2017 will bring New Skool racing to the grid
Now that all racing Awards are given to all champions, winter time for all racing teams and fans has really started. Although most of them working in autosport have a big challenge to design and build a new car for next season. And with the new regulations, most F1 teams will take as much time as possible to develop the car before building it. Typically the Red Bull team is stretching this time until the first testing to the limit, in order to get the best designs. A result of these regulation changes, will be that the gap between the mid and front of the field is expected to be smaller at the beginning of the year, but that it will growth during the year. Simply because of the resources the bigger teams have. For teams like Sauber and Manor it will be a struggle to put resources on the development of the new parts, and even have enough financial resources to spend on wind tunnels and design. So the expectation is that the gap to the mid field will be even bigger for them.
Youngsters are taking over
So what other shifts can we expect for next season? One thing is clear: the youth will take over. Almost every team has it’s own youngster (rookie) in place to make the headlines like Max did. Williams, Toro Rosso, Manor, Renault, Red Bull and probably Mercedes will have a youngster next to a more experienced driver. So that will at least bring some new excitement to the grid. And I’m not suggesting that this will lead to more crashes, but more ‘new skool’ racing. A new generation will enter, after Max Verstappen made an impressive entrance in F1 with his own way of racing. The will set new boundaries for racing, and probably create new rules.
VR in F1
Also the new owners of F1 (or soon to be) will bring new developments. Rumors are that they are developing a VR experience for the fans at home. This would make it possible to race against the F1 rivals at the same time the race is on, only driving your own virtual car. From a data point of view, this should be possible. All cars are trackers and monitored live by hundreds of sensors. This data can be used for a real time simulation, and provide the option to fans to really become part of the race. This development will take more time probably, but along these lines of thoughts new media experience concept should be presented by the new media owners of F1.
Red Bull on pole?
So can we expect two Mercedes cars on the front row of the grid in Melbourne? This is probably the most obvious question for all fans. Will there be a new challenger for the titles, or will it stay the same because Mercedes has such an advantage with their engine, that the new rules for the design of the car will not make the difference. If there would be a reason for a change, it would have to do with designer Adrian Newey. This highly respected and championship winning rated designer, will design the new Red Bull car. During the 2016 season we have seen that the improvements in performance in aero resulted in a 2nd place in the constructor championship. They passed Ferrari and left Williams and Force India far behind. Everybody, including Bernie Ecclestone, expects that he with his team is the one to make the difference next year. The Renault engine will be brand new next year, so hopefully it will be more powerful and still reliable. Combined with a new Newey design, this should bring a price winning car…. That’s at least what I’m hoping for.
Youngsters are taking over
So what other shifts can we expect for next season? One thing is clear: the youth will take over. Almost every team has it’s own youngster (rookie) in place to make the headlines like Max did. Williams, Toro Rosso, Manor, Renault, Red Bull and probably Mercedes will have a youngster next to a more experienced driver. So that will at least bring some new excitement to the grid. And I’m not suggesting that this will lead to more crashes, but more ‘new skool’ racing. A new generation will enter, after Max Verstappen made an impressive entrance in F1 with his own way of racing. The will set new boundaries for racing, and probably create new rules.
VR in F1
Also the new owners of F1 (or soon to be) will bring new developments. Rumors are that they are developing a VR experience for the fans at home. This would make it possible to race against the F1 rivals at the same time the race is on, only driving your own virtual car. From a data point of view, this should be possible. All cars are trackers and monitored live by hundreds of sensors. This data can be used for a real time simulation, and provide the option to fans to really become part of the race. This development will take more time probably, but along these lines of thoughts new media experience concept should be presented by the new media owners of F1.
Red Bull on pole?
So can we expect two Mercedes cars on the front row of the grid in Melbourne? This is probably the most obvious question for all fans. Will there be a new challenger for the titles, or will it stay the same because Mercedes has such an advantage with their engine, that the new rules for the design of the car will not make the difference. If there would be a reason for a change, it would have to do with designer Adrian Newey. This highly respected and championship winning rated designer, will design the new Red Bull car. During the 2016 season we have seen that the improvements in performance in aero resulted in a 2nd place in the constructor championship. They passed Ferrari and left Williams and Force India far behind. Everybody, including Bernie Ecclestone, expects that he with his team is the one to make the difference next year. The Renault engine will be brand new next year, so hopefully it will be more powerful and still reliable. Combined with a new Newey design, this should bring a price winning car…. That’s at least what I’m hoping for.