Feliz Navidad from Down Under. 
    Formula One is now in the off season and we thought it an appropriate time to offer our congratulations to the Mercedes F1 team for bagging a fourth straight constructor's trophy and to its star driver Lewis Hamilton for claiming his fourth driver's championship. He now resides with only a few other select drivers who have four or more titles. Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.
    While it's difficult and often futile to compare eras, we can't help but ponder. Where in the pantheon of grand prix drivers does Lewis Hamilton sit? Surely at the least, through number of titles and winning percentage, he can be considered the greatest British driver? Quite often, it's after drivers retire that their achievements are put into perspective. However, it would be entirely reasonable to conclude that if he continues racing for a few more years, that Fangio's 5 titles is very much under threat. After that? Well, there's only Michael Schumacher's record seven titles to hunt down. Possible? 

   


​In Australia's premier racing series, Supercars, Red Bull Racing Australia ace, Jamie Whincup, absconded with the title from right under the nose of Penske DJR hotshoe, Scott McLaughlin at the very last race at the new Newcastle street circuit. A record seven titles. A truly remarkable achievement. Don't forget, Whincup's still young enough to amass a few more. Scary prospect, isn't it? You would have to consider Whincup to be one of or even the best Australian touring car driver of all time. We'll just throw it out there. Better than Peter Brock?

    A safe, happy and joyous Christmas and New Year to all our friends and surfers.
    Next stop. The Bathurst 12 Hour. See you at The Mountain. 

    The Formula One summer break is upon us. Whilst the teams are just getting back to work after an enforced 2 week factory shutdown, it might be easy to reflect on the season so far. There's the Ferrari renaissance, or the intra-team battle between Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon at Force India, or the ever looming championship challenge by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, or the inexplicable moment of petulant road rage of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at Baku. However, we're feeling a little more circumspect than that.
    Those that regularly follow formulafrontrow.com will know that we are all about promoting motorsport and encouraging people to attend their local events. Cast your mind back to the Monaco GP and there was one very prominent driver missing. That's right. McLaren's Fernando Alonso was off in the USA competing in the Indy 500 at the fabled Indianapolis circuit. He has his sights set on the only driver after Graham Hill to capture the triple crown. That is, victory at the Monaco GP (tick that off already), Le Mans 24 Hour and the Indy 500. Despite retiring with a blown engine towards the end of the race, it was Fernando's professionalism and the way he conducted himself that earned him respect amongst the paddock and won him a legion of fans outside the paddock. 
    For eons, Formula One has been trying to crack the lucrative U.S. market. Whether it be a race around the streets of Detroit, or around the Ceasar's Palace carpark, or even Indianapolis itself, F1 hasn't quite established more than a beach head in the States. Yes, there's the F1 purpose built Circuit Of The Americas in Texas to host the current iteration of the USGP, and what a fantastic facility it is, but trackside numbers have dwindled since the resurgence of the Mexican GP. 
    So we got to thinking. Has Fernando Alonso done more to promote F1 in the States than all avenues before him? Bear with us here. A lot of punters in the States follow F1, but there would be many more who would have done no more than pay F1 a nonchalant glance. After all, who was this F1 star competing at the U.S. of A's signature event? Now, after Fernando's presence at the Indy 500, those punters may just be intrigued enough to pay F1 their viewing time. But what if Fernando Alonso and McLaren are still languishing at the back? Will those punters turn off their TVs as quick as they turned them on? Surely they be more inclined to keep watching if Fernando was fighting for wins. 
    Here's hoping McLaren can turn their fortunes around post haste. The next instalment is at next week's Belgium GP at Spa.... 
    
     

    The 2017 Formula One season is underway, and it looks like we have a good ole stoush between Ferrari and Mercedes developing. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton are trading blows with our suspicious minds suggesting that this will run and run all the way to Abu Dhabi. Post Monaco, Ferrari have the ascendancy. Vettel is a clear race victory, that is, 25 points, ahead of Hamilton. You can be sure that Hamilton will bite back as the season progresses. Hard! 
   But what of their team mates? Can they contribute to their team's championship quests? Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas has sensationally acquired his maiden victory in Russia. A mature drive that withstood a mountain of pressure that will only see him wanting more. 
    Many will argue that Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has past his prime, but he certainly bagged a scintillating pole position at Monaco didn't he? He proceeded to control the first stint of the race, only to be called into the pits first for his mandatory tyre change. This then rendered Vettel to push in clear air, pit, and then emerge in the lead. Overcut successful. Most teams will operate with the agenda that the car with track position has first option on the pit stop timing. Was Raikkonen afforded this luxury? All teams knew that the tyre degradation was extremely low in Monaco. In fact, many stated that they could complete the entire race distance on one set. But rules are rules, and all cars must use two different tyre compounds during the race in dry conditions to comply. Therefore, despite the teams' predictions and simulations, it doesn't take a genius to work out that the longer you could stay out, the more beneficial your race result. 
    So, the questions have to be asked. Are Ferrari imposing team orders this early in the season to assist Vettel? If so, why? You only have to witness Kimi's podium demeanor to get an indication of that. Have Ferrari lost faith in Raikkonen to mount a championship challenge of his own? Shouldn't they allow their drivers to race, or is having a clear #1 and #2 driver the best avenue to both driver's and constructor's championship glory? We know this though. Kimi sparks a lot more fan interest in F1 than Sebastian. 
    Lastly, whenever the contentious issue of team orders rears its head, why is it that Ferrari seem to be at the forefront?
    

    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....