With the 2013 F1 season kicking off this weekend down under, it’s time to make some predictions.

– Either Sebastien Vettel or Fernando Alonso will win the world championship. If Ferrari can give Alonso a car 85% as good as the Red Bull, Alonso will the world champion. We saw how close Alonso was last year in a car many viewed as being fourth best on the grid. If the car isn’t there, expect Alonso to come close but not beat the combination of Vettel and Red Bull

– The surprise of the season will be Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber. I think there’s a good chance we’ll Nico on the box this year in the Sauber which has shown to be competitive in the right occasion and we’ve all see what Nico can do in cars like the Williams and Force India especially in Brasil.

-Hulkenberg will then take his success to Ferrari in 2014.

-The disappointment of the season will be Mclaren. With Hamilton gone, Paddy Lowe out the door and Sergio Perez in the team I see them being maybe the 4th or 5th best team on the grid behind Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and maybe Lotus. As much as I like Jensen Button, there are Grand Prix weekends where is non existent and I feel the Perez signing was more to do with sponsorship money than talent (I would have like to have seen a DiResta or one of the Nico’s in the car).

-Mercedes will win the bipolar award in 2013. With so much talent between Niki Lauda, Ross Brawn and the rest of the technical staff, Mercedes,Nico Rosberg and now Lewis Hamilton it’s either going to be the next superteam or a grand disaster. I do predict they will win races but at the same time there will problems and between Niki and Lewis someone will say something that will kick off a media soap opera.

– The constructors championship will come down to Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Roman Grosjean and Mark Webber. Out of all of them, I will take Webber as he’s the most consistent, so for me Red Bull wins the constructors crown.