jens
18th April 2017, 12:48
So… first summary. First thoughts on F1 2017. Overall I like what I have seen. Faster attractive cars, somewhat harder to overtake and pretty decent racing. However, there is a suspicion that on classic circuits it would be damn hard to overtake, as Tilkedromes were specifically designed by Mr Tilke to enable overtaking. So racing in these places has been good.
Competition has seen the much-awaited challenge to arrive. Mercedes 3-year-dominance is gone and Ferrari is right up there. Maybe not quite in qualifying, but in the race - sure! This is bloody impressive by the Maranello squad, as with the departure of TD James Allison last year there were questionmarks, what they could deliver. But here they are. If they keep it up, we could have a season-long thrilling fight for the titles.
Sebastian Vettel vs Lewis Hamilton. It will be down to these two, clearly. Seven championships between the two of them, and it would be the eight one handed out. Their Finnish team-mates are merely the #2’s.:p: Apart from the rise of Ferrari it has to be said not much has changed in competition. Despite big regulation changes and expectations that it would cause an upset. So let’s take a look.
Red Bull. Big expectations that Adrian Newey could deliver something awesome for the regs hasn’t materialized. They are still trailing behind. Well, I think the chassis is still great, but Renault PU not quite there. Perhaps lack of works team status is starting to hurt them a bit? Who knows. I really want to see both Verstappen and Ricciardo win a WDC one day, IMO both are easily good enough to ‘deserve’ that, but they have to wait longer…
Force India. New season, again a solid job. Pérez has been consistently impressive for years. Ocon is slightly lagging behind. Not spectacular so far, but better than some other rookies. Qualifying is the weak point of this car though.
Williams. They have produced a really excellent car for the new regs. By the looks of it fourth quickest of all. So that the already-retired Massa is getting good finishes out of it. However, for years Massa has not been known for being a top driver, so Stroll losing so clearly to him must be concerning. But he has all the money in the world…
STR. New year, another solid job in minor points. Sainz with a slight edge on Kvyat.
Haas. Looks like an improvement over already promising debut season last year. Consistently in the points. Grosjean a bit more consistent than Magnussen.
Renault. Well, in qualifying they look pretty fast, but lag behind in races. They have got a similar problem as Williams - second driver is nowhere. We know Hulk is solid enough, but Palmer shouldn’t really be driving for a works team… Personally I would have expected a bit more from Renault too, if they aim high. Second year as a works team, they should at least cover Toro Rosso with the same engines.
McLaren. Erm, yeah… They have managed to go backwards compared to 2016, which I find a truly amazing feat. Back to their 2015 form. I remember being very critical of them in 2015, but no-one would have expected their 3rd season to be as bad as the 1st one! Quite frankly they are done. And I think we are reaching the stage, where we can start counting days before Honda HQ in Japan decides to pull the plug to end this embarrassment. Worst effort I can remember in F1 for ages. As for drivers. Vandoorne hasn’t shown much yet, but he can endure a bad year and still build up his career. Alonso is desperate though. Career is down the toilet and he looks over to Renault already...
Sauber. Considering they are using year-old PU’s, I think they have been doing pretty fine actually. Always reached Q2 so far. I don’t think many expect more from them than that. In addition to giving a chance to drive to promising drivers like Giovinazzi and Wehrlein. Could score points in a messy race.
Competition has seen the much-awaited challenge to arrive. Mercedes 3-year-dominance is gone and Ferrari is right up there. Maybe not quite in qualifying, but in the race - sure! This is bloody impressive by the Maranello squad, as with the departure of TD James Allison last year there were questionmarks, what they could deliver. But here they are. If they keep it up, we could have a season-long thrilling fight for the titles.
Sebastian Vettel vs Lewis Hamilton. It will be down to these two, clearly. Seven championships between the two of them, and it would be the eight one handed out. Their Finnish team-mates are merely the #2’s.:p: Apart from the rise of Ferrari it has to be said not much has changed in competition. Despite big regulation changes and expectations that it would cause an upset. So let’s take a look.
Red Bull. Big expectations that Adrian Newey could deliver something awesome for the regs hasn’t materialized. They are still trailing behind. Well, I think the chassis is still great, but Renault PU not quite there. Perhaps lack of works team status is starting to hurt them a bit? Who knows. I really want to see both Verstappen and Ricciardo win a WDC one day, IMO both are easily good enough to ‘deserve’ that, but they have to wait longer…
Force India. New season, again a solid job. Pérez has been consistently impressive for years. Ocon is slightly lagging behind. Not spectacular so far, but better than some other rookies. Qualifying is the weak point of this car though.
Williams. They have produced a really excellent car for the new regs. By the looks of it fourth quickest of all. So that the already-retired Massa is getting good finishes out of it. However, for years Massa has not been known for being a top driver, so Stroll losing so clearly to him must be concerning. But he has all the money in the world…
STR. New year, another solid job in minor points. Sainz with a slight edge on Kvyat.
Haas. Looks like an improvement over already promising debut season last year. Consistently in the points. Grosjean a bit more consistent than Magnussen.
Renault. Well, in qualifying they look pretty fast, but lag behind in races. They have got a similar problem as Williams - second driver is nowhere. We know Hulk is solid enough, but Palmer shouldn’t really be driving for a works team… Personally I would have expected a bit more from Renault too, if they aim high. Second year as a works team, they should at least cover Toro Rosso with the same engines.
McLaren. Erm, yeah… They have managed to go backwards compared to 2016, which I find a truly amazing feat. Back to their 2015 form. I remember being very critical of them in 2015, but no-one would have expected their 3rd season to be as bad as the 1st one! Quite frankly they are done. And I think we are reaching the stage, where we can start counting days before Honda HQ in Japan decides to pull the plug to end this embarrassment. Worst effort I can remember in F1 for ages. As for drivers. Vandoorne hasn’t shown much yet, but he can endure a bad year and still build up his career. Alonso is desperate though. Career is down the toilet and he looks over to Renault already...
Sauber. Considering they are using year-old PU’s, I think they have been doing pretty fine actually. Always reached Q2 so far. I don’t think many expect more from them than that. In addition to giving a chance to drive to promising drivers like Giovinazzi and Wehrlein. Could score points in a messy race.