Marking the end of an era and the start of an uncertain future in Formula 1

It's strange now when I think back to Sunday's Brazilian GP that most of the focus was on the end of an era rather than Seb Vettel achieving yet more records.

Ferrari and Massa were wild with their penalty for crossing the line at the pitlane entry, which has happened many a time over the years, but they were warned about this before the race and again during the race before the penalty. It all seems so inconsistent when they are allowed to wander off track at will in many other corners around the world. Mind you, the end of that pit wall as you sweep through the blind left-hander while dipping into the pit lane flat out has always terrified me. You wouldn't want to hit that. So another season is over, and let's be frank it hasn't been an all-time classic but there have been some highlights and surprises. I'm expecting total calamity in the early stages of 2014 and it remains to be seen if that's entertaining or confusing, but I have no doubt that these brilliant engineers and designers will master the issues sooner than later. I agree with Jenson Button, big changes can only hurt Red Bull given they have such an advantage, but no doubt the usual suspects with the biggest resource will get there first. I'm hoping that we won't have a three-tier Ferrari - Renault - Mercedes championship in whichever order for both power and efficiency, but it's possible. I've asked my trusted sources in the paddock and they just roll their eyes and throw their arms up in the air. There's a huge amount of work to do in a very short space of time. The midfield driver market should settle down in the next week or so. I've never seen anything like it frankly, and it doesn't bode well when the only team - Lotus - to consistently take the fight to Red Bull can't afford to chose its own driver line-up and take the best available. My alarm bells are going off for the general health of F1 and it needs urgent action, if not then a crisis, before it's back on track. Thanks for your company this year. MB