Former Lotus, Renault and Ferrari technical director James Allison has agreed to join Mercedes in the same position. The 49-year-old, who also won two world drivers’ and constructors’ championships at Renault from 2005, will officially start work in March.
Allison had been out of Formula One since July last year following the death of his wife, and joins following the departure of former technical chief Paddy Lowe to Williams.
On joining the team that won all except two races last year, Allison had this to say: “I am very excited to be getting back to work after this time away from the sport.
“It’s a massive privilege to be given the trust of a position in a team that has done so spectacularly well in the past three seasons.
“I am really looking forward to playing my part in helping Mercedes go from strength to strength in the coming years.”
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff added: “I am delighted to welcome James to Mercedes and very much looking forward to working with him. Our technical team is extremely skilled at every level and at the top of its game after delivering three world championships in a row.”
Allison will officially start work during the first pre-season test in Barcelona, where despite the huge shake up in technical regulations Mercedes are once again expected to be on top.
The Silver Arrows are looking to defend a run of dominance that has seen them win each of the last three World Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships.
The new Formula One season begins on March 26 at Albert Park, Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, where yet another thrilling season will start.
Every team has announced and confirmed their 2017 driver line-up. A list of each teams’ drives will follow below. The second part of the 2017 Formula One guide will meet you to the drivers of the upcoming season.
Enjoy!
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton
British Driver and three time world champion. Lewis won his first world title with McLaren in 2008 and the back to back titles with Mercedes in 2014 and 2015. Last season finished second in the championship and collected 380 points.
Valtteri Bottas
Bottas is the new member of Mercedes as he joined the silver arrows this season and will race alongside Lewis Hamilton. The Finn has nine finish podiums and in 2016 he finished 8th in the championship and scored 85 points.
Red Bull Racing
Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo raced for the first time in his career as Red Bull’s driver in 2014 as Webber’s replacement. In 2009 the Australian won the British Formula 3 Championship. Daniel has four wins in his Formula One career, 18 podiums and 616 career points. Last season, he finished 3rd behind Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen
Max made his debut as a Formula 1 driver at the Australian Grand Prix in 2015 for Toro Rosso and became the youngest driver to compete in Formula 1. In 2016 he promoted by Red Bull and replaced Daniil Kvyat who demoted to Toro Rosso. The Dutch has one win and seven podiums as a Formula One driver.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel
Four times World champion with Red Bull, racing for Ferrari since 2015. Last season, the German finished fourth and scored 212 points. Sebastian celebrated his last victory with Ferrari in 2015 in Singapore.
Kimi Raikkonen
The Finn is among the most favourite drivers on the grid. In 2007, Kimi won his only championship with Ferrari. He finished 84 times on the podium in total and won 20 races. From 2009 to 2011 he joined the WRC series, but in 2012 he returned to Lotus and then joined Scuderia Ferrari.
Force India Mercedes
Esteban Ocon
Esteban made his debut in Formula 1 as a Manor’s driver in the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix. The French replaced Rio Haryanto. This season will race for Sahara Force India as Nico Hulkenberg moved to Renault.
Sergio Perez
Checo joined Formula 1 in 2011 with Sauber and three seasons later he signed a contract with Force India which he is still racing for. In 2016, the Mexican scored 101 points and finished 7th. He finished seven times on the podium, but he has not won a race yet.
Williams Mercedes
Felipe Massa
The Brazilian returned to F1 after a short break and decided to pause his retirement for one more season. Felipe, is racing for Williams since 2014, and the team asked him to return to F1 in order to allow Bottas to sign a contract with Mercedes. Massa has scored 1124 points in his career and won 11 grand prix.
Lance Stroll
Lance will become the second youngest driver ever to start a Formula One race. In 2016 the Canadian won the European Formula 3 championship and Williams trusted his abilities and hired him as Massa’s team-mate.
McLaren Honda
Fernando Alonso
Two time world champion with Renault, Fernando enjoys his moments in Formula 1 and he believes in McLaren-Honda partnership. The last race which, the Spaniard won was in 2013 in Spain, last season he scored 54 points and finished 10th in the championship.
