From the fans… For the fans
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After 2017, there are several drivers and teams facing a critical 2018—one which could have serious implications for their future in F1. Here we’ll look at those who are under the most pressure for 2018, why they have to perform and the potential consequences if they don’t.
Valtteri Bottas
Replacing the out-going world champion with just three months to go until the start of the season was always going to be a challenge. However, the majority of the F1 paddock expected more from Bottas in 2017. While he seemed able to be around the pace of Hamilton in the first half of the season, his form soon deteriorated with Bottas being cast adrift by both Hamilton and Vettel.
As such, Bottas needs to deliver a stunning performance in 2018 to keep his seat for 2019. We’re not just talking about one race though—he needs to consistently be on the pace of Hamilton throughout the season, which is a hard ask for anyone.
If he doesn’t perform as Mercedes expect, either Ricciardo or Ocon will be quick to snap up his seat—leaving Bottas out of a top drive and potentially out of F1 altogether.
Kimi Raikkonen
After years and years of the “will Raikkonen be retained” saga, it seems that Ferrari’s patience for the Finn is waning. Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne has stated that 2018 is Raikkonen’s last chance to rediscover his form—if he doesn’t, he will be replaced.
While he was once a world champion and still is a brilliant driver, Raikkonen’s consistency been missing since he returned to F1 in 2012, and even when he’s at the top of his game he’s still no match for Vettel. He’ll have to pull off a miracle to stand any chance at retaining his seat for 2019.
Should Raikkonen not miraculously rediscover his form, Ferrari have a long line of drivers knocking at their door. They’re unlikely to take Grosjean or Perez but instead either Ricciardo or their very promising youngster, Charles Leclerc. Whoever they chose, Ferrari aren’t short of talented replacements if Kimi isn’t up to scratch.
Sergio Perez
Perez is generally considered to be a midfield driver in a midfield team. He’s undoubtedly talented, but seems to be lacking that extra something that would put him up with the champions. This became more apparent in 2017 when Ocon started consistently beating him throughout the second half of the season.
If, like everyone is anticipating, Ocon takes the next step in 2018, Perez will likely be left far behind and that could seriously compromise his 2019 options. He’s been holding out for a Ferrari drive since who knows when, but with every year that passes, that seems more and more unlikely—if Ferrari wanted him, they’d have taken him by now.
He should be able to keep his seat at Force India for 2019 with his only other serious option being Renault if Sainz were to be called up to Red Bull. Any progression up the grid looks unlikely for the now 28-year-old Mexican.
Romain Grosjean
The successes of 2016 with Haas have long been forgotten for Grosjean, and that supposed Ferrari promotion looks further away than ever. Over 2017, the Frenchman gained a reputation for moaning and was often beaten, quite comprehensively, by teammate Magnussen.
With decent performances becoming distance memories, Grosjean hasn’t been having the best of times of it lately. He needs to rediscover his consistency of the later Lotus years to keep his seat at Haas and remain in F1.
Admittedly, Haas don’t have that many options to replace Grosjean. Ferrari may push them into taking one of their junior drivers but really, Haas need experience and that is one thing Grosjean has going for him. Regardless of that, improvement is needed from the Frenchman in 2018.
Nico Hulkenberg
Hulkenberg has been the nearly-man of F1 for years. He holds the record for the most F1 races without a podium but you’ll struggle to find anyone who doubts his talents. With Renault on the rise, that podium could come in the next year or two. However Hulkenberg has a more pressing issue: Carlos Sainz.
The highly-regarded Red Bull junior driver switched to Renault in the closing races of the 2017 season, with Hulkenberg seeming to have the measure of Sainz. The German has to beat or at least strongly challenge Sainz if he’s to maintain his perceived ranking in the F1 paddock.
His F1 career isn’t on the line in 2018 as he has a long-term Renault deal in place. But he still needs to show that he can go up against Sainz to ensure his fundamental place at Renault in years to come.
