Your thoughts about the 2017 Season
The year started with a very strong Ferrari. Most of us were thinking Vettel would win the 2017 driver championship seeing that Ferrari seemed to have the giant Mercedes on the ropes at the early stages. But quickly Mercedes showed why they are a worthy constructors world champion by making a troublesome car into a championship winning car as they out paced the Ferrari on the development front. But this was aided also by Mercedes having a better reliability than the Ferrari.
This aspect shows an appeal of F1 that is recently being under emphasized in the quest to modernized the sport. While there is an entertainment aspect to F1, a huge majority of F1 fans are also very interested in the inter-team technology rivalry. A definite concern that F1 may be heading for a formula with a common engine across teams. I hope this is not the case because that would not be F1 but a glorified American series.
Back on point, Ferrari faltered with reliability issues and both team and driver made a number of championship costly mistakes. Even so, l strongly think Ferrari can leave this year with their heads up as they finally took the fight to the Mercs and really made Mercedes squirm a number of times. I think the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes will resume with a much closer and fiercer competition in 2018.
What about Vettel? He was strong from the outset but seemed, a number times to be rattled by a very determined Lewis Hamilton. Especially as he began to notice the swing of strength moving away from Ferrari to the Mercedes. He also had a few bad boy moments too. Most people asked, why Kimi never won a race this year. I think he clearly had a few races that he could have won without team interference. His relegation to a number two driver in the battle with a very strong Mercedes meant, he was never going to win a race if Vettel was ahead or behind him.
Mercedes, in the end secured their fourth Constructors and driver championship much easier than we thought they would and Lewis Hamilton finally joins Alain Prost and Sebastien Vettel as four times formula one driver world champions.
Lewis Hamilton's achievement this year was monumental. Along the way to being a four times world champion, he breaks and extends a number of records. Most notable are being the most successful British driver of all time and breaking the qualifying record held by Michael Schumacher for a long time. Not bad for a british driver that was not short of critics of him all through his career. He simply delivered when it mattered. A trully worthy multi-world champion.
Bottas started the season very impressively. Securing a win so early in Sochi ensured that he got extended to drive in 2018. He sort of fizzled out abit after the summer break. I think the development of the car probably focused on Hamilton, as Hamilton was clearly the better option to secure the drivers title. I am sure the analysis of the impact of Hamilton handing back track position to Bottas while in the same race Ferrari would not allow a faster Kimi to overtake Vettel in a slower car with problems, probably had something to do with it. Can Bottas keep that seat in 2019? I very much doubt it, but it would depend to some extent on what Ricciado does contractwise. And if Mercedes decides they are ready to take a risk with one of their brilliant proteges.
Redbull punched above their weight when the opportunities presented themselves. But were mostly the third best team. But they were the best of the rest by a huge margin. Both Riccado and Verstapenn were brilliant when the car had the pace to cause an upset. They did exceptionally well under the circumstances.
Force India ceasing fourth place from a declining Williams were outstanding. They could have been alot closer to the Redbulls if they managed their drivers rivary better. Failing to appreciate that Perez who reliably provided points to the team should be respected more, caused the team to lose assured points. Which made the Redbulls more comfortable in third.
The fallout between Maclaren and Honda was an inevitable occurrence. A decision that left most Mclaren fans wondering what the long term plan was. Dumping the Honda project for a chance to win races again did not leave many with confidence that they have a long term plan. It kind of says; "so what" to Ron Denis' argument that Mclaren cannot win world championships with customer engines. Seeing the dispute between Toro Rosso and the Renault over engine power, as the constructor attempts to surpass the customer team for position in the constructors table, makes one ask the question, why do Mclaren think Renault would allow Mclaren to beat them in the future when Renault finally gets their act together. At most, they would possibly win races but they have to beat the migthy Redbull with the same engine first before they can take advantage of any opportunities in 2018. One could venture a guess that Redbull would have the edge in 2018 because of their long experience with the Renault engine. We await Mclaren to say what their real long term plan is. As it stands, they have settled for being another Williams, for lack of patience.
The move of Sainz from Torro Rosso to Renault was another talking point of the year. Interestingly, he hit the floor running with some very impressive performances. Indicating is intention to take the Renault to the sharp end of the grid, if Renault can produce a championship competing car. I would love to see Verstapenn and Sainz do battle with an equally competitive car again.
One question that has bothered me abit was , did Renault sabotage the Toro Rosso season by giving them underpowered or dodgy engines? The Media did not see any story in it. The conflict of interest of Toro Rosso out scoring the Works Renault team with Renault engines does make one at least wonder for a moment if this is the case.
This season sees the final retirement of the well loved Massa. Like last year, there were teary moments. But, it also sees the arrival of new blood to the paddock. Pierre Gasly replaces the unceremoniously dismissed Kyvat. A Brendon Hartley replaces the departing Sainz. But most noteworthy is the potential return of Robert Kubica to the paddock after his horrific accident a few years ago. While this appears to be a very popular and welcomed return, there are still some doubts as Renault did not see enough to offer him a drive after his very impressive test for them. And Williams seem to be taking a very cautious step towards awarding the drive to a driver that seem to already have the drive sealed. I think it would be a great story for 2018 but can the present Kubica better Massa's contribution to the points of the team. That would be the acid test l think.
This brings Werhlein into focus. As Sauber drops their only and highest points scorer in a season for many years for rookie and F2 champion Leclerc and seem to be looking to hanging on to Erickson who is the only driver to complete the full 2017 season with out a point. On face value, it does not add up. Werhlein was a Monisha Kaltenborn addition to the team before she departed. I can see why he would be out of favour with the Sauber management. A very promising driver is going to be without a drive in 2018 even when he is a better option than the competition for the seat.
I am sure there are other things you have noticed that you might want to add. Or you might disagree with some of my assessment. Whatever you think, l would love to read your comments.
