1 Racing Mind's 2017 Formula 1 Summer Break Report Card: McLaren Honda

Photo Credit: Zak Mauger/LAT Images

Team Grade: F

Driver Grades
Fernando Alonso: C (possible B- weighing Indy 500 effort on mark)
Stoffel Vandoorne: C-

The second oldest active Formula 1 team, McLaren has captured 182 grand prix victories and 8 constructor titles. Historic successes of the McLaren team are completely detached from the 2017 incarnation of the race team. Collecting only 11 points, McLaren Honda is enduring a year where their hybrid power unit’s development appeared to have taken a step backwards from 2016 and a obviously disgruntled veteran driver.

Team drivers Fernando Alonso and Steffel Vandoorne have both registered a non-start due to a mechanical problem. Alonso, a two-time Formula 1 World Champion, has vocally spoke out on the team’s poor performance this season. The widely-publicized choice to run the 2017 Indianapolis 500 instead of the Monaco Grand Prix with McLaren also spoke volumes on the Spaniard’s discontent after three seasons with the once top team. A native of Belgium, Vandoorne is contesting his first full Formula 1 season after debuting last season as a substitute for an injured Fernando Alonso for the Bahrain Grand Prix. At the beginning of the season, Stoffel Vandoorne’s performance on a race weekend sadly almost goes unmentioned lacking either speed or reliability. His efforts have shown improvements in recent races leading up to the summer break with a point-scoring finish of 10th coming at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Heading into the Belgian Grand Prix,

In late 2015, Red Bull Racing who was dissatisfied with their Renault power units was rumoured to have been in discussions with Honda but was apparently blocked into signing an agreement by McLaren. Instead of providing Honda with double the race cars to collect data, McLaren appears to have immersed themselves in development quicksand.

Thoughts of Team for Remainder of 2017:

If McLaren Honda finds some reliability in the final 9 races, the team can mainly focus on scoring points on the lower part of the top 10 grand prix results. A frustrating 2017 season has led to wild speculation relating to the McLaren operations for 2018. McLaren’s return to Mercedes-Benz power has been suggested since June. There’s also much uncertainty surrounding Fernando Alonso’s plans for next season whether his future will involve the team in Formula 1 or could possibly seek a longer visit to IndyCar. Vandoorne can take solace in the knowledge that McLaren Honda has confirmed his return for the 2018 season.

1 Racing Mind's 2017 Formula 1 Summer Break Report Card: Williams Martini Racing

Photo Credit: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images

Team Grade: C

Driver Grades
Felipe Massa: B-
Lance Stroll: C+

Williams Martini Racing’s 2017 plans were thrown for a loop in only the first month of the year. Unable to resist the opportunity to take over the hotly desirable seat vacated by the retired Nico Rosberg at Mercedes AMG, Valtteri Bottas sought and was granted a release from the team. Brazilian Formula 1 veteran Felipe Massa, who originally intended to hang up his helmet after the 2016 season, was recalled to drive a Williams-Mercedes alongside 18-year-old Canadian rookie Lance Stroll.

The 40th anniversary season for the Williams Formula 1 team, 2017 has been short in celebration on the track. Felipe Massa started the season off reasonably with sixth place finishes at the Australian Grand Prix and Bahrain Grand Prix. While Massa has been a consistent for the organization with point-scoring finishes in 6 of the 11 races currently completed, Williams’ best effort of the 2017 Formula 1 season was obtained by the first year driver. Lance Stroll scored a third place result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and was running in second place in the late part of the event before former Williams driver Valtteri Bottas. Stroll became the youngest Formula 1 driver to finish on the podium in Formula 1 competition and the first Canadian no named Villeneuve to achieve a three-top result in a grand prix.

While the podium sandwiched by two other point scoring finishes has been a respectable run for Lance Stroll, his rookie has been unstable overall. Stroll’s Formula 1 career started with three consecutive retirements consisting of a brake issue in Australia as well as two collisions in China and Bahrain.

In the first two years of Formula 1's implementation of the current gasoline/electric hybrid powertrain rules, Williams opting for Mercedes-Benz power was almost a winning decision existing as a podium threat for many 2014 and 2015 events. Since 2016, the team’s performance appears to have slipped. While the FW40 race car has rarely appeared in the top half of the point scoring spots, the Williams machines have been fairly reliable with several retirements being due to collisions rather than mechanical issues.

Thoughts of Team for Remainder of 2017:

The current Williams race car has shown much of its strength on slower tracks in 2017 leaving the Singapore Grand Prix as a potential opportunity looking forward through the final nine events.

