8 Reasons To Watch Formula 1 In 2017

1. Striking cars

One of the reasons for changing the rules for 2017 was to make the cars look better. We haven’t seen any of them yet but just by looking at the new aero regulations and concept designs, it’s safe to say the cars should look pretty damn cool.

There’ll be a wider, more arrow-shaped front wing and a lower and wider rear wing. The cars will be a little bit bigger in general and some of the scope for innovation has been opened up, like the bargeboard area.

I’m going to talk about this from a visual point of view first. The tyres are increasing in size by 25 per cent for 2017, giving them a more retro look – like F1 back in the 70s. As we’ve seen on the 2015 mule cars, the wider tyres look absolutely awesome.

3. A vacant seat

Mercedes has been the team to beat ever since the last regulations revolution in 2014, so it’s no surprise Niki Lauda joked half the grid had contacted the Silver Arrows after reigning champ Nico Rosberg announced his shock retirement.

It’s one of the top F1 drives on the grid. We still don’t know who’ll partner Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes but it’s cool that there’ll be a fresh face in the team and potentially fighting at the front of the field.

With wider tyres and more downforce from the new aero regulations, the F1 cars should be a couple of seconds quicker (to begin with, at least). This should hopefully make them a little more exciting on track and with teams continuing to develop their power units, technology is definitely being pushed even harder.

5. Mixing up the order

The F1 pecking order has been pretty set since the new rules came in, but further changes for 2017 could well shake things up. Obviously we haven’t even seen the F1 cars yet, let alone compared them on track, so, it’s all speculative. But more focus on aero and a considerable rules shift could well mix the order up nicely. Well, we hope anyway…

6. Stable calendar

Change to the F1 calendar with new races is nice every once and a while, but a lot of the most recent additions to the schedule haven’t gone down so well and European events always seem to be under threat.

Fortunately, the calendar is remaining largely unchanged for 2016, apart from the loss of the German GP. But that does make it a more manageable 20 races now, which will be welcome relief to members of the F1 circus.

7. Monza stays

Speaking of the calendar being relatively stable, a big part of that is Monza staying in F1. It’s future looked bleak for a while and there was even the possibility of Imola taking its place, but the Italian GP at Monza was thankfully saved for the time being. Yay!

8. Fresh faces

There are a few fresh faces confirmed on the F1 grid for 2017, including talented youngster Lance Stroll. He comes with a large amount of financial backing and is only 18, but he’s certainly proved his worth in junior categories – he won the European F3 title in 2016.

There’s also 2015 GP2 champ Stoffel Vandoorne, who stood in for the unfit Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain GP in 2016 but failed to secure a full-time drive. He’s one to watch, having replaced Jenson Button for the new season.

What are you looking forward to most about F1 2017? Let us know in the comments!