Febuary 2018

Inside

Dominik Wilde New Rules Season Surprises

CAN ANYONE STOP MERCEDES ? Image courtesy of Sara Cimino via WikiCommons 8 page F1 2018 preview 2 F1 2018 Preview Editorial he 2018 season is just around the The more experienced drivers will have to keep Tcorner with all the thrills and spills returning an eye on these three as they look for a step up. on March 25th in sunny Australia. Lewis Hamil- The teams will have to keep up to date with the new rules ton and his Mercedes team will be looking to fend the FIA have put in place, with grid penalties becoming off the competition to win his fifth World Cham- a lot easier to obtain. The FIA have also looked into driv- pionship. The likes of and Daniel er safety this year with the halo system being deployed, Riccardo will also be looking to disrupt the Mer- read more on this in the “new rules explained” feature. cedes dominance which has seen them win the No matter what happens this year it is go- last four drivers and constructors championships. ing to be a drama filled, fast paced roller- The likes of Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll coaster ride… but what else did you expect? and Esteban Ocon will be looking to con- tinue their great early Formula One careers.

Esteban Ocon courtesy of Steve from Austin, TX, USA via Wikicommons F1 2018 Preview 3 New Rules : Explained By Adam Harrison fter an adrenaline filled 2017 season the FIA have Adecided to add some new rules to make racing more excit- ing for the drivers and fans. Many criticised the grid penalty system during the 2017 season, so the FIA revisited the regulations ahead of the 2018 campaign. If a power unit component is changed in the car, the driver will be subject to a five or ten grid penalty. This can depend on the component changed Halo system - image provided by Jen_ross83 via Flickr in the car. If the team take the deci- sion to replace a second component as they did at the end of last sea- dom over the design of the device. in the car they will automatically son. but the effects of the change Another addition which will dropped to the back of the grid. will be seen as the season begins. help with the safety of the driv- The FIA have also given race stew- The FIA have also banned a carbon ers is biometric gloves. The gloves ards more power to issue penal- fibre extension to the car known as have biometric sensors which re- ties. They can issue a penalty to a a “shark fin”. These are aimed to cord the drivers vital signs to help driver if an improper race start direct airflow over the rear wing marshals and recovery crews to even if the start does not trigger of the car. The use of “T wings” check the condition of the driver. the automated detection system. has also been banned by the FIA. Finally Pirelli, Formula one’s offi- The governing body have also de- In an attempt to improve driv- cial tyre supplier have announced cided to completely overhaul the er safety in the cock pit the FIA two new tyre compounds ahead power unit system they had in place. have introduced halos to the cars. of the new season. “Hypersoft” In the 2017 season teams had four It is aimed to direct debris away will now be the softest of the nine complete power units for the whole from the drivers heads in the car. compounds an “superhard” will be race year. Whereas this they each This is after many high-profile in- hardest. They will be represented power unit component is consid- juries and deaths in motor sport by a pink line on the “hypersoft” ered separately, meaning multiple due to debris hitting the driv- and orange on the “superhard”. things may need changing at once, ers at high speed. The halo sys- resulting in hefty grid penalties. tem is set to be introduced into Each car will have three internal other open wheel racing includ- combustion engines, heat motor ing both and three. generators and turbo chargers at Although the driver safety is the their disposal. They also have two main aim for the halo, it has been kinetic motor generators, ener- criticised due to the way it looks gy stores and control electronics. when on the car. To combat this the This change may make it diffi- FIA revealed that they have allowed cult for drivers to push as hard teams to have some creative free Image provided by Morio via Wikicommons 4 F1 2018 Preview

Lance Stroll Surprise of the season Lance Stroll, Image courtesy of Morio via Wiki commonsa

