Mercedes have revealed the launch date for their 2017 F1 car.
The world champions announced on their website they will “unveil the beast to the world on Thursday 23rd February”. The new car will be dubbed the W08 and the launch will take place at Silverstone.
However the identity of one of the team’s drivers for the forthcoming season remains in doubt following world champion Nico Rosberg’s abrupt retirement at the end of last year.
Valtteri Bottas has been tipped to be named as Lewis Hamilton’s new team mate. However his move may not be announced for some time due to complications surrounding his contractual situation. Bottas was due to drive for Williams this season alongside newcomer Lance Stroll. Felipe Massa is expected to return from retirement to take his place.
The only other team to have confirmed the launch of its new car is Ferrari, which will reveal its 2017 contender on the day after Mercedes. Official pre-season testing will begin at the Circuit de Catalunya on February 27th.
Get all the 2017 F1 race, test and launch dates on any device using the F1 Fanatic Calendar
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
schudha (@reganama)
4th January 2017, 11:05
Cannot wait to see this beast.
Bit of a tangent here, does anyone remember what the reason was for dropping the high noses from 2012-13? Why were such high noses imposed for a couple years to the extent that aesthetics were seriously compromised and then 2014 it was suddenly not as important anymore?
varun (@varun)
4th January 2017, 11:27
They did not want the cars to plough the other car. That was the reason to raise the nose.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
4th January 2017, 11:28
@reganama – there was a fear that the high noses could injure drivers during a T-bone type of collision (i.e. injure the driver of the car being hit), due to which the nose heights were dropped.
Of course, that then led to the fear that the sloped noses could provide a ramp to lift a car (e.g. think Kimi in Brazil after his crash – there was talk that if another car had hit him after Kimi had crashed out, the Ferrari’s nose would have provided a clean ramp for the other car to drive straight into Kimi).
Michael Brown (@)
5th January 2017, 2:57
@phylyp First race of 2014: Massa hits Kobayashi from behind, lifting up the rear of Kobayashi’s car.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
5th January 2017, 19:19
@mbr-9
I don’t know where you saw that. Massa was ahead of Kobyashi and Massa got pushed off by him. Totally Kobyashi’s fault and he admitted it. He braked too late and locked up, then hit Raikonnen, then knocked Massa out of the race.
Michael Brown (@)
5th January 2017, 21:21
@thegianthogweed Thanks for clearing that up, I mixed up the order.
Melvin (@)
4th January 2017, 11:29
https://www.racefans.net/2015/07/14/new-mclaren-2015-nose/
It’s even from this site :)
Fudge Kobayashi (@)
4th January 2017, 16:27
You have it the wrong way round. The high noses were the culmination of a development cycle where engineers were trying to get as much air under the car as possible. The regulation was introduced to put an end to that and their hideous aesthetic. Unfortunately it wasn’t implemented well enough and we ended up with horrific appendages which were even worse… you couldn’t make this up! lol
Michael Brown (@)
5th January 2017, 3:04
Because the 2012/2013 noses were still too high. When Rosberg hit the back of Karthikeyan (RIP HRT), he flew right over top of him. Now I think the noses are too low, because Massa lifted up the back of Kobayashi’s car in Australia 2014.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
5th January 2017, 19:30
@mbr-9
It seems that it is the opposite way round to what you say. Have a look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gUs7-6gGM0
38 seconds through, it shows that Kobyashi hits Massa, and it is Massa’s car rear end that gets lifted slightly.
ThisNoNameID2 (@patienceandtime)
4th January 2017, 11:44
So Paddy Lowe is still with Mercedes then.. I expect a lot from paddy Lowe, he’s a top engineer, personly i think better then Newey.
lockup (@)
4th January 2017, 12:54
It’s gone quiet hasn’t it @patienceandtime. But I wonder if his move will be announced alongside the drivers.
sethje (@seth-space)
4th January 2017, 13:59
Comparing apples with pears..
Lowe is a technical guy who developed f.i the active suspension system, all the components on the chassis
Newey is more a designer and aero specialist who works on the chassis.
So different interests.
MacLeod (@macleod)
5th January 2017, 8:05
If Both were working for 1 team that would be a great car ….
sethje (@seth-space)
4th January 2017, 13:53
nickname the wait ;)
Robbie (@robbie)
4th January 2017, 14:16
Good one.
grat
4th January 2017, 16:46
There’s a GP in Nazareth?
Duncan Snowden
4th January 2017, 15:03
I miss the days when the cars launched in January. It took the edge off the holiday season ending. Now we have two dark, F1-less months to struggle through.
Come to think of it, Liberty should maybe consider an official media launch – even if it’s mostly last year’s cars in new livery – somtime in January. It would keep the spotlight on the sport during the off-season.
lockup (@)
4th January 2017, 15:18
Is the whole ‘season’ thing a relic of the past? When they used to design and build the car over the winter, and then go and race it? These days the design never stops, apart from August and Christmas. And it’s always summer somewhere.
Testing is a bit of a waste too. They all do it, so it’s the same for all of them. Why not do some safety shakedowns and get on with it?
Duncan Snowden
4th January 2017, 15:56
“Is the whole ‘season’ thing a relic of the past?”
I don’t know. Maybe not for insiders and hardcore fans like ourselves (and to be honest, I think that’s been the case for decades; certainly as long as I’ve been following it, although before the internet came along it was harder to follow) but I know the wider media spotlight tends to fall away from F1 in the winter months. A big event might be helpful to sponsors in that regard.
As for testing, I’m coming round to that view. I miss it as an event (or series of events), and it does make things hard for new entrants – like Honda – that they can’t test whenever they like, but it is the same for everyone. As long as the cars are basically functional and safe, and there’s plenty of free practice over race weekends, that probably is all they need.
Duncan Snowden
4th January 2017, 15:57
Darn. I meant “maybe for”, rather than “maybe not for…”. You get the idea.
lockup (@)
4th January 2017, 16:29
Yeah :)
Perhaps they could run another series. I dunno, perhaps they need to frustrate us, to build things up.
charliex (@photogcw)
4th January 2017, 15:19
No splashy car intros with dancers, DJ’s, loud music and strobe lights. The fun and showmanship are definitely gone in car introductions. I guess we’ll know who’s LH’s teammate on the same day.
Loen (@loen)
4th January 2017, 16:58
I think one of the send-ups of pre-season set-up sequences was the movie where a certain Mr J Button and
his team-mate, one Mr L. Hamilton tried to assemble the ‘new’ McLaren of that year. To say they were clueless would be a king-sized understatement ! But it was quite funny.
lockup (@)
4th January 2017, 18:01
Yeah it was nicely done @loen. A Vodafone ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzL73RzC80g
lol :)
Robbie (@robbie)
4th January 2017, 21:58
Lol that was great.
mark jackson
4th January 2017, 22:17
back when Lewis was likable.