Category: Formula One

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Force India aiming to lead midfield in China

Esteban Ocon (FRA) Sahara Force India F1 VJM10.
Australian Grand Prix, Sunday 26th March 2017. Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia. Image courtesy of Sahara Force India Formula One Team

Vijay Mallya has set his Force India team the ambitious target of leading the midfield battle in Shanghai this weekend, following a successful points-scoring debut for the VJM10 in Melbourne:

“I was proud of our performance in Australia,” Mallya said. “Sergio and Esteban were in the thick of the action and both drivers took their opportunities to overtake. To leave Melbourne with both cars in the top ten was a tremendous team effort.”

Referring to the seventh and tenth place finishes for Pérez and Ocon respectively as “an important boost”, Mallya said that the team is expecting a similar performance in this Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, although he has admitted it will be no easy task to keep ahead of the “exceptionally close” midfield fight.

If Force India can take another double points finish on Sunday, it will be a vast improvement on last year’s Shanghai meet, in which Pérez just missed out on a point in eleventh, and Nico Hülkenberg came home in fourteenth after suffering a puncture in the early stages.

Speaking of his 2017 chances, Pérez is remaining cautiously optimistic after making his best start to a season so far in Melbourne:

“I have a good feeling for the races to come. In the last few years we’ve shown that we can develop the car well and that’s going to be especially important this year.

“Our performance in Melbourne showed that we have done a good job over the winter, but there are still areas where we need to improve,” he added, referring to the overall balance of the VJM10. “The upgrades we have coming during the next couple of races should help.”

Esteban Ocon echoed his teammate’s belief that Force India displayed “a solid base on which [the team] can build” in Australia, but also added that there is still much work to be done in China:

“It’s about exploring the limits of the car and understanding how to manage the tyres during qualifying and the race. What we learned in Melbourne will certainly make things a bit easier this weekend, but you never stop learning in this sport.”

James Matthews, Editor-at-Larges

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Haas Australian Grand Prix Review

March 30, 2017

Haas F1 Team had a less than ideal day at Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix as both cars suffered retirements due to reliability issues but perhaps a weekend with a silver lining and lessons to be learned.

Romain Grosjean had qualified a team best 6th position for the race. After starting well holding off the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, Grosjean was running in 7th behind the Williams of Felipe Massa before a water leak finished his race on lap 13.

““I suddenly lost a lot of power. I told the guys, then the next thing I knew I had to slow down the car. It’s a pretty disappointing result, but again, right now I’m hot and we’re all disappointed to lose a seventh-place position, but the car was there in qualifying in P6. The start wasn’t ideal, so we need to improve that. I felt I was faster than the Williams, so there’s huge potential in the car.”

Kevin Magnussen had a worse weekend, qualifying 17th after running wide at turn 12 of his flying lap. Contact with the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson on the first lap gave him front wing damage putting him well behind the field after pitting and eventually retiring 11 laps short of the finish with suspension failure. Despite this, Magnussen seemed to take more positives from the Grand Prix.

“We changed the front wing and then I went for a long test session to feel the car and learn a bit more about it, which was good. It feels good and the car is fast. That’s the really positive thing from this weekend. The car is there. We just have to make it finish and score points.”

Something to watch out for; the issue with Brembo brakes, the teams Achilles heel from last season. It was not an issue for the Australian Grand Prix but may pop up on circuits that are more brake critical. In pre-season testing Gunther Steiner said the team had already been evaluating alternatives and would be capable of switching suppliers during the season.

Coming away from the Australian Grand Prix, I’m cautiously excited. The VF17 is clearly very fast, enough to compete with the Williams and Force India perhaps but reliability problems need to be fixed immediatey to capitalize on early points before said teams and the McLarens and Renaults of the world with bigger budgets spend rapidly on R&D with no token program for 2017 to catch up.

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Red Bull Racing, Australian Grand Prix Review

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Saturday 25 March 2017.
World Copyright: Andy Hone/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _ONY1887

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo had a weekend to forget in home grand Prix at Albert Park.

The Australian crashed in qualifying which meant he started from tenth on the grid: “That was a tough one today. I don’t crash into the barriers often and the last place I want to do that is at home.

