Formula One World Championship

[RicME85]

2017 WINTER TEST SCHEDULE

February 27-March 2: Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona

March 7-10: Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona

2017 IN-SEASON TEST SCHEDULE

April 18-19: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain

August 1-2: Hungaroring, Hungary

2017 F1 RACE CALENDAR

March 26: Melbourne, Australia

April 9: Shanghai, China

April 16: Bahrain, Bahrain

April 30: Sochi, Russia

May 14: Barcelona, Spain

May 28: Monte Carlo, Monaco

June 11: Montreal, Canada

June 25: Baku, Azerbaijan

July 9: Spielberg, Austria

July 16: Silverstone, United Kingdom

July 30: Budapest, Hungary

August 27: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

September 3: Monza, Italy

September 17: Singapore, Singapore

October 1: Sepang, Malaysia

October 8: Suzuka, Japan

October 22: Austin, USA

October 29: Mexico City, Mexico

November 12: Sao Paolo, Brazil

November 26: Abu Dhabi, UAE

2017 DRIVER LINE-UPS

MERCEDES
Race drivers: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
Engines: Mercedes

RED BULL
Race drivers: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen
Reserve driver: Pierre Gasly
Engines: TAG Heuer-badged Renault

FERRARI
Race drivers: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen
Third driver: Antonio Giovinazzi
Engines: Ferrari

FORCE INDIA
Race drivers: Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon
Test driver: Alfonso Celis
Engines: Mercedes

WILLIAMS
Race drivers: Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll
Engines: Mercedes

MCLAREN
Race drivers: Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne
Third driver: Jenson Button
Test and development drivers: Oliver Turvey and Nobuharu Matsushita
Engines: Honda

TORO ROSSO
Race drivers: Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat
Reserve driver: Pierre Gasly
Engines: Renault

HAAS
Race drivers: Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen
Engines: Ferrari

RENAULT
Race drivers: Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer
Reserve driver: Sergey Sirotkin
Engines: Renault

SAUBER
Race drivers: Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein
Engines: Ferrari (2016 spec)

 

Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Base: Maranello, Italy
Team principal: Maurizio Arrivabene
Technical director(s): Mattia Binotto
Website: http://formula1.ferrari.com

Race drivers: 
5  Sebastian Vettel
7  Kimi Räikkönen

Test drivers : Antonio Fuoco, Jean Eric Vergne

Chassis: SF-17H
Engine: Ferrari V6 Turbo

2016 position: 3rd (398 pts)

 

Team: McLaren Honda
Base: McLaren Technology Centre Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom
Team principal(s): Éric Boullier (Racing Director), Jost Capito (CEO), Zak Brown (Group CEO)
Technical director(s): Tim Goss, Neil Oatley, Peter Prodromou
Website: http://www.mclaren.com/formula1

Race drivers: 
14  Fernando Alonso 
2  Stoffel VanDoorne

Reserve driver : Jenson Button

Chassis: MP4-32
Engine: Honda V6 Turbo
2016 position: 6th (76 pts)

Team: Williams Martini Racing
Base: Grove, Wantage, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Team principal: Sir Frank Williams, Claire Williams (deputy)
Technical director(s): ???
Website: http://www.williamsf1.com

Race drivers: 
77  Valtteri Bottas
18  Lance Stroll

Test drivers : Paul Di Resta, Alex Lynn, Gary Paffett

Chassis: FW40
Engine: Mercedes V6 Turbo

2016 position: 5th (138 pts)

 

Team: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Base: Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Team principal(s): Toto Wolff (Business Executive Director), Paddy Lowe (Technical Executive Director), Niki Lauda (Team Advisor)
Technical director(s): Geoff Willis, Aldo Costa, Mark Ellis
Website: http://www.mercedesamgf1.com

Race drivers: 44  Lewis Hamilton 

2nd driver : TBA

Test drivers : TBA

Chassis: F1 W08 Hybrid
Engine: Mercedes V6 Turbo
2016 position: 1st (765 pts)

Team: Red Bull Racing
Base: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Team principal: Christian Horner
Technical director(s): Adrian Newey
Website: http://www.redbullracing.com/

Race drivers: 
3  Daniel Ricciardo
33  Max Verstappen

Test drivers : ???

