Exciting New Season For Formula 1

Last year after the first race, I suggested that the 2017 season was going to be more exciting as Ferrari had won the Australian GP.  Of course, as we know, that did not come to pass.

This year Ferrari has won the first and second races and seems to have the pace of the Mercedes cars.  The evidence of this being that Sebastian Vettel was able to hold off a charge by Valtteri Bottas over the last few laps.   Even more amazing was that Vettel accomplished this after his tires had been pretty well worn away.  He had been on his soft compound tires for 39 laps at the end.  Pirelli estimated that they could go approximately 30 laps.

This wasn’t Ferrari’s original strategy but the result of a pit incident where Kimi Raikkonen’s car was released before the left rear tire was removed.  There was a problem with the wheel nut and the mechanic could not get it off; the electronics showed all four tires were on and Kimi was given the green light to go.  He did, a mechanic was hit and injured, and that’s when the tire strategy for Vettel’s car changed to being a single stop.

In addition to the race between the leaders, the Honda powered Toro Rosso driven by Pierre Gasly came in fourth, Kevin Magnussen driving for Haas came in fifth, Nico Hulkenberg in his Renault came in sixth, and the McLaren driven by Fernando Alonso came in 7th.

So this year looks like it might be the year when we start seeing real racing again in Formula 1.

We hope and pray that the injuries suffered by the Ferrari mechanic are minor and that he has a quick recovery.  Sometimes we forget just how dangerous a sport auto racing is.  Ernest Hemingway said it best.  “There are only three sports: mountain climbing, bull fighting, and motor racing. All the rest are merely games.