What to expect from an exciting new season  

This week marks the start of the 2017 Formula One season in Melbourne Australia. There a lot of things to look forward to ahead of this season with lots of topics being discussed. In this edition I’ll break down what are the taking points and what Petrolheads will be looking out for this season.

 New bosses New Era: 

This season brings about something we haven’t seen in the F1 for a long time a new boss. After 40 years of running the sport Bernie Ecclestone was removed from his duties when Chase Carey who worked for Liberty Media took on Ecclestone’s job in January as head of commercial rights. Carey also hired Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches with Brawn being Managing Director (Sporting) with Bratches being Commercial Operations Director. For F1 this is a huge step in the history of the business because it now enters the post Bernie phase and will be interesting to see how Carey and Liberty Media handle such a huge sport like F1, the hope is that these guys can take the sport forward and make it more popular. One aspect that is hoped for in progression is social media, Bernie made it clear he was anti social media and some will say it held the sport back now under new ownership most people would hope that this form of coverage can be tapped into and used to grow the sport. Another aspect would be how the sport is promoted, critics will say F1 has lacked the cut throat promotion like some of it’s adversaries such football, boxing and UFC. So with a new look fans will wonder how the sport is sold around the world, the hope is that these guys will take the sport to a new level and have it be on par with other sports. Another thing that’ll be interesting is how Carey, Brawn and Hatches deal with the teams. It’s well known that the F1 paddock is a political jungle and there loads of lions around. With Bernie now gone some teams will want to protect their interests and some teams will want a better deal than what they have. Having Ross Brawn onboard is vital to this as he knows this side of the sport very well having been a key figure in Benetton, Ferrari then a team principal at Honda, Brawn ( his own team) and Mercedes. The belief will be that Brawn can advise Carey and Bratches on how to deal with the teams and get them onside whereas Bratches is known for working in commercial businesses so will help on how to do deals for races and negotiate new deals for any potential new circuits. The real hope is that this new step makes Formula One bigger and more attractive to a worldwide audience which if we are being honest we all hope for.

New Rules and what they mean 

 This year brings new rules and regulations which for any fan of F1 is great because we all want to see who is best at winning under a new system. The main talk is that the focus of the regulations is around aerodynamics which means areas around the car and front wing and back wings. The first thought of this has you thinking Red Bull will kill this because of them having Adrian Newey onboard plus he is known to be an aero designer but Mercedes have brought in James Aliosn from Ferrari who is also a very good designer so will add a load of experience to his position. Anyone could become better under new rules, look at Brawn in 2009 they introduced the blown diffuser which blew the whole pack away that year and led to Jenson Button winning the title. One of the other new rules is bigger tyres, this year sees the old big fat tyres back as part of a new ways to make the tyres more durable and last longer which some people think could lead to only one stop races which would be interesting. One thing you can guarantee is that these new rules will add to the excitement of the new season.

Hamilton vs Bottas: Can Lewis win again: 

For the first time since 2013 Mercedes have a new driver pairing. Valtteri Bottas joins the Silver Arrow replacing world champion Nico who retired last year in a move that most fans (including me) liked. After three years of the craziness of the Hamilton-Rosberg feud you would hope that this is a new start for the world champions of the last three years. For Bottas this is now the time for him to step up after four years at Williams. In those years he grabbed everyone’s attention with some really good laps and podiums (which could have been wins). Bottas to some degree reminds me of Mika Hakkinen in terms of his complete focus and ability to produce blistering laps out of nowhere. It’ll be worth watching how Bottas deals with Lewis Hamilton as his teammate. Hamilton is known for being a hard teammate and most of his teammates don’t last long with him or can’t hang with him. The hope will be that Hamilton and Bottas can be be a good pairing and not have many ill tempered moments like Lewis and Nico did. For Lewis Hamilton this year is all about reminding everyone that he is the top dog and the best driver out of everyone. He won’t admit it publicly but losing to Rosberg last year will have hurt him mentally and wounded him which could be a bad sign for Bottas and the rest. At his best Hamilton is a fiercely driven driver and blisteringly quick over a course of a race. Many people will say Hamilton is the best driver out of everyone on the track but sometimes he can be distracted by off the track activities (which I’ll say is perhaps not true at all). For Lewis to win a fourth title will put him amongst the true elites of the sport and there could be more. All you can say about Lewis this year is that he is definitely the favourite for the drivers title but it’s about putting in the performances during qualifying and the race which we all know he is capable of and can do but it will be interesting to see if he is consistent with it.

