2017 Formula One season

2017 FIA Formula One World Championship
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Races by country Races by season Support series: GP2 Series GP3 Series

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 World Drivers' Champion, who retired from Formula One shortly after winning the title.

Mercedes are the defending World Constructors' Champions. Pictured is the F1 W07 Hybrid, the car entered by the team in 2016.

The 2017 Formula One season is scheduled to be the 68th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sport's governing body, the FIA, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Teams and drivers are scheduled to compete in twenty Grands Prix—starting in Australia on 26 March and ending in Abu Dhabi on 26 November—for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championships.

As the reigning Drivers' Champion Nico Rosberg announced his retirement from the sport in December 2016, the 2017 season is set to be the first since 1994 in which the reigning champion did not compete.^[1] Mercedes is set to start the season as the defending Constructors' Champion, having secured their third consecutive title at the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix.^[2]

Contracted teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers are currently under contract to take part in the 2017 Formula One World Championship:

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Power unit	Tyres	No.	Drivers
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	TBA	Ferrari	P	5	Sebastian Vettel[3]
					7	Kimi Räikkönen[4]
Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India-Mercedes	TBA	Mercedes[5]	P	11	Sergio Pérez[6]
					31	Esteban Ocon[7]
Haas F1 Team	Haas-Ferrari	VF-17[8]	Ferrari[9]	P	8	Romain Grosjean[10]
					20	Kevin Magnussen[8]
McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team	McLaren-Honda	TBA	Honda[11]	P	14	Fernando Alonso[12]
					TBA	Stoffel Vandoorne[13]
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team[14]	Mercedes	TBA	Mercedes	P	44	Lewis Hamilton[15]
					TBA	TBA[1]
Manor Racing MRT	MRT-Mercedes	TBA	Mercedes[16]	P	TBA	TBA
					TBA	TBA
Red Bull Racing[17]	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	RB13[18]	TAG Heuer[18]	P	3	Daniel Ricciardo[19]
					33	Max Verstappen[20]
Renault Sport Formula One Team[21]	Renault	TBA	Renault	P	27	Nico Hülkenberg[22]
					30	Jolyon Palmer[23]
Sauber F1 Team[24]	Sauber-Ferrari	C36[25]	Ferrari 061[26]	P	9	Marcus Ericsson[27]
					TBA	TBA
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso-Renault	STR12[28]	Renault[29]	P	26	Daniil Kvyat[28]
					55	Carlos Sainz Jr.[30]
Williams Martini Racing	Williams-Mercedes	FW40[31]	Mercedes[32]	P	77	Valtteri Bottas[33]
					TBA	Lance Stroll[33]
Sources:[34]

Team changes

• Sauber signed a deal to use one year-old Ferrari power units in 2017, mirroring the arrangement between Ferrari and Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2016.^[26]
• Toro Rosso agreed to return to using Renault power units in 2017, having used 2015-specification Ferrari power units in 2016.^[29] The team had previously used Renault power units in 2014 and 2015 before the relationship between Renault and sister team Red Bull Racing broke down, prompting Toro Rosso to seek out an alternative supplier.

Driver changes

• Kevin Magnussen turned down an offer to stay with Renault and instead signed a deal with Haas to drive alongside Romain Grosjean.^[8][35] As a result of the agreement with Magnussen and the team's decision to take up an option on Grosjean, Esteban Gutiérrez's contract with the team was not renewed.^[36]
• Williams driver Felipe Massa retired from Formula One at the end of the 2016 season after fourteen years in the sport.^[37][38] Massa's seat is due to be taken by 2016 European Formula 3 Championship winner Lance Stroll.^[33]
• Esteban Ocon reached an agreement to move from MRT to Force India and is scheduled to fill the seat left vacant by Nico Hülkenberg's departure to Renault.^[7][22]
• Reigning champion and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg retired from the sport in December 2016.^[1]
• 2015 GP2 Series champion Stoffel Vandoorne signed a contract with McLaren as a full-time driver.^[39] Vandoorne has previously competed in one race for the team, the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, in which he substituted for the injured Fernando Alonso while serving as the team's reserve driver.^[40] He is scheduled to replace Jenson Button, who is taking a sabbatical from racing in 2017 while staying on with the team as a reserve driver.^[41]

Provisional schedule

Nations which are scheduled to host a Grand Prix in 2017 are highlighted in green, with circuit locations marked with a black dot. Former host nations are shown in dark grey, and former host circuits are marked with a white dot.