Stoffel Vandoorne
The Belgian will race for McLaren once again and he will replace Jenson Button. Stoffel has already scored a point in Formula 1 in 2016 in Bahrain. He finished 10th, behind Valtteri Bottas. Last season he was raced in Super Formula and in 2015 he won the GP2 series.
Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz Jr
Carlos joined Toro Rosso in 2015, he was Verstappen’s team-mate at that season. The Spanish finished 12th in 2016 and collected 46 points, in his career as an F1 driver, Sainz has scored 64 points in total.
Daniil Kvyat
Kvyat was signed by Toro Rosso as Ricciardo’s replacement, but in 2015 he was promoted to Red Bull as Vettel moved to Ferrari. The Russian finished for the first time in his career on the podium in Hungary in 2015. On 5 May 2016 was demoted back to Toro Rosso as Max Verstappen promoted and became Ricciardo’s new team-mate.
Haas Ferrari
Romain Grosjean
Grosjean made his Formula 1 debut at the 2009 European Grand Prix with Renault, but at the end of the season he was replaced by Vitaly Petrov. Lotus offered him a seat and the French returned in Formula One in 2012 and remained in Lotus for three consecutive seasons. Last season he was driving for the American Haas. He finished sixth at the season premiere in Australia, these were Haas first points as a F1 team.
Kevin Magnussen
Magnussen raced for McLaren in 2014, he replaced Sergio Perez, but in 2015 he was released from McLaren. In 2016, he returned to Formula One for Renault and this season he will replace Esteban Gutierrez in Haas. The Danish finished 16th last season and scored 7 points.
Renault
Nico Hulkenberg
The German will be racing for Reunalt this season, as he decided to leave from Sahara Force India after a positive season. The 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, finished 9th in 2016 and contributed to Force India’s fourth place in the Constructors’ championship.
Jolyon Palmer
Jolyon Palmer was promoted as a full race driver on 23 October 2015 for the Renault team. In 2016 the British scored one point and finished 18th in the drivers’ championship.
Sauber Ferrari
Marcus Ericsson
In 2014, Ericsson joined the Formula 1 as Caterham’s driver and he was Kobayashi’s team-mate. The following season, Marcus signed a contract with Sauber which he is still driving for.
Pascal Wehrlein
In February 2016, Wehrlein made his debut as a Formula 1 driver with Manor racing. Pascal, scored his first point in Formula One at the Austrian Grand Prix, it was Manor’s first point in the championship as well. Despite the rumours that he might join Mercedes and replace Rosberg, the German signed a deal with Sauber and he will be racing for the Swiss team this season.
Don’t miss the third and last part of the guide which will be published next week. The third part will introduce you the 2017 calendar and we will make a quick lap on each circuit.
The last time a McLaren driver won a race was at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, that driver was Jenson Button. It was a weekend where McLaren also had their last pole with Lewis Hamilton. The last time we saw McLaren on the podium was at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix when Kevin Magnussen finished 2nd and Jenson Button 3rd.
Those are statistical facts.
What is more surprising, when you think about it, is the last time a McLaren driver won a Drivers Championship. That was Lewis in 2008 and way before that in 1998 was the last time McLaren won the Constructors Championship.
1998 – Think about that for a moment. Nineteen years ago was the last time the third most successful Formula One constructor won a title. That is a staggering fact.
(c) BBC
Honda have in certain media circles been criticised over the last two seasons since their return but as Eric Boullier pointed out, Mercedes had developed their hybrid engine some years before, away from the race track. McLaren and Honda have had to do their preparation and testing in the full glare of the fans and media and on the race track. It takes time and loyal McLaren supporters understand this.
The new regulations kick in this season and in some quarters there is talk of a McLaren revival, but then on the other hand there is news of certain individuals leaving the team and fans begin to wonder if this really is the season of the comeback.
Will the team bounce back?
(c) McLaren.com
It is what all McLaren fans are hopeful of and it is not only those loyal supporters who are clinging on to a veil of hope, Fernando Alonso believes that the team can truly challenge this year.
