04-Mar-2013 Caterham sign new aerodynamics chief

Car launches
28-Jan-2013 Lotus E21 launch: First pictures and video
31-Jan-2013 McLaren MP4-28 launch: First pictures and video
01-Feb-2013 Force India VJM06 launch – first pictures and video
01-Feb-2013 Ferrari F138 launch – first pictures and video
02-Feb-2013 Sauber C32 launch: First pictures and video
03-Feb-2013 Red Bull RB9 launch: First pictures and video
04-Feb-2013 Toro Rosso STR8 launch: First pictures
04-Feb-2013 Mercedes W04 launch: First pictures and video
05-Feb-2013 Williams reveal 2013 livery on last year’s FW34
05-Feb-2013 Marussia MR02 launch: First pictures
05-Feb-2013 Caterham CT03 launch: First pictures
19-Feb-2013 Williams FW35 launch: First pictures

Testing
05-Feb-2013 Button leads first test of 2013
06-Feb-2013 Grosjean leads day two at Jerez
06-Feb-2013 Hamilton’s first test for Mercedes ended by crash
07-Feb-2013 Massa signs off at Jerez with fastest time
08-Feb-2013 Lotus fastest again as Jerez test ends
19-Feb-2013 Rosberg pips Raikkonen to top time in Barcelona
20-Feb-2013 Perez on top as lap times fall in Barcelona
21-Feb-2013 Alonso quickest on busy day in Barcelona
22-Feb-2013 Hamilton leads rain-hit final day in Barcelona
28-Feb-2013 Webber fastest in rain-hit Barcelona test
01-Mar-2013 Grosjean ends his last day of testing on top
02-Mar-2013 Hamilton sets quickest time of Barcelona test
03-Mar-2013 Mercedes on top again with Rosberg as testing ends

Pictures
09-Feb-2013 Jerez testing in 150 pictures
23-Feb-2013 Barcelona test one in over 200 pictures
04-Mar-2013 Barcelona test two in over 150 pictures
04-Mar-2013 Jamey Price’s Barcelona test two gallery

Pay driver debate
10-Jan-2013 Surtees says young drivers’ path to F1 needs overhaul
22-Jan-2013 Massa: Paying drivers are “not a great thing for F1″
27-Jan-2013 ‘In our day we got paid to drive’ – Mansell and Piquet on modern F1
28-Jan-2013 ‘Rich drivers’ a sign cost cuts are needed – Minardi
09-Feb-2013 Whitmarsh: Some pay drivers “not good enough for F1″
15-Feb-2013 The pay driver debate needs to move on
16-Feb-2013 ‘F1 is an auction’ says Alguersuari after missing drive
06-Mar-2013 Chilton: ‘F1 has always had pay drivers’

Calendar
05-Dec-2012 German GP moved earlier for extra race in 2013
19-Dec-2012 F1 to race in Thailand in 2015, says Ecclestone
26-Dec-2012 Russian Grand Prix organisers happy with progress
24-Jan-2013 Valencia Street Circuit falling into disrepair
25-Jan-2013 Russian Grand Prix gets November date for 2014
31-Jan-2013 Nurburgring to host German Grand Prix in 2013
25-Feb-2013 Mexico City could hold 2014 Mexican GP – Ecclestone
08-Mar-2013 FIA confirms 2013 calendar cut to 19 races

Rules
05-Dec-2012 New front wing tests and DRS rules tweak for 2013
11-Dec-2012 FIA publishes new F1 rules for 2013 and 2014
18-Jan-2013 Fewer races and more testing? No thanks, Alonso
13-Feb-2013 Pirelli changes tyre choices for Australia and Bahrain
19-Feb-2013 FIA rules out Williams and Caterham exhausts
06-Mar-2013 Two DRS zones for every track bar Monaco and Suzuka in 2013
06-Mar-2013 Engine map ruling no concern for Lotus – Allison
08-Mar-2013 Fittipaldi and Mansell on new Drivers’ Commission

Racing in winter
16-Dec-2012 Grosjean wins Race of Champions
13-Jan-2013 Bianchi wins Massa’s annual kart race in Brazil
18-Jan-2013 Alonso triumphs in Ferrari’s ice kart race
03-Mar-2013 Schumacher withdraws from karting event

2014
05-Dec-2012 FIA drops plan to reduce downforce in 2014
05-Feb-2013 Toro Rosso seeking Renault engine deal for 2014
21-Feb-2013 Ferrari hoping to retain engine customers
25-Feb-2013 Renault want to reduce F1 engine supply
28-Feb-2013 Marussia seek new engine partner
05-Mar-2013 Hembery: 2014 tyre deal needs to happen soon

Miscallenous stories and news
29-Nov-2012 FIA confirms Vettel’s pass on Vergne was legal
01-Dec-2012 HRT missing from FIA’s 2013 F1 entry list
08-Jan-2013 Vettel’s focus gives him edge over Alonso, says Marko
10-Jan-2013 FanVision announces F1 exit
17-Jan-2013 Dr Roberts is new FIA F1 Medical Rescue Coordinator
28-Jan-2013 Webber shrugs off latest Marko criticism
14-Feb-2013 France loses free-to-air F1 coverage
21-Feb-2013 Susie Wolff aiming for F1 superlicence after FW35 test
04-Mar-2013 McLaren-Honda rumours resurface
07-Mar-2013 Sky to raise F1 channel cost and offer cut-price stream
08-Mar-2013 Lady Virginia Williams dies

Sutil getting the Force India was probably my favourite moment of the off season

You should ask @keithcollantine to post this on the main site! Brilliant work putting this together.

Top 3 Worst:
1. The attempted putsch against Brawn at Mercedes
2. Glock and Kobayashi out of F1
3. FOM’s failure to renew Fanvision for 2013 and beyond

Top 3 Best:
1. Sky F1′s testing coverage – especially Ted’s Notebook!
2. The Ford Fusion TVC campaign featuring Piquet and Mansell
3. The appearance of the vanity panels

Wow! Well done.

My worst moments: Timo Glock being dropped and no 20th race

Best moments: Sutil! Sutil is back!

Oh yeah, Confirmation of HRT’s demise was truly awful. I absolutely hate whenever a Formula 1 team folds, no matter their success :(

Thanks very much guys for your answers and the appreciation. This hasn’t been my favourite off-season and I’m glad it’s (almost) over now. However, it had a few good moments, too:

1. The return of Sutil
2. Several of the new cars are surprisingly cute, I particularly like the looks of Ferrari, Red Bull and Caterham.
3. Some of the teams’ and drivers’ activities in the social networks were really amusing, such as Sauber’s ‘Harlem Shake’ and Williams’ drivers ‘getting to know each other’ game.

That said, I felt that the number of negative news was bigger. The collapse of HRT, the uncertainty over the future of the German GP, Glock and Kovalainen leaving and the general atmosphere somehow left an unpleasant aftertaste. And, just like a lot of other fans, I always love to see new drivers in the sport, even the likes of Chilton and Van der Garde. It’s just sad that the business model of F1 means that they don’t join new teams but push some great and strong drivers out of the shrinking field.