2017 F1 preview: statistics
Teams
Mercedes
First team entry 1954
Races entered 148
Wins 64
FLs 47
Poles 73
Driver titles 5
Position last year 1st
Mercedes’ task has to be to make the transition from Paddy Lowe to James Allison a seamless one that doesn’t interrupt the superb integration between the engine and chassis teams, while adapting to a new driver dynamic. Only if Allison can take over where Lowe left off and Bottas can take the challenge to Hamilton as effectively as Rosberg did will things be as they were.
Red Bull
First team entry 2005
Races entered 224
Wins 52
FLs 52
Poles 58
Driver titles 4
Position last year 2nd
As well as hoping that Renault Sport has made significant inroads into the Mercedes power unit superiority, Red Bull trusts that its Adrian Newey-led aerodynamic vision has benefited from the big change in aero regulations. The recent questioning of the legality of Red Bull’s heave spring may have put a spanner into its works. F1 needs Red Bull to challenge Mercedes on level terms.
Ferrari
First team entry 1950
Races entered 929
Wins 225
FLs 236
Poles 201
Driver titles 15
Position last year 3rd
One senses a fragile equilibrium at the Scuderia right now. The management has got behind the existing technical team and reiterated it doesn’t need any big names to replace James Allison. But that calm could evaporate if the new car is not a contender. If the management responds by firing people, then the team’s gradual drifting away from its great years will continue.
Force India
First team entry 2008
Races entered 171
Wins 0
FLs 4
Poles 1
Driver titles 0
Position last year 4th
Just to keep doing what it has been doing in the last couple of years would be the perfect scenario for this team. But its challenge will be to retain its relative competitiveness in a season of big aerodynamic regulation change. Such circumstances invariably play to the bigger teams that can research several different directions, but Force India has surprised us in the past.
Williams
First team entry 1978
Races entered 670
Wins 114
FLs 133
Poles 128
Driver titles 7
Position last year 5th
Big changes behind the scenes. A major new investor with his son as a driver, a new technical chief, new aero chief, new chief of vehicle dynamics, new project manager, new team manager. Getting all that working efficiently while adapting to new regulations is going to keep everyone very busy. The real challenge is going to be putting solid foundations down for future success.
McLaren
First team entry 1966
Races entered 801
Wins 182
FLs 154
Poles 155
Driver titles 12
Position last year 6th
Fernando Alonso himself has said it: there’s probably a bigger question mark around McLaren coming up with an aerodynamically competitive car than there is around Honda delivering a competitive power unit in 2017. The new aero regulations are essentially McLaren’s proposal, so the team should be in good shape. They need to convert that probability to certainty.
Toro Rosso
First team entry 1985
Races entered 206
Wins 1
FLs 1
Poles 1
Driver titles 0
Position last year 7th
In 2015, the Red Bull junior team conceived a very aerodynamically effective car. It needs to get that momentum back after a 2016 season compromised by a late call on engine choice and that engine being frozen in 2015 spec. Those restrictions haven’t applied to the latest car and it should be good enough to have Sainz and Kvyat regularly embarrassing bigger teams.
Haas
First team entry 2016
Races entered 21
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Driver titles 0
Position last year 8th
The difficult second album? First time around Haas had the luxury of conceiving its car without also competing at the same time. Further, it was able to take advantage of not being restricted on wind tunnel hours. Both factors were significant in giving the team such an impressive rookie season. But now that it’s in the same boat as everyone else, can it continue to punch above its weight?
Renault
First team entry 1997
Races entered 321
Wins 20
FLs 13
Poles 20
Driver titles 2
Position last year 9th
It’s one thing to target a progressive move up the grid for this team still in the early stages of rebuilding, but quite another to achieve it. Last year was about maintaining a presence while planning the badly needed upgrades of the factory. That’s still a work in progress and as such the realistic target must be flashes of promise that suggest light at the end of the tunnel.
Sauber
First team entry 1993
Races entered 332
Wins 1
FLs 5
Poles 1
Driver titles 0
Position last year 10th
Sauber’s target – now that it is financially out of peril – must be to avoid being the perennial tail-end charlies in the absence of Manor. Although the team’s facilities are good, it simply doesn’t have the staff numbers to exploit them properly. This year especially, at a time of major technical regulation change, that could be a very difficult problem to overcome.
Drivers
First GP Australia 2007
Races entered 188
Titles 3
Wins 53
FLs 27
Poles 61
Position last year 2nd
Valtteri Bottas
First GP Australia 2013
Races entered 78
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 1
Poles 0
Position last year 8th
Daniel Ricciardo
First GP Great Britain 2011
Races entered 109
Titles 0
Wins 4
FLs 7
Poles 1
Position last year 3rd
Max Verstappen
First GP Australia 2015
Races entered 40
Titles 0
Wins 1
FLs 1
Poles 0
Position last year 5th
Sebastian Vettel
First GP USA 2007
Races entered 179
Titles 4
Wins 42
FLs 25
Poles 46
Position last year 4th
Kimi Räikkönen
First GP Australia 2001
Races entered 253
Titles 1
Wins 20
FLs 41
Poles 16
Position last year 6th
Sergio Perez
First GP Australia 2011
Races entered 116
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 3
Poles 0
Position last year 7th
Esteban Ocon
First GP Belgium 2016
Races entered 9
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 23rd
Felipe Massa
First GP Australia 2002
Races entered 251
Titles 0
Wins 11
FLs 15
Poles 16
Position last year 11th
Lance Stroll
First GP n/a
Races entered 0
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year n/a
Fernando Alonso
First GP Australia 2003
Races entered 274
Titles 2
Wins 32
FLs 21
Poles 22
Position last year 10th
Stoffel Vandoorne
First GP Bahrain 2016
Races entered 1
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 20th
Carlos Sainz
First GP Australia 2015
Races entered 40
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 12th
Daniil Kvyat
First GP Australia 2014
Races entered 59
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 14th
Romain Grosjean
First GP Europe 2009
Races entered 104
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 1
Poles 0
Position last year 13th
Kevin Magnussen
First GP Australia 2014
Races entered 41
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 16th
Nico Hülkenberg
First GP Bahrain 2010
Races entered 117
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 2
Poles 1
Position last year 9th
Jolyon Palmer
First GP Australia 2016
Races entered 21
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 18th
Marcus Ericsson
First GP Australia 2014
Races entered 56
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 22nd
Pascal Wehrlein
First GP Australia 2016
Races entered 21
Titles 0
Wins 0
FLs 0
Poles 0
Position last year 19th