The F1 2013 season in pictures

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The Autocourse annual - the stocking filler of choice for the discerning Formula One fan - is now in its 62nd year.  And while the 2013 Formula 1 season may not live long in the memory, once it's been filtered down to 360 very glossy pages we reckon it's still a decent way to while away those long days of Crimbo limbo.

To give you a flavour, here's our seasonal pick of our Autocourse's F1 images of 2013, accompanied by our memories of a season utterly dominated by the man above. Which is your favourite?

(To order a copy, head to Autocourse.com (and remember, back copies from the 70s regularly trade hands on eBay for £250 and more. So if not for yourself, just think of the grandchildren.))

If there was a tear in Mark Webber's eye as he completed his last lap in an F1 car, it was only the wind in his face. As if blowing his teammate away wasn't enough, Sebastian Vettel reneged on a deal to hold position in Malaysia. After that, Webber never really looked like he wanted to be behind the wheel of his RB9, which responded by breaking down as often as it could.

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Felipe Massa started his 2013 season well, out-qualifying Fernando Alonso. He finished it well, too, heading for a podium at home until the stewards got involved. In between...? Not so great. Certainly not what Ferrari needed, when you consider the Scuderia has gone out of its way to suggest that even Alonso might not be good enough to drive one of its cars. Massa made way for Räikkonen, but not before some donuts.

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Paul di Resta won't be driving an F1 car in 2014, his seat at Force India taken by Sergio Perez. Di Resta needed the best of seasons to keep the drive, and he was patchy. It wasn't always his fault and maybe, in retrospect, letting the world know that via the radio wasn't the best of ideas. Just three Brits in F1 in 2014, then.

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Even the broad shoulders of Jenson Button - a driver who has enjoyed more than his personal share of mixed fortunes - struggled to carry McLaren's worst season in three decades. He looked beaten, confused and exhausted, constantly trying to keep the MP-28 in touch and Sergio Perez behind. Which he did, mostly, although enough to justify McLaren firing Perez after just one season?

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This time last year Mercedes was talking down its chances. 2013 would be another interim year, it said, while the team got used to its new star driver, Lewis Hamilton. Now, after a year that saw LH take five pole positions, one win and fourth place in the driver's championship, the team is still talking up its chances for 2014. We shall see...

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A year ago, you would not have got long odds on Romain Grosjean seeing out the season, let alone heading in to 2014 as Lotus' de facto team-leader (alongside Maldonado, who brings cash where Räikkonen once brought talent). Once Kimi made it clear he'd had enough, RoGros stepped up to the plate, the man you expected to be on the podium next to Vettel and Webber by the end of the season.

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Singapore, no matter how dull the racing, no matter how oppressive the environment, continues to grow in stature among the flagship races on the F1 calendar. With The Killers and Rihanna playing on the back lawn this year it was down to a sporting super-celebrity to up the ante in the paddock. David Beckham duly obliged, hanging with Lewis Hamilton until the early hours. How the other half live...

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Quite why Fernando Alonso was obliged to explain himself to the world's media over and over again in 2013 remains a mystery. He gave his all (again) to finish second to Sebatian Vettel (again) in a car that was simply not good enough (again). Yet some at Ferrari chose to single out Alonso for criticism, while overlooking the deficiencies in the Scuderia's engineering and aerodynamic teams. Slightly unfair, we feel.  

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Did McLaren fire the right man? You'd assume so, but with McLaren's current ability to make the wrong call on, well, pretty much everything, it's hard to be certain. Checo Perez certainly ruffled some feathers, but wasn't that exactly what he was asked to do? And once he'd accepted his fate with appropriate public graciousness, he did what any slighted driver would do; went out there and beat his team mate.

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We know how the man above feels. 2013 was, especially after the summer break, a pretty terrible season. And frankly it wasn't great before: drivers seeing not how fast they could go, but how far they could on a set of tyres. It wasn't to everyone's taste. It possibly wasn't to anyone's. Will it be sorted for 2014? Hopefully, although that meagre fuel allowance is looking interesting...