# BBCF1 Mixed emotions at the end of the 2013 F1 season

By and large I suppose I am glad the season has ended. It has not been a wonderful season in many ways. Lewis Hamilton has done far better than could reasonably be expected in his first year with Mercedes, Red Bull's dominance has been tedious in the extreme. I still don't see why the BBC has never been able to acknowledge that the booing which greets Sebastian Vettel's every appearance on the podium emanates mainly, if not exclusively, from the tifosi present. I supose that the BBC thinks that if it criticises Ferrari or it's fans so overtly they will not get so much access for interviews etc in the future. How stupid is that? And how typical?

Maybe, with the rule changes next year, Red Bull's stranglehold will come to an end - but I won't be holding my breath. But equally I don't really want to see another year of Ferrari dominance - we had enough of that with a certain M. Schumacher - for the life of me I cannot decide which would be worse, another year of Vettel's bloody finger or a year of Alonso's poor sportsmanship and Ferrari arrogance.

Looking back on the year, it seems that a surprising number of my predictions came true. In a previous post I suggested that Red Bull would pick a replacement for Mark Webber from within Toro Rosso - partly because otherwise there would be no point in maintaining a second string team and partly because Vettel would simply not accept another really talented and independently minded driver as No 2.
I also said that McLaren would lose Mercedes engines because it makes no sense to supply top line engines to a direct competitor. I know both Ferrari and Renault do it but they supply second rate teams rather than ones who will be competing for the front of the grid in every race.

My most significant failure was in Ferrari signing Kimi Raikkonen as a replacement for Massa. I though that Alonso would have the same resentment as Vettel especially as Kimi is heading toward the twilight of his career and will undoubtedly be looking towards a successful season to end with.

I think Massa may have made an error of judgement by going to Williams rather than Lotus in a straight driver swop. But maybe it comes down to driver sponsorship. On the other hand you can never underestimate the cunning of Frank Williams. I'm sure that Massa will fill whatever role williams gives him extremely well.

One of my favourite moments from the Brazilian GP, and indeed this year, was when some Brazilian TV presenter, during the post race podium interviews, asked Mark Webber if he would miss Seb. Mark gave a flash of teeth and disappeared stage right. I will miss Mark. Not just a very talented driver but a sportsman of the old school.