Max Verstappen: Will this be his year: 

Max Verstappen is one driver I’m 100% looking forward to watching this year and I think we’ll all agree on that. After two breathtaking season seasons in the sport Verstappen has become one of the most loved drivers amongst fans pundits and journalists. For a young man of only 19 Verstappen has taken everyone by storm with fearless driving and his mind blowing overtaking manoeuvres. The young Dutch driver sealed his first win last season during his Red Bull debut at the Spanish Grand Prix and that was when we knew this young man was capable of something. Since then he has mixed with the big boys including Lewis Hamilton, Sébastien Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen at some points ruffling the feather of the Ferrari drivers which I enjoyed a lot. He reminds me in a lot of ways of Michael Schumacher in terms of his will to do anything and his unapologetic way of how he drives and when people get annoyed at it some people say he’s more Senna but I’ll say Schumacher. If he can become better this year then we are in for one hell of a season because this guy excites fans whenever he gets in the car and when he’s chasing someone. This season will be huge for Max with Daniel Riccardo as his teammate once again this year there’ll be an intense pairing in the Red Bull garage with Riccardo being a very stealy driver and one who can push you. It’ll be interesting to see how they both handle each other if they’re competing for the title. One thing we can all say about this young driver is that he’ll have us all hooked to our televisions whenever he is on or whenever he is driving. It’ll be very exciting to watch a great young talent shine even more this year.

Ferrari: Can they be the wildcard: 

Another team that we’ll all be keeping an eye is Ferrari. The Prancing Horse is potentially the wildcard for this season. For Ferrari this has to be the year they properly challenge Mercedes after a firtation with challenging in 2015 then regressing massively in 2016 which was a surprise after a lot of hope from the previous year. For Sebastian Vettel this season will be about proving his doubters wrong, that he can win a world title without a well known designer making the car. He has four titles to his career but never really had the plaudits like Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton which would perhaps frustrate him a bit. Vettel will want to also win a title with Ferrari to put him up there with his hero (The Great) Michael Schumacher who won five titles titles with Scuderia. For the other driver Kimi Raikkonen he is entering the final phase of his career after 16 years in the sport. Raikkonen had a fairly decent season but not one of a former world champion who seems to be alright just finishing wherever (which he wouldn’t have years ago). For the Finnish driver who surprisingly got an extension to his contract last season, this year has the feel of maybe being the final one and you’d wonder will he try and push Vettel this year to remind everyone of what he was once capable of. The main task for Ferrari this season will be to win races and be competing along with Mercedes and Red Bull which for them and the sports sake they need to. The hope for Ferrari will be their testing form after a decent spell in Barcelona. But we can only know the form once they reach Melbourne but for now Ferrari will be the wild cards this year.

McLaren: can they ever be great again:  

It definitely frustrates me to write this part like it would any F1 fan. McLaren go into this season once again with loads of doubts and negativity surrounding the team mainly regarding their Honda engine. This season sees a new pairing with Fernando Alonso once again onboard but this time with rookie Stoffel Vandoorne who a lot of people will watching this year to see if we have another new big talent or just a hype job. Vandoorne has done his apprenticeship among the smaller leagues of motorsport and has been junior driver in McLaren for a long time and this year he receives his opportunity after impressing in last seasons Bahrain GP whilst standing in for Alonso who was carrying an injury. Vandoorne from Belgium will want to take advantage of this chance otherwise he could be kicked to the kerb like some other drivers have been if they haven’t impressed but the hope is that he thrives at this. For Fernando this is his sixteenth year in F1 and after 2 titles he is still hungry for more. Since his last title you could argue that he has been the most unlucky man in the sport after numerous close title attempts he has finished second or and could have had more titles to his name than the two he has. At 35 the Spanish driver is in the final year of his contract with McLaren and if performances with the car don’t improve there is a rumoured escape clause where he could leave if he doesn’t think the team are improving which judging by his history and nature you wouldn’t be surprised if he did. The biggest talking point though has been the change in management personnel with long time boss Ron Dennis being removed by the majority stakeholders Mansour Ojjeih and Bahrain fund which did not come as a big shock but still a small surprise after all the years Ron had been in charge. Dennis was replaced by Zak Brown who had been in charge of trying to bring sponsorships to the sport and teams and was offered a job amongst F1 management but chose McLaren which might be an eye raiser. The other massive taking point has been the engine which in testing has been diabolical and I’m being fair on that. In Barcelona McLaren achieved the lowest amount of laps out of every team and the longest distance they got was 11 laps which is utter shambles for this fantastic team. The main blame seems to be with Honda who once again seem to have made a dreadful engine again and for Honda who have been renowned for cutting edge development seem to have fallen behind their rivals in terms of making a competitive engine. If results don’t get better McLaren might struggle for a very long time to get back to the top which is incredibly baffling for a team with McLaren’s history but you live in hope but very little at this time of the season which hasn’t even started.

