Ferrari (continued now I got the spacebar back (this keyboard is weird))

Right, as I was saying; desperate times call for desperate measures, and Ferrari have responded by enlisting the help of an old friend: The 2014 Ferrari will enjoy input from none other than Rory Byrne. The last car he was in charge of was the F2004... His previous 3 designs in particular were quite good too. But is this 'comeback' going to be glorious, or reflect his former colleague Schumacher's (very respectable but ultimately not as hoped)? Or will he go down the Patrick Head route by still living in the 80s? I don't think so. Byrne's involvement should be a benefit. This, and the involvement of James Allison (credited with much of Lotus' strong form in recent years), plus seemingly finally having the use of a decent windtunnel, give some hope to close the gap.

Apart from this though, the fact is that Ferrari are still not as cutting edge as Red Bull, if we face facts. Therefore, in the cold light of day, why should we expect Ferrari to beat Red Bull in 2014? I hope they can, and have both drivers running strongly. Even if they don't achieve their aims, it would be so great to see them stirring the pot at least some of the time.

Ferrari are experts in reliability, but it's hard to tell where they are with their powerplant. It's not looking like the best.

The arrival of Kimi Raikkonen has an unknown effect. It will shake things up for better or for worse. I feel it will be both, but more of the latter. There are now too many egos in the team, and this all looks very volatile. If there are any on track issues - team-mate collisions, or getting lost on performance again, this could all come to a head. There definitely seems to be a lot of underlying resentment between top members of the team - and I can't remember any time recently when a team in this sort of situation has secured any titles - that is the simple fact.

Now some eccentric fans are claiming Raikkonen is the best driver in the world and will come in and show Fernando around. This reminds me of when Fisichella joined Renault for 2005 and many people, notably respected journalist Tony Dodgins made bold declarations and predictions for Fisi. My feelings to that at the time were "I don't know where you get your confidence" (in Albert Wesker's voice (some of you may know what that means if you completed RE:CVX))

But Raikkonen is too comfortable in his own skin to be rattled like Fisi was. I think it will be more like the Hamilton/Button partnership at McLaren. I truly believe that if Fernando is himself, he should definitely come out on top.

However, Alonso may not really be himself these days. He has shown weakness, to quote someone else, and I have felt that he is now in decline and we have now seen the best of Fernando, even before anyone mentioned it last year. I personally wonder if the Grosjean incident at Spa 2012 has had an effect on Alonso. He hasn't seemed quite the same since then. And with his bad relationship with the team, he could well be vulnerable and his performance will be affected. Therefore it could very well be like McLaren 2011 where Kimi may actually score more points as Fernando somewhat self-destructs. Button may have scored more points than Lewis in 2011, but there is a difference between this, and being the best driver.

Unfortunately, if this does happen to Fernando, then we will never hear the end of it from Kimi fans. So it's very important that Alonso does himself justice. He doesn't have to beat 2012, but to match or just about match will pretty much guarantee his defeat of Raikkonen. Whatever happens, I just hope that it's representative and the truth is revealed.



Lotus - Renault
Oh dear. As someone said, is Lotus going the way of the original Lotus...? Their financial problems are well known, and their 2014 budget seems almost entirely based on Maldonado's dodgy money. This is bad, but it's still possible for a team to punch above their weight in this situation.

Except that they have suffered a severe brain drain as their best members have left due to the situation. It is this, more than the lack of money, that looks set to send Lotus stumbling to the midfield. The team seem much less prepared than Red Bull, who have been expending a massive diligent effort for 2(?) years. The reality is that when you compare the two teams' preparations, the conclusion is that Lotus should be nowhere near Red Bull.

New regulation changes always seem to bring changes to the form book. Like Jens said, this could be compared to BAR's 2004 to 2005, to illustrate how much a year can change things. Lotus 2013 and BAR 2004 seem pretty similar.

The team is still too good and their drivers too strong to do a Williams 2011/13 I'm sure, but a big step back seems inevitable. My prediction is that they will have similar form to what they had in 2011. It could even be slightly worse.

How this affects Romain Grosjean is yet to be seen. The star has often talked about his hopes of winning his first grand prix. 2014 will be another stern test for him as having tasted life at the front, he may have to accept a step back for now. Hopefully, he will understand and use what could well be years, to keep developing himself, building his character, and prepare for his time to come later in his career. Hopefully he can have a bigger picture view and overcome the inevitable disappointment. Romain's transformation in 2013 shows hope that he does have the mental strength to eventually come through this, and he will be stronger and better for it, able to capitalise when like Button, his time finally comes.

Pastor Maldonado has shown enough for us to know he does have talent, but we know that's not why he has this seat. Any hopes of front running may be dashed as he finds he's not much further up than he was at Williams. Pastor has shown a very different attitude to Grosjean and he could well self-destruct (and take the team down with him thru reckless crashes etc). Few expect him to topple Romain, and rightly so.

Yet there is hope for the Venezuelan hothead. Despite showing signs of being a true sociopath/psychopath (seriously), he has at least shown some capacity to be able to learn. See the second half of 2012, where he did sort of realise he needed to calm down a bit. In all fairness, he did curb himself and if you look objectively and fairly, there wasn't that much he did wrong in terms of crashes etc from then on. It was all in the first half of 2012. This carried over into 2013.

Therefore, Maldonado may not be a totally hopeless case. There is the possible potential for a transformation of sorts if the guy can show some maturity and just concentrate on himself. Unfortunately, it's probably much more likely he will be rattled by Grosjean and get his knickers in a massive twist, causing problems for all.

I expect nothing better than Renault 2007/2011/McLaren 2013 kind of form from Lotus in 2014, and depending on Maldonado and other things, they could have trouble with Force India too.