“I feel I crashed for the right reason, as I was basically pushing and trying to find the limit and things happen, so let’s say I’m not disappointed by the approach, it was just more of a frustrating outcome, starting 10th instead of being under the top 5.”

Things did not get any better for the home favourite as he suffered issues with his car that caused Ricciardo to not complete the race, Red Bull principal Christian Horner said: “A really frustrating start to the race with Daniel having a problem with what looks like a sensor on the gearbox stopping the car in sixth gear on the formation lap.”

Max Verstappen had a solid but unspectacular race as the Dutchmen finished fifth:” The start was really good but it was just a shame that out of turn one I had dirty air ahead of me, this allowed Kimi to stay on the outside and get in front of me again.

“From then on the pace wasn’t too bad, I could follow him pretty well which was a nice surprise and I had no pressure from behind me. It was positive to see we weren’t that far from Ferrari and Mercedes over a full race distance, this was a concern this morning but I’m relieved now to finish within touching distance.”

Dominic Rust

 

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Wolff: “Ferrari had the quicker car”

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Sunday 26 March 2017.
World Copyright: Andy Hone/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _ONY2411

Toto Wolff has conceded that Mercedes was simply not fast enough to prevent Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel from taking the chequered flag in Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Victory for Mercedes had appeared to be nothing more than a formality earlier in the weekend, with Lewis Hamilton topping almost every practice session on his way to a 62nd career pole position, and Ferrari’s headline testing pace seemingly nowhere to be seen.

But when it came to it in the race, Hamilton was unable to sprint away from Vettel off the line or catch up again once the German had assumed the lead—and although tyres and strategy played a part in Mercedes’ loss, Wolff admitted that even in perfect circumstances his team would still have struggled to keep Vettel at bay for long:

“Some races you win, some races you lose, and when the days come where another team has done a better job, you need to accept that with humility and recognise their performance,” he said.

“Today Sebastian and Ferrari were well-deserved winners. From the early stages of the race, it was clear Sebastian was very quick because Lewis wasn’t able to pull away.”

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Friday 24 March 2017.
World Copyright: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _J6I1751

Wolff also defended the decision to bring Hamilton in for an early stop on lap seventeen, which saw him rejoin the track behind Max Verstappen and unable to clear the Dutchman in enough time to remain ahead of Vettel:

“Sebastian came into the window where the undercut was possible and we had the feeling at that point that [Hamilton’s] tyres were not lasting. It was the team’s impression on the pit wall looking at the data and Lewis’ in the car, too.

“With all the clear risks of coming out in traffic we were between a rock and a hard place, really, and we went for it. But Ferrari played it very well—and they had the quicker car today.

“Now the job for us is to learn the lessons from this race, understand why we didn’t perform to our maximum today and keep working hard to improve the car in every area.”

James Matthews, Editor-at-Large

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Totally Toro Rosso in Australia

The week started on Tuesday for our boys, with a filming day on the beach to promote team sponsor Casio’s new Edifice watches. This meant it was time to swap their race suits for wetsuits, and for a splash in the water on some paddleboards. While Carlos was in the water he got greeted by a friend, later joking he doesn’t like shark fins.

Moving on to Thursday it was autograph day, the drivers signing photos, hats, shirts, and anything else the public wanted. Neither of the boys had press conference duties this week, so it was learning the final few bits before Friday.

Then here came Friday morning and FP1 and F1 was back for 2017 in our new livery. In first practice the boys took it steady, learning and collecting data for the team, and doing race simulations to find the perfect set-up. At the end Sainz set a 1:26.4s and Kvyat a 1:26.5s being P11 and 12 respectively, completing 49 laps collectively in the process. Then after lunch the afternoon session started and the boys completed 73 laps between them, with Carlos finishing P7 and Daniil P10, finishing Friday with no major issues.

Saturday soon came and there was one final hour of practice, one final chance for the team to make any major changes before the cars are in parc fermé. Finishing off in 8th and 9th our two drivers were split by only a tenth of a second n a close weekend between them, with Carlos always coming ahead so far.

