---
title: "Flashback: When season-opening unpredictability peaked"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2018/03/22/flashback-season-opening-unpredictability-peaked/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Kyran Gibbons"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2018-03-22T17:30:22Z"
modified: "2018-03-22T17:34:23Z"
---

# Flashback: When season-opening unpredictability peaked

Sport thrives on the element of surprise. In Formula 1, shock results and surprising outcomes are often all too rare but in the 2013 season-opener, the stars aligned for a blockbuster that contravened the script.

Much like during this year’s snow-affected pre-season, testing in 2013 was largely unrepresentative. The unusually abrasive surface at Jerez and below average temperatures during the sessions in Barcelona meant that heading into the opening round of the season, the pecking order was somewhat of a mystery.

To compound matters, Pirelli had introduced heavily revised tyres for 2013. All four slick compounds – hard, medium, soft and supersoft – had all been made one step softer compared with the ’12 allocation. Strategy was billed to play a more pivotal factor during the season as Pirelli looked to avoid one-stop races.

Tyre degradation was anticipated, but teams did not know the extent to which their cars would be affected and this mystery was key to the race outcome.

The weekend opened in bizarre fashion. Qualifying was a washout on Saturday. Q1 was initially delayed and while it was eventually given the green light, race control suspended the start of Q2 as conditions deteriorated further.

![Paul Gilham/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2018/03/163788132.jpg)

The European audience who had braved an early alarm call for qualifying were soon resetting their clocks for an even earlier start on race day – qualifying was postponed until Sunday morning as diminishing daylight called time on Saturday’s action.

When qualifying resumed on Sunday morning, it was Red Bull who seized the initiative. Sebastian Vettel grabbed pole while Mark Webber ensured a Red Bull lockout of the front row.

With Lewis Hamilton third and a full 0.6 seconds adrift of Vettel’s benchmark, the expectation was that Red Bull would control the race. In reality, Pirelli’s new tyres injected the element of surprise to proceedings that Red Bull could have done without.

Two-stop versus three-stop became the question of the day. Most teams were forced to play it safe with a conventional three-stop approach, while others were willing to roll the dice.

Lotus was one of the gamblers. Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified in seventh, had demonstrated a good understanding of the Pirelli rubber throughout the 2012 season. The Lotus E21, designed by James Allison, was also believed to be a car that was kind on its tyres and while the unrepresentative winter had placed a question mark against this theory, Raikkonen removed it in fine style.

Vettel had led the race early on but was held up before his second stop by Adrian Sutil. The Force India driver – competing in his first race since 2011 – started on the prime medium compound and found himself remarkably leading the race when the supersoft runners in front pitted early.

By delaying Vettel, Sutil had opened the door for Fernando Alonso to leap-frog the reigning world champion once the second round of pitstops played out.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen led using his contra-strategy. With Raikkonen, Alonso and Vettel all needing to make one final pitstop, the race hinged on Raikkonen’s pace at the end of his middle stint. The Finn was superb, lapping with metronomic consistency in defiance of the age of his tyres.

He emerged from his final stop behind Alonso and Vettel, resuming the lead when the pair eventually made their final trips to the pits. Raikkonen cruised home with a comfortable 12-second advantage over Alonso in second. Vettel finished third.

![Clive Mason/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2018/03/163872747.jpg)

Raw speed can often define a race. However, strategic ingenuity won the day. Raikkonen’s 20th career victory – and most recent trip to the top step of the podium – was an example of how a race in which tyre degradation is the key talking point is even more fascinating than a flat-out lights to flag duel.

The pre-race favourites faltered as raw speed alone was no longer a determining factor and suddenly the 2013 championship was plunged into an intriguing uncertainty. F1 was at its unpredictable best in the middle of what was an undervalued golden era.

With tyre compounds designed to be a step softer than their predecessor and unrepresentative testing triggering plenty of head-scratching ahead of the 2018 season, fans could be treated to a similarly unpredictable curtain-raiser this weekend.

![Mark Thompson/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2018/03/163867622.jpg)