The new year is here and the 2017 F1 season will be upon us before too long. F1 Fanatic has everything you need for the new championship.
Drivers
Remarkably, the new year has begun with the reigning champions looking to fill a vacant seat. The 2017 F1 driver line-up seemed as good as settled until Nico Rosberg dropped the bombshell news of his retirement five days after the last season ended.
Mercedes are expected to prise Valtteri Bottas away from Williams to take his place, with Felipe Massa poised to call time on one of the shortest retirements in F1 history. But there are still ‘i’s to be dotted and ‘t’s to be crossed.
Rosberg isn’t the only world champion heading for the door – Jenson Button has called time on his 17-year career. Here’s a summary of the other changes confirmed so far:
- Stoffel Vandoorne replaces the retiring Jenson Button at McLaren
- Lance Stroll makes his F1 debut with Williams
- Kevin Magnussen ousts Esteban Gutierrez from Haas
- Nico Hulkenberg fills Magnussen’s place at Renault
- Esteban Ocon gains a swift promotion to Force India in place of Hulkenberg
- That leaves four seats remaining to be filled: two at Manor, one at Sauber alongside Marcus Ericsson, and that coveted spot at Mercedes
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Teams and engines
There are few significant changes on the teams front. The same 11 competitors as last year should return, with a few changes of engine supplier:
- Toro Rosso will reunite with Renault after a season of using year-old Ferraris. This year they will have current hardware
- Sauber, however, will have to make do with 2016-specification Ferrari engines, leaving only Ferrari and Haas using the latest power plants from the prancing horse
The full list of 2017 F1 drivers and teams will be updated here as it is confirmed:
Get the 2017 F1 calendar on your mobile
Get the dates of all 20 rounds of this year’s championship on your preferred mobile device using the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar. Tests and car launch dates will be added as they are announced, as well as the individual times of every session.
If you’ve used the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar before please note it has moved and you will need to subscribe to the new one below to get the 2017 dates.
Get more 2017 racing calendars
Find calendars for more 2017 series here:
There three series are yet to confirm their 2017 schedules in full but when they do you’ll be able to find the calendars here:
Plan your 2017 race trip
Are you planning a trip to watch a race in person this year? If so F1 Fanatic’s active community of race-goers are on hand to pass on their knowledge of all 20 venues. Find them here:
- Going to the 2017 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park
- Going to the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit
- Going to the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit
- Going to the 2017 Russian Grand Prix at Sochi
- Going to the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya
- Going to the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix at Monte-Carlo
- Going to the 2017 Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
- Going to the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City circuit
- Going to the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix at Silverstone
- Going to the 2017 British Grand Prix at Silverstone
- Going to the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring
- Going to the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps
- Going to the 2017 Italian Grand Prix at Monza
- Going to the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay
- Going to the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit
- Going to the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka
- Going to the 2017 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas
- Going to the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
- Going to the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos
- Going to the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina
See here for more information on how to plan a trip to an F1 race, what to take with you and more:
Follow the 2017 drivers and teams
The F1 Fanatic Twitter Directory is constantly being updated with new drivers, team members and other significant F1 names.
The only drivers who do not maintain an official Twitter presence are Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. But you can find details for the drivers who do – and many others – here:
And of course make sure you’re following F1 Fanatic’s Twitter accounts:
- F1 Fanatic: F1 Tweets straight from the editor including links to all new articles
- F1 Fanatic Live: Live F1 session coverage
- F1 Fanatic Update: Just links to new articles on F1 Fanatic – nothing else
Support the 2017 drivers and teams
Who is getting your support in 2017? Are you looking for someone new to support after Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg bowed out last year? Will you be getting behind Lance Stroll or Stoffel Vandoorne?
Here’s how you can show who you’re supporting on F1 Fanatic:
- Log in with your F1 Fanatic account (sign up here if you don’t have one)
- Select Edit My Profile from the top-right menu
- Select F1 Teams and Drivers
- Make your selections then click Save Changes
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
PaulK (@paulk)
1st January 2017, 12:44
Is Sauber, with a 2016 Ferrari engine, going to fall behind Manor this year?
Jerejj
1st January 2017, 15:34
I think that will indeed happen.
Gabriel (@rethla)
1st January 2017, 17:05
Since Sauber have been progressing the second half of the season i doubt that. The Sauber that entered the 2016 season was loosing to Manor and by the end they where clearly the better team.
javier javier
1st January 2017, 17:23
They want to focus on the chassis… Just look Toro Rosso.. they were better than dauber and using 2015 engine.. just because of the chassis
Girts (@girts)
1st January 2017, 13:53
I am certainly looking forward to the new F1 season, especially seeing the new cars in action. New rules always bring some excitement even if the result ultimately fails to meet the expectations, which has too often been the case in F1.