While Felipe Massa has put in a steady effort with Williams with the exception of his withdraw from the Hungarian Grand Prix due to health reasons, Lance Stroll’s performance has areas requiring growth. Stroll’s qualifying results in the first 11 events have been most atrocious. Cracking Q3 on only two occasions, Stroll’s Williams-Mercedes has most often been seen mired back in last three rows of the grid. Better starting spots would inevitably help the Canadian find point-scoring consistency through the remaining portion of 2017.

1 Racing Mind's 2017 Formula 1 Summer Break Report Card: Force India

Photo Credit: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images

Team Grade: B

Driver Grades
Sergio Perez: B
Esteban Ocon: B+

Entering its 10th season in Formula 1 competition, the Force India team is still chasing their first grand prix victory. A customer of Mercedes-Benz power since 2009 and occasional podium contender, the likelihood for a great triumph has been something many observers have expected.

Thinking pink for 2017 new colours supplied through the addition of water treatment company BWT AG as a sponsor, the bold-looking VJM10 race cars handled by Mexico’s Sergio Perez and France’s Esteban Ocon has exhibited a near-magnetic attraction to the top-10. So far in the 2017 Formula 1 season, there was only one race where the team failed to score constructor points (the Monaco Grand Prix in May).

Force India’s on-track effort has been led by the veteran Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver has accumulated 56 points with a season-topping finish of 4th place coming at the Spanish Grand prix. Esteban Ocon has been the most pleasant surprise in the Force India group. Driving nine races last season for the now-defunct Manor Racing team, results would not necessarily indicate he would be a consistent top-10 driver in better equipment. In 11 races, the Frenchman has finished in the points all-but once.

Thoughts of Team for Remainder of 2017:

The Force India-Mercedes race cars are generally not as quick as other front-running teams. This fact reveals itself most prominently in qualifying. However, if perseverance is worth anything, Force India could possibly win a race in the remaining part of the season.

1 Racing Mind's 2017 Formula 1 Summer Break Report Card: Mercedes AMG

Photo Credit: Daimler AG/ Mercedes AMG

Team Grade: A-

Driver Grades
Lewis Hamilton: A
Valtteri Bottas: A+

For the fourth consecutive year the Mercedes AMG can be called the cream of the crop in the premier open wheel racing series. At the top of the constructor points once again at the mid-season mark of a Formula 1 season, the team’s primary driver Lewis Hamilton is continuing to perform at a level where his name will don the top of some impressive all-time lists. Tying Ayrton Senna with 65 career pole positions at the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton picked up his 67th career pole at the British Grand Prix on route to race victory.

Following the sudden retirement of world championship winning driver Nico Rosberg at the end of 2016, Mercedes AMG was faced with the immediate task of finding a pilot to occupy the second seat alongside Lewis Hamilton. After several seasons with Williams Martini Racing, Finland’s Valtteri Bottas was rewarded with the illustrious position behind the wheel of the Mercedes AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+ 2017 race car. In his fourth win with the team, Bottas captured his first career Formula 1 win at the Russian Grand Prix. Bottas collected a second victory later in the season in Austria.

Despite the familiarity of the Silver Arrows of Lewis Hamilton at or near the front in 2017, this season is by no means as dominant as previous years for Mercedes AMG. While Hamilton and Bottas claimed six grand prix wins collectively, the win total in previous years over the first 11-race span had been much higher. Between 2014 and 2016, Mercedes AMG won at least nine times in the same span. The simple cause for this disruption to the norms of past seasons is the competition has closed on the group. Ferrari and their SF70H race car have demonstrated an impressive ability of not only following in the tire tracks of Mercedes AMG but outpacing the German outfit. After several years where some assumptions were made that Mercedes AMG had, at times, held back the total speed potential of their vehicles, the Silver Arrows have presented with their first legitimate challenger.

Thoughts of Team for Remainder of 2017:

In the final part of the season, it remains to be seen if the Mercedes AMG team can resist their first major threat to another winning year. From 2014 to 2016, this time in the Formula 1 season saw Mercedes AMG positioned in a manner that the only championship point battles resided within the organization. This year, Lewis Hamilton is trailing Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ points by 14 markers heading into the Belgian Grand Prix. Mercedes AMG leads in the constructors’ standings by 39 points after 11 races over Ferrari. There is no specific weakness in the team or with drivers Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas leaving only luck a factor through the remainder of 2017.

1 Racing Mind's 2017 Formula 1 Summer Break Report Card: Intro

Photo Credit: Charles Coates/LAT Images

An almost month-long silence of Formula 1 engines will be broken this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The summer break for drivers and teams provide a rest period from touring across the world. For the 20-race 2017 calender taking teams through parts of Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, the break effectively breaks the season into two pieces.

