Selection box - Dropped the mic and walked off stage - A collection of Rosberg reviews and season previews
Published by Christine
We're firmly into the off-season now, with the countdown on to the start of the 2017 season. And although there's always time to have a break and enjoy the festive quiet, we can't help but ponder and speculate what's going to happen next year, as the F1 world continues to reel from Rosberg's surprise retirement. December is also traditionally a time for season reviews, so settle in for some links that look back at the year just gone, and some looking forward to what is to come.
We begin with the official F1 site's take on the year, in an unexpected format.
Now on to the Rosberg news, with more speculation over who can replace him and the impact it has on the sport.
Nico Rosberg shocked racing fans around the world when he announced his retirement so soon after winning the world championship. But he also earned our respect. After all, the 31-year-old German pilot is going out on a high note – as high a note as a racing driver ever possibly could – leaving nothing left to prove. He's simply dropped the mic and walked off stage. But is Nico's departure from the F1 grid unprecedented?
In the last few days several unconfirmed reports have quoted former Formula 1 race winner, Pastor Maldonado, as "optimistic" for a return to the sport in 2017. With Williams' driver, Valtteri Bottas, in with a high chance to move to Mercedes, it's thought Maldonado could replace him to fill the role as the experienced driver at Williams. But most laugh at his very good intentions, with a lot of people claiming he isn't good enough for Formula 1.
Moving on to the coming year, with a few posts making predictions and previewing the 2017 season at this early stage. The first link is really one to watch, as I do so love it when people get to follow the sport around the globe.
We are two young ladies (Madison and Souki) who are about to fulfil our dream, to attend every F1 Grand Prix, practice session and qualifying in the one season. This site is dedicated to my Dad (Madison’s dad) who died in August 2016 and who made it possible for us to do this tour.
These changes to the cars are important to discuss as it could potentially bring an end to Mercedes dominance in formula one, which in turn is important to talk about when discussing who will feel the seat at Mercedes. So the changes to the cars in 2017 mostly consist of making the cars up to 6 seconds a lap faster, which I completely agree with.
The title might indicate to you, that I didn't like the 2016 F1 season, but the opposite is the case! What we have seen that year was one of the best seasons of this aerodynamic era, which started back in 2009. If I had to rank it, I would put it right behind 2010 and 2012, so it stands especially out of the new engine era, which started in 2014. And I think most of us will agree, that 2014 and 2015 were some of the worst seasons that Formula 1 ever threw at us.
Let's hear some stories now, in two different ways. Firstly, a review of an evening with Sky pundit Johnny Herbert, where no doubt some hilarious stories were shared. And then the start of a series attempting to turn the final race of 2017 into a work of fiction.
Having previously enjoyed evenings with former-F1 World Champion Damon Hill and former- F1 driver Mark Webber, I knew this evening with Sky F1 pundit and former-F1 driver Johnny Herbert wasn’t to be missed. Even better, it was the night before Dad’s birthday, so what better a birthday present for a motor racing fan than an evening with an ex-F1 driver?!
The roar of the crowd is drowned wearing the helmets, and the earphones. Only a murmur of the world outside the cars can be heard by the drivers. Nico Rosberg checks his mirrors. In front of him is his biggest rival – Lewis Hamilton. Today is the day of no mistakes. Nico releases a breath.
And finally, a collection of topics, starting with some slightly nerdy hotel data for the Brazilian race weekend, followed by a look at how F1's rivals are shaping up, and an interesting list of drivers who ended up hating their bosses.
The 67th season of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Formula One World Championship recently finished in Abu Dhabi, where Nico Rosberg won his first championship. São Paulo hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix F1 on 13 November, the second to last Grand Prix race of 2016. The market’s hotels also benefitted from the two days leading up to the event, 11-12 November, recording occupancies and average daily rates (ADR) high above São Paolo’s year-to-date levels.
Roebuck – who has covered F1 since 1971 and is a keen follower of MotoGP – has plenty to say about F1’s problems, including the damage done by incessant rule changes. “Motorcycle racing remains essentially unchanged as a spectacle,” he says. “While Formula 1 has progressively slipped into a malaise from which it’s proving difficult to escape.”
Lewis Hamilton’s thinly veiled finger-pointing at Mercedes’ impartiality may seem like the petulant self-indulgence of a cosseted 21st-century sports superstar, but, in Formula 1, it’s hardly new. In a sport with this much pressure, and where the competitors are so much at the mercy of elements that they can’t control, there is a long history of drivers having very public hissy fits at their own employers.