By Adam Harrison ance Stroll has a big year take his chance. “No mat- youngest ever driver to start Kvyat given Lahead of him on and off ter who Williams choose, on the front row of the grid in the track. Dominik Wilde he’ll be more familiar Monza. He also became the second chance of dw motorsport believes with the team than either youngest ever driver to step Daniel Kvyat has been giv- he could be the big sur- Sirotkin or Kubi- on the podium. Finishing en an Formula One lifeline prise on the grid this year. ca. With all that third in Azerbaijan aged just by Ferrari. He has taken up The Canadian has been in mind, I honestly think 18 years and 239 days. After the role as their reserve driv- through his fair share of he’ll step up. It took him a successful year under his er for the 2018 season. This ups and downs on the a couple of years to find belt he knows what to expect comes just months after he track in his rookie year in his feet in Formula 3, it’ll going into the 2018 season. was axed by Toro Rosso. F1 which seen him finish “Stroll, the whole world Kvyat earnt Toro Rosso 133 12th in the drivers cham- seems to be out to get the point and two podiums in pionship with 40 points. poor kid, but now he’s got a his 72 career starts for them. Williams are look- year under his belt, he knows He had been exploring oth- ing to secure the signa- exactly what to expect.” er avenues before this oppor- ture of their second driv Wilde also thinks that tunity came up. Speaking in er ahead of the Stroll’s potential teammate December to Sky F1 he said next season with Sirotkin would be a good “Formula 1 is not every- both Sergey Sirotkin and fit at Williams. “Sirotkinthing. There are other good Robert Kubica linked with will impress too. His re- opportunities in this life.” the 2018 drive. This gives cord isn’t the best, but he Stroll a huge chance to be- has impressed in the past. come the lead driver of one I think he will turn a few of the biggest teams in For- probably be the heads in his first year in F1.” mula One. Williams have same case here.” The future looks bright since made the decision to Stroll’s rookie year at the for the young Canadian give Sirotkin his first drive top of motorsport was a suc- ahead of the 2018 race year. Wilde believes that he will cessful one. He became the Lance Stroll Image provide by Morio

via Wiki commons Wiki commons Jefferys via Dave by provide image Kvyat Daniel F1 2018 Preview 5

Dominik Wilde Guest Column Time is ticking... Confirmed Dirvers 2018 Mercedes Many drivers on the circuit are driving for thier contracts but is it time for a grid Lewis Hamilton - 44 resuffle in 2019. Valtteri Bottas - 77

Red Bull Daniel Riccardo - 3 Max Verstappen - 33

Ferrari Sebastian Vettel - 5 Kimi Raikkoen - 7

Force India Serigo Perez - 11 Esteban Ocon - 31

Williams think the driver reshuf- only leaves Ferrari. I do think jor changes. Brendon Hartley Lance Stroll - 18 Ifle will depend on how that this will be Raikkoen’s the top drivers do this year. last year, but who will step in Sergey Sirotkin - TBC All the big three teams all his place? Well, Ricciardo and have a driver in a contract Bottas would’ve been the most McLaren year. If Raikkoen has anoth- likely options, but if they stay - 14 er tough year he’s out. If Red put that’ll rule them out. Pe- Stoffel Vandoorne - 2 Bull flop again, Daniel Ric- rez? Possibly, but I think Ferra- cardo may want out and if ri will break with tradition and Toro Rosso Valtteri Bottas catches second put Leclerc in the seat in 2019 Pierre Gasly - 10 -season syndrome at Mer- and move Giovinazzi to Sauber. Brenden Hartley - 28 cedes, he could be booted too. Elsewhere in the field, I is an interesting one though. On top of that , if Charles Le- can’t foresee too many ma- He’d signed a contract to race clerc shines, there is a possibil- for Chip Ganassi in IndyCar Haas ity Ferrari could take a risk and this year, yet somehow ended - 8 promote him. But I very much up in F1. With a proper win- Kevin Manussen - 20 doubt that happening. Another ter and some testing, I think switch that I could’nt see hap- he will impress this year, he’s Renault pening is Sebastian Vettel to proven elsewhere to be one of Nico Hulkenburg - 27 Mercedes. I think he will stick the best drivers on the planet Carlos Sainz Jnr - 55 it out at Ferrari even if they after all; but even though he have another tough season. has no obvious heir in the Red Sauber Personally, I think that Ric- Bull driver development sys- cardo and Bottas will stick with tem, I think this year will be Marcus Erikssen - 9 thier respected teams . That his one chance to shine in F1. - 16 Kimi Raikkoen and Brenden Hartley-Image provided by Morio via Wikicommons Daniel Kvyat image provide by Dave Jefferys via Wiki commons Jefferys via Dave by provide image Kvyat Daniel 6 F1 2018 Preview

Race calender CAN ANYONE STOP MERCEDES?

