2013 NewF1 Series season

2013 NewF1 Series
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The 2013 NewF1 season is the 64th season of the Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. It was also officially recognised as the first season of the NewF1 Series. Twelve teams and twenty-four drivers contest the nineteen Grands Prix that make up the calendar for the 2013 season, with the winning driver being crowned the World Drivers' Champion and the winning team the World Constructors' Champions. The season started in Australia on 17 March 2013 and is planned to end in Brazil on 24 November 2013.

The 2013 season was the first to be referred to as NewF1, although the term is officially interchangeable with Formula One and F1. The new format brought in several rule changes, aimed at revamping motorsport and bringing more interest to junior categories. For the first time in history, the two bottom-placed teams in the season would be relegated to NewGP2 for the 2014 season, being replaced by the top two GP2 teams. The series brought about a number of other changes in format, mentioned later.

Teams and drivers

Team	Constructor	No.	Race Drivers	Rounds	Test Driver(s)
Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Red Bull-Renault	1	Sebastian Vettel	1-	Sébastien Buemi António Félix da Costa
		2	Kamui Kobayashi	1-
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	3	Fernando Alonso	1-	Davide Rigon Marc Gené Pedro de la Rosa
		4	Felipe Massa	1-
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren-Mercedes	5	Jenson Button	1-	Gary Paffett Oliver Turvey
		6	Mark Webber	1-
Lotus F1 Team	Lotus-Renault	7	Kimi Räikkönen	1-	Davide Valsecchi Giedo van der Garde
		8	Romain Grosjean	1-
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	9	Nico Rosberg	1-	Anthony Davidson Brendon Hartley
		10	Lewis Hamilton	1-
Sauber F1 Team	Sauber-Ferrari	11	Nico Hülkenberg	1-	Esteban Gutiérrez Vitaly Petrov Christian Klien
		12	Timo Glock	1-
Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India-Mercedes	14	Paul di Resta	1-	James Calado James Rossiter
		15	Adrian Sutil	1-
Williams F1 Team	Williams-Renault	16	Pastor Maldonado	1-	Susie Wolff Felipe Nasr
		17	Valtteri Bottas	1-
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	1-	Jérôme d'Ambrosio
		19	Daniel Ricciardo	1-
Caterham F1 Team	Caterham-Renault	20	Heikki Kovalainen	1-	Alexander Rossi Ma Qinghua
		21	Charles Pic	1-
Marussia F1 Team	Marussia-Cosworth	22	Jules Bianchi	1-	Max Chilton Tom Dillmann Rodolfo González
		23	Sam Bird	1-
Scorpion Racing F1 Team	Scorpion-Cosworth	24	Kevin Magnussen	1-	Luca Badoer
		25	Sergio Pérez	1-

Team Changes

In November 2012, Thesan Capital, the owners of HRT Formula 1 Team, announced that they were putting the team up for sale. The team needed to find a buyer by 30 November—the date by which entry fees for the 2013 were due to be paid—or else face closure and a departure from the sport, but an eleventh hour bid by a then undisclosed investor saw the team revived and saved for the 2013 grid. It was later announced that the bidder was a Canadian group, who would be renaming the team Scorpion Racing F1 Team and basing their operations in Silverstone.

Driver Changes

The season saw a number of large changes in light of the changes in format in the weeks leading up to the start of the season, following the normal silly season at the end of 2012. Red Bull shocked many by dropping Mark Webber and signing Kamui Kobayashi as his replacement on a two year contract. Timo Glock was also given another chance in F1 courtesy of Sauber, as they demoted Esteban Gutiérrez (who had originally been announced as the team's second driver) to test driver. Heikki Kovalainen, who had lost his Caterham seat was surprisingly given it back in light of the rule changes and a loss in funding for Giedo van der Garde.

Following Mark Webber's sacking at Red Bull, he was considered one of the hotter prospects for teams to snap up, and ended up going for a deal with McLaren, who unceremoniously dumped Sergio Perez to make way for the Australian. Perez, without a drive and short on options jumped at the opportunity to drive for new outfit Scorpion, partnering Kevin Magnussen. Finally, Marussia decided to give Max Chilton a test seat instead of a full-time drive as previously announced, and instead signed Sam Bird.

Season Calendar

Testing

Circuit	Date	Fastest driver	Fastest team	Lap time
Circuito de Jerez	February 8	Vitaly Petrov	Sauber	1:19.263
Circuit de Catalunya	March 3
Silverstone Circuit	July 19

Young Driver Test

Grands Prix

Round	Date	Race title	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Reject of the Race
1	17 March	Australian Grand Prix	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit