Raikkonen begins Lotus farewell tour

With the watching world focused on goings-on at Maranello since the Italian Grand Prix, the time has come for attention to turn back to the on-track action. But in Singapore, even the racing will be taking place against a backdrop of chatter about what's to come in 2014.

Singapore is the first of a sequence of seven races over 10 weekends that represents a farewell tour for Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus and Felipe Massa at Ferrari.

With Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull seemingly unstoppable in their march to a fourth consecutive world championship double, it's inevitable that attention is starting to turn to the post-2.4-litre V8 era.

For Raikkonen, the challenge is simple. After disappointing weekends at Spa and Monza, albeit ameliorated by impressive race pace in Italy, it's up to him and Lotus to rejoin the scrap for podiums. Following the two low-downforce tracks, Lotus is optimistic of getting back to business as usual on the streets of Singapore.

There's no doubt the Finn will be unaffected by his imminent return to Ferrari and will be keen to give the Enstone faithful at least a few more podiums in his final seven outings for Lotus.

As for Massa, he has come out with some fighting talk about racing for himself rather than team-mate Fernando Alonso in the closing races of his long Ferrari career. With his F1 future in the balance, he needs a run of results to help persuade any potential employer that he can still do the job at the top level.

Vettel now looks unstoppable © XPB

UNSTOPPABLE VETTEL?

Vettel is now a massive 53 points clear of Alonso in the championship race. After winning the previous two races at circuits where Red Bull's rivals fancied their chances, it now seems a question of when, rather than if, he becomes a quadruple world champion.

Singapore has been a happy hunting ground for Vettel. In the five Singapore Grands Prix held to date, the German has finished fifth (for Scuderia Toro Rosso), fourth, second, first and first.

On paper, it seems that Vettel should just be awarded 25 points right now and be done with it.

With Pirelli's revised rubber now more durable, Red Bull's true pace has been allowed to shine through. The one thing that might give the rest hope is what happened last time F1 raced on a similar circuit in Monaco. There, Mercedes dominated, so Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be hopeful of a repeat.

Can Ferrari maintain its Spa/Monza form? © LAT

FERRARI'S FORM: REALITY OR ILLUSORY?

Alonso finished second to Vettel in both Belgium and Italy. While disappointing for Ferrari, it was a step forward compared with where the team was previously.

But both Spa and Monza are outliers in terms of track configuration. The question is, will Ferrari be as strong in the coming races?

After the very public rift between Alonso and Ferrari emerged in the wake of the Hungarian GP, it's been made very clear that all is not well between driver and team. But with Raikkonen on board for next season, Alonso will have every reason to drive home the message that he is Ferrari's go-to guy.

He can take some solace from the fact that he won from pole in Singapore in 2010 under intense pressure from Vettel.

But while the gap to Vettel means that a title tilt is becoming increasingly unlikely, Alonso and Ferrari need a strong end to the campaign.

Mercedes' performance has dipped © XPB

MERCEDES RECOVERY DRIVE

After winning three of the five grands prix prior to the August break, hopes were high that Mercedes would be able to go on a winning spree once F1 got going again.

But all that the team has to show for the past two races was a damp-assisted pole position at Spa and the resulting third place for Hamilton, far from what was expected.

The question is, how much of that disappointing form was down to the low-downforce package not working as well as hoped?

Singapore will answer that question.

Hulkenberg made Sauber fly at Monza © LAT

HIGH HOPES FOR SAUBER

Sauber's fifth place at Monza thanks to Nico Hulkenberg's stellar performance is comfortably the Swiss squad's high-point for the season.

And while a repeat is desperately unlikely in Singapore, the general trend for improving performance suggests that points could again be on the cards.

The Sauber has worked well on the low-downforce tracks, doubtless helped by its narrow sidepods reducing drag, and the team still believes it has a chance of challenging Toro Rosso, 14 points up the road, for seventh in the constructors' championship.

As for Hulkenberg, he needs to keep plugging away and getting good results as he bids to secure a move to Lotus for 2014.

The change of tyre spec has hurt Force India © XPB

FORCE INDIA'S TYRE STRUGGLES

Since the Pirelli tyres changed, initially on an interim basis for the German GP and then with the introduction of the permanent 2012-construction/2013-compound in Hungary, Force India has struggled.

Prior to Germany, it racked up 59 points but has subsequently added just two more to its tally in the ensuing four races thanks to Adrian Sutil's ninth place at Spa.

The trouble is, there are legitimate question marks over whether the car has the pace to return to its early-season form.

On the plus side, it is very comfortable in sixth in the constructors' championship, so perhaps a run-in scoring only occasional points while resources are focused on 2014 might be the best path for all concerned.

BATTLE AT THE BACK

Caterham has taken a decisive advantage in terms of performance in the battle to take 10th in the constructors' championship in recent races. But Marussia currently has the edge in terms of position thanks to Jules Bianchi's 13th place in Malaysia.

But it will only take one 13th place by a Caterham driver to reverse that. In many ways, the situation is similar to the one the two teams experienced at the back end of last year. Marussia again was ahead but in the final race of the season, Vitaly Petrov's late pass on Charles Pic at Interlagos resulted in an 11th place and the all-important 10th place.

With neither car having the pace to fight for anything better than 19th on the grid, this private battle is as much in the hands of other cars hitting trouble as their own performances.