Out with the old, in
arely has the start of a new Formula One season aroused more excitement and conjecture than the impending 2017 campaign, which begins with Melbourne’s Formula One Rolex Australian Grand Prix from today. For starters, the current world champion Nico Rosberg will not be lining up on the grid after his stunning retirement just days after celebrating his maiden title in Abu Dhabi last November. Enter Finland’s Valtteri Bottas as Rosberg’s replacement at Mercedes, where he joins the incomparable three-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
The winds of change blowing through the sport have also swept out its venerable supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, who has been replaced with three experts from US sports marketing giant Liberty Media. But they and F1’s stars would be nothing without the cars, and this year new technical regulations have resulted in what are being hailed as the fastest vehicles in the sport’s history. So, as 10 teams get set to embark upon a season rich in promise, recalibration and unpredictability,
examines five key talking points ahead of the eagerly awaited opening race Down Under.
Will
Mercedes
again
be the team to beat? For a man accustomed to untrammelled success since 2014 in the form of respective hat-tricks in the drivers’ and constructors’ titles, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has been oddly downbeat.
“Any momentum we might have had is going to be disturbed by the big regulation changes,” the German has admitted.
“They provide an opportunity, but also a risk.”
Yet Wolff is more confident in Mercedes’ ability to cope with the departure of Rosberg and that of the team’s technical chief Paddy Lowe to Williams, stressing: “Disruption can be a very positive factor in a company’s development.”
But can Bottas pose as serious a challenge to Hamilton as Rosberg
Rear wing:
Height reduced to 800mm (down 150mm did, especially in the German’s glorious final season? The Finn has proved himself as a cool and consistent performer with Williams over the last four years, but has yet to win a grand prix in 77 starts. And he faces a formidable foe in Hamilton, a serial winner with scorching pace and an insatiable will to win.
Rosberg admitted that the strain of competing against the indomitable Briton was a significant factor in his decision to retire. But thus far, Bottas has been bullish about his prospects. “It’s definitely a great challenge to go up against him,” he said, “but if I didn’t think I could beat Lewis, I’d stay at home. I believe in my skills and talent and I believe it’s possible [to beat him].”
Hamilton, though, is determined to regain the drivers’ crown to enhance his legacy by joining Sebastian Vettel as a fourtime champion, with only Juan Manuel Fangio (5) and Michael Schumacher (7) ahead of them in the pantheon of title winners.
“I feel the best prepared I’ve
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And no less an
Engi
pow and