By that I don't mean that "X" driver is going to win it, but has the title battle been whittled down to 4 drivers after just 3 races with Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton. The early races have shown that the best cars are the Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes.
McLaren are off the pace and even if they are able to develop a car of competing for poles and victories, Button and Perez will be too far behind to compete for the title, they are already 40 and 50 points behind Vettel respectively and once again it already appears that another year is going by without a title at McLaren, perhaps Hamilton wasn't so stupid after all.
As for those who will want to try and infiltrate the top 4, Massa has improved a lot since mid 2012 but I can't see him being consistent enough to be at the top and Ferrari won't want him getting in the way of Alonso's title bid, but he could be the joker in the pack to cause trouble for the other 3 contenders. I expect Webber to have his usual golden summer and get a win or two which would put him on the brink of the leading pack, but fall away again much like 2010 and 2012, the current hostile situation at Red Bull won't do him any favours.
The big unknown in this equation is Rosberg, he's proven this season that he can be a challenge with 4th in Malaysia and could easily have got a podium and was unlucky with DNF's in Australia and China. But, like Button, he's already 40 points behind Vettel, however, it's been shown that Mercedes does have genuine pace this season, even if it's not quite at the level of the Ferrari's and Red Bulls, but if they have a good development cycle, Rosberg could add to his win tally, will it be enough to drag himself close to Hamilton, well we'll have to see, a big points haul in Bahrain would certainly help.
But what is good to see, is that (in my opinion) it appears that the 2013 Championship will be closely fought between the 4 best drivers on the grid and already, 3 of the 4 have race wins this season and Hamilton has taken a pole position and 2 podiums. There is the potential for a very close title battle, the early signs indicate a four way battle, but it will be interesting to see if "the team mates" can get themselves in on the act
McLaren are off the pace and even if they are able to develop a car of competing for poles and victories, Button and Perez will be too far behind to compete for the title, they are already 40 and 50 points behind Vettel respectively and once again it already appears that another year is going by without a title at McLaren, perhaps Hamilton wasn't so stupid after all.
As for those who will want to try and infiltrate the top 4, Massa has improved a lot since mid 2012 but I can't see him being consistent enough to be at the top and Ferrari won't want him getting in the way of Alonso's title bid, but he could be the joker in the pack to cause trouble for the other 3 contenders. I expect Webber to have his usual golden summer and get a win or two which would put him on the brink of the leading pack, but fall away again much like 2010 and 2012, the current hostile situation at Red Bull won't do him any favours.
The big unknown in this equation is Rosberg, he's proven this season that he can be a challenge with 4th in Malaysia and could easily have got a podium and was unlucky with DNF's in Australia and China. But, like Button, he's already 40 points behind Vettel, however, it's been shown that Mercedes does have genuine pace this season, even if it's not quite at the level of the Ferrari's and Red Bulls, but if they have a good development cycle, Rosberg could add to his win tally, will it be enough to drag himself close to Hamilton, well we'll have to see, a big points haul in Bahrain would certainly help.
But what is good to see, is that (in my opinion) it appears that the 2013 Championship will be closely fought between the 4 best drivers on the grid and already, 3 of the 4 have race wins this season and Hamilton has taken a pole position and 2 podiums. There is the potential for a very close title battle, the early signs indicate a four way battle, but it will be interesting to see if "the team mates" can get themselves in on the act