Last season, a rather acrimonious and testy battle unfolded for the world drivers’ title between Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The German emerged as the World Drivers’ Champion following in the footsteps of his father Keke Rosberg (1982 champion). The 31-year old Rosberg then announced his shock retirement from the sport, so that he could spend more time with his family. Along with the reigning world champion, the Manor F1 Team will also be missing from the grid this season. The faster cars with the increased downforce are expected to take a significant physical toll on all the drivers. The drivers have responded to the new challenge by changing their training regimens to cope with the increased physical demands.
A New Era Begins: Preview of the 2017 F1 season – Part 2
Reading the tea leaves after eight days of pre-season testing in Barcelona, it appears that three teams are at the sharp end of the grid. Mercedes and Ferrari seem to be ahead of the pack, with Red Bull Racing a close third at the moment. Williams appears to lead the rest of the field, but the experts have not been able to deduce any clear pecking order in the midfield. McLaren-Honda was beset by reliability issues with their new engine. The vaunted Woking-based outfit enters the season bringing up the rear of the grid. We look at the teams and drivers for the new 2017 F1 season.
The Pecking Order:
Analyzing all the statistics based on the test results, it is hard to be very definitive about this. The term ‘sandbagging’ is frequently used during testing. In the eight days of testing this year, this was frequently applied to the Mercedes and Ferrari team. Ten kilos of fuel is equated to 0.36 seconds of lap time. To hide the true speed of their cars, teams run with a heavier fuel load and work out their one lap pace using this rule of thumb.
The significant overall conclusions from testing are:
- Ferrari proved the surprise package, when they posted the two best overall times in testing. The fastest lap time posted by Kimi Raikkonen was a 1:18.634s on the supersoft tyres, not even the faster ultrasoft tyres. It would be interesting to see if the team can challenge the Silver Arrows after a barren season last year.
- The Mercedes W08 is a superslick package, as it has been for the last three seasons, but has some reliability issues to deal with.
- Red Bull’s RBR13 was not able to demonstrate its full potential due to the Renault engines new ERS system (MGU-K unit) proving unreliable.
- Williams has proved the surprise package, running the top teams close. The driver pairing of the now un-retired Felipe Massa and the teenage rookie Lance Stroll will be very interesting to watch.
- Force India and the much improved Renault team are behind Williams. Toro Rosso with the 2017 Renault engines and the striking-looking STR13, along with Haas F1 team are part of the closely bunched midfield.
- Sauber running with the 2016 Ferrari engines are definitely going to be at the back of the field as the season progresses, but they are at least ultra-reliable.
- McLaren had a disastrous eight days of testing with the new Honda engines proving unreliable and down on power. The vibrations the Honda engines were generating led to the electrical and electronic systems failing on the MCL32. As Fernando Alonso put it, the Honda engines “had no power and no reliability”.
Dark Horse teams
- Red Bull Racing looked the third best team during testing. They were expected to be the main challengers to Mercedes given that the rule changes were in the aerodynamic area, the strong suit of the Milton Keynes outfit. But they were not at the same level as Mercedes and Ferrari. But given Red Bull’s history of in-season development, the team will catch up with the leaders after a few races.
- Williams could be the dark horse team as they looked strong in testing. Paddy Lowe, the former Mercedes Technical Director, has taken over in the technical department and could keep the Grove-based outfit in touch with the leading pack.
- Toro Rosso, the junior team of Red Bull, is led by the very highly rated James Key in the technical department. With the latest Renault engines, the Faenza-based team is expected to do better than they did in testing. If they get past their reliability issues and unleash the true potential of the best-looking car of 2017, they could be the true dark horses of 2017. The young and talented driver duo of Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat could have a chance to shine.
Dark Horse drivers
The usual suspects Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel will challenge for the drivers’ title. The true dark horses are their teammates Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas. The older Finn showed much improved form in 2016 and with the fast and reliable Ferrari challenger could join Vettel in the race for the drivers’ title. The other Finn, Bottas who moved to the Silver Arrows team after the unexpected retirement of Rosberg could prove the surprise package, if he can perform at the level of Hamilton. The talented duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen could join the race, if RB13 improves as the season goes along. These drivers and their performances will be watched with great interest in 2017.
“Old” drivers with new teams
Nico Hulkenberg of Renault made a move from the fourth-best team in Force India to a works team for 2017. The German will be tested as the team leader of the Enstone-based outfit. Kevin Magnussen, the man Hulkenberg replaced at Renault, will be up against the now experienced and crafty Romain Grosjean at Haas F1 and has a lot to prove. Massa after his emotional retirement is back at Williams, as Bottas has moved to Mercedes. One of the older drivers is now paired with the youngest driver on the grid, Lance Stroll. The two Manor drivers Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein are now with Force India and Sauber respectively. The two highly rated young guns will be watched with interest.
Rookie Drivers of 2017
There will be two rookie drivers on the grid: Lance Stroll (Williams) and Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) in his first full season. The highly rated Vandoorne’s performance will depend on the fortunes of the troubled McLaren-Honda car. The challenge for the young Belgian, driving alongside the formidable Fernando Alonso cannot be underestimated. Stroll, all of eighteen years old, has been catapulted from F3 into the cauldron of F1 and will have all eyes on him during the season.
As usual the drivers will excel if the cars they are given are fast and the team performs well around them. But, in this new challenging F1 era, the drivers with their own stamina and skillset can make a significant contribution to the final outcome.
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