Marcus Ericsson
If anyone’s career is on the line in 2018, its Ericsson’s. He controversially kept his Sauber seat, despite Ferrari pushing for Antonio Giovinazzi to get the drive, by virtue of having lots of money from his backers that are mysteriously linked to the team’s owners…
The funds cannot hide the fact that Ericsson hasn’t scored a point in F1 since 2015 while all his teammates have. With F2 champion Leclerc in the other seat for 2018, Ericsson is going to have to massively up his game if he’s to avoid getting shown up by the promising youngster.
Ferrari want Sauber to become their effective ‘B-team’, so Ericsson will likely lose his seat to one of the Ferrari juniors in 2019—and it will be hard for Ericsson to find a seat at another team, even with all his money.
Williams
The season hasn’t even started and Williams are already facing a lot of criticism for hiring Sergey Sirotkin over Robert Kubica, Daniil Kvyat and Pascal Wehrlein with Sirotkin being brandished a ‘pay driver’. This means that for 2018 Williams will have a 19-year old in his second season of F1 and a rookie who’s failed to produce any convincing results in years.
That already sounds like a recipe for disaster—and when you consider the highly competitive nature of the midfield, the outcome doesn’t look good for Williams.
Fifth in the championship isn’t going to happen with McLaren and Renault on the rise and most expect Williams to sink further down the standings. This could put them in danger of losing sponsorship and without a star driver, it’s hard to see who’s going to bring the results in. Maybe basing driver decisions on bank accounts rather than talent wasn’t such a good idea.
McLaren
For McLaren, 2018 will be a test of all that they have said over the last three seasons while they were with Honda. Throughout those years, McLaren claimed to have the best chassis so, on equal footing with Red Bull and Renault, that will be put to the test.
Their last win came in 2012 and last podium in 2014, if there was ever a time that McLaren needed to deliver, for the sake of all involved, it’s in 2018. Alonso may have signed a multi-year deal but he won’t hang around forever, he wants that third title but has interests elsewhere if that fails to materialise in the coming years.
If they’re not winning, or at least on the podium, in 2018 they probably won’t be until the engine regulation change in 2020. It’s paramount that they get the Renault transition right as they need to be frontrunners again—four winless seasons is four too many for a team like McLaren, they better not make it five.
F1 has completed its first full season under Liberty Media’s ownership, all 20 races have been and gone, the champion has been crowned and everyone’s preparing for the year ahead. Liberty are the new kids on the block, their arrival has been met with a mixed response and they’ve got a lot to learn if they’re to manage the sport successfully.
While critics will argue that Liberty haven’t achieved an awful lot so far, it’s important to remember the unstable mess that they picked from Bernie Ecclestone on the 23rd January 2017. Bernie’s strategy was to keep F1 on an unstable platform so that no one got too comfortable however, this is the opposite of what is needed for growth and expansion.
The bias within the F1 remains for now, Ferrari still get a disproportionate amount of prize money but that’s unlikely to change as it is part of the Concorde Agreement which was signed in 2013 and runs to 2020. In spite of this, Liberty have made it clear that they intend on scrapping the controversial agreement as soon as possible.
“We have the infamous document called the Concorde Agreement, which is this agreement that comes up every six to eight years – it comes up in 2020 – which defines the financial arrangements with teams,”
“Our goal is to create much more of a long-term partnership, not a partnership that sort of has a point in time that you go out and renegotiate the next eight-year partnership, that there’s a continuum.” – Chase Carey, F1 Chairman
Even with the majority of the inner workings of F1 being locked in contracts, Liberty have started to make changes to the social element of the sport. Almost immediately the strict regulations surrounding social media usage in the paddock were relaxed, allowing teams and drivers to better connect with and involve fans.
The London Live event was an entirely new concept for F1 which brought all the drivers, bar Hamilton, to the centre of London with live music, interviews and an impressive demo run in the old cars. This type of event is going to become more common in the coming years and, with the relaxation of more regulations, can now include the current cars doing demo runs.