Then it was time for a spot of lunch before qualifying. Both of our drivers sailed through Q1 and Q2 making it into Q3 where we finished P8 and P9, ahead of Ricciardo who span. So with two cars in the top 10 it was time to carry on our record of scoring points here in Australia for the 7th time in 8 years.

Finally Sunday arrived and all our hard work over the past two days came down to keeping it clean and finishing well today. After a second formation lap due to a car pulling up in Ricciardo’s empty grid spot, our boys started from eighth and ninth and made it safely through the first corner in one piece. First in the pits on lap eighteen was Carlos, who was still in eighth, changing to the yellow-walled soft tyre. Daniil didn’t make his pit stop still lap 34 which allowed him to change onto the faster supersoft tyre.

He soon caught up with his teammate, who didn’t make it hard for the Russian to overtake as they were on different strategies. After that, Kvyat was right on the gearbox of Perez in the pink Force India, until he was forced back into the pits on lap 47 to replace an empty air bottle to top up pneumatic valve system. When he rejoined he only lost one position to his teammate and was still in the points in ninth. This is how we finished our first race of the season, with Sainz eighth and Kvyat ninth and both scoring points for the team.

Richard Hindson

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Ferrari’s Australian Grand Prix Review: Sebastian Vettel’s victory in Melbourne is a start, now they must maintain it

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Sunday 26 March 2017.
World Copyright: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _W6I4899  via PirelliThey say that one swallow doesn’t make a summer.

But in the Australian sunshine, there is no question that Ferrari will certainly be feeling a warm glow after they became the first team other than Mercedes to lead the World Championship with Sebastian Vettel’s victory.

The win was Vettel’s 43rd, but from the way the four-time World Champion celebrated his fourth Ferrari success you’d think it was his very first.

It was a disappointing 2016 for both Vettel and Ferrari, in which much was promised but little delivered and it appears lessons have been learnt.

After all the flattering to deceive in 2016, in which they never could get over the line when in a race-winning position, Ferrari have given nothing away unlike the public confidence exuded 12 months ago.

After multiple strategy mistakes like in and Canada Melbourne last year, in which the Prancing Horse managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on both occasions, their strategy became a laughing stock.

Internally they will know that after all the tricks and flicks in testing that season cannot play out in a similar fashion

So it took a lot of bottle not to just simply follow Hamilton into the pits on lap 17 and instead push it to lap 23.

By that point Hamilton had spent six laps staring at the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, and with Vettel having more clean laps than not, he was able to squeeze ahead of the Mercedes – and crucially the Red Bull.

It appears Vettel has his mojo back too.

His angst with everything and everyone last season a lot of critics questioned his motivation.

When Ferrari were a second or more off the pace on Friday, Vettel, who had spent the winter telling anyone who’d listen that Mercedes were the quickest, was unruffled in a way that he perhaps wasn’t towards the end of last year.

His drive to victory was calmness personified and has raised hopes that we might finally see a battle between Hamilton and Vettel for the title in a fight not too dissimilar to the days of Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher.

Kimi Raikkonen had a less illustrious drive to fourth, with his only half-battle coming in the shape of Max Verstappen chasing him from time to time.

The 2007 champion admitted the team found setup issues after qualifying – too late to make changes to the car.

Victory for Ferrari isn’t a huge shock, despite the upgrades brought in by Mercedes. The Scuderia were quick in testing and less than 0.3 slower in qualifying despite a so-so sector one for Vettel on his flier.

This result by no means guarantees that Ferrari will be at the top of the tree, or fighting with Mercedes through the season.

It doesn’t guarantee either that Red Bull, despite being slower than expected, are completely out of the running already.

The litmus test for Ferrari is whether they can maintain the pace for the rest of the season.

Indeed, one swallow does not make a summer.

But if Ferrari sustain this battle with Mercedes, they’ll have plenty more birds singing.

Jack Prentice

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Australian Grand Prix – Ferrari is back to the top

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Sunday 26 March 2017.
World Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _56I1907

What a race to start the season, Sebastian Vettel claimed the first chequered flag of the year and returned to the top after almost two years. Ferrari’s last victory was in Singapore in 2015.

