RACING

F1 takes a summer break

TOPSHOT-AUTO-PRIX-F1-HUN Ferrari's German driver Sebastian Vettel celebrates after winning the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring racing circuit in Budapest on July 30 | AFP

After 11 races, the Formula One circus is taking a well-deserved summer vacation of almost a month. After some serious testing, the drivers and team members will chill out, while the team headquarters and factories will close for maintenance. The Grand Prix races in Australia, China, Bahrain, Russia, Spain, Monaco, Canada, Azerbaijan, Austria, Britian and Hungary are over and Formula 1 will return for the 2017 Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix on August 27, with nine more to go.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari leads with 202 points in the Drivers Championship, followed by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes with 188, his team mate Valtteri Bottas with 169, Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing with 117 and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari with 116. Notably, Vijay Mallya’s Force India team drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon are at the seventh and eighth positions with 56 and 45 points respectively.

In the Constructor Standings, Mercedes leads with 357 points, followed by Ferrari with 318, Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer with 184 and Force India with 101.

The last race, prior to the summer break, the Formula 1 Pirelli Magyar Nagydij 2017, was held at the famous Budapest Hungaroring, which opened in 1986 with that year’s Formula One; 2,00,000 fans had showed up then. Hungary first hosted a Grand Prix way back in the 1930s.

Ross Brawn, managing director, Motorsports, Formula 1, observed that the Hungarian Grand Prix proved the activity was still a team sport. “At the front, Vettel was selflessly protected by the clearly quicker Raikkonen, but over at Mercedes, their drivers also put team considerations ahead of personal agendas. Called on to allow Hamilton the chance to attack Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas proved to be a real team player and almost slowed to a halt in Turn 1 to allow the Briton through. Hamilton was given more than a dozen laps to make his move and during that time, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen closed in on fourth-place Bottas. The threat and traffic meant it looked like a deal to invert the Mercedes drivers' places in the closing stages might have to be abandoned. But, on the final lap, Hamilton matched his teammate’s sportsmanship and handed the place back. It was a risky move as Verstappen finished just a few tenths behind Hamilton in the end, but Mercedes made the gesture work. However, Hamilton's gentlemanly behaviour cost him three points and while it had no effect on the team’s standings, what effect it might have on the drivers’ title race will only become apparent later on in this fascinating championship battle,” said Brawn, in the Formula One online magazine.

At this point, it is worth recalling the sweeping changes that made Formula 1 more exciting as compared to the recent years. This year features some of the biggest regulation changes, which includes bodywork and tyres, both of which made the cars go faster as well as physically harder to drive.

The tyres are around 25 per cent wider than last year, with the rear tyre width increased from 325 mm to 405 mm and front tyres from 245 mm to 305 mm. While the wheel rim size remained unchanged at 13 inches, the tyre diameter has increased slightly.

The front wing span is increased from 1650 mm to 1800 mm while the overall width of the car is now 2000 mm, up from 1800 mm. Correspondingly, the rear wing height is reduced from 950 mm to a maximum of 800 mm. The diffuser becomes more powerful consequent to its increased height from 125 mm to 175 mm and the width from 1000 mm to 1050 mm.

Overall, thanks to all these changes, the maximum weight of the car plus tyres was increased from 702 to 722 kg.

As we look forward to the August end races, here is a nugget of information on the Belgian GP. At almost seven kilometres, Spa-Francorchamps is the longest track on the Formula One calendar. “The great thing about Spa-Francorchamps is that it hasn’t changed over the years,” says three-time world champion Niki Lauda, quoted by the Formula 1 website. “The track is an old-style circuit and is still a great challenge to the drivers, and the surrounding area hasn’t been built all over and is still very beautiful. I enjoy coming here.”

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.
Topics : #Formula One

Related Reading