Will Chicanes Once Again Blight Formula One Circuits?

Scuderia Toro Rosso, 2016 Australian GP, (C)

    Comes around quick doesn't it? Seems as the though the Pirelli tyre marbles have just been cleaned off the Abu Dhabi circuit from the 2016 F1 finale and here we go again. Winter testing is complete. All the F1 teams are now descending on Melbourne's beautiful Albert Park circuit for the Australian Grand Prix to kick start another Formula One season.
    As usual, speculation is rife. However, many predict Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton will waltz away with this year's title. But is it really that clear cut? Major regulation and specification changes to the cars signify the first time since the 1960's that the rules and specs have been tweaked to actively make the F1 cars quicker. Wider cars, engine development regs freed up, more aggressive aero and wider more durable Pirelli rubber. A clean slate for all teams effectively neutralising any past car advantage. So who will come out of the box with a belter? Mercedes? Ferrari? Red Bull? Or will someone from the midfield surprise the bigger teams? Will reliability issues distress some of the teams? The cars are predicted to be beasts to handle with lap times between 3-5 seconds per lap quicker. Certainly the winter testing times from Spain suggest that this has been achieved. Already the 2017 spec cars are lapping quicker than the 2016 Catalunya pole time. All the drivers have had to up the ante on their winter training regimes to combat the extra physical demands of this year's cars. Therefore will driver fatigue become a factor towards the end of some Grands Prix?
    The factor that concerns us is that the powers that be have tried in the past to stifle the car's overall speed as speeds increase and lap times tumble due to car development. One avenue has been to change the regulations. Another has been to slow the circuits by redesigning or even removing certain corners, or introducing chicanes. Albert Park organisers have been ordered to make changes, presumably increasing run-off distances, to accommodate the expected increased car speed. Although circuit configurations this year are set, if the rule makers decide that the cars are too fast, will we see a re-emergence of chicanes in an attempt to slow the cars? How many times has the Turn 1 chicane at Monza or the Swimming Pool chicane at Monaco been redesigned? What about Catalunya's once fearsome last corner now slowed by the dumbing down of the previous corner by way of a fiddly little complex?
    Maybe we're being a tad presumptuous. Let's just wait and see. Gotta go. Got a plane to Melbourne to catch....    
    

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