The 2017 Season

[Penfold]

Practice, qualifying, and the race all on one day - lucky spectators!

[Chrill]

Although race apparently now to remain on Sunday.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/no-change-to-chinese-grand-prix-schedule-890609/

[Penfold]

Plenty of the wet stuff forecast for Sunday so fingers crossed we get a race rather than a safety car procession.

[Chrill]

We did get a race. Even though Vettel was extremely unlucky with the timing of the safety car, he finished close to Hamilton. Great stuff. The Mercedes and Ferrari cars are very evenly matched so far. Really looking forward to Bahrain. It's impossible to tell who is ahead at the moment. 1 point separates Mercedes and Ferrari, nothing separates Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. I believe Hamilton leads the world championship thanks to securing more Pole Positions. They are tied on points, wins, podiums, etc.

[Penfold]

Wehrlein back for Bahrain: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/04/11/wehrlein-will-return-action-bahrain/

[Chrill]

Surprises me. How come two months was not enough to recover, but 7 days is enough? In addition, the Bahrain GP is a hot one. It's an exhausting one. It's not ideal for a return if your fitness levels are low.

This just makes me think how much truth there is to the "low fitness" statement.

[Chrill]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/04/12/alonso-will-miss-monaco-grand-prix-race-indianapolis-500/

what.

What??

WHAT?!?!?

Fernando Alonso is skipping the Monaco Grand Prix in order to compete in the Indy 500. Yes. This is not April 1st, is it? It must be. Isn't it? Huh?

[Penfold]

Beat me to the posting.  Anything that keeps Alonso happy(er) during this, erm, disappointing period of McLaren's existence must be worth it.  Button to replace, one assumes.

[Chrill]

Button would be the logical choice, and he is definitely keeping fit. Would he be keen on a one-off though? I think yes. These new cars will be cool to drive in Monaco.

Then again, he runs the risk of being obliterated by Vandoorne since he hasn't driven the car at all and Vandoorne will have raced it for a while by then.

[Matt]

There's really no pressure though. Anyone with any sense would see that Vandoorne should have an advantage, so if Button is anywhere close, it's fine.

The reaction I've seen to Alonso is probably 90% positive. But I love the people complaining about this being bad for F1 or proof that Alonso doesn't care about F1 or just generally whining about whatever pops into their head. Can't you just enjoy something that is legitimately shocking and that is going to be fun? Then there's the contingent saying that IndyCar is only for those who aren't good enough for F1, as if there were more than 20 seats in F1 and many didn't rest almost solely on the driver bringing significant funding. The very top of the F1 field is stronger, but I think IndyCar's depth these days compares well with F1, actually.

[Chrill]

The fact Rossi won the Indy 500 is proof enough that anyone can win the Indy 500. It shouldn't be that random. I expect Alonso to be up there, and if fortune favours him he may well pop open a bottle of milk at the end.

[Matt]

I think it's an overstatement to say that anyone can win. Rossi was impressive throughout the month (well, only two weeks these days), had a good car, and ultimately only won through fuel mileage. Almost anyone with a good car and a good strategist can win. That said, Chilton had a good car, for example, and never had a chance of winning because he didn't take to speedway racing. Bourdais is a great driver and has never been able to really compete on speedways. Alonso is undoubtedly a great driver, one of the best in the world, but it all depends on how he adapts to speedway racing. If he can run as well as Rossi did throughout practice and run like he did in the race, that will be good.

[Penfold]

Fascinating to see how he does.  I can't understand any racing fan not being excited by popping an F1 legend into another series.


Bahrain race-day weather expected to be cooler than normal: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/04/13/race-night-weather-forecast-offers-hope-mercedes/

Widely assumed this will be a positive for the Merc boys.

[Chrill]

oh weather gods. Please be kind to the Italians. I was hoping for a super hot race and a Ferrari 1-2.

[Matt]

I don't participate in rating the drivers after every GP, but I decided to try to rank the drivers from best to worst.

1) Alonso
2) Vettel
3) Hamilton
4) Verstappen
----------
5) Ricciardo
6) Perez
7) Hulkenberg
----------
8) Sainz
9) Bottas
10) Raikkonen
11) Grosjean
----------
12) Vandoorne
13) Ocon
14) Wehrlein
----------
15) Kvyat
16) Massa
17) Ericsson
18) Magnussen
19) Palmer
20) Stroll

These are separated into tiers. The top tier are the absolute best all-around drivers. Alonso, Vettel, and Hamilton have proven it over years. Verstappen has shown too much natural talent to put him anywhere else, but he's not as polished as those three. The next three are guys that I think are really good and could compete for the championship if put in the right position, but realistically would lose to the top-tier drivers most of the time in an even fight. The Sainz tier could compete for wins in the right situation, but I'm not sure about a championship (Kimi being only a part of the driver he once was.) Vandoorne, Ocon, and Wehrlein could end up higher, but it's just not clear at this point, so they get their own tier. The final tier are guys that I don't think could realistically compete for wins. I still think they're all quite good drivers, though, and could have long and successful careers outside of F1 (same comments for Massa as for Kimi.)