Another of Liberty’s changes was to the logo, this was met with swathes of criticism however, the FIA stood by Liberty’s decision so the new logo will be sticking around for 2018 and beyond.
“What we wanted to do was provide a fresh energy to the sport and I think we have a lot of plans for the future, a lot of things we want to do and we thought the logo was a good way to emphasise the excitement, fresh energy and a new day to take the sport to a new place,” – Carey
2017 was just the start of Liberty’s new venture, they intend to set up an in-house live streaming service for 2018 however, it will only be available in countries where there isn’t a pre-exiting TV deal that guarantees exclusivity, for example the UK and Sky.
They will also have to tackle the looming engine regulation change, set to come in for 2020. The current hybrid engines have proven to be unpopular with fans, monumentally expensive to teams and have detracted any new manufactures from joining – just look what happened to Honda. The change will be a delicate balancing act to please the current manufactures while attracting new ones and improve the show for the fans.
It’s clear that some fundamental changes need to be made to F1 if it’s to succeed in this modern world. Liberty need to take back control from the manufactures for a start; if Ferrari want to quit, let them – decisions need to be made for the benefit the sport, not one or two manufactures.
Likewise, changes need to be made to the ludicrous engine penalties; capping them at 15 places for 2018 is a start but more needs to be done to stop them ruining races, confusing fans and even deciding the championship.
Even with all that, F1 as a whole needs to be modernised, it needs to attract new fans and it needs to have a bigger, more global reach. F1 was the fastest growing sport on social media in 2017 but it still has a long way to go to have anything like the presence of the NBA, the Premier League, La Liga and such like.
Overall, Liberty Media’s first year in charge has gone as well as it could’ve, the confident manner in which they are talking is promising but there’s still a long way to go and a lot more hurdles to clear before F1 is anywhere near where it should be.
It’s almost time to switch off the lights and celebrate the first day of the 2018, but before we close the 2017 chapter, we must first give the crown to the driver who received the most grid drop penalties in 2017.
During the past season, many fans complained about the amount of penalties which were given to the Formula One drivers, some of them were fair, but some others didn’t even make sense. This article, presents all the penalties which were given to the drivers in the 2017 season. Due to the different type of penalties, I decided to give the crown to the driver with the most grid penalties.
Let’s step aside now and let the numbers do the talking.
The first figure shows the number of penalties which applied on every track, the least penalties were given in Malaysia and Singapore, whilst Italy and Belgium set the highest rate of penalties. The award of the most “painful” track goes to Monza (12)!
It’s not difficult to guess which team got the most penalties in 2017 (hint: they were using Honda engines), the interesting point is that despite the wins and the podium finishes Red Bull Racing was penalised 12 times in 20 races. The two title contenders had low penalty percentage, which means that the battle for the title wasn’t affected much from grid position penalties.
The award of the most penalised team goes to McLaren (25).
Now it’s finally the time to announce the big winner. (Hold your breath!!)
Many drivers tried to beat him, to claim the throne, but once again he proved how skilful driver, he is, of course his team and their engine supplier helped him to achieve this victory, but without teamwork you cannot achieve anything.
His closest rivals were Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo with eight grid drop penalties, whilst Esteban Ocon still doesn’t know how is to lose positions due to penalties, no grid drop penalty for Esteban (a.k.a. Oconsistency).
The award of the Mr.Penalty goes to.. Drums… Stoffel Vandoorne (15)!
At this point, I would like to thank the Pit Crew for giving me the opportunity to freely write articles and express my opinion via our website! I hope you enjoyed most of them, if not all them, and I wish you a happy new year!
See you all next year!
Ps. if you are planning to attend the Autosport Show, in January, let me know and we can meet there!
