2013

The 2013 championship had 19 rounds, from the Australian Grand Prix on 17 March 2013 to the Brazilian Grand Prix on 24 November 2013. It was the last season of the 2.4-litre naturally aspirated V8s: from 2014 they gave way to 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrid V6s. The Korean and Indian Grands Prix were held for the last time.

Sebastian Vettel won 13 of the 19 races, including the last nine in a row, from the Belgian Grand Prix to the Brazilian. The other six wins were shared by four drivers: Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg won two races each, Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton one each. Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber did not win once.

The season opened with a win for Räikkönen in Australia, where he had started seventh. Alonso won in China and Spain, Rosberg in Monaco from pole and in Britain, and on 28 July 2013 in Hungary Hamilton took his first win for Mercedes. In qualifying Mercedes took eight poles — five for Hamilton and three for Rosberg — but they won only three races.

Before the summer break Vettel won in Malaysia, Bahrain, Canada and Germany, and after it he did not lose a single race. Alonso finished the season second with 242 points, Webber third with 199 and Hamilton fourth with 189. The champion beat the runner-up by 155 points. Webber started from pole twice — in Japan and Abu Dhabi — and both times finished second behind Vettel.

After the Japanese Grand Prix Vettel had 297 points and Alonso 207, with four races of the season left. On 27 October 2013 Vettel won the Indian Grand Prix from pole, with Nico Rosberg second and Romain Grosjean, who had started 17th, third. Alonso finished 11th, out of the points, and with three races to go Vettel became world champion for the fourth year running — at the age of 26.

The same day Red Bull won the Constructors’ Championship for the fourth year in a row. Vettel won the three remaining races too — in Abu Dhabi, the United States and Brazil — and finished the season with 397 points, the team with 596.

After several rear tyre failures at the British Grand Prix on 30 June 2013, Pirelli changed the tyres’ construction mid-season. At the same time the teams were preparing their cars for 2014, when new rules built around hybrid power units were due to come in.

Mercedes climbed from fifth to second in the Constructors’ Championship, with 360 points. Ferrari were six points behind them, and Lotus finished fourth with 315: Räikkönen ended the season fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and Grosjean seventh. McLaren, who had won seven races in 2012, did not win once in 2013 and finished fifth with 122 points.

Hamilton moved from McLaren to Mercedes to take Michael Schumacher’s seat, and Sergio Pérez replaced him at McLaren. Nico Hülkenberg moved to Sauber, and Adrian Sutil returned to Force India after a year out. Valtteri Bottas made his debut with Williams, Esteban Gutiérrez with Sauber, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton with Marussia, and Giedo van der Garde with Caterham.

The 2013 season was Mark Webber’s last in Formula 1: he finished third in the Drivers’ Championship, and his Red Bull seat for 2014 went to Daniel Ricciardo from Toro Rosso. For 2014 Kimi Räikkönen moved from Lotus to Ferrari, and Felipe Massa from Ferrari to Williams.