Already in the 2017 Formula 1 season, audiences has already witnessed several spectacular scenes we haven’t seen for a while. Namely, steady competition against Mercedes-AMG for the first year since the introduction of the current gasoline/electric powertrain regulations. Ferrari has been an ongoing threat to defeat the Silver Arrows in almost every race. Between the manufacturers, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are battling for the 2017 drivers’ crown. 2017 is also the first time since 2013 that three constructors have won grand prix events.

Although the summer break is meant as a time to detach from the pressures of the grand prix schedule, there was little chance anyone involved in the sport was not constantly reviewing the first 11 races of the 2017 grand prix season or have not been looking ahead to the final 9 events.

Looking back to the season between the Australian Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix, 1 Racing Mind has compiled the strengths as well as weaknesses for each Formula 1 teams.

Formula 1 Team Report Cards

Mercedes AMG
Scuderia Ferrari
Red Bull Racing
Force India
Williams Martini Racing
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Haas F1 Team
Renault Sport Formula One Team
McLaren Honda
Sauber F1 Team

The 2013 Formula 1 Grid: Prospects and Promises

Photo credit: Sauber Motorsport AG

The 2013 Formula 1 season starts this weekend. The 2013 Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit is a heavily-anticipated opening round not only fans but for the teams will are striding to better the grid through off-season engineering and testing. New look teams and race cars will assemble eager to clamor for the unclaimed glory of the unwritten season.

Teams are aware of of completely new car building regulations scheduled for the 2014 season. Therefore, 2013 will be the last time Formula 1 cars will likely for powered by naturally-aspirated V8 engines. For the few three years, the consistency in the race formula has placed increased emphasis in gaining advantages in other aspects of competition. Cars built to exploit the edge of legality and driver changes are popular ways to set a team up for winning grand prixs. Sponsorship also plays a part under the axiom of "money buying speed".

Presented below is our 2013 Formula 1 grid: 



Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Chassis: RB9

Engine: Renault

#1 Car: Sebastian Vettel

#2 Car: Mark Webber

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: Accepting a new team inviting Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti as a stronger sponsor partner, everything else to the team structure remains the same for the 2013 season. Infiniti Red Bull Racing enters another Formula 1 as defender of the constructor's championship. Reigning world driving champion German superstar Sebastian Vettel once again wheels the team's first car. In the second Red Bull-Renault again in 2013, Mark Webber may rest in Vettel's shadow but should not be underestimated. The 36-year old Australian has shown repeated instances of potential title contention. Either sameness will be a blessing for Red Bull Racing or it potentially leaves a chance for the competition to overhaul them.

 Photo Credit: Nissan/Infiniti

Scuderia Ferrari

Chassis: F138

Engine: Ferrari

#3 Car: Fernando Alonso

#4 Car: Felipe Massa

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: The Scuderia Ferrari team was dogged by two concerns during the 2012 season. The first hovered around the early season performance of the Ferrari race car. In 2013, a completely new F138 chassis holds a lot of promise for the coming year. The 2012 Formula 1 campaign also held the future of Ferrari's second driver Felipe Massa under a microscope. Confidence from the team and improved on-track performance through last season has allowed Massa to safely reclaim his seat in 2013. Leading Scuderia Ferrari will be Fernando Alonso who missed the driver's championship by just three points. The 2013 Formula 1 tour could be prosperous fight if minor tweaks and luck runs in favour of the team.

 Photo Credit: Ferrari North America



Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

Chassis: MP4-28

Engine: Mercedes-Benz

#5 Car: Jenson Button

#6 Car: Sergio Perez

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: Though Vodafone McLaren Mercedes did not have a terrible 2012 season, the British Formula 1 team struggled with reliability during races. Jenson Button returns for his fourth season with McLaren taking the #5 car for 2013. Biggest news for McLaren is the acquisition of Formula 1 driving prospect Sergio Perez. The McLaren MP4-28 car is said to be heavily revised car incorporating an entirely unique component list compared to the 2012 predecessor.

Lotus F1 Team

Chassis: E21

Engine: Renault

#7 Car: Kimi Raikkonen

#8 Car: Romain Grosjean

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: The Lotus F1 Team showed consistent podium-contending performance last season. Lotus F1 Team's 2012 season was highlighted Kimi Raikkonen pulled off a mild upset victory at the Abu Dbahi Grand Prix. Consistency from Kimi Raikkonen concluded with a seven podium results which played a pivotal part to the team's fourth place in the constructor points. Although fast on track, Frenchman Romain Grosjean's 2012 season was riddled with controversy for questionable moves made during races. Grosjean returns to the second Lotus-Renault race car with many expecting improved consistency and better decision-making in competition. Most of the team's troubles have been positioned off-track as financial concerns for parent company Group Lotus leaves the future in question.