Williams, Force India and Renault: Potential battle for fourth:  

This could be interesting. When looking at who could finish fourth I saw a potentially interesting battle that might be a good one and could have a lot at stake for the team’s involved.

Williams this season go into this year having lost Valtteri Bottas to Mercedes but have gained their technical director Paddy Lowe in exchange. This prompted Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams to call Felipe Massa back from retirement. Massa had only just retired and was perhaps looking forward to a few pizzas and normal food but has come back to help the team when they needed him which had some 50-50 views. His teammate this season is the rookie Lance Stroll who’s father is billionaire Lawrence Stroll. For Stroll from Canada and 18 there will be a lot of questions asked about why he got the seat until he proves himself to be a talent rather then a budget driver. What we know about him is that he has done well in the junior formulas but we still wonder if his talent will prove us all wrong (which I hope for). Williams regressed a lot last season with the resurgence of Red Bull and perhaps not taking advantage of when they were competing with Mercedes and Ferrari. Through a deal with Mercedes (their engine supplier) they have had the charge for the engine cut down £10m less which means they can do more with it and it could help them push forward and push them back up the grid. For Williams they’ll need to be back in the top four this year otherwise any hope of coming back to past glories might fade if they don’t show progress this year.

Force India last season achieved fourth their best finish since they entered the sport in 2008 after taking over from previous groups that led back to when Eddie Jordan owned the team. Force India have slowly risen up the grid and it’s been a joy to watch. Under Team Owner Vijay Mallya and Team Principal Bob Fernley the team have become one of the best in the midfield on the budget they have. This season with a bit more money behind them through new sponsors (including pink livery) they have openly stated that they aim to finish in the top three which is bold but at least they are ambitious. Driver wise they also have a new pairing. Sergio Perez after a brilliant season is with the team for a fourth season and after his departure at McLaren he has definitely come a long way and hecome better. He is joined by Estiban Ocon who is still basically a rookie after a season with Manor. For Ocon this will be a big learning experience but he is perhaps with the best team to do it. TBF( To Be Fair) we don’t know how good Ocon is because we didn’t pay attention last season but we’ll look forward to seeing how he does this season. For the Silverstone based team they’ll want to progress rather then regress but with bold ambitions for top three they better live up to that.

Renault this season are a wildcard in terms of this potential race because of them still being a new team. For the Enstone based this year is a bit of less pressure with it being only their second year as a team. They are another team that have a different driver pairing with Nico Hulkenburg joining this year alongside Jolyon Palmer now in his second season with the team. For Hulkenburg he is believed to be the best talent on the grid without ever getting a top team drive. With him getting older each year he perhaps sees this as his best chance at making it big with Renaults potential if they get it right. I’ve always considered Hulkenburg a talent and confused as to why he hasn’t had a big drive but for his talent you’d hope under this team we finally see it shine. For Palmer this season is his second chance to prove he has talent to make it in the sport. The first season was basically not worth anything with all the change late on before last season started. You can imagine Palmer will be hugely motivated to make an impression this year with more time to get the car right and a decent budget the team can maybe look for a decent finish this year to look forward. For Renault everyone knows what they are capable when they get it right but as I mentioned earlier they’ll need to look at this season as just to progress up the grid and solidify their place in the sport.

Predictions: 

Now this is difficult but let’s give it a go. In the twenty races we have this there could be a lot happening or it could be the status quo. In terms of teams I predict that Mercedes will win 11 races Red Bull will win 6 races and Ferrari 3 with Mercedes winning the Constructers by 30-20 points. For drivers I predict that Lewis Hamilton will win  8 races and his teammate Valtteri Bottas will win 3 races. For Red Bull Max Verstappen will win 4 races and Daniel Riccardo will win 2. For Ferrari Sébastian Vettel will win their races but Kimi Raikkonen will win none. For the Drivers Championship my pick for this year is Lewis Hamilton. I think he’ll be in a kind of battle until after the summer break and then he’ll seal it four or three races before the seasons over.

Those are my predictions for this season and let’s hope for a good season and one to remember.