In 2016 they finished 6th in the Constructors Championship, 62 points behind Williams and just 7 points ahead of Toro Rosso. Alonso managed, remarkably, to grab 10th in the Drivers Championship with Jenson Button finishing 15th. Those aren’t figures supporters of old will be used to, ever since that first title win for a McLaren driver, Emerson Fittipaldi back in 1974, through to Hunt, Lauda, Prost (3 times), Senna (3 times), Hakkinen (twice) and Lewis in 2008.
The team itself has won eight Constructors Championships and would dearly love to make it nine, with Honda having last won a title with McLaren back in 1991, the year Ayrton Senna stood tall.
(c) BBC
As a forty-one year McLaren fan myself, it would be amazing to think that the team, Honda and its partners having put in so much preparation and testing over the last two years will be a successful team, challenging at the top.
A team of old but with a rejuvenated character, a hurt animal with pride to claw back. To have this team, with all its history and honours, fighting back at the front again with Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari would not only make McLaren fans happy, I think it would genuinely boost the flagging interest in Formula One.
That last comment is by no means meant derogatory towards F1, it is purely the fact that over the last few years it has not been the most entertaining motor racing series around. A revitalised team, such as McLaren, forging their way to the front to battle with those teams who have had the advantage over recent years would be a massive boost to the sport.
McLaren now have Zak Brown in and with him being a McLaren fan, a racing driver himself who is passionate about the sport and a very successful businessman, it is hoped that finally the right man has come along at the right time to steady the ship and see the crew through stormy waters to the light on the horizon.
(c) McLaren.com
There have been reports of employees moving on, but I don’t think this should cloud the work that is going on behind the scenes. Sometimes, as fans, we don’t need to know what goes on in meetings, or what is discussed as best for the business. As fans we want to see those two drivers in a McLaren car out there on track battling with the best around for a chance to be crowned a World Champion. As fans, that’s all we truly desire.
We haven’t seen that since 2008.
Will we see it in 2017?
With the change in regulations there is a lot of talk of what will happen this season. I have seen some mention of how Red Bull are ahead of Mercedes in development and how Ferrari are developing a car destined to win this year. But what if something out of the ordinary was to happen in this unknown, untested and different era?
What if those teams mentioned above are not as far ahead as they would like us to think?
What if a team, say McLaren, was able to find that old swagger, boosting confidence and developing a car that could win races, possibly a championship?
For McLaren fans, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thought?
Personally, I think 2017 is a little too soon to talk of McLaren or a McLaren driver lifting the big prizes at the end of the year, but I am hopeful that better race results are there for the taking, maybe even challenging for podium positions. That is the hope.
For now, before the car reveals and official tests, we wait patiently with baited breath.
Can McLaren bounce back?
I think they will, just not as big as some supporters would like at the moment.
Abu Dhabi was the final stop of the 2016 season for the Formula 1 teams and drivers. Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag, but his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, won the title for the first time in his career.
Since that race, many things have changed in the paddock. Nico Rosberg retired a few days after the Aby Dhabi Grand Prix, Jenson Button gave his seat to the rookie Stoffel Vandoorne and Felipe Massa decided to return to the Formula 1 and race for one more year in Williams. Valtτeri Bottas signed a one-year contract with Mercedes and Williams signed Lance Stroll as Massa’s team-mate.
The aim of this guide is to give you all the information that you might need for the upcoming season.
2017 Regulations
This year, new regulations have been applied, which affected the size, the weight and the speed of the Formula 1 cars.
This year’s tyres will be about 25 percent wider than 2016, and also the diameter has been slightly increased, whilst the wheel rim size remained the same as last year at 330mm.
The front wing span is increased from 1650mm to 1800mm and it is worth to mention that the overall width of the car has changed and from 1800mm increased to 2000mm.
Furthermore, changes have been applied to the rear wing and the diffuser. In 2016 the height of the rear wing was 950mm, but for this year have been decreased to a maximum of 800mm, while the diffuser is more powerful, as the height increased from 125mm to 175mm and the width from 1000mm to 1050mm.
The bodywork will be wider than last year’s, the size increased from 1400mm to 1600mm and finally the weight of the cars will now be 722kg plus tyres instead of 702kg which was in 2016.