 Photo Credit: Lotus F1 Team/Renault Sport

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team

Chassis: W04

Engine: Mercedes-Benz

#9 Car: Nico Rosberg

#10 Car: Lewis Hamilton

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: In 2012, Nico Rosberg won the first race for the Mercedes-owned Formula 1 organization since it returned to the sport in 2010. After the early season victory for the Mercedes team in China, drivers Rosberg and the new-retired Michael Schumacher struggled to finish races due to reliability problems or on-track incidents. The Mercedes Formula 1 race team ended the year unable to score a constructor point in five of the final six races. Losing their provocative double DRS system layout in 2013, the W04 race car is still designed to maximize aerodynamic flow. Popular 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton joins the team after spending his entire Formula 1 career with McLaren.

Sauber F1 Team

Chassis: C32

Engine: Ferrari

#11 Car: Nico Hulkenberg

#12 Car: Esteban Gutierrez

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: Sauber F1 Team has underwent various changes in personnel on and off the track. Monisha Kaltenborn assumes command of the team for the first full season. The driver line-up for the Sauber F1 Team has also been resorted for 2013 with Nico Hulkenberg joining the organization and 21-year old Mexican driver Esteban Gutierrez arrives as a Formula 1 series rookie. Using last year's C31 race car as a reference, Sauber's C32 chassis has been refined for more intentional airflow for better performance. New livery will also see the Sauber F1 Team do away with their white/black colour scheme for a richer black and red.

 Photo Credit: Sauber Motorsport AG

Sahara Force India F1 Team

Chassis: VJM06

Engine: Mercedes-Benz

#14 Car: Paul di Resta

#15 Car: Adrian Sutil

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: For the past few seasons, the Sahara Force India F1 Team has been effective in scoring points is still fighting to reach the next level in Formula 1. With the all-new VJM06 chassis, the race car includes more adjustments for tuning race weekend performance. Losing Nico Hulkenberg to Sauber F1 Team, Force India has recalled German driver Adrian Sutil to team to drive alongside Paul di Resta.

Williams F1 Team

Chassis: FW35

Engine: Renault

#16 Car: Pastor Maldonado

#17 Car: Valtteri Bottas

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: Last year was the first time since 2004 when a Williams F1 car scored a Formula 1 race victory. Pastor Maldonado's Spanish Grand Prix win was a crucial step for an organization who claimed nine constructors' championships. Despite the impressive win from pole, Williams F1 Team enters 2012 still searching for the performance to keep itself consistently in point-scoring positions for 2013. Maldonado returns to a Williams-Renault seat. Veltteri Bottas joins the Williams F1 Team's race weekend roster after three years spent as test driver. William's FW35 chassis is said to be largely new with focus on weight redistribution.

 Photo Credit: Williams F1/Renault Sport

Scuderia Toro Rosso

Chassis: STR8

Engine: Ferrari

#18 Car: Jean-Eric Vergne

#19 Car: Daniel Ricciardo

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: Existing as a mid-mark race team in Formula 1, the Scuderia Toro Rosso organization has excelled at contending for the lower point-paying positions in grand prix events. Preserving the driving lineup from the 2012 season, the efforts of Scuderia Toro Rosso was immediately positioned in the development of the STR8 race chassis. The STR8 race car is designed with emphasis on resolving aerodynamic and weight balance issues.

Caterham F1 Team

Chassis: CT03

Engine: Renault

#20 Car: Charles Pic

#21 Car: Giedo van der Garde

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: Caterham F1 Team is one of two surviving organizations originally existing as a group of four constructors entering 2010. Caterham F1 Team is still chasing an elusive constructor point in a Formula 1 grand prix event. It is the goal of the team for the CT03 chassis to be the vehicle meant to claim that most important honour. Since introducing the 2013 race car, Caterham has been forced to redesign their exhaust system after the FIA ruled it to be illegal. In 2013, the Caterham F1 Team employs an all-new driver lineup consisting of sophomore year Formula 1 Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde.

 Photo Credit: Caterham F1 Team

Marussia F1 Team

Chassis: MR02

Engine: Cosworth

#22 Car: Jules Bianchi

#23 Car: Max Chilton

2013 Formula 1 Season Prospect: In past years, Marussia F1 Team has been fighting to climb from the back of the Formula 1 field. The 2012 season showed some promise for the race organization as their Cosworth-powered cars collected a pair of 12th place finishes. The MR02 chassis is said to be extensively-shaped with CFD technology. The latest Marussia F1 race car will also incorporate a KERS unit in accordance with 2013 Formula 1 regulations. The team's driver line-up consists of two young pilots making a debut in Formula 1 for the 2013 season. Max Chilton is promoted from the job of team test driver to the number 22 car while Frenchman Jules Bianchi arrives with a resume containing references to years of formula car and GP2 Series participation.