The following twenty Grands Prix are scheduled to take place in 2017:^[42]

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	Australian Grand Prix	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne	26 March
2	Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai	9 April
3	Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	16 April
4	Russian Grand Prix	Sochi Autodrom, Sochi	30 April
5	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona	14 May
6	Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	28 May
7	Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal	11 June
8	Azerbaijan Grand Prix	Baku City Circuit, Baku	25 June
9	Austrian Grand Prix	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	9 July
10	British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	16 July
11	Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring, Budapest	30 July
12	Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	27 August
13	Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza	3 September
14	Singapore Grand Prix	Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore	17 September
15	Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur	1 October
16	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka International Race Course, Suzuka	8 October
17	United States Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas	22 October
18	Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	29 October
19	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo	12 November
20	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	26 November
Source:[42]

Calendar changes

• The Chinese and Bahrain Grands Prix swapped places in the schedule for the 2017 season.^[42]
• The European Grand Prix will become known as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.^[43] The date of the race was changed to avoid conflicting with the 24 Hours of Le Mans,^[42] which had been a source of controversy at the 2016 European Grand Prix.^[44]
• The German Grand Prix was removed from the calendar.^[42]
• The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari—more commonly known as the Imola circuit—signed an agreement with Bernie Ecclestone to host a Grand Prix from 2017; however, the agreement must be ratified by the Italian motorsport federation in order for the event to take place, and it was omitted from the provisional calendar.^[42][45] The Imola circuit previously hosted the Italian Grand Prix in 1980 and the San Marino Grand Prix from 1981 to 2006.^[46]

Changes

General changes

• In September 2016, Liberty Media purchased a minority stake in the sport from CVC Capital Partners ahead of a hoped-for full buyout in time for the 2017 season.^[47] As part of the deal, the sport adopted a model similar to that used by the US National Football League and Major League Baseball, with teams entitled to purchase a stake in the sport.^[48]

Technical regulations

• The technical regulations governing bodywork design were revised for 2017, with the objective of improving lap times by four to five seconds over the 2016 generation of cars.^[49] These changes include:^[50]
  • An increase of the width of the front wing to 1,800 mm (70.9 in).
  • Lowering the rear wing by 150 mm (5.9 in) and moving its position back by 200 mm (7.9 in).
  • The leading edge of the barge boards being brought forward to allow teams more freedom in controlling airflow.
  • An increase of the width of the front and rear tyres to allow cars to generate more mechanical grip.
  • The minimum weight of the car including the driver being raised by 20 kg to 722 kg, with teams allowed to use 105 kg of fuel to account for the increase in minimum weight.
• The token system used to regulate power unit development—where the power unit was divided into individual areas, and each area assigned a points value with development of these areas deducting points from a manufacturer's overall points quota—will be abandoned.^[51]
• Restrictions are to be placed on the dimensions, weight and the materials used to build each individual component of the power unit.^[52]
• Teams are restricted to four power units per season regardless of the number of Grands Prix in the season.^[53] Previous seasons had included a provision for a fifth power unit if the number of Grands Prix in a season exceeded twenty; from 2017, this provision is to be abandoned.
• The cost of a power unit supply is reduced by €1 million in 2017 ahead of a further reduction in 2018.^[52]
• Cameras will no longer be permitted to be mounted on stalks, located on the nose of the car.^[54]

Sporting regulations

• Under rules introduced in 2015, grid penalties for exceeding a driver's quota of power unit components carried over from one race to the next if the penalty could not be fully served when issued. When this carry-over system was abandoned, teams could build up a reserve of spare components by introducing several at once while only serving a single grid penalty. From 2017, teams will only be able to use one new component over their quota per race, with any additional components incurring further penalties. This change prevents teams from "stockpiling" spare power unit components.^[55]
• Power unit suppliers will have an "obligation to supply", mandating that they supply power units to any team, should a team end up without an agreement.^[51] The rule was introduced following the breakdown in the relationship between Renault and their customer teams Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso at the end of the 2015 season that left both teams in limbo until deals could be arranged.^[56]
• In the event that a race is declared wet and must start behind the safety car, the grid will follow normal starting procedures once conditions are declared satisfactory for racing. Drivers will line up on the grid for a standing start once the safety car pulls into pit lane, although any laps completed behind the safety car will count towards the total race distance.^[57]

References

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