Several changes were introduced in 2017 which relate to the power units. During an event the driver can use only one power unit element, in case he uses more, a grid penalty will immediately be applied, only the final fitted can be used at subsequent events without any penalty.
FIA also aimed to reduce the cost of the power units, hence from this season the power unit cost for customer teams will be reduced by €1m per season compared to last season and a further €3m reduction to follow in 2018. Finally, the token system which allowed the teams to upgrade their engines during the season has been removed.
Wet weather standing starts were introduced and from this season if a track is wet the marshals will wait until it becomes safe again and a normal start will occur. The safety car will return to the pits and the cars will take their starting positions.
According to FIA after all these alterations the cars will be by three seconds faster compared to last season’s cars.
Toto Wolff said that the 2017 cars will be more difficult to drive and will deploy much more G on the driver like in the past.
Don’t miss the second part of the guide which analyses the drivers and the teams for the 2017 season.
CHINESE GRAND PRIX F1/2012 – SHANGHAI 15/04/2012 – TRONCHETTI PROVERA AND BERNIE ECCLESTONE
“I’m proud of the business that I built over the past 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula 1. I would like to thank all of the promoters, teams, sponsors and television companies that I have worked with.
“I’m very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1. I am sure that Chase will execute his role in a way that will benefit the sport.”
After 40 years in the sport, Bernie Ecclestone stepped down from his role as a chief executive in the Formula 1 Group and replaced by Chase Carey. Liberty Media signed former Mercedes and Ferrari chief, Ross Brawn, as motorsport managing director. Ross Brawn returns to Formula 1 after three years of absence.
Furthermore, the ex-ESPN executive Sean Bratches will be responsible for the commercial part of the sport.
Bernie Ecclestone played a significant role in the recognition of the sport and it was his decisions which boost the publicity of Formula 1. In the last few years, the British were not as famous as he used to be, and the fans were tired of his decisions and the ideas which he proposed in order to make the sport attractive.
Ecclestone’s enrolment with the motorsport started after the World War II, Bernie was driving in the Formula 3 series, but his career as a driver didn’t last for long. After his short career as a driver, he became Stuart Lewis-Evans manager but the British F1 driver died at the 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix.
In the late 1960s, Bernie was the manager of the Austrian Jochen Rindt and a partial owner of Lotus Formula 2 team. Jochen was killed in a crash at the Italian Grand Prix, but he was awarded the championship after his death.
In 1971 Bernie made his first steps as an owner of an F1 team, the British had a talk with Ron Tauranac, the owner of the Brabham team and offered him £100k for the acquisition of the Brabham team. Tauranac accepted the deal and remained in the team as a designer. The Australian didn’t manage to work with Bernie and in 1972 decided to leave the team. Despite some positive results and podium finishes, Ecclestone had to wait until 1981 to celebrate his first Formula 1 title as a team owner. Nelson Piquet won the championship in 1981 and two years later, he became the first driver who won the F1 championship with a turbo-powered car.
During Ecclestone’s final season as an F1 team owner, Brabham scored only eight points. In 1987 made a deal with the Swiss businessman Joachim Luthi and sold Brabham for around $5m.
Bernie Ecclestone had a bigger picture for Formula 1 in his mind, as long as he was Brabham’s team owner he also formed the Formula One Constructors Association (a.k.a FOCA). He transformed the F1 from a low publicity motorsport to one of the most competitive and expensive sports.
His basic idea was to increase F1’s exposure on television, at that time the television companies had signed deals with some circuits and even those deals were not permanent. Ecclestone, decided to change that and made deals with the companies and sold the Formula 1 TV rights as a package. Hence, by the 1980s, F1 had become a global sport and almost every race was shown live on TV. A key role in F1’s popularity growth played some famous drivers such as Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
In the late 1990s, Bernie Ecclestone made a deal with his friend Max Mosley, who at that time was the president of FIA. This deal led to huge profit for Bernie’s company as he took the control of Formula 1 rights from the teams.