Twitter @FP_Passion
Season finale once again, the 2017 Formula One season, belongs to the past, it’s hard to describe my feelings for this season. There are two emotional packages, the first one is before the summer break and the other one is after the break, mixed emotions but at the end, despite the results, despite the winner, there is no way to relieve the pain that appears when the F1 season ends. Now we have to wait until the first pre-season tests to hear the noise of the engines, but before that there will be massive debates about the Halo. Personally, I don’t like it, but the drivers’ safety is always the most important factor, end of discussion!
A traditional review would break the season into two parts and remind you round by round, or race by race, if you prefer, what happened the past months. Let’s try a different approach, a shorter season review, which will try to put you in a flashback mode, and pass all the 2017 season in front of your eyes in 1 minute (okay maybe a bit more!)
8 months ago…
Australia
Season premiere, tonnes of coffee for us who are living in the European time zone, agony as well, like the first day in school after the summer break! Sebastian Vettel, started from the second place, had better set up and a faster car than his title rival, Lewis Hamilton, and won for the first time since the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2015. Mercedes asked from Hamilton to go faster, but the Brit had issues with his tyres and was unable to catch Vettel’s speed.
Not a race to remember for Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian’s Red Bull, stopped on the way to the grid, his mechanics sent him back to the race, and on the second lap he had another issue, returned to the track, to enjoy his home race, but retired before the 30th lap.
China
Lewis Hamilton took his revenge, the Briton won his first victory in 2017. On Saturday he secured the pole, and had an advantage the following day, Vettel was close but never too close and at the end Hamilton took the chequered flag. The drivers started the race on wets, Max Verstappen had an impressive race, moved from the 16th to the third. Antonio Giovinazzi crashed his Sauber on the third lap of the race and retired, a good result for Carlos Sainz who finished seventh and scored six points for Toro Rosso.
Bahrain
Pole position for Valtteri Bottas, the first in his career, the Finn set the fastest lap on Saturday, followed by his team-mate and Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari, had the pace to challenge Mercedes, and win their second victory of the season. At that moment, it was clear that the 2017 title would be decided between Hamilton and Vettel. Lewis Hamilton received a five second time penalty, for driving slowly on the pit entry to hold up Daniel Ricciardo. Lewis, served his penalty during the second and final pit-stop, when he re-joined the track he was behind Vettel and Bottas. The Finn stepped aside, allowed to Hamilton to pass him and chase Vettel, but Hamilton was not able to cover the 12 second gap in nine laps.
Max Verstappen crashed on the eleventh lap of the race, due to brake problems and retired.
Russia
Russia was the next stop for the Formula 1 crew, after the Bahrain Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel was prepared to celebrate another victory in 2017, as he claimed the pole position in Bahrain, followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas, but the Finn had other plans. The Silver Finn, jumped the two Ferraris in front of him and took the lead on the opening lap. Bottas, despite the pressure from Vettel during the final laps, managed to remain first until the chequered flag and scored his first victory in Formula 1.
Spain
Hola amigos, said Hamilton to Sebastian Vettel. After an amazing start, Vettel passed Hamilton on the first lap, but Mercedes had an ace under its sleeve. The Silver Arrows, decided not to follow Ferraris strategy and go for a quick stop, but to leave Hamilton on the track for a longer medium stint and gain an advantage on a later stage of the race. Valtteri Bottas, delayed Vettel, as the German couldn’t pass the Finn, Mercedes pitted Hamilton, after the end of VSC, and with 30 laps to go. The British champion, re-joined on softs, Vettel pitted a lap later and after a wheel to wheel battle with Hamilton managed to remain first. On lap 44, Lewis was on Sebastian’s tail, took advantage of the DRS and overtook the race. Since that moment Lewis has tried to increase the gap between him and Vettel and at the end, he took his second chequered flag of the season.
Hamilton vs Vettel = 2-2
Monaco
Kimi Raikkonen started from the pole position, after nine years, Kimi took advantage of Vettel’s mistakes on his flying lap, and took the pole on Saturday’s session. A race to forget for Hamilton, Lewis qualified 13th and finished seventh. Jenson Button, replaced Fernando Alonso, in Monaco, but collided with Pascal Wehrlein on lap 60 and retired the race.
