Top 10 list of my favourite 2017 Formula 1 cars!

Yep, let's go for an a bit different approach for a blogpost today. I already announced on Twitter (and I guess kind of also in the last post) that I want to talk about the new cars. And first of all to start of generally: They look good! I really like the look of them! A lot of discussions are going on about some technical specifications like the return of the shark fin or the T-wing. Most often they get a lot of criticism but I do like them if they are done right, but I guess you're going to understand my opinion better once I go more into detail in the list. Oh and one more thing: I'm an absolute tech-noob, so I'll  rate the cars in terms of looks and aesthetics, with the for me personally most appealing one on P1. Alright, that should be enough of my rambling, let's go!

Number 10: Williams Martini Racing

This might come as a surprise for some, especially because a lot of people like the Martini-look of the car but I mean, really? This is going to be the 4th year in a row, where they will have the exact same livery. I know that the sponsors have a lot to say when it comes to how their brand is presented on the car but would it be too hard to change the design at least a bit? Let's go for a bit more blue or red? Rearrange the shapes? Or try something completely new? In addition to their really boring decision I'll have to criticise that specific shark fin. Too huge, no specific shape, looks like it's been added just at the end and not fitting at all. Sorry Williams, but you have to step up your game and not just rely on your overpowered Mercedes engine!

Number 9: Sahara Force India

As far as I can see, many people would agree with me to place that car quite close to the back of an "aesthetics list", at least from which I read from people on Twitter or also motorsport journalists. The colour isn't appealing at all. They went from some grey and black in 2016 to almost completely grey in 2017. And from my point of view, grey is just boring. The orange swipe on the sidepot or the green stripe on the bargeboard doesn't help that at all. 

Furthermore, let's talk about those very interesting aerodynamic additions. The nose is just.... strange. Those nostrils look completely wrong this year, whilst they were kind of okay in 2016, when they were coloured in a way, that they stop at a certain point. This year that passage is black and everything seems open. Moreover I have the feeling they have become even bigger. Meh. The shark fin is quite the same as the one on the Williams car and also here it looks unfinished. Couldn't they have added a bit of orange and green on that part of the car at least? Or give it an a bit more appealing shape? Fact is, they could do so much more with their livery, but just don't seem to want that. Oh, and I almost forgot that utterly ugly bump at the front suspension. I understand the thought of them to be fastest for the case active suspension gets introduced, but it really doesn't look great. 

Number 8: Red Bull Racing

I already can hear the outcry for my decision to put the ever so bulletproof Red Bull so low in the list, but please let me explain! First of all, the now following cars are from my point of view really good looking ones, and extremely close to each other in terms of look. But I had to order them in some kind of way, and if I take a look at my criteria, Red Bull has to be the lowest one. First of all, the livery. I like the matt look and I know they can't do too much with their livery. But still it is a fact that it is repetitive. They also pretty much didn't change it in comparison to last year. Furthermore, there's the shark fin. At least, to start of positive, it's not too big. But whyyyy has it to be black?! Just give it the matt blue/purple look that also the rest of the car has or extend the Bull onto it. Play a bit more with Red and Yellow or at least just give it an a bit more appealing shape. Really, it's not that hard! But I want to end on a positive note: The "vacuum cleaner" like Front Wing seems to me as a good idea that doesn't ruin the aesthetics of the car. But as it is Red Bull, I guess some of my criticised points are going to change until the first race of the season. So my list might change during the season and their car could take a huge step up.

Number 7: Sauber F1 Team

That is one good livery I'll have to admit! I really like this one to be honest! What a great idea to replace the cartoonish yellow with gold, just makes it look a lot more mature. Also the addition of white seems very fitting to me. My only problem with that car is once again the shark fin, and this problem is the same Red Bull has with theirs: the colour. Once again: WHYYYYY HAS IT TO BE BLACK?! I really don't see the point of that. Just make it blue or white here, you don't even need to change the shape of it, because that seems completely fine to me. It's not even to big so it is a much bigger shame than at the Red Bull car, because they did aesthetically more things right than the Austrian team.

Number 6: Renault Sport F1 Team

It was really hard for me to place that car in my list, because it feels so inbetween for me... Generally, I like everything about it but then there are also things which seem wrong to me. The problem is, that I just can't tell what those things are! That's also the reason why I just placed it kind of in the middle of my list. Maybe I should start with the livery, which is already an image for my feeling of inbetweenness. I like the yellow at the front and at the rear wing, and I also do not have a problem with the black, but the change from yellow to black seems just too abrupt for me personally. At least I can say that they are the first team on my list, that knows how to make a shark fin look good. It doesn't seem just added, but planned from the start. The colour is fitting to the rest of the car, it's not too big and also has an appealing shape. And much more I can't say about that one. Feels kind of strange to be honest that I can't really explain why it is right here in my list....