Chassis: RB13
Engine: TAG HEUER V6 Turbo (Rebranded Renault PU)

2016 position: 2nd (468 pts)

 

Team: Haas F1 Team
Base: Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States (Main) & Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (Euro)
Team principal: Gene Haas, Günther Steiner
Technical director(s): Rob Taylor, Ben Agathangelou
Website: https://www.haasf1team.com/

Race drivers: 

8  Romain Grosjean 
20  Kevin Magnussen

Test drivers : Santino Ferruci, Charles LeClerc

Chassis: VF-17
Engine: Ferrari V6 Turbo

2016 position: 8th (29 pts)
 

 

Team: Scuderia Toro Rosso
Base: Faenza, Italy
Team principal: Franz Tost
Technical director(s): James Key
Website: http://www.scuderiatororosso.com

Race drivers: 
26  Daniil Kvyat
55  Carlos Sainz, Jr.

Test drivers : Pierre Gasly

Chassis: STR12
Engine: Renault V6 Turbo

2016 position: 7th (63 pts)
 

 

Team: Force India Racing F1 Team
Base: Silverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Team principal: Vijay Mallya (CEO), Bob Fernley, Otmar Szafnauer (COO)
Technical director(s): Andrew Green
Website: http://www.forceindiaf1.com /

Race drivers: 
11  Sergio Pérez 
31  Estéban Ocon

Test drivers : Alfonso Celis Jr.

Chassis: VJM10

Engine: Mercedes V6 Turbo

2016 position: 4th (173 pts)

 

Team: Renault Sport F1 Team
Base: Enstone, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Team principal: Carlos Ghosn
Technical director(s): Bob Bell
Website: http://www.renaultsport.com

Race drivers: 
27  Nico Hulkenberg
30  Jolyon Palmer

Test drivers : Carmen Jorda

Chassis: RS17
Engine: Renault V6 Turbo

2016 position: 8th (8 pts)

 

Team: Sauber F1 Team
Base: Hinwil, Zurich, Switzerland
Team principal: Pascal Picci, Monisha Kaltenborn
Technical director(s): Jorg Zander
Website: http://www.sauberf1team.com

Race drivers: 

9  Marcus Ericsson 
TBA

Test drivers : ????

Chassis: C36
Engine: Ferrari V6 Turbo

2016 position: 10th (2 pts)
 

 

[RicME85]

What an opening post if I do say so myself 

So testing started today. Seems that T wings are going to be a thing this season. Mercedes and Ferrari had them at launch and Williams and Haas have added them today, Williams even added a second lower down.

Some of the shark fins are far too big and ugly, Mercedes have a nice small one they are testing that also features a chimney.

Red Bull have seemingly attached a vacuum cleaner to the nose of their car.

Not sure on the McLaren livery, needs more white and less black. Haas looked better in the lighter grey from last season. Nice to see a different livery on the Toro Rosso. Sauber has the best livery this season IMO.

 

[Animal is a Ram]

Has to be the Williams for best livery. Loving this season's front wings.

[RicME85]

Williams livery has grown old. Not enough if the Martini stripes IMO

[Zag zig]

Took about 5 minutes for all those pictures to load on my iPhone 

Hope young Palmer has a better season now we are missing Jenson, got my tickets for Silverstone ((Woodcote) may do Spa or Monza, can't go earlier due to my eldest wanting to go and his big exam year.

Some of those front shots look like new fangled  razor blade ads. 

Be intersted to see a bit more competition much as I'd like Hamilton to win.

[RicME85]

Sorry When I do an OP I like it to be detailed and a good source to refer back to for people, especially if they are new to the topic. Would of done one team per post but when I did the 2016 thread people posted and messed up the flow which got me all OCD

Teams have gone faster today than on the first day of testing last year. So far 3 seconds faster so can only get better as they understand the cars and drive in warmer conditions.

[Duracell]

Not sure why the shark fins have returned. Where they explicitly written out of the regulations, or was there a gentleman's agreement not to run them until this year? Completely missed that one. 

