Eight days of pre-season testing in Barcelona are complete and the start of the 2017 Formula 1 circus is now just days away. It gets underway at the season’s traditional curtain-raising race, Melbourne, this Sunday.
As was the case in 2016, it is the Ferrari team which topped the time-sheets in winter testing. But this time around their apparent margin of superiority is greater, they have completed significantly more testing mileage then they did 12 months ago, and there is a very firm belief amongst the F1 paddock judges that the Italian team really do have a race and potentially championship winning package for 2017.
Of course there have been some substantial changes to the regulations which would account for any team showing dramatic improvement during the off season. This season the cars are sleeker, lower and their tyres are 25% wider. Consequently lap times are predicted to be between four and five seconds a lap quicker than they were in the corresponding races of 2016.
So how are you handling the pressure, @danielricciardo? #AusGP
This design change was expected to play into the hands of the Red Bull team and their aerodynamicist extraordinaire Adrian Newey. If we take those Barcelona testing times on face value the Milton Keynes-based outfit are actually clear third best and some way adrift of Mercedes.
At the other end of the grid you will not find the Manor Team – they folded during the off-season – but you can expect to see the Sauber’s which are set to be handicapped by 2016 spec Ferrari engines. Remarkably they will probably be joined by the once all-conquering McLaren’s who left the Barcelona test red-faced by their lack of horsepower and numerous breakdowns.
So will the 10 teams and 20 drivers which make up the 2017 Formula 1 season serve up some competitive action or coma-inducing parades of expensive fast moving strung-out advertising hoardings?
At the very least it would seem the traditional mid-field teams will give us some exciting on-track fare. Those testing times indicate only a second separates the Williams, Toro Rosso, Renault and Force India teams.
Meanwhile, there is just the one newcomer on the grid, Lance Stroll. The 18-year-old Canadian partners Felipe Massa in the Williams and he may just be a dark-horse. Family wealth may have opened the door to F1 for him but there is no denying his credentials. In 2014 Stroll was the Italian F4 champion, the following year he landed the Toyota Racing Series and last year he won the European Formula 3 championship courtesy of 14 race wins.
Time will tell if Lance Stroll will be Williams latest trouble-prone recruit, as was the case with the similarly wealthy but errant Pastor Maldonado, or someone capable of outperforming his veteran teammate and challenging for meaningful world championship points during the year ahead.