The new regulations affected the outcome of the race, the cars were faster, last season Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest lap, 1:28.997s on lap 49, by comparing this lap with Raikkonen’s fastest lap which was 1:26.538 it is obvious that the 2017 cars are almost three seconds faster. Furthermore, overtakes are harder this season, Lewis Hamilton was struggling to pass Max Verstappen and that might cost him the victory.

This means only one thing, this season will be more interesting and looks like Ferrari have the answer to Mercedes’ dominance.

Lights Out

A clean start allowed to Lewis Hamilton to retain his lead, Sebastian Vettel was close to the three-time world champion, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen. The two Finns had their own battle at the beginning of the race, but Bottas increased his lead and remained third until the end of the race.

Ferrari showed that they have the pace to stay behind the Mercedes. Vettel was about 1.5s behind Hamilton during the first 16 laps. The Brit, couldn’t increase his lead and that forced Mercedes to take the risk and call him into the pits on lap 17.

Hamilton, re-joined behind Max Verstappen, it was one of the most critical moments of the race. Mercedes told to Lewis that he had to pass Max, but Lewis was unable to do that. Ferrari took advantage and let Vettel on the track until lap 23. The German re-joined ahead of both Verstappen and Hamilton, and he needed only two laps to increase his gap to six seconds.

We were worried about the undercut possibility, we knew we would come out behind Max and Kimi and that’s what happened. Ferrari played it very well.” said Wolff.

When Max Verstappen pitted, Lewis Hamilton was far behind Vettel and he couldn’t challenge him for the first place. Bottas was closing to Lewis in the final laps, and he finished just 1.2s behind his team-mate in his race debut with Mercedes.

Max Verstappen scored 10 points for his team as Daniel Ricciardo had a bad weekend at his home race. The Australian, took a five-place grid penalty because he had to change his gearbox. He started the race from the pitlane, as his car stopped while he was driving to take his place on the grid, due to electrical issues and finally retired after some engine problems.

Felipe Massa had also a quiet evening, the Brazilian finished behind Verstappen on the sixth place, whilst his team-mate and rookie driver retired on his F1 debut race.

It was a pleasant weekend for Toro Rosso and Sahara Force India. Esteban Ocon scored his first point in his Formula One career and both teams finished in the points. Sainz and Kvyat finished eighth and ninth respectively, whilst Perez finished seventh.

It is too early for safe conclusions, Ferrari looks strong and competitive, Sebastian Vettel had the pace to remain behind Hamilton in the first laps, whilst Mercedes seems that they have difficulties to make the right calls when they are not leading.

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Sunday 26 March 2017.
World Copyright: Steven Tee/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _O3I3200

Best moment of the race

Esteban Ocon’s and Nico Hulkenberg’s overtake on Fernando Alonso, a few laps before the end of the race. Three cars with three different colours (yellow, pink and orange) were running on the same line.

By Victor Archakis – @FP_Passion

Formula 1 Editor

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Ayrton Senna and the Unfinished Bussiness with Williams

2011 Monaco Grand Prix – Saturday
Monte Carlo, Monaco
28th May 2011
Pastor Maldonado, Williams FW33 Cosworth.
World Copyright:Steven Tee/LAT Photographic
ref: Digital Image _A8C6407

What do you think when you say Williams F1? It’s hard to say because there has been a long journey since the famous team was born in 1977.  Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve: this illustrious list of big names who won the title driving a Williams.

An incredible and dominating era shared with McLaren and Ferrari, that goes from the early eighties to the end of the millennium. But when I think of Williams I see a yellow lid in front of me, I hear a Brazilian accent  shouting above the screaming engine,  I feel a green flag flying in my beating heart, the legend of Ayrton Senna that tells an unfinished story from the FW16, this car was, unfortunately, the last car he would ever drive, the car he wanted so much to win the title in but betrayed him by not even finishing one race. The Williams team certainly has been through many different situations in its time: Wins, World championships, domination, good times and bad but they have always come through the tough times to fight another day.

Many other great drivers have passed through the British team during its forty years, Jenson Button started his career here in 2000, showing all his great talent.

