2017

The 2017 season was run to new technical rules. The 20-round calendar opened with the Australian Grand Prix on 26 March and ended with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 26 November 2017. Mercedes won 12 races and took their fourth Constructors’ Championship in a row with 668 points; Ferrari took five wins and 522 points, Red Bull three wins and 368 points.

Lewis Hamilton became champion for the fourth time: nine wins, 11 poles, 363 points. Sebastian Vettel won five races and finished second with 317 points. Valtteri Bottas, who had moved from Williams to Mercedes to replace Nico Rosberg, took the first win of his career at the Russian Grand Prix on 30 April 2017, then won in Austria and Abu Dhabi and finished third with 305 points. Max Verstappen won in Malaysia and Mexico, and Daniel Ricciardo in Baku from tenth on the grid.

Vettel won the opening race in Australia, then won in Bahrain and Monaco, and led the championship from April to August; in Monaco and Hungary his team-mate Kimi Räikkönen finished second behind him. Hamilton won in Belgium, but even after that Vettel stayed ahead — 220 points to 213. After Hamilton won in Italy on 3 September 2017, the lead changed hands: 238 to 235. In Singapore Vettel started from pole but retired on the very first lap, as did Räikkönen and Verstappen, and Hamilton won from fifth on the grid. In Malaysia Vettel started 20th and finished fourth; in Japan he retired after four laps. After Hamilton’s wins in Japan and the United States, his lead grew to 66 points.

The title was decided at the Mexican Grand Prix on 29 October 2017. Vettel started from pole and Hamilton third; they collided on the first lap and both dropped down the order. Verstappen won, Vettel fought back to fourth, and Hamilton finished ninth, a lap down. After the race Hamilton had 333 points to Vettel’s 277, and a 56-point gap could no longer be closed in the two remaining rounds. The last two races were won by Vettel — the Brazilian Grand Prix on 12 November — and by Bottas, from pole in Abu Dhabi. Mercedes had sealed the Constructors’ Championship even earlier, at the United States Grand Prix. In the end Hamilton finished 46 points clear of Vettel, with Bottas 12 behind Vettel.

The cars grew wider, from 1.8 to 2 metres, the tyres became noticeably wider, downforce went up, and the cars got faster through the corners. In January 2017 the championship’s commercial rights passed to the American company Liberty Media. Manor no longer took part, so ten teams lined up. McLaren spent their third and final season with Honda engines and finished ninth with 30 points. Sauber scored five points, all of them from Pascal Wehrlein. The 20-round calendar had no German Grand Prix, the race in Baku was renamed the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and the Malaysian Grand Prix on 1 October 2017 was held for the last time.

Lance Stroll made his debut with Williams and, at 18, stood on the podium, third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon — eighth in the Drivers’ Championship with 87 points for Force India — and Stoffel Vandoorne at McLaren had their first full seasons. Antonio Giovinazzi stood in for Pascal Wehrlein at Sauber at the first two rounds. In the autumn Toro Rosso gave debuts to Pierre Gasly, in Malaysia, and Brendon Hartley, in the United States, while Carlos Sainz moved to Renault for the last four races in place of Jolyon Palmer.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 26 November 2017 was Felipe Massa’s last Formula 1 race, and the 2017 season was the last for Pascal Wehrlein and Jolyon Palmer. Jenson Button drove his last Formula 1 race in Monaco, standing in for Fernando Alonso. Daniil Kvyat left Toro Rosso after the United States Grand Prix, but returned to the championship in 2019.