Some of you may remember that in 2010 and 2011 my colleague Rob Widdows wrote a list of predictions for the year ahead. He may have joked that they were perhaps not the most reliable, but a quick glance at his 2011 effort will no doubt put a smile on his face.

‘Audi will win Le Mans.’ It did, but only just.

‘Red Bull will start the season winning Grands Prix.’ Don’t think anyone could argue with that.

‘Rubens Barrichello will retire at the end of 2011.’ Retire no, but leave Formula 1, yes.

‘Paul di Resta will impress in the Force India.’ He did, but not enough to tempt McLaren last year.

‘Ferrari will threaten to leave Grand Prix racing if the rules for 2013 are not changed to accommodate a V6 turbo engine.’ The ‘Ferrari will threaten to leave F1’ is a pretty safe bet, but in 12 months time F1 cars will take to the track with V6 turbos, just as predicted.

We’ll brush over the ‘Rossi will win a race for Ducati’.

With his hand still recovering from the latest operation I have, for better or worse, decided to have a go at some 2013 predictions. In no particular order:

1. Lewis Hamilton will win more than one race for Mercedes-Benz.

2. Ferrari will also be competitive and Alonso will win the drivers’ championship.

3. Esteban Gutiérrez will impress in the Sauber, as will Valtteri Bottas in the Williams.

4. Rumours of Felipe Massa’s replacement will start as early as July. Names mentioned will include Robert Kubica, Nico Hülkenberg and Jules Bianchi. Oh, and probably Sebastian Vettel.

5. Bernie Ecclestone will ‘step’ aside and a committee will run his position.

6. Sébastien Loeb will win all four rounds of the World Rally Championship that he competes in.

7. Volkswagen will win the constructors battle. Sébastien Ogier will win the drivers’ championship.

8. By the end of the year the lack of TV coverage for the Monte Carlo Rally in Britain will be long forgotten and we will be talking about ‘the WRC revival’. News will break of another manufacturer entering the championship in 2015.

9. Jorge Lorenzo will be faster than Rossi for the majority of the year in MotoGP and will win his third championship.

10. MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez will win a race or races.

11. Audi will win Le Mans, but Toyota will finish on the same lap. (Bit precise perhaps…)

Please don’t put money on any of these happening…