What do you expect from 2014?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

With big changes to the engine regs next year the big question for me is whether Red Bull will continue their dominance.

The general feeling is that next year the engine will be more important than the aero. But with the extra cooling requirements of the turbo and the KERS packaging the cars will be the biggest challenge. This is something Newey is generally very good at, but a few times (particularly in his McLaren days) he had gone a bit too extreme.

The biggest advantage of the Red Bull over the past few years has been the exhaust blown diffuser. But this is going to be impossible next season, so we should see the Red Bull reined in a bit. I still think they have the best technical team in F1 so they will still be in the mix.

Renault versus Mercedes versus Ferrari will be the deciding factor. I think one of these will get a head start over the others. Some are predicting that the massive R&D capabilities of Shell will help Ferrari get the most out of their engine. More so than the Mercedes/Petronas partnership, but what experience to Ferrari have with V6 engines?

[steveaki13]

I can see Newey hitting a sweet spot again and Red Bull being very strong, however I really hope someone else can win the titles next year.

Most of all I want to see a close battle for the championship, the only thing that often plays against title winning teams is their comparative lack of time to get a head start, but really Red Bull have known the championships were theirs for a couple of months.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Renault versus Mercedes versus Ferrari will be the deciding factor. I think one of these will get a head start over the others. Some are predicting that the massive R&D capabilities of Shell will help Ferrari get the most out of their engine. More so than the Mercedes/Petronas partnership, but what experience to Ferrari have with V6 engines?

They built V6 turbo engines in the 80s?

[anfield5]

Honestly, more of the same with a different noise.

Chances are RBR will still be at the top, Ferrari will be trying to catch up, hopefully with a car capable of competing (I'm not holding my breath though). Mercedes and the black mob will be towards the front as well. I expect McLaren to move back into contention and at least threaten to win the odd race.

I also expect a few mechanical issues with the engines in the early fly-away races, sure the little turbo things have been extensively tested but race conditions are different.

I would like to see Ricciardo get a strong start and push Vettel from time to time, but the biggest thing I want is for the idiot commentators to stop referring to Caterham and Marussia as the 'New" teams and using that tag to excuse their pitiful efforts at being F1 race teams. They have been in for 3 years and haven't ever looked like scrounging a single point. In their first year Sauber had 6 top six finishes and after 3 years had 23 top 6 finishes!

[N. Jones]

Right now I expect more of the same.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

What do we make of the rumours that the Mercedes V6 has 100bhp more than its rivals?

[henners88]

I think we'll see a fair few engine failures like we used to see in 2006 when the engines are being more thoroughly tested on mass.

[Firstgear]

A re-run of "The year of The Braun"

New regulations give the masters a chance to shine & jump ahead.

Newey ---> pushing the design envelope
Braun ---> pushing the regulation loophole envelope
The rest ---> scrambling to copy versions of the above two

Mercedes takes an early lead, with Redbull starting to reel them in in the second half of the season.
Hamilton & Mercedes take the championships.

[zako85]

What do we make of the rumours that the Mercedes V6 has 100bhp more than its rivals?

Perhaps there something that makes people believe that Mercedes has a better engine. However, 100hp is a pure speculation IMHO. Also, it's believed that the engines will rarely deliver their full output due to limited fuel flow. The gas tank size is reduced by one third. I am wondering if the engine that has the best fuel economy is going to be a winner. Another interesting challenge is supposedly rear tire management. The blown engine may end up having a lot more torque than current engines, so the rear tires will have to take more beating.

[zako85]

I am think the tiers will be like this:

Top tier:

Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull

Best of the rest tier:

Lotus, McLaren

Of course, anything can happen IMO.