It’s been ages since the end of the 2012 season, so I can’t wait for the start of the new Formula One season.
A couple of months ago I posted the almost-final driver line-up and calendar, so with just two weeks until the first race you’d think everything would be finalised. Well, it’s closer but still not absolutely final!
| Red Bull | 1: Sebastian Vettel [VET] | 2: Mark Webber [WEB] |
| Ferrari | 3: Fernando Alonso [ALO] | 4: Felipe Massa [MAS] |
| McLaren | 5: Jenson Button [BUT] | 6: Sergio Perez [PER] |
| Lotus | 7: Kimi Raikkonen [RAI] | 8: Romain Grosjean [GRO] |
| Mercedes | 9: Lewis Hamilton [HAM] | 10: Nico Rosberg [ROS] |
| Sauber | 11: Nico Hulkenberg [HUL] | 12: Esteban Gutiérrez [GUT] |
| Force India | 14: Paul di Resta [DIR] | 15: Adrian Sutil [SUT] |
| Williams | 16: Pastor Maldonado [MAL] | 17: Valtteri Bottas [BOT] |
| Toro Rosso | 18: Daniel Ricciardo [RIC] | 19: Jean-Eric Vergne [VER] |
| Caterham | 20: Charles Pic [PIC] | 21: Giedo van der Garde [VDG] |
| Marussia | 22: Jules Bianchi [BIA] | 23: Max Chilton [CHI] |
This means that, in addition to the Hispania (HRT) team, eight drivers are not returning: Michael Schumacher, Bruno Senna, Kamui Kobayashi, Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa, Narain Karthikeyan, and Timo Glock.
As for the calendar, there is still one race to be confirmed (July 21). There’s one race fewer than 2012 with Korea being dropped from the schedule.
| Mar17 | Australia | Melbourne |
| Mar24 | Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur |
| Apr14 | China | Shanghai |
| Apr21 | Bahrain | Sakhir |
| May12 | Spain | Catalunya |
| May26 | Monaco | Monte Carlo |
| Jun09 | Canada | Montreal |
| Jun30 | Great Britain | Silverstone |
| Jul07 | Germany | Nürburgring |
| Jul21 | Reserved for another European event | |
| Jul28 | Hungary | Budapest |
| Aug25 | Belgium | Spa-Francorchamps |
| Sep08 | Italy | Monza |
| Sep22 | Singapore | Singapore |
| Oct06 | Korea | Yeongam |
| Oct13 | Japan | Suzuka |
| Oct27 | India | New Delhi |
| Nov03 | Abu Dhabi | Yas Marina |
| Nov17 | USA | Austin |
| Nov24 | Brazil | Sao Paulo |
[source: FIA]
From all the drivers that you’ve named who won’t be returning in 2013, I hope Heikki Kovalainen and Bruno Senna will make a comeback in the future. I strongly believe they still have a lot to offer to F1…