Ferrari decided to pit Kimi on lap 34, Sebastian Vettel found the opportunity and set some flying laps, pitted after five laps, and re-joined ahead of his team-mate.
Daniel Ricciardo was the third person on the podium, it was Red Bull’s third podium of the season, and the second consecutive for Ricciardo.
Canada
Easy weekend for Lewis Hamilton, the Briton started and finished the race from the same position, the first. Vettel, qualified second on Saturday, couldn’t follow the pace of the two Mercedes’ and Ricciardo’s, he finished only fourth. Sergio Perez, refused to follow Force India’s orders, to allow Ocon to pass, while he was fourth behind Ricciardo. At the end, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished fifth and sixth respectively.
Azerbaijan
Three safety cars, and several crashed were not enough to stop Daniel Ricciardo to win his first victory in 2017. Sebastian Vettel collided with Lewis Hamilton, he got a 10 second stop and go time for swearing in Hamilton’s car.
Daniel Ricciardo totally deserved the victory in the Baku Grand Prix, the Australian dropped down to 17th place, but moved up to the tenth position just before the first safety car. The two following, safety cars, and the troubles between the leading drivers, gave the advantage to Ricciardo to move all the way up in the first place.
A race that Stroll will never forget, the Canadian young driver finished on the podium for the first time in his career.
Austria
Valtteri Bottas dominated in Austria, took his second victory in 2017. A five-place grid penalty dropped Hamilton to eighth position, the following day, Lewis finished fourth behind Daniel Ricciardo whilst Sebastian Vettel finished second. During the final laps of the race, Vettel was closing to Bottas and Hamilton to Ricciardo, for the third place, but both drivers didn’t improve their position.
After the Austrian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel was leading in the championship standings by 20 points.
United Kingdom
Home race for Lewis Hamilton and he couldn’t imagine a better way to thank his fans who appeared in Silverstone, than to win the British Grand Prix. With that victory, Lewis Hamilton tied the all-time record of five career wins in the British GP.
“The support has been incredible this weekend, I am so proud I could do this for you all. Now the plan is to win the championship.” Lewis Hamilton said after his victory in Silverstone.
An issue on Vettel’s front tyre, dropped him to seventh place behind Hulkenberg. Kimi Raikkonen, suffered the same problem a couple laps earlier, which cost him the second position, dropped him to the third place, whilst Bottas moved up to the second position.
Hungary
The last race before the summer break, Ferrari dominated in Hungary, and responded to Mercedes 1-2 in Silverstone. Sebastian Vettel, despite the problems that his Ferrari suffered, he won in Hungary, followed by his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who was complaining about Vettel’s speed.
Lewis Hamilton, was not able to catch the two Ferraris in front of him and allowed Bottas to pass him and finish third. The Briton, kept the promise which made to Valtteri earlier in the race, when Bottas allowed Lewis to pass, as he was moving faster at that point of the race.
A great race for Fernando Alonso, who finished sixth and scored crucial points for McLaren, a positive result for Carlos Sainz Jnr too, the Spaniard finished seventh behind Alonso.
Season Review…Part One…
Stay..tuned…for..the..second..part…
*Twitter @FP_Passion
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Check out the newest video from Mobil 1 The Grid in which Max Verstappen previews The 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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The season finale for Formula One will take place in Abu Dhabi, the final race of the 2017 season will be held in Yas Marina Circuit this Sunday. A season which was very interesting if we consider that it was the first year that Mercedes worried about the championship, Ferrari considered as a difficult opponent for the Silver Arrows, but some poor judgements allowed Mercedes to seal the constructors’ title in COTA and the drivers’ championship in Mexico.