Another deal which shocked the F1 community was in 2000 when Mosley sold F1’s commercial rights to Ecclestone until the end of 2110 for a one-off fee of $360m. This led to a domino, as a German TV company bought the rights to F1 but then collapsed and banks took the assets. Finally, in 2006 the German bank BayernLV sold its 47% stake in F1 to a company known as CVC Capital Partners.
For the last ten years, CVC had F1’s TV rights and Ecclestone was the chief executive of the company, hence no one could stop him as he was the one who was responsible for Formula 1 future.
Bernie Ecclestone was accused of bribery by the German authorities and forced to pay $100m to the German courts in order to buy his innocence.
In the last few years, Ecclestone’s publicity is decreasing, that is happening mainly because the British suggested some ideas which aimed to increase the popularity of F1.
In 2014 he suggested a double-points at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi and at the beginning of 2016 suggested to change the format of the qualification session. Finally, Ecclestone was criticized by the Formula 1 fans because he added countries such as Russia, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain in F1’s calendar which secured high fees for CVC.
Even if I personally didn’t like and agree with Bernie’s ideas in the past the past few years I have to admit that Formula 1 would not be the same without him, he raised the price of the product to $8bn.
A new era begins for Formula 1 as Liberty took control of the sport and we have to wait to see what Brawn, Carey and Bratches can do in order to improve the quality of the sport and bring the fans back to the circuits.
Almost three years have passed since the announcement of the deal between McLaren and Honda. A very promising deal between two major motorsport teams/engine suppliers, McLaren is one of the most historical teams in Formula 1 and Honda had participated in Formula 1 from various roles. From 2006 to 2008 Honda had its own team, between 2000 and 2005 they supplied BAR and Jordan with engines and from 2015 they signed a deal with McLaren and since then McLaren’s official engine supplier is Honda.
The partnership did not start as well as the majority of the fans was hoped for. In 2015 the two drivers, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, faced several technical issues and forced to retire twelve times in total. Furthermore, in Bahrain Jenson Button did not even start the race as McLaren announced that his car suffered from electrical problems, in Monza Fernando Alonso was penalised with 10 place grid penalty, because his mechanics changed for the ninth time his ICU, Button was also penalised for the same reason, but the British received a five-place grid penalty. The Spaniard retired on lap 50 of the race due to loss of power.
Despite the bad results and the poor engine performance, the two drivers managed to collect 27 points combined. Jenson Button finished four times in the top-10 and scored 16 points, while his team-mate Fernando Alonso scored 11 points and finished two times in the top-10, the first was in Silverstone and the second time was in Hungary where he finished fifth.
McLaren did not set the bar too high for the 2016 season, although the results were positive and showed that the endless work at Woking is paying off. There were still some technical issues which did not allow to the team and to the drivers to score more points and be as competitive as they wanted but made it clear to everyone that McLaren-Honda made huge steps of improvements.
McLaren-Honda completed the season in the sixth place in the construction standings ahead of Toro Rosso and collected 76 points in total, 49 more than the previous season.
Fernando Alonso scored the majority of the points, 54 points in total and finished 10th ahead of the Brazilian driver Felipe Massa. The Spaniard retired at the first race of the season in Australia, but despite the bad start he managed to recover in the following races. Fernando, finished nine times in the top 10, he finished two times in the fifth place. The two best races for Alonso were in Monaco and in the USA.
From the other hand, Fernando’s team-mate, Jenson Button collected 21 points and finished 15th in the driver standings. The Brit champion finished seven times in the top-10 and his best result was in the sixth place in Austrian Grand Prix.
In the upcoming season, McLaren will run with a fully restructured Honda engine and they hope that they will return to the top.
“For 2017, the Honda engine architecture and layout have been altered to serve both for performance and packaging needs,” said McLaren-Honda technical director Tim Goss.
“The new power unit takes much of the learning from the past two seasons, but has been specifically redesigned for this season. This season’s changes rank as some of the most significant we’ve ever had in the sport. That’s likely to change the competition order, because it’s such a big disturbance.” Goss added.
McLaren-Honda is hoping that the new regulations will allow them to close the gap with the other teams and especially with the top three teams and catch Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Personally, I believe that it is an achievable aim and it will be very positive for Formula 1 to see one of the most historical teams to return to the top and fight for a place on the podium.
