F1 in 2013 - The Highs and The Lows Quiz

Answer: Kimi Raikkonen

The 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen took the first win of the season which was his second victory since his return to F1 from rallying in 2012. Over the course of the season he failed to take any further victories but finished second a total of six times, earning himself 5th place in the driver's championship - despite not competing in the final two races of the season due to surgery on a longstanding back injury.

Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were the three other former world champions who competed in F1 in 2013. They finished the Australian Grand Prix in 2nd, 5th and 9th places respectively.

Answer: Nico Hulkenberg

Sauber had a particularly bad start to the year with Hulkenberg failing to make the start of the Australian Grand Prix and their second driver, Esteban Gutierrez, finishing 13th. In fact they scored only seven points in the first half of the season, all thanks to Hulkenberg. This was in stark contrast to 2012 when their previous drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi had managed a total of 80 points and two podium finishes by the mid-year point.

Hulkenberg's season did improve a bit in the second half of the year, and he scored a (career best equalling) 4th place finish at the Korean Grand Prix.

Answer: Alberto Ascari

Alberto Ascari won nine consecutive races starting with the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix and ending at the same race the next year (excluding the 1953 Indianapolis 500 which was technically an F1 championship race but one which many of the regular F1 drivers did not compete in). His record remained unequalled for 60 years before Vettel's win at the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix. However, his achievements are arguably not comparable with Vettel's given the vast differences between F1 of the 1950s and modern 21st century racing.

Vettel's win at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil was also his 13th victory of the season. This equalled Michael Schumacher's record from 2004. However, Schumacher won a greater percentage of the races in the 2004 season as it included only 18 races compared to the 19 contested in 2013.

Jack Brabham, Juan Manuel Fangio and Mike Hawthorn were all drivers who won the F1 world championship during the 1950s.

Answer: McLaren

2013 also marked 50 years since the foundation of the McLaren racing team (although the team's F1 debut did not take place until the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix). Unfortunately the team's season on track in 2013 did not provide any cause for celebration, with their best result being Jenson Button's 4th place at the final race in Brazil. Their last previous season without a podium in 1980 did at least yield two 4th place finishes, both scored by the British driver John Watson.

Ferrari and Lotus both claimed race victories during the 2013 season. Former champions Williams had a terrible year, collecting only five world championship points - but they had previously finished a season without a podium in 2011.

Answer: Mercedes

Mercedes won three races and scored eight pole positions in 2013. This was an excellent result considering that they recorded only one victory in 2012 and had fallen well off the pace by the end of the season.

Former world champion Lewis Hamilton made a controversial move from McLaren to Mercedes prior to the start of the 2013 season. However, it proved to be a good decision as he took five pole positions and five podium finishes - including victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix - whilst his former team had one of their worst seasons ever.

BMW, Honda and Renault all withdrew from F1 team ownership prior to the 2013 championship. Honda pulled out of F1 at the end of 2008, BMW (previous owners of the Sauber team) pulled out at the end of 2009 and Renault sold their team at the end of 2010. Renault competed in F1 during 2013 as engine suppliers to four teams including the world champions, Red Bull.

Answer: British Grand Prix

Hamilton lost the lead of his home grand prix when his left-rear tyre delaminated at high speed on the Wellington Straight. His problem was one of many tyre failures during the race and followed similar failures that had occurred during earlier practice sessions. The most spectacular failure was on Sergio Perez's McLaren as Fernando Alonso was very nearly hit by the flying tyre debris and Romain Grosjean was forced to retire because of the damage the tyre caused to his Lotus. The race director, Charlie Whiting, suggested after the race that if there had been any more failures then it was likely that the grand prix would have been red-flagged.

Following the race it was announced that Pirelli would provide different tyres for the rest of the season which were more similar in construction to those used in 2012. This change influenced the outcome of the world championship as it appeared to benefit Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel subsequently won all of the final nine races of the season.

Answer: Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean's future in F1 was in serious doubt after the 2012 season as he had been involved in numerous collisions, particularly at the start or during the very early stages of races. His one-race ban was imposed after he caused an accident at the first corner of the Belgian Grand Prix; taking himself, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez out of the race. Alonso in particular narrowly escaped serious injury when Grosjean's car came close to hitting his helmet during the crash.

However, 2013 was much more successful as he had only one collision related retirement and achieved a total of six podium finishes - including four in the last six races of the season. His only 2nd place finish came at the penultimate race in the United States. This good form meant that the only driver to score more points than Grosjean over the course of the final six races was the world championship winner, Sebastian Vettel.

Answer: It rolled away backwards down a hill and across the track

Jules Bianchi's Marussia-Cosworth had an engine failure on lap 23 and Bianchi left it parked on the grass at the side of the circuit. However, just before the recovery vehicle reached the stricken car, it started to roll away backwards, crossing the track and ending up stuck against an advertising board on the opposite side. Despite the amusement for watching viewers it was a potentially dangerous situation and it was lucky that there were no other cars on that part of the circuit at the time.

It would probably have been even funnier if an animal had been involved in the incident. Unfortunately animals and F1 don't generally mix well - the sad fate of the groundhog run over by Anthony Davidson in Canada in 2007 and the dog hit by Bruno Senna in Turkey in 2008 being cases in point.

Answer: David Coulthard

Jenson Button won his place in F1 in 2000 via a 'drive off', against Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, for the spare seat at the Williams team. He won his first race six years later and became world champion in 2009, driving for the short-lived Brawn GP team.

David Coulthard started 246 F1 races between the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix and the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. His debut came in tragic circumstances when he replaced the late Ayrton Senna at Williams. The Brazilian world champion had been killed four weeks earlier at Imola.

Sir Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell are all British former F1 world champions.

Answer: Track marshal

Mark Robinson, a marshal at the Canadian Grand Prix, died following a trackside accident whilst working to remove Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber from the circuit. His death, the first of a trackside marshal since 2001, showed the dangers inherent in F1 despite the massive advances in safety in recent years. It also highlighted the risks faced by support staff at each race and the fact that without their presence F1 racing would not be possible.

Another dangerous incident occurred two races later at the German Grand Prix, when a loose wheel from Mark Webber's Red Bull hit one of the pit-lane cameramen following a bungled pit-stop. The cameraman, Paul Allen, suffered broken bones and had to be airlifted to hospital.