New era dawns with first Formula One Grand Prix
melbourne — With the Melbourne GP kickstarting the 2017 F1 season in less than a week, a new era dawns ahead with new owners Libery Media, newer and faster cars, a fresh set of rules and maybe a possible shakeup in the pecking order.
After eight days, 16 sessions and 64 hours of pre-season testing there were several giveaways to what one can expect in the first few races ahead. Reigning Champions Mercedes were seen racking up the maximum mileage on the grid with a total of 1096 laps, while the Ferraris displayed a renewed impressive form and confidence by clocking record laps and heading the time-sheets.
Emerging as underdogs, were the scarlet outfit, who had the fastest laps and were seen sandbagging or disguising their true pace in order to confuse their rivals. However, after a dismal season last year, the Maranello squad has upped the anti and made several improvements to their engine and produced the best designed car. Given their strong form, one can expect a tight battle between them and the Silver Arrows outfit, and to add the mix, the critical question is where the Red Bulls will fit in at the top with two flawless drivers and F1’s ace aerodynamic designer in their team.
Why 2017 will be different? Apart from the new owners who acquired the sport and the end of the Bernie Ecclestone era, this year will mark the transition of this precision perfect sport to a digitally enhanced sport. With the several new changes one will see throughout the year, the season starts with new rules and tweaks to the racing side.
To stop one-team domination, a new set of aerodynamic rules was introduced on the development side of the sport which have made the cars look longer, wider and more aggressive. On the racing side, there will be a new start rule where the engineers can’t aide the drivers with the clutch release or starts, verbally or technically, and if a safety car period is over, the grid will re-assemble for standing wet starts. Two interesting tweaks to the race format will see a lot of first corner or first lap mayhem, in the initial races of the year.
Coming to the pecking on the grid, a tight battle at the front between the top three teams (Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull) and a shakeup in the mid-field order between Renault, Force India and Williams might unfold an interesting scenario of results in the 20 races ahead. As far as the liveries of the cars go with McLaren returning to their iconic orange look and Force India featuring a baby pink coloured car on the grid. Will the cars sound better? With a few cosmetic tweaks to the rear of the cars, the noise will be louder than that of their predecessors, or a larger echo of last years car sounds.
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