Jenson Button will not be able to race with the new McLaren, but I am sure that Vandoorne will cover Jenson’s gap with his passion and his driving skills.
The exact date of the 2017 car launch is not known yet, but it will be before the first test in Barcelona.
Victor Archakis F1 Editor
Follow on Twitter: @FP_Passion
It’s almost Christmas, so I decided to send a letter to my dear friend Santa Claus! Enjoy!
Dear Santa (a.k.a. Bernie)
I was a good editor this season and I hope that this Christmas you will visit my desk at the crew towers.
I don’t want something expensive or very complicated for present this year, I wish to bring me a more interesting and exciting 2017 F1 season.
Next year, many new rules will be applied in Formula 1. The aesthetics of the cars will be different, more aggressive, the wings will be wider, the cars will become lighter and the tyres will also be wider than this years.
FIA believes that next year’s cars will be faster by three seconds and that it won’t be necessary to increase my TV’s or laptop’s volume in order to hear the noise of the F1 cars.
I agree that all these changes will improve the sport, but Santa the fans want to see wheel to wheel battles, different winners in almost every race and at least three or four different drivers ready to fight for the title until the end of the season.
By changing the rules doesn’t mean that F1 will become as it used to be. Formula 1 is not the sport that only one team dominates and win 19 of the 21 races of the season and where only two drivers from the same team fight for the title.
Please, Santa can you bring back the sport which we loved?
P.S. I was wondering if Channel 4 or Sky could hire Button, Massa and Rosberg as commentators.
Abu Dhabi was the final pit-stop for the Formula 1 teams and fans. After a very long season, the longest in Formula 1 history, and 21 races, the 2016 season belongs to the past. After a dramatic finale, Lewis Hamilton took the last chequered flag of the season, but Nico Rosberg was the big winner.
The German finished second and celebrated his first world title, but he decided to retire a few days after the race. Rosberg’s decision to retire from Formula 1 surprised the majority of the fans and the press. Nico decided to retire from F1, before the final race, but he kept it secret between him and his family.
As I said earlier, 2016 was a long season, we saw the five lights for 21 times and some of these races were very dramatic and emotional. From the beginning it was clear the Mercedes will dominate once again, hence the title would be decided between Hamilton and Rosberg.
The odds were with the Brit, as he won the 2014 and 2015 title and he was in a top form, whilst Nico didn’t seem able to challenge him.
Everything changed in the kangaroos’ land, at the Australian Grand Prix Nico Rosberg made a strong and a very promising start, but he didn’t stop there. The German won the first four Grands Prix, whilst at the same time Lewis Hamilton had to fight for points due to mechanical issues.
In Russia, Hamilton had a problem with the MGU-H unit in Q2 and he qualified tenth. Despite the problems that Lewis faced, he managed to climb up to the second position and finish ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.
After the Russian Grand Prix Mercedes’ drivers scored 157 scored combined, Nico Rosberg was leading with 100 points and Hamilton scored only 57 points.
Rosberg’s winning streak stopped in Spain, a collision between him and Hamilton on the opening lap, forced both drivers to retire and allowed to Max Verstappen to shine and become the youngest driver who wins an F1 race.
The Dutch had been promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing after the Russian Grand Prix, and he had the pleasure to win his first Grand Prix in F1 in his debut with Red Bull. After a thrilling racing, Max showed a very mature side of his personality and with his great driving skills, he managed to stay ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and take the chequered flag in Spain.
After Spain, Hamilton made his first attempt to comeback in the championship. The Brit won two consecutive races in Monaco and in Canada respectively. Nico Rosberg struggled in Monaco and the heavy rain allowed him to finish only seventh.
In Baku, it was Rosberg’s turn to take the chequered flag and win the European Grand Prix, whilst Hamilton made a mistake on the qualifying session and started the race from tenth place and finished fifth. That gave the chance to Nico to increase his gap in the championship.
In Baku, Hamilton released his hammer and he won the four remaining races before the summer break. Lewis won in Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, and Germany. After an amazing comeback, the three times world champion had the chance to enjoy his summer holidays as he was now leading the championship. The scores were Hamilton 217 and Rosberg 198 points.