In Brazil, Valtteri Bottas secured the pole-position, but Sebastian Vettel took the lead on the opening lap and led till the chequered flag, it has been Ferrari’s first victory in Brazil since Massa’s victory in 2008. Kimi Raikkonen finished third, behind Bottas. It was Vettel’s fifth victory in 2017, four less than Lewis Hamilton, Vettel has almost secured the second place in the championship as he is 21 points ahead of Bottas with one race to go. In Brazil, Lewis Hamilton repeated an epic achievement which he firstly achieved in Hungary in 2014, the Brit started the race from the pits and managed to lead the race for a few laps.
YAS MARINA CIRCUIT
Laps: 55
Circuit Length: 5.554 km
Race Length: 305.355 km
Fastest Lap: 1:40.279 (Sebastian Vettel – 2009)
Two DRS zones, one is located on the long straight between turn 7 and 8, the second zone is between turn 9 and 11. The average speeds on the track are around 190 m/h, while the top speeds are 325 km/h, the circuit is consisted by nine right turns and 12 left turns and the drivers are racing in an anti-clockwise direction.
Nico Hulkenberg – “The circuit itself is quite amazing and the facilities are really impressive. It’s a long lap with a weird rhythm so it’s key to get comfortable with the change of flow. The corners are a lot different to each other so it’s vital to find a good balance, get accustomed to the conditions and master it. Abu Dhabi is a really fun place for a season finale. I’ve finished in the top seven three times in the last three years so I’m looking forward to it and ready to fight for some points. The constructors’ championship will go down to the wire for sixth in Abu Dhabi and I’m really relishing the challenge. The track should suit us better than Interlagos. It’s the season finale, there’s plenty at stake and that makes me very excited.I head to Abu Dhabi hoping to score well. I want to kick back on Sunday night at Yas Marina with the team and celebrate a job well done.”
Pirelli has nominated the three softest compounds for the Abu Dhabi grand prix, soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres are available to the teams.
The ideal way to close the season is a battle between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull for the chequered flag in Yas Marina. The three teams have high chances to win the race and the track is ideal for close battles.
Twitter * @FP_Passion
(c) Logo courtesy of and licensed to Alfa Romeo part of the Fiat Group
In my second The Factory feature I will take a look at Alfa Romeo. I can feel the confusion from you the reader now at the fact that this feature is supposed to concentrate on current constructors in the world of racing. Alfa Romeo aren’t racing next year! Some cry – I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Read on…..
It was in 1911 when Alfa Romeo first began to race competitively, the Targa Florio. Two years later they would finish second in the Parm-Paggio Berceto race with Nino Franchini.
During the 1920s and 1930s Alfa Romeo received success, Giuseppe Campari would win at Mugello in 1920 with Enzo Ferrari finishing second in the Targa Florio that year also. There was another Mugello win the following year with Campari at the wheel and in 1923 Ugo Sivocci won the Targa Florio.
Alfa Romeo wanted to press forward, they knew that they had to keep developing and improving to make their mark in the racing world and so in 1923 Vittorio Jano moved from Fiat to the factory to design their Grand Prix racing cars.
In 1925 they would win their first world title, the first AIACR World Manufacturers’ Championship with wins at the European Grand Prix at Spa and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The factory continued to be competitive moving into the 1930’s, in 1932 Tazio Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola won five Grand Prix’s between them, but it was in 1933 that Alfa Romeo would recall all its racing cars, close the factory doors and transferred all their assets, with the insistence of the Italian government, to Enzo Ferrari who was now running a privatised factory team called Scuderia Ferrari.
With the cars moved to Ferrari Louis Chiron went on to win the French Grand Prix in 1934 and the Alfa car won 18 or 35 races in Europe. The Silver Arrows were beginning to outclass Alfa Romeo but Nuvolari did hit back by beating the Germans in the own backyard at the Nurburgring in 1935.
Alfa Romeo commanded the Targa Florio, winning six times in a row during the 1930s and also taking the Mille Miglia, with the exception of 1931, every year from 1928 to 1938.
With their 8C 2300 car, Alfa Romeo would also win the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1931 to 1934, moving them swiftly onto the sportscar scene.