I hope that Red Bull are finally going to be championship contenders again as otherwise 2017 might quickly become a one-man show. I do not believe that Bottas will be able to capitalise on Hamilton’s mistakes and mishaps as well as Rosberg did so at the moment it looks like Verstappen and Ricciardo are the only potential hurdles in Hamilton’s way to his fourth championship title.
I hope that Manor survive, McLaren make further progress and Renault get a little closer to their aim of winning races again. Watching the progress of Vandoorne, Ocon and Stroll is going to be fascinating. Perhaps we will see Massa on the podium one more time and Raikkonen winning a race – would that not be heartwarming?
I hope to go to an F1 race again, probably at Red Bull Ring or Monza. Also, I have a new favourite driver – I am getting behind Stoffel Vandoorne this year.
As for other motorsport, I hope that 4 LMP1 factory cars will somehow be enough to throw a thriller at Le Mans.
I am going to check this website every day of the year.
Robbie (@robbie)
1st January 2017, 14:16
Good summation @girts You’re right about reg changes sometimes (or often) being a letdown in their resultant effect, but my goodness these are one serious set of changes. Cars and tires having dimensions like they haven’t had for 20 years or more, only now with torqueir pu’s than F1 has ever had. I’ve said it several times and will say again that imho even if as some speculate the cars are still too clean air dependent to promote closer racing, the bones will now be there to tweek that if they see a need and are motivated to achieve said closer racing. Too often I see pundits talking only about the wings and not adding the inevitable extra mechanical grip and change in tire deg that will come to help cars better cope in dirty air.
KimiRaikkonen1207 (@kimiraikkonen1207)
1st January 2017, 14:11
Maybe it’s just me, but I think that Massa’s move out of retirement was a very noble move. He moved knowing that he would look ridiculous (especially after his “goodbye” in brazil), but he gave up some of his dignity and retirement to help out his old team. By coming back to Williams, he allowed Bottas, his friend and teammate, to move to one of the most highly coveted seats in F1, while also driving alongside rookie Stroll – to make sure the team didn’t falter with two rookies. Otherwise, next year should be really interesting to watch, and I hope to see some good (friendly) battles between Hamilton and Bottas!
Robbie (@robbie)
1st January 2017, 17:14
I agree with the positive component of your sentiment toward FM, but don’t agree that he looks ridiculous nor undignified.
lockup (@)
1st January 2017, 14:29
Great article @keithcollantine, many thanks and Happy New Year to you and your awesome site.
One thing I would really like to see, I don’t know if your influence might make a difference, is live timing data during the tests. At one time we used to get a brilliant spreadsheet format from a guy called Kruvas, then his data stream dried up (it was Williams I think).
Akshat
1st January 2017, 15:34
A very happy New Year everyone !
Hugh (@hugh11)
1st January 2017, 16:07
Has Wehrlein not been confirmed at Manor yet? I imagine Mercedes are waiting to announce Bottas before they announce that Wehrlein will be staying there
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
1st January 2017, 18:11
@hugh11
Wehrlein to Sauber is almost a done deal
Hugh (@hugh11)
2nd January 2017, 10:20
Really? Saw rumours about that but didn’t think there was anything to them. Not sure why he’d go, Sauber are going to have a terrible year, using this years Ferrari engine, and I can’t really see them getting anywhere fast.
foleyger (@foleyger)
1st January 2017, 21:41
Is there any in season testing this year?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st January 2017, 21:46
@foleyger It’s permitted but the dates haven’t been announced yet. When they are they’ll be added to the calendar.
foleyger (@foleyger)
2nd January 2017, 14:14
Thank you
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
1st January 2017, 23:16
Happy New Year everyone.
Isn’t it great that there’s still so much news to be read for F1 while we’re still more than a month from the start of testing.
Let’s hope that after testing we still have heaps to talk about and the season doesn’t just degenerate to which Mercedes car will win. It should be much better this year so I’m hanging out to the start of testing.
Jonathan Parkin
2nd January 2017, 4:56
Looking at that huge kerb in the picture above I forsee track limits are going to be an issue again!
SO
2nd January 2017, 20:33
All engine suppliers are going to have brand new, experimental PUs. All except Mercedes. Some will have new petrol and lubricants suppliers as well. Merc might be miles ahead before the other top teams even sort out reliability.
Not much hope for close WCC in my opinion.
Wesley (@)
2nd January 2017, 22:04
Happy New Year F1fanatics! Looking forward to the new cars and driver swaps. I support a few drivers but, pulling for DannyRic this year. He brings a lot to the sport and deserves some wins…WC soon!
dex
4th January 2017, 12:32
Will be very interesting how he will fair against Max in a full season when they both start on 0 points. I like Danny the lovable Aussie, but I think we are experiencing a driver in the Senna league with Max. On other issues, Bottas will have his work cut out to keep on the tail pipe of Hamilton’s car as he will be double focussed on getting his WDC back having let last years slip through his fingers, must have hurt.