In Spa, Hamilton started from the back of the grid, after massive grid penalties, but he managed to recover and finished third, while Rosberg had a quiet evening and took the chequered flag.
The German won in Monza and in Singapore as well, these results moved him up to the first place in the championship, just eight points ahead of his team-mate.
In Malaysia everything was under control for Lewis Hamilton, he was leading for 40 laps, but on the 41st lap, his engine suffered a bearing failure and had to retire the race.
That was a big hit for Hamilton’s chances to win the title. Daniel Ricciardo took advantage of Hamilton’s retirement and won the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The final countdown
In Japan, Rosberg won for the last time in 2016. After a thrilling race and a bad start from Hamilton, Nico increased his championship lead to 33 points. Max Verstappen finished second, behind the German followed by Lewis Hamilton.
The scores after the Japanese Grand Prix were: 313 for Rosberg and 280 for Hamilton.
The German had the upper hand and the only thing that he had to do in the four remaining races was to finish in the top 3. That was what exactly happened, Lewis Hamilton won in USA, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
That was not enough as Nico Rosberg finished second in all these races and celebrated his first world title in Formula 1.
Get Ready for 2017
A few days after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the world champion decided to retire and focus on his family. Now Mercedes are looking for Hamilton’s new team-mate, which will probably be Wehrlein.
The 2016 season was not very exciting, the sure thing is that 2017 will not be the same. Massa, Button and Rosberg will be watching the new season from their sofa or from their ex-teams paddocks.
The new regulations will shake the things up, wider tires, more downforce, and fastest cars will make the 2017 season more interesting and fascinating.
If one had to pick a team that became, in the first part of the season at least, the personification of the rollercoaster that is F1, it would have to be the Scuderia Toro Rosso (STR).A change in power unit decision saw a quickly prepared car for the longest season in F1 history. That would be the least of the major changes for the much-loved fan favorite team in 2016.
ALL SYSTEMS GO:
STR started the season with Spanish driver Carlos Sainz and the “kid wonder” Max Verstappen who both immediately got into the swing of things, with a double points finish in Australia, bringing up the last two points paying positions.
As the team rolled on into Bahrain, the Dutch driver brought home the STR in a strong 6th place, ahead of the more fancied teams, which in hindsight was a precursor for the year to come… but more on that later. Sainz however found himself on the end of a retirement, which be bounced back from in China, with a strong 9th place just behind his teammate. The significance of China was not just their finishing positions, but the fights with Mercedes, Ferrari and their bigger sister Red Bull.
SCRIPT CHANGE:
Russia 2016 and the infamous “Torpedo-gate” fallout would change the 2016 landscape for STR. The race itself saw a non-finish for both cars, but it was the going-on’s with their former driver Daniil Kvyat in the RBR that would prove to be the bigger issue for the team.
A collision between Sebastian Vettel and Kvyat saw the Russian face a tirade of criticism and the extraordinary decision was taking to move him back to STR and replace him with Verstappen in a Red Bull team swop.
Kvyat went from villain to hero as many F1 fans and pundits supported him, during what was a difficult phase for the young star.
OLD FRIENDS REUNITE:
Sainz and Kvyat had started their professional racing careers together and their reunion at the Spanish Grand Prix saw STR bring home a double points finish with Sainz in a magnificent 6th place and Kvyat in 10th. STR had double reason to celebrate as former driver Verstappen took the win to become the youngest man to win an F1 race.
Kvyat’s “other” home race, like so many drivers is the playground of Monaco. Unfortunately luck did not favour the Russian as a crash with Kevin Magnussen saw him retire. Sainz on the other hand brought the STR home in 8th place.
The Canadian Grand Prix saw Sainz power his way from 20th to 9th which, considering the nature of the Montreal track, was as good as a win in his books. Kvyat meanwhile continued with a difficult run of form ending the race 12th.