They developed their sportscar programme in 1963, taking class wins in races and developed a new 90 degree V8 engine, designed by Carlo Chiti and this was to compete with the dominant Porsche team. They raced in the World Sportscar Championship from 1967 to 1977 taking two world titles (1975 and 1977).
As a Formula One constructor and engine supplier Alfa Romeo took two Drivers’ Championships (1950 and 1951) and would compete in F1 from 1950 until 1988. As a constructor Alfa Romeo pulled out of Formula One at the end of 1951, after their second title, but would supply F1 teams during the 1960s, with their V8 engine run by McLaren and March during the 1970s. Brabham took Alfa Romeo engines from 1976 until 1979 and they also supplied Osella from 1983 until 1988.
They did re-enter Formula One as a constructor themselves from 1979 until 1985 and in 1987 had struck a deal to supply Ligier until Fiat took over Alfa Romeo and that contract fell through.
As a constructor, Alfa Romeo entered 110 races, winning 10. They attained 26 podiums, 12 pole positions and 14 fastest laps to go with their two world titles. Drivers to have raced for the team include, Nino Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio, Bruno Giacomelli, Mario Andretti, Andrea de Cesaris, Eddie Cheever and Riccardo Patrese.
The factory has had major success in Formula Three, Michele Alboreto for example won the European F3 title in a March-Alfa Romeo and from 1980 to 1984 they won four consecutive Italian F3 titles.
In 1989 Alfa Romeo entered IndyCar, the engine developed using the unraced Ferrari 637 indy car. They recorded no podiums, no poles and no race wins, eventually pulling out of IndyCar in 1991.
They skirted with rally, the Giulietta won the 1958 1000 Lakes Rally, they also went on to secure victories in the Elba and Costa Brava rallies in 1975 winning the Group 2 category in the WRC Tour de Corse. They produced the GTV6, one of the fastest Group A rally cars, but this was reclassified as a Group B by the FIA at the end of the 1986 and was less competitive.
It was in Touring Cars where Alfa Romeo found most of their success, taking numerous ETCC titles, Trans-Am Championships, BTCC, DTM and winning the Bathurst 12 Hour.
Now part of the Fiat group, there has been much talk over the last few years of an Alfa Romeo return to Formula One, but nothing concrete and no deal with the FIA was forged to see the marque return.
Alfa Romeo are now again competing in the new TCR Series where the Giulietta has taken race wins during the 2017 season.
It is, however, returning to touring cars for 2018, be it through a dealer team entry. An Alfa Romeo Giulietta will once again be on the British Touring Car grid next season with Handy Motorsport. The front-wheel drive Giulietta will be fitted with a BTCC TOCA engine in its first season, but a bespoke unit could be developed in the future. The last time Alfa Romeo appeared on the grid in BTCC was 2007. It is not a full factory entry but Alfa Romeo’s 62 strong dealership network in the UK have been encouraged to support the project.
So we have an Alfa Romeo, semi-factory, car back on the grid for next season. It is hoped that this is just the beginning of a return to racing for this historic marque.
“La meccanica delle emozioni”
Alfa Romeo has won the following major victories and championships:
5 – World Championships (1925, 1950, 1951, 1975, 1977)
11 – Mille Miglia (1928,1929,1930,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1947)
10 – Targa Florio (1923,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1950,1971,1975)
4 – 24 Hours of Le Mans (1931, 1932, 1933, 1934)
17 – European Touring Car Championships (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976 (Divisions 1 and 2), 1977 (Divisions 1 and 3), 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
9 – Makes Championship
4 – Drivers’ Championships
10 – Italian F3 Championships
10 – European F3 Championships (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990)
5 – European F3 Cups
7 – French F3 Championships (1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989)
2 – German F3 Championships (1984, 1989)
3 – Giro Automobilistico d’Italia (1954, 1988, 1989)
2 – Trans-Am Championship (1966, 1970)
1 – Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) (1993)
2 – British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) (1983, 1994)
5 – Spanish Touring Car Championship (1988, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997)
2 – French Touring Car Championship (1983, 1984)
6 – Italian Superturismo Championship (1988, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004)
7 – European Historical Gran Turismo Championships
4 – European Classic Touring Car Championships
3 – Bathurst Unique Fuel Championships
Neil Simmons
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In Mexico, Lewis Hamilton celebrated his fourth title in his Formula 1 career, a title which Lewis had to fight hard with the four time world champion, Sebastian Vettel, especially before the summer break. Hamilton showed a “winner” character and managed to overcome all his difficulties, both psychological and driving, but at the end Lewis became the first British driver who has ever won four world titles in Formula One.
