Formel 1 – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Großer Preis von Australien 2017. Valtteri Bottas ;
Formula One – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Australian GP 2017. Valtteri Bottas;
Formula 1 begins this weekend Down Under! With winter testing over, most teams now head into Albert Park with the feeling that this year will be a better season than last year. Wheel-to-wheel racing is expected to add more excitement to the spectacle, while new regulations and new developments ensure that lap times will be quicker.
In Barcelona, Ferrari went about setting the fastest lap time during testing. With Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel, the SF70H notched a 1m18.864 seconds lap around Catalunya. This was considerably faster than the pole lap in last years Spanish GP (-3.3 seconds). Mercedes claimed second with a time of 1m19.310 seconds, while a vastly improved WilliamsF1 was in 3rd place with a time of 1m19.420 secs. Red Bull and Toro Rosso rounded up the top 5.
In the reliability area, Mercedes AMG F1 was the top dog, with Ferrari hot on its tail, but it was Williams F1 that surprised everyone by besting Red Bull and the rest of the grid. Mercedes ran 1096 laps in 8 days of testing. This is roughly about16 race distances, which was far ahead than any of its rivals can muster. Ferrari ran 956 laps. Williams F1 had 800 laps under its belt, and Sauber and Force India churrned out 788 and 785 laps respectively.
After all the tests have been done, a battle of press releases has begun, with both Mercedes and Ferrari claiming that the other is bound to win the championship come Abu Dhabi. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were vocal in giving prasie in their assessment of their rivals’ performance.
Sophomore team Haas F1 made the most improvements during the pre-season. The American team showed no signs of the second year syndrome, and went about establishing themselves as a force in the mid-field.
McLaren for its part still has not gotten rid of the previous years’ gremlins and are still struggling with both pace and reliability. If in Melbourne they overcome all their troubles, with a new spec engine from Honda making its way to Melbourne, the McLaren resurgence will be considered a modern day miracle.
Smart money is still on Mercedes and Hamilton walking away with it all, with Ferrari very close behind. But whoever takes the title, one thing is sure, the 2017 Formula 1 season has all the makings of an epic year!
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