[Duracell]

27 minutes ago, RicME85 said:

Teams have gone faster today than on the first day of testing last year. So far 3 seconds faster so can only get better as they understand the cars and drive in warmer conditions.

They're going to be stupidly quick. Be interesting to see who struggles to cope physically with the new cars.

[RicME85]

1 hour ago, Duracell said:

Not sure why the shark fins have returned. Where they explicitly written out of the regulations, or was there a gentleman's agreement not to run them until this year? Completely missed that one. 

Shark fins were banned as part of the F-duct ban but we're written back in for 2017. Red Bull proposed scrapping them as they arent great looking and there were lots of complaints about them back in 2010 but we're told to take it to the F1 commission (which is lead by teams) and it was rejected. Newey isn't happy but has as big a fin as he can get as it makes the cars more stable on corner entry.

The T-wing that has appeared has come from a loophole that was created when the FIA released an updated rulebook in October'16 where it seems someone forgot to subtract 50mm from the area in front of the old rear wing regulation box

Cars already look fast, have seen some videos on Twitter and the corner speeds look much better and direction changes are impressive. There is one video of Alonso from McLaren's filming day where he comes flying into the pitline and makes a rapid change of direction  going around the final corner (the tighter line that is the pitlane).

[Comrade 86]

Not 'quoted' due to length of OP but a great post anyway and a nice informative preamble to the new season. The cars look like beasts this year and I have to agree, the McLaren does look striking as does the Renault. The one that takes the eye for me. setting livery aside, is the Mercedes. In profile it's absolutely stunning.

Have a strong feeling that we're going to see some stupidly quick lap times this year. It'll be interesting to see how the drivers cope with the physical demands of these new designs too and whether they will lead to more overtaking as planned, or prove to be even harder to pass than the previous generation.

Let's hope too that Ferrari and Red Bull can mount a serious challenge. It'd be great to have 2 or 3 teams with a sensible chance of winning. The bookmakers have the market as LH - 6/5, MV 7/2, VB 9/2, DR 5/1 and 17/1 bar those. 

[DEL]

Lewis Hamilton will win this ? and also I'm in the grandstand for the race @Zag zig ? might as well bring the flag. 

[DEL]

Force India might get closer to Red Bull and Ferrari this time.. 

[Zag zig]

14 minutes ago, Derby_EnglandLoyal said:

Lewis Hamilton will win this ? and also I'm in the grandstand for the race @Zag zig ? might as well bring the flag. 

Two Villa fans, a Baggie and a Donny fan with me at Silverstone, so no flag for me. Though eldest will no doubt want the obligatory rip off cap or shirt.

Ferrari sounding positive, be good to see them right up there, love the Tifosi passion.

[McRamFan]

On ‎27‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 13:11, Derby_EnglandLoyal said:

Not long now for new season starts. Will be very interesting how Bottas do this year. 

I have a feeling he will surprise a few people, including Lewis.

[CumbrianRam]

Got general admission tickets again, try to get a spot at Maggots/Becketts, should be fun with the quicker cars.

[CumbrianRam]

Ferraris seem to be impressing in testing, McLaren-Honda and Renault having a lot of reliablity issues.

Hard to hell though, common sense means I think Merc will still be ahead, hopefully Bottas can give Hamilton a run for his money.

[CumbrianRam]

 

[RadioactiveWaste]

Well, the first 2 practice sessions seem to indicate it's "as you were". I think it's Hamilton's to lose this year. I'd like to see a sustained title challenge from the smiling assassin Danny Riciardo.

Only practice, mind.

I'm still hoping fezza and RBR get closer to Merc, Williams get back on the upswing, HAAS improve on last year's promising first season and that the racing is close this year. I also sincerely hope McLaren (not McClaren!) sort out their a) engine and b) paint job.

 

 

 

[CumbrianRam]

Hamilton on pole, Vettel 2nd and Bottas 3rd all seperated by +0.3 secs

Red Bull over  a second down on Ferrari and Merc

[Duracell]

Outside Mercedes and Ferrari, there's a huge disparity between team-mates in qualifying.

Albert Park is an unrepresentative circuit that would churn up anomalies even if it wasn't the first round of the season, but still, some encouraging signs - including a suggestion that driver skill is going to be a bigger factor.