So we can say, for sure, that Frank Williams has always been able to discover new and talented drivers. Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Rosberg to name but a few. Some of the biggest names in Formula One history have, at one point, driven for the Williams team. This year marks 20 years since they won their last world championship with Jacques Villeneuve at the helm. The competition has seen many new teams joining over the years, Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, some of these teams doing a better job, sadly Williams has lived for many years in a kind of limbo and it seems they can’t get out of the rut they are stuck in.

So now, when I think of Williams most of my thoughts refer to the former glory of this legendary, once dominating team, Times have changed, they have never given up.  I fondly think of Sir Frank always there no matter was is thrown at him and the team he holds so dearly to his heart. Who knows maybe one day, with the right engine, we will see Willliams return to their winning ways.

Massimo Trapanese

 

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Max Looks At The Forhcoming Season In His Own Unique Way.

IF IS F1 SPELT BACKWARDS! (YES, MURRAY…)
MAX AND JAKE’ S SIDEWAYS GLANCE AT THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE 2017 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS MOTORSPORT

LEWIS HAMILTON: Britain’s most universally loved sportsman can put his put his foot on the throttle again, after trying to rob James May of his title “Captain Slow” in Abu Dhabi. Can he regain his title now that Roscoe has retired?

VALTTERI BOTTAS: How will he compare being thrust into the limelight against the slowest driver on earth? Will the dynamic between these two make the wolffe howl like it did with Lewis and Roscoe?

RED BULL RACING

DANIEL RICCIARDO: The man in the team with the Colgate “gleam” could, just could, fulfil his dream this year and win the world title. Well, there is a fly in the ointment, in the name of Max Verstappen, the precocious 12 – year – old Dutch nipper. Jug, straight glass, or shoe, Daniel?

MAX “VROOM” VERSTAPPEN: If you think this lad’s fast now, just wait until he reaches his teens! Some older drivers, such as Massa, have been known to scream “Get this kid out of here!”. But Massa has retired now, right? “The best thing to happen to F1 since sliced bread”, as Stirling Moss once said about Lewis Hamilton.

SCUDERIA FERRARI

SEBASTIAN VETTEL: “What is he doing, the fool, he hit me not once, but twice”…Seb describing the assault by Daniil Kvyat ‘s Red Bull in Russia? No, it’s his reaction to Maurizio Arrivabene’s reaction to the German quadruple world champ for letting his emotions get the better of him to not only let it affect his on-track form, but force the Ferrari team to buy a swear box so large that there was no longer room for the cars. Needs to remember just how good a driver he is this year to get on top of it all, emotionally at least. Ferrari just MAY have the car to let him rise to the top again, but then we thought that this time last year…

KIMI RAIKKONEN

I didn’t think it possible for “The Ice Man” to appear any less frozen when interviewed, but last year it happened. In fact, I don’t even know why anyone bothers to interview him these days. “Go away, I’m not interested” looks to be his attitude to just about everything these days. How I would love an interviewer to say to him “You are being paid a bloody fortune to never win while in the car, and be as miserable as sin out of it, , so answer my ******* questions you stroppy git!!!” File that under “unlikely event”.

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING

FELIPE MASSA: But didn’t I just see him retire? He’s back! His front! In fact, all of him that we never thought we’d see again will be on the grid in Melbourne, making this the shortest retirement in F1 since “Our Nige” threw his red Ferrari gloves into the Silverstone crowd in 1990, only to re-appear with – funnily enough – Williams the following year. Who will believe him next time he says he’s finished with F1? Fake News?

LANCE “OUT FOR A” STROLL: It may well be true that Willy had to find a driver with a rich Dad so as to pay for all the money spent on Felipe Massa’s retirement party, but hang on one moment – this driver proved to be the dominant force in Euro F3 last year, so this is no “pay – driver” scandal, any more than Max Verstappen only got into F1 because of his father being an ex-F1 driver. If Willy can give him a good enough car, expect Lance to become the most exciting thing since “pulled pork”.

FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM

SERGIO PEREZ: Perhaps the first person to prove that McLaren were falling from grace, considering his year with the team proved to be his worst in F1. “Speedy Gonzalez”, as he is affectionately known by nobody except this writer, now has as many GP podiums as his great predecessor, Pedro Rodriguez – seven. Mind you, times have changed a bit since Pedro’s days, and two of Rodriguez’s podiums were wins. But the true measure of Checo’s performances is just how well he performed against The Incredible Hulkenberg.

ESTEBAN OCON: Esteban Gutierrez sneaks back into F1 via a false surname. “Oh con them into thinking you are somebody else”, somebody said…and the new name was born! I have a sneaking suspicion that he will perform better this year…

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO

CARLOS “BEANS MEANS” SAINZ: The fastest Spaniard in F1 last year (sorry Fernando, blame Honda…oh, you did!) finds himself paired with Red Bull demotee Kvyat again this year (much to the shock of Pierre Gasly) and has clearly proved he has the talent to oust one of the “Old Wild Men” in a top team, but question is, which one? There is a bit of a log jam up there at the moment. Yet another person I would have rather seen at Ferrari this year than “Curt Kimi”.

DANIIL KVYAT: Sebastian Vettel’s favourite driver will hope to have the continuity of a full season in the same team this year (Well, other than him being promoted to a top team mid-season, but I think the chances of that are just about the same as the England Football team winning the next World Cup). Go Danny Boy, prove them all wrong! (Just be careful not to hit the back of a red car on the first bend, I don’t think our bruised ears can take any more…)

MCLAREN HONDA FORMULA ONE TEAM

FERNANDO ALONSO: Let’s hope McLaren give the second fastest Spaniard in F1 (blame Honda…haven’t I said that once before?) an F1 car this year rather than a GP2 (whoops, Formula Two now) car. If rumours are true that he may head back to Renault if Merc don’t come knocking on the door towards the end of the year, that would make an incredible sequence: Renault, McLaren, Renault, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault…enough to make one’s head spin even without few glasses of “Johnny Walker”.

STOFFEL VANDORNE: “Stop all that porn” makes his full-time F1 debut this season, after spending a year off working as a milkman in Japan, driving a Honda milk float. Massive talent, but will Fernando be faster than him? (Where have I heard something similar before?) Jenson has kept the seat warm for him, and promises to be lurking not too far away.

HAAS F1 TEAM

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Massively talented driver who deserves a GP win soon, but I fear that this will not be the team that allows him that opportunity. Yet another driver I would have liked to have seen in a Ferrari (and I still have another – “Now there’s a novelty”, as Eric Morecambe would have said) rather than “Fun Finn”. Time is running out quicker than McLaren’s patience with Honda for this man to land a top drive.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Finished second in his first Grand Prix, and it’s been downhill ever since. That’s a career the wrong way round, Kevin! This has hardly been all the Dane’s fault though; lost a coin-tossing contest with Jenson Button for the McLaren Honda seat alongside Alonso for 2015 (boy was he relieved) and then found himself in an underdeveloped Renault Lotus Enstone last year.

RENAULT SPORT FORMULA ONE TEAM
THE INCREDIBLE HULKENBERG: I would have seen him in the second Ferrari this year, but instead of red he has gone yellow this season (I thought The Hulk was green?) and I can’t say I blame him, given the form of this team last year. Still, this year’s car looks good, and there are signs that Renault have their act together rather more than last year. So, good luck to The Incredible.

JOLYON PALMER
Seems a funny name for Jonathan to have given his talented offspring, since his son is younger than him, but hey-ho. This man, in my eyes at least, showed signs of developing into an excellent F1 driver last year, and fully deserved his place after a first-rate win in the GP2 championship in 2014. Gave “The Great Dane” far more trouble than was expected of him last year, and is proving a credit to his dad, more than he deserves perhaps for giving his son one of the strangest names since “The Incredible”.

SAUBER F1 TEAM

MARCUS ERICSSON: Last and very possibly least if last year was anything to go by, the Sauber team. For Marcus, at least it gave him a chance to show the F1 world what he could do more than with his time driving the Caterham 7 the previous year. Seems to have seen off Felipe “where is he now?” Nasr, which was somewhat of a surprise. Expect no fireworks from this team, other than from Monisha Kaltenborn if her drivers collide with each other as often as they seemed to be doing last year.

