2016’s Formula 1 season came to a close last Sunday in Abu Dhabi, and what a season it has been for the highest echelon of motorsports. The war for the championship between Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, a stunning debut for 19-year-old prodigy Max Verstappen of Red Bull and retirements of three veteran drivers; Felipe Massa of Williams Martini, Jenson Button of McLaren-Honda and a surprise retirement of aforementioned and this year’s world champion Nico Rosberg surely hallmarked this year’s Formula 1 season as a rather historical one. So to fill the void of no Formula 1 for the next three months, the best I can do is talk about next year's season. So next year’s F1 season will have to give quite a bit of a spectacular showdown between drivers and constructors to match the excitement of this year’s season, and from the news that has been leaking from the paddocks, next year’s season might just be even bigger because of these four reasons.
1. Nico Rosberg’s Surprise retirement
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Perhaps the biggest prologue to the upcoming season has to be a surprise retirement of this year’s world champion. After five whole days of achieving any driver’s death wish of Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes-AMG has announced retirement from the sport after his 10-year-long quest for his ultimate goal has finally come to rest. That leaves quite a big shoe to fill for Mercedes, a team with three consecutive World Constructor’s Championship title in their hands, a sign of their absolute domination they have in the sport. That kind of winning streak, of course, makes the currently vacant race seat at the German team a hugely popular one, with apparently half of the grid offering to replace Rosberg according to Mercedes’ non-executive chairman (and double world champion himself) Niki Lauda. Current favorites speculated by outside media analysists and fans include Pascal Wehrlein, a young driver who had his maiden season in Formula 1 in a bottom-tier team Manor (whom Mercedes supplies their engine to) who is already part of Mercedes-AMG as a junior driver and test driver. If the young German was good enough to be selected by Mercedes’ junior driver program, that means he is (or will be very soon) good enough to race in one of the best cars on the grid. Former world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso from Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren-Honda respectively are also emerging as strong candidates; both have more than one world championships in their hands, Alonso has won two and Vettel a remarkable four, meaning they have more than enough skills. Both drivers struggled in their respective teams, not because they lost it, but because the cars they drove were less capable than the monstrous Mercs. An opening in the dominating team will be a very tempting position, but the catch is that both drivers are contractually bound to their teams until 2018. Who Mercedes chooses to replace Rosberg with will only heat up the hype for 2017’s season.
2. 2017’s hefty regulation changes
Another big ground-shaker is the rather dramatic changes of regulations circulating the cars themselves. With complaints from both teams, fans and drivers, the governing body of F1 has compromised to make the cars faster than any other in F1’s recent memory. As a result, next year’s cars will look radically different, and be an astonishing five or six seconds faster than this year’s cars, which in Formula 1 speak is about...five months. Included in the rule change also includes some changes to arguably the most crucial component on F1 racing cars: tires. F1’s official tire supplier Pirelli has been trying to mend the highly-controversial rule surrounding high-degradation tires and iffy wet-weather tires while introducing new, wider tires that will be (hopefully) be able to accommodate more aggressive aerodynamics package on next year’s cars. This new set of rules might just be enough to end Mercedes’ dominance in F1 and introduce new contenders for constructor’s championship fight like Red Bull-TAG Heuer and Scuderia Ferrari.
3. Gauntlet of fresh talents
Although three highly-skilled, deeply beloved drivers have retired, fans have taken relief by the fact that they have been replaced by worthy youngsters. First off are Carlos Sainz Jr., Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon; all three drivers just had their debut seasons, and they have put in some impressive drives this season to impress the paddock, with Wehrlein possibly getting promoted to Mercedes as previously mentioned, Ocon getting a promotion from Manor to much higher-tier team Sahara Force India and Sainz impressing at Red Bull’s junior team Scuderia Toro Rosso. Then there are the newcomers who will be marching into the scene; Lance Stroll may have a billionaire dad who financed his career without limits, he certainly is not a talentless chum who just paid to drive in F1 for Williams Martini Racing because he has the skills. McLaren-Honda’s new driver Stoffel Vandoorne also is a highly-anticipated rookie who also has an impressive competition history that only testifies his skils. Enough for Formula 1, though? We will see. Finally, you can’t really talk about fresh talent in Formula 1 without talking about Max Verstappen. Racing for Red Bull, the 19 year-old became the youngest person to win a race in F1 at this year’s Spanish Grand Prix, and his masterful driving at abhorrently wet conditions at the Brazilian Grand Prix makes him possibly a candidate for the record of youngest person to win a world championship next year.
4. Under new management
Earlier this year, Formula 1 was bought out by American media giant Liberty Media Group, and they have been working closely to “bring the fans what they want.” Their first step was to involve Ross Brawn, a former team owner and team principal responsible for over 20 world championship. The takeover is the start of the end of 40-year tenure of CEO Bernie Ecclestone, a highly-controversial figure in Formula 1 who changed the sport to a globally watched sport that it is now. Surrounded by criticism that he prioritized commercial aspects rather than the sporting aspect of Formula 1, the 86 year-old supremo is set to end his tenure sooner than later, delivering a welcomed change into the sport.
5. Less saving, more racing
This more of a wish list item rather than a reason, but it’s has a very real chance of actually materializing. For the past seven years, rule changes in Formula 1 made the sport less exciting. High-degradation tires and fuel limits made the races more a contest of who can conserve their fuel and tires better rather than allowing the drivers and cars to push hard at the limit like they are supposed to. However, Pirelli have announced to largely reduce the rapidity of disintegration in the tires, meaning drivers (in theory) will have to be less concerned about saving their tires and they will actually have enough grip to race at the limit for much, much longer. Fans and drivers alike are praying that this treatment will make the racing more on the ragged edge like Formula 1 should be and give those who are watching a way better show than the races of late.