Not having any major team shifts for the rest of the season the STR results were:
Austria: Sainz 8th Kvyat – Retired due to mechanical failure
Silverstone: Sainz again 8th while a happy Kvyat brought the car home in 10th
Hungary: Sainz in what must have felt like his customary 8th place wth Kvyat in 16th
Germany: Sainz 14th and Kvyat 15th in a race which saw the lower speed of the STR catch them out
Belgium: Sainz 15th and Kvyat retired
Singapore: Sainz 14th after being hit by a flying Force India and Kvyat a happy 9th
Malaysia – Sainz P11 and Kvyat P 14
Japan – Sainz P 17 and Kvyat P13 both suffered from the STR’s speed deficits compared to their rivals
USA – Sainz P6 and Kvyat 12th on a day in which the Spanish driver staked a claim for driver of the day
Brazil saw a rain dance of note work for Sainz as he crossed the line in 6th place following one of the most bizarre races in F1 history. Kvyat finished P13 after the stop go nature of the race did not suit him
Abu Dhabi was a curtain call to forget as both drivers retired from the race, ending this chapter of F1 for the STR as they, and the other teams march to a new look F1 in 2017.
With both drivers confirmed for 2017 (unless a Rosberg style announcement is made), STR find themselves enjoying the perfect balance of youth and experience. The 2017 boost in engine power should see this team challenge for a podium or two in the not to distant future.
When Nico Rosberg announced his shock retirement from Formula One at last week’s FIA gala, he left not only the sport’s fans scratching their heads as to the identity of his replacement, but also his former employers’.
After all, despite being the most attractive package on the 2017 grid, Rosberg’s cockpit will not prove an easy one to fill: his successor must be able to cope with the pressures of a frontrunning team, play an active part in defending Mercedes’ world titles from Red Bull et al, provide a worthy and motivational challenger to Lewis Hamilton without upsetting the team dynamic, and – most importantly – be contractually available at such short notice.
With such specific criteria to meet, it’s no wonder Toto Wolff, Paddy Lowe and Niki Lauda are currently bracing themselves for a stressful December that has nothing to do with Christmas shopping queues on Brackley High Street.
Do they stick to their driver development plan and hope Pascal Wehrlein’s inexperience is outweighed by his existing familiarity with the team? Try to lure a more established midfield talent like Bottas or Sainz into a number two role beside Hamilton? Or even chase a box office star like Fernando Alonso, knowing full well the results will come with their fair share of fireworks? Each one of the choices before them is far from ideal, with risks aplenty as well as benefits.
However, the flipside to Rosberg’s sudden retirement is that it presents the Mercedes management with a golden opportunity to resolve certain intra-team issues that have developed over the last few seasons.
With a free seat available, Toto Wolff and his peers now have a clean slate with which to approach their professional relationship with Lewis Hamilton. The free-to-race policy governing Hamilton’s and Rosberg’s time together was clearly a source of great anxiety for the Mercedes pitwall, but so long as the partnership remained a successful one for the Silver Arrows, there was no way Wolff could water down that policy without triggering an outcry from all camps of F1 fans.
But for 2017, the Mercedes rules of engagement are up for complete renegotiation. Wolff has already stated his lack of enthusiasm for replacing Rosberg like-for-like with another world champion – and with another world champion’s ego, of course – and hinted he would prefer a more defined driver hierarchy “a bit like Ferrari at the time of Schumacher and Massa”.
If that’s the new direction Wolff envisions for the Silver Arrows, now is the time to take it. Team orders are hardly what any F1 fan wants to see at the front of the grid, but at least for Mercedes next year there would be some justification to it, given the extraordinary circumstances into which Rosberg’s replacement is about to be thrown.
Indeed, 2017 could be billed as something of a trial period for a new, more cooperative Mercedes, allowing someone like Wehrlein or Bottas time to adjust to being parachuted into a team with everything to lose but without the added pressure of going toe-to-toe with Hamilton for the drivers’ championship. Then, at the end of the season, Wolff, Lowe and Lauda could meet again and decide if they want to return to the old way of parity or continue as they are.
Although many spectators – including Bernie Ecclestone himself – would rather see Fernando Alonso join the Silver Arrows for a fairytale tilt at a third world title, the likelihood is that Mercedes will steer towards calmer waters instead, leaving Formula One to look elsewhere along the grid for the box office battle of 2017.
