which driver will gain most from 2014 regs ?

[Manoah2u]

mclaren built their cars since 2007 to hamilton's preferations. so no, not just 2012. years later, button comes in and gets some input in the car so the 'new' car has some ability to 'dial in' more to button's preferations. and i didn't say button was better then hamilton, but the fact remains he was 2nd in the WDC despite a car that still was designed for their star driver hamilton. alike hamilton has to deal with a 2013 mercedes which was essentially built to rosberg and schumacher's desire.
the 2014 merc will be 'adapted' more to hamilton's desires.
alike this year, sergio entered a team with a car that was built and designed around hamilton and button before.
If sergio would have stayed longer, mclaren would have done effort to 'adapt' the car in a manner that sergio can dial into
the car better because of his 'driving characteristics'.

let's say one driver A wants a pretty nervous car, and driver B wants a smooth car.
if driver B comes into team A, built around driver A, he'll have to adapt because the car was finished when he stepped in.
a year later, driver B has a updated car that before was nervous and now is smooth[er].
and vise versa.

[lebesset]

I may be on record here as expecting button to be the biggest gainer , but it doesn't mean that ~I believe others will be uncompetitive !
vettel may have been the one who exploited exhaust blowing the best on the best car ,hence his run of titles ; but the fact that he loses that advantage doesn't mean that RBR won't produce a competitive car and that vettel will extract the maximum from it ..surely no one now doubts he is the real deal

and hamilton? I must admit I was surprised how well he has adapted at mercedes , yes , I know he hated the brakes but he adapted his style to the car and a couple of times during the season davidson showed videos showing how much more precise his qually laps were than vettel when vettel had to drive flat out as well even though his car was quicker ; so I think hamilton will do just fine as well ...I believe he is the most naturally talented driver on the grid , and now that he has learned that you can't win every race [ except in a red bull ] I expect even greater things from him ...I think he learned a lot from button !

[Anon123]

This all does not bode well for Hammy, who requires all kinds of speciality and bespoke designs to perform in a car. I mean, how much of the Merc design (brake discs and the like) written about here for him exemplifies that this situation does not add up well for him at all.

He might require a lot to get the most out of himself but even though he has been disappointed with himself this year he still outscored Rosberg.

[dren]

I epect to see the usual suspects do well: Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Raikkonen, Button, Rosberg. That is assuming all of their cars are good.

Strategy will be a bigger issue next year. That favors some drivers more than others.

[Juzh]

button can't handle torque oversteer? what utter bs, have you forgotten his stunning win in the wet canadian GP where he flew past EVERYBODY? including 'rainking' schumacher, hamilton [who crashed] etc.?

He can't. Even in 2011 when he beat hamilton it was clear lewis was much quicker all round. A wet race doesn't mean the car is suddenly undrivable. He was slower than hamilton in the early stages and then pushed him into the wall, while bitching on the radio "What are you doing??? blablabla" like it wasn't his fault. He won the race because of a million safety cars anyway. He's slightly better than webber, but that's about it.
Hamilton won 2012 canada while button was 16th and lapped.
And he won australia 2010 because vettel's brakes went pop.

[Manoah2u]

well if you are going to go that way, you can just nullify any driver win any driver performance on any given race.

[Jonnycraig]

Several people have stated their opinions that the new engines will require a lot of in race thinking and managing. The two drivers who are known for their thinking are Vettel & Alonso.

My personal opinion is that 2014 is going to be a bust in the sense that one team/engine will be far out on their own infront leading to those slating 2013 to pray for its return. Personally, I expect 2015 and beyond to be the years to look forward to.

[monsi]

Well I would have thought that next year all cars are going to have problem areas, so that is likely to reward those drivers who can adapt their style to get the most out of whatever they are given, whether it suits their natural style or not. For me Vettel and Alonso would be top of that list, so I expect them to outperform the package they are given. I would also expect considerable evolution over the season, which will again favour the adaptable. Will be interesting to see which of the new crop of drivers proves to have this adaptability too. I have very little idea what Mercedes will deliver; a robust car with lots of driver feedback that suits Hamilton's late braking style would deliver us a lot of great racing from him, something more fragile might suit Rosberg better. Raikkonen seems to be able to drive just about anything successfully. A newly confident Grosjean has proven himself this year. But all top F1 guys have got to where they have by being able to exploit what they are given to the utmost, so to a degree it's same old same old.

[CHT]

young driver who grew up with Xbox and Playstation will sure to gain most

[Moxie]

Since this is all idle speculation, wouldn't it be a hoot if Felipe Massa was able to excel under the new regs and beat both Fernando AND Raikonen on track? By God, I would pay to see Luca's face if that happened!

Yes, it would be great. I am not so interested in the personalities as I am the car, but as drivers go I have a great respect for Massa's professionalism as #2 at Ferrari...it had to be difficult for him. Unfortunately, his inability to come to terms with the fussy Ferrari's over the past couple of years, especially 2012, leads me to believe that this fantasy will not come true.

[turbof1]

Hamilton will probably benefit from this the most. When cars get to handle just the way the driver wants, Hamilton has issues finding the sweet spot. But when nobody can, which will be the case next year, and when everybody struggles, you can expect Hamilton throwing his car into corners like a madman. Especially with tyres being more conservative.

The excess amount of torque also helps him at the starts. Hamilton has a good feeling for just the right amount without wheel spin.

[SilverArrow10]

The thing here is who is going to be most advantaged, the feelers or the thinkers. The Hamilton or the Rosberg. To be honest I have no clue, I don't know how to drive an F1 and im not even going to pretend or act like I can. But from pundits on TV I got the idea that Hamilton would improve most as a feeler because he can drive a car with problems and still be relatively successful and thrive with a car that's difficult to control, which these cars will be. Unlike Button that needs perfect balance and confidence to win races... or rain, wont the balance of the car be an important factor?

[SectorOne]

he did that various times thruoghout the year,
which effictively cost him his championship,

Nobody even with a picture perfect season would have been able to beat Vettel and the RB7, it just wasn´t going to happen.

I´m not discussing whose fault it was, i just pointed out that Button did not overtake Hamilton in Canada and if Button was "flying" then you need to invent a new word for Hamilton because he was quicker.

[PlatinumZealot]

If Button keeps whinging for no grip with a measly 270 foot pounds of torque, how in the world is he going to manage with 400 foot pounds AND reduced down force? 2014 is going to be hell for drivers who are poor at coping with oversteer in its different forms.

[Manoah2u]

If Button keeps whinging for no grip with a measly 270 foot pounds of torque, how in the world is he going to manage with 400 foot pounds AND reduced down force? 2014 is going to be hell for drivers who are poor at coping with oversteer in its different forms.

button wasn't mingling for grip with 270 pounds of torque.