Next stop, is Brazil, with only two races to go, until the season’s chequered flag, teams are travelling to Sao Paulo, for one of the best races in the Formula 1 calendar. Red Bull will try to win another race and be considering their current form, they have many chances to achieve that. The Bulls, are fast and compatible, both Verstappen and Ricciardo, will fight for a place on the podium and of course not in any place, but the highest one.
Ferrari is facing their own problems, Asia was a difficult chapter for the team, which cost them the chance to fight for the drivers’ and constructors’ championship, they didn’t have many chances for the second one, only if Raikkonen was able to move faster and improve his results.
In Brazil, the Scuderia has to fight for the best possible result, personally I don’t believe that Ferrari will win the race, Red Bull is faster and more reliable from the Scuderia Ferrari, at the moment, Verstappen is getting better and better, and I assume that he wants to close this season with two more victories.
AUTÓDROMO JOSÉ CARLOS PACE
Laps: 71
Circuit Length: 4.309 km
Total Length: 305.909 km
Lap Record: 1:11.473 (Juan Pablo Montoya – 2004)
Supersoft, soft and medium tyres are available for the drivers in Brazil, a circuit which the brake demand is low there are fifteen corners, 44 gear changes per lap and the average lap speed which the drivers will reach is about 220 km/h.
Three current drivers on the gird have won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen has won one time, whilst Sebastian Vettel has two victories in Interlagos. It is mentionable that only three drivers have exceeded the two victories in the Brazilian Grand Prix history. Alain Prost won six times, Michael Schumacher four times and Carlos Reutemann three.
“It’s very special for me and one of my favourite places and races on the calendar. Sao Paulo is a crazy city and there’s something I really like about it. The food, the people, it’s all really engaging and a highly unique experience.
Nico Hulkenberg – “The track itself has so much history especially when you cast your mind to all the stories and championships won there. You can feel the history and the emotions that belong to racing and I really like that. It’s a reason why I usually perform quite well there. The circuit is short and can be quite tricky to get right. It’s anti-clockwise, very bumpy and extremely tough on the neck! It’s all about confidence, especially the in-field middle sector.I have special memories around Interlagos! My only Formula 1 pole position to date came in my rookie season, which was awesome. I put a perfect lap together at the right time in changing conditions and poled it by over a second; that’s a real standout moment in my entire racing career. In 2012, I led for a large part of the race and was unlucky not to get a podium. I have a decent record there and I will be pushing to make sure I continue that.”
Toto Wolff admitted that Mercedes will test new parts for the 2018 season in the two remaining races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
“The final two Grands Prix thus present the first two test opportunities ahead of the new season, trialling new and interesting concepts that the competitive landscape on track simply didn’t allow for earlier in the year. [We] will be running a series of experiments over the final two Fridays – with the option for race day, too, if the team feels that the risk connected with any idea is manageable and there is valuable learning for 2018 and beyond.”
Felipe Massa announced that he will retire, for the second time in the last two years, after the end of the 2017 season and that will make the Brazilian Grand Prix a very emotional race, full of Brazilians who will be cheering for Felipe.
Future Stars – Introducing F1’s Next Generation: George Russel & Arjun Maini, Mobil 1 The Grid
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