March 25-Melbourne-Australia

April 8- Sakhir- Bahrain

April 15- Shanghai- China

April 29- Baku- Azerbaijan Images provided by AngMoKio, Morio and Macvkrys via Wiki Commons May 13- Barcelona- Spain By Adam Harrison May 27- Monaco oto Wolff and his Mercedes team have made winning the June 10- Montreal- Canada T constructors and drivers cham- June 24 - Le Castellet- France pionships look easy over the past four years and they will be looking July 1- Spielberg- Austria to make it five from five this season. Image courtesy of Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile via WikiCommons They will be looking to con- July 8- Silverstone- Great Britain tinue their great vein of form of last season into the start of July 22- Hockenheim- Germany the 2018 championship. Lew- Both Red Bull and Ferrari will July 29- Budapest- Hungary is Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas be looking to push the silver ar- will be hoping for a problem free rows right to the checkered flag August 26- Spa- Belgium year as the new rules take place. in Abu Dhabi on November 25. The resurgence of both Red Bull The experience of Sebastian September 2- Monza-Italy and Ferrari in this past year caught Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Dan- the Mercedes team off guard after iel Ricciardo and the surprise September 16- Singapore the straight dogfight Nico Rosberg package of Max Verstappen and Hamilton had the season be- will be hoping to challenge for September 30- Sochi- Russia fore which saw the German come their first world championship October 7- Suzuka- Japan out on top and then later retire. since the Mercedes dominance. F1 2018 Preview 7

Race calender CAN ANYONE October 21- Austin-USA STOP MERCEDES? October 28- Mexico City - Mexico November 11- Sao Paulo- Brazil

November 25-Yas Marina - Abu Dahabi

Driver factfile

Images provided by AngMoKio, Morio and Macvkrys via Wiki Commons Image courtesy of Jake Archibald via WikiCommons

Looking ahead to the 2018 sea- where everything can change. son, the drivers will have the chal- This should make for a more ex- Name : Max Verstappen lenge of looking after their power citing end of the season for the units. The limit is going from four fans of the sport with all of the Age : 20 power units a season down to best teams and drivers fighting Team : three for the full 21 race campaign. for the top spot on the podium. The four-time champion Ham- Car Number : 33 ilton spent most of last sea- son conserving the power units Race Debut : Australiia 2015 for Mercedes. This may mean he may not be able to push Championship finish : 6th as hard as he can for the title. Many teams on the grid last year Although all of the cars haven’t Championship points : 168 struggled with the four power unit been announced yet, the teams system due to multiple engine will be working night a day to try failures. Now that it has been cut and find an advantage on the way down to three across the whole to the 2018 constructors and driv- Images prvided by Morio and Jen_ross83 on Wiki commons and Flickr and commons Wiki on Jen_ross83 and prvided Morio by Images 21 race calendar teams will have er’s championship, which could to create new strategies to keep shape up to be one of the closest their power unites in tack to fight fights we have seen in years. It all at the business end of the season begins in Austrillia on March 25th. 8 F1 2018 Preview

The return of the French Grand Prix Williams confrim Sirotkin he French Grand Prix re- Grand Prix will no longer be on illiams have confirmed that Russian Sergey Sirotkin as Tturns to the F1 calendar the calendar to accommodate Wthier new driver for the 2018 season. There has been this year after a 10-year ab- the other changes. It has been alot of speculation around the final spot on the grid over re- sence. The race was last host- part of Formula One for 18 years cent weeks. Williams have been testing with Sirotkin and for- ed back in 2008 and is set but the FIA have decided to dis- mer Renault driver Robert to return in June this year. continue the race this year due to Kubica. However Williams The race is set to return to the the addition of the other circuits. decided to give Sirotkin his Circuit Paul Ricard which last first chance in Formula One. hosted the event back in 1990. He will appear alongside As well as the French Grand Prix, Canadian Lance Stroll in the the German GP is also returning poddock. The decision comes to the race calendar after a year just weeks before Williams away. The Hockenheimring are expect to unveil thier has been selected for the race. Sergey Sirotkin image courtesy of Willtron via new car for the 2018 season. Unfortunately the Malaysian Wikicommons Kubica has also been con- Image courtesy of Klaus Nahr via Flickr firmed as the Williams test driver for the next season. His knowledge and expertees will Hamilton bookies favourite add a great deal to thier team. This could be vitally import- et 365 have pinned Lewis Hamilton to ant with the new engine rules put in place for this race year. Bwin his fifth World Championship. The Englishman is 11/10 to win the title and continue the Mercedes dominance in Formula one. His teammate Valtteri Bottas is set at 14/1. Hamilton’s main title rival according to the betting site is Se- bastian Vettel. The German is 7/2 to gain his fifth title in the sport. Brenden Hart- ley, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasley and Romain Grosjean are all rank outsiders all at 1500/1. All odds courtesy of Bet365 Sebastian Vettel. Image courtesy of Morio via Rober Kubica racing for BMW Sauber Image Courtsey of Mark McArdle via Wikicommons Wikicommons