Formula 1: ten things to look out for during the two thousand seventeen season
Ahead of the Formula one season’s opening round in Australia this weekend, we examine the ten key things to look out for in 2017.
The British ace felt hard done by at the end of last season. In his mind he’d delivered enough to hit his arch-rival Nico Rosberg, believed he was the better driver over the balance of the season and that circumstances rather than race spectacles were what determined the title in his now retired Mercedes team-mate’s favour.
The truth is very likely somewhere in inbetween, and while it would be wrong to suggest that Rosberg’s achievement was unwarranted, Hamilton was delivering career-best spectacles towards the end of year. It seems to be the case that Hamilton has returned from the winter break with a razor-sharp concentrate and a genuine enthusiasm for the fresh breed of Formula one cars – there is a chance he will predominate given the chance.
Two. Can Valtteri Bottas stop him?
Seasoned observers have desired to see how the Finn would fare in class-leading machinery for some time. He’s ticked every box except race wins at Williams, has the same relentless tempo as was the case with a youthful Fernando Alonso in his Renault years (and some would argue still now), the only thing left to prove is whether he can produce in a world-beating car.
If the Mercedes is as good as its predecessors, and the signs are that it will at least hold its own, then Bottas will win races. One of the stories of the season will be how this affects Hamilton’s sometimes sensitive mental equilibrium, and whether the Finn’s unemotional treatment on the surface might begin to undermine Lewis’s campaign.
Trio. Has Ferrari indeed caught up?
It’s not the very first time that Ferrari has won the winter testing war. Kimi Raikkonen ended the two four-day tests at Barcelona with the fastest time – a 1m18.634s – in the fresh SF70H. More ominous was the car’s medium-to-high speed cornering stability and consistency. That, along with the complementary comments from rival drivers and teams suggests that Ferrari might have a real contender on its mitts.
Räikkönen had the upper palm on Sebastian Vettel for some of last year, but given a sniff at a title the German will be bang in the fight. That being said, Mercedes have never gone for headlines in testing and will have a more forceful treatment to the timesheets this weekend. The jury remains out on Crimson Bull, but one suspects they are closer than they show up in the mirrors of the top two teams on pre-season paper.
It’s been a little-mentioned fact that every single team on the grid this year has at least one genuine talisman. If you consider the top three teams as Mercedes, Ferrari and Crimson Bull, then five of their six drivers have won grands prix, three are world champions, and the other three are at least strong contenders to become one… The midfield is hardly less stellar. You have Lance Stroll (the reigning European F3 champ) alongside a former world championship runner-up in Felipe Massa at Williams. Double-world champ Fernando Alonso playmates with super-rookie Stoffel Vandorne at McLaren and highly-rated Le Boy’s winner Nico Hülkenberg at Renault as team-mate to GP2 champ Jolyon Palmer.
The bright pink Force Indias are piloted by Sergio Pérez and Mercedes junior ace Estaban Ocon. The improving Haas team has the remarkably under-rated Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, while Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr is unlucky not to be driving something further up the grid. Even Sauber, which for a duo of years now has struggled for budget, has last year’s rookie of the year Pascal Wehrlein in its line-up. You could lightly make a case for this being the most talented grid, top-to-bottom, ever.
Nico Hülkenberg suggested this week that it’s possible drivers won’t be able to shove for entire stint distances on Pirelli’s fresh broader, fatter tyres. But whether or not that is the case, the tyres which are now 6cm broader at the front and 8cm broader at the rear have already proved, as part of a broader package of fresh rules, they are delivering considerably more grip.
Drivers reported in testing that while spectacle drop off still exists, it was less significant and more linear. It means they are truly on the limit through the quick stuff. The downside for fans is that cars are not snapping out so perversely and that limited tyre degradation may lead to some drab races.
The rest of the fresh rules have been greeted by teams and drivers with a downforce-laden dollop of joy. They were introduced for a diversity of reasons, not least to reinforce the pic that F1 is the most requesting test of drivers, and to make the cars look cooler to a broader, junior audience – the target was to cut seconds off average lap times. The broader front and rear wings, more open aero regs and thicker diffusers have done just that.
Räikkönen’s best testing lap was Three.4s quicker than last year’s Spanish Grand Prix pole time. But more than that, as the teams begin to explore the development window of these fresh machines, so the balance of power will shift inbetween them. It is less likely that one team will predominate via the season as has been the case across the hybrid era so far.
As two thousand sixteen closed, so Bernie Ecclestone was moved out of power by the sport’s fresh owners, fronted by F1 CEO Pursue Carey, MD of sport Ross Brawn and MD of commercial Sean Bratches. Their stated aim is to make F1 more arousing and more accessible.
The very first signs of this will be when you look at Twitter and Instagram this weekend and see the drivers actively posting on their weekend’s progress, while Williams is running a live demonstrate on their Facebook channel. The thicker questions will be answered in time, and one of them I suppose is whether the sport has truly seen the last of the man who has spent the last forty years building it into a global monolith.
The irony is that while the fresh rules could jumble the pack, the chances are, it’s not going to be as good as it has been on track in latest years. More downforce means more haul, and more haul means more turbulent wake. That means it’s stiffer to go after cars. Max Verstappen, the sport’s arch disrupter has dismissed this theory already, telling he’s found no difference in testing. But there is no escaping the truth that at places like Melbourne, broader, swifter cars generating more downward thrust will not make for an lighter passing dynamic.
They are going to tumble. It’s possible even that Juan Pablo Montoya’s lap 162.949mph average lap record during qualifying for the two thousand four Italian Grand Prix could eventually fall. Cars are travelling as much as 35mph swifter through the truly quick corners now and while Bottas’s 234.8mph top terminal velocity from last year might be safe due to the extra haul, a lot of those two thousand four records will ultimately be hammered as Formula one evolves into its fastest ever configuration.
Ten. McLaren-Honda and Fernando Alonso
This has to be the single most frustrating aspect of F1 two thousand seventeen so far. Love him or hate him, Alonso is world class, and in the minds of some of the best on the grid. That for the third straight season he is likely to be out of the mix is disastrous for him, McLaren and the sport. It might even be enough to see him take a step back and wait for a competitive drive and pursue other targets within motorsport. Identically, watching McLaren fight is a bit like watching Manchester United fight off relegation – there are those who will love it, but something doesn’t feel right with the sport if they’re not performing.
The truth is that Honda’s engine is under-powered and under-lifed presently, and without drastic switch, this once majestic partnership may be fated to failure, whatever team insiders might say publicly. One despairingly hopes not.