PASCAL WEHRLEIN: “That was not meant to happen!”, you could, and quite rightly too, have expected Pascal to have hollered when he found that, when the music stopped, he found that his car would be more likely to be parked at the back of the grid than the front, as he was expecting. Big Bad Wolffe apparently didn’t rate one year’s hard experience racing a Manor, usually very well, last year as “enough experience” to put this clearly gifted some-time Mercedes prodigy in with Lewis this year. Rather different to Red Bull’s attitude regarding young Vroomstappen, eh? Well, I know which kind of thinking I prefer, and I can’t help feel sorry for Pascal. Go out there (again) and show ‘em, lad!

MAX SCOTT

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Getting Back To The Top

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Friday 24 March 2017.
World Copyright: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _31I9457

Last season, 2016, proved to be relatively disappointing for Williams, Mercedes and Ferrari increased the gap, Red Bull surged past and began winning again and Force India managed to nab fourth place, Hulkenburg’s pass around the outside of Suzuka’s final chicane being a metaphor for the battle between the two, the Force India driving into the distance, away from the Williams.

2017 sees a massive overhaul in the technical regulations, the cars are wider, the teams are allowed more aero parts on the cars and the tires are wider and less sensitive to temperature change, which will allow the drivers to push more during the races. Williams interpretation comes in the form of the FW40 (named to celebrate team’s 40th year in the sport) was the first car to (sort of) be revealed, the team released a digital render of the car a day before Sauber officially launched their car.

The car features a shark fin, common on many cars this year, but is one of few to have a T wing mounted on the end of the fin. The front and rear wings have been swept back as per this new rules and the thumb nose remains on the end of a front that also features an S duct, which was run by Mercedes last season. The team haven’t been as aggressive with the side aero as Mercedes or Ferrari, rather going down a similar path as Red Bull, going with a more simplistic design. Toward the end of testing the car sprouted a second wing, similar to the T wing, much lower, almost with touching distance of the rear wing. The rakes at the start of the sidepod’s remain, as do the tuning veins to the side of these, but they have been extended, to take advantage of the width increase for this season. Title sponsor Martini’s livery remains, with it’s brilliant white base and flowing stripes, which do look slightly odd, the way they widen along the shark fin the abruptly end. The team have cemented a new partnership with heavy vehicles manufacturer JCB and Stroll brings a reported £20 million to the team.

Williams’ driver situation is well documented, Rosberg’s shock retirement left a seat at Mercedes and it quickly became clear that it would be Bottas who would replace him at one of the sports top seats. With F3 champion Lance Stroll already signed and Martini’s requirement for an experienced driver over 25 to be one of the driver’s, the only option was to coax Massa out of retirement. The Brazilian quickly agreed and the shortest retirement in F1 history was complete. Stroll has had a tough start in testing, with a couple of accidents in the first test, but it is better he does it in testing rather than in Melbourne (like Maldonado in 2012). This should be Massa’s final year in F1, I imagine he will be consistent and quick, a good point scorer and if Stroll is even with him or outperforms the Brazilian, he will have performed well.

One must always be careful reading into testing too much, but everyone knows that the Mercedes engine in the back of the Williams will be powerful and reliable. The car looks fast enough, maybe not on the pace of Ferrari or Mercedes, but the team look to be at the top of the midfield and looking forward. Williams look to be set for another showdown with Force India and will be determined to take back fourth or higher in the constructors. Renault could be a threat if their engine is good enough, but realistically Williams have to beat Force India this year, try and get more podiums this year to elevate themselves up the grid and toward the “big three” (Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams).

The team need a strong start to the season, as the inevitable development race will be triggered at the beginning of the European season. If a rival makes a large leap ahead of Williams in that time, the Grove squad will need a points buffer whilst they work to retaliate. The first few races could prove unpredictable affairs as the drivers adjust to the new racing that the new rules will provide. Massa’s experience will be vital in this situation, as he has driven through multiple rules changes. Stroll needs a strong start, Formula One is a tough world if you aren’t performing and his testing incidents will have put a few more eyes on the Canadian.

Adam Brewer

 

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