Number 5: Mercedes AMG F1 Team

Also that decision a lot of people might not understand. I guess for many of you, this is one of the best looking ones, maybe especially because it's one of two teams, that didn't go for the upturned nose or also at least tried to make no use of a shark fin, but which got eventually introduced during testing as well.Don't get me wrong, it looks great, especially with all those details on the side pot and the bargeboards, those are absolutely awesome! But their interpretation of a T- Wing just isn't for my liking. I know they are called the "Silver Arrows" and therefore just have to be silver/grey. But I like very colourful cars, that's a personal thing and I can understand you if you disagree with me in that point. But well, that's the reason why the maybe most successful car of 2017 is only at P5 in my list.

Number 4: McLaren

ORAAAAAAAANGE!
Erm... sorry, but I just wanted to imitate the typical Twitter talk before the release of that car. And yes, it's nice that it features a lot of orange, it's great to have a bright colour in the field. But as I already stated, I like bright and shiny cars and for my liking there's still too much black in it. Nobody would have got the idea that the orange at the back of the car should be the typical McLaren "swoosh". Or did you recognize it? I definitely didn't. But at least they used their shark fin well in terms of the livery, only the shape of it could be a bit better, but oh well it's orange so let's put it a bit further up in the list. Or shouldn't I do that? Hm..... give me your opinion!

Number 3: Haas F1 Team

Well, those guys kind of surprised me with their look for that season! As far as I can see, they made the completely right decision to change the white from last season to an a bit more jetfighter grey, just adds to the aggresiveness. Furthermore, they have with a huge margin the best looking shark fin of the whole field. Finally a team which starts to use different shapes and colours! Really great job from the team! I also spot the use of a bit more red, especially at the front part of the car, which is nice as well. All in all, a good looking car!

Number 2: Scuderia Ferrari

I know I might be a bit biased with that one, because if you didn't know yet, I'm a huge Sebastian Vettel fan and therefore also rooting for Ferrari, but could you please have a look at those sidepots! Wow! That shape is really innovative AND looking absolutely awesome! Also the use of all those little winglets is giving it a kind of aggressiveness, which reminds me a bit of the 2008 contenders. Okay in terms of the livery there's not too much to discuss. The Ferrari red is just iconic and they can't go wrong with that one. Also the shark fin looks well integrated and the colours fitting. I particularly like the italian flag on it. And they were the first team to introduce the T- wing as a part of the shark fin, which is in my opinion the best decision to put it there. A lot of you will disagree in that point as well, I already know that, but for me personally it just feels fitting. Let's just hope it will perform just as good as it looks....

Number 1: Scuderia Toro Rosso

No discussions: THIS is the livery of the season! Sorry McLaren, even your orange can't beat that...
The combination of that blue and red.... perfect! As well as the Silver Bulls and font on the rear and front wing. All seems to be in the right place. And they make use of bright colours.... Finally! Nobody is going to mix them up with Red Bull ever again! Makes me say it was worth to wait ten years to finally make a change in their colour scheme. Also the aerodynamics just look right. No upturned nose, a small sharkfin with a great shape.... It's an absolute beauty!


And this was my list of my favourite 2017 F1 cars! What is your list looking at the same criteria as I did? Post it into the comments, I'm keen on learning your opinions on that topic! You can also vote at the right side in the poll for your favourite F1 car of 2017 if you want! Thanks for reading! :)

Off season happenings! Driver market - Farewell Manor - Liberty Media takeover

Okay, first of all, I have to apologize to you. It should be over a month once I release this post, since the last one came out. Fact is: F1 is important, but university is just a bit more important. I think most of you will understand that :) Yeah exams kept me quite occupied with revising and I finished half of them already, but still I have to revise a lot, so I'm already sorry to say that this post might be a one-off for some time as well. But now, let's talk a bit about F1, shall we?
Oh well, a LOT of stuff happened during that month. But let's start with the beginning: The driver changes. The most important of those transfers is definetly the move of Bottas from Williams to Mercedes, who actually got bought out by the Silver Arrows and even changed Paddy Lowe as a part of the deal with Williams. So it seems like they really want to have him.... Or do they? In fact, he only got a 1 year contract and yeah I know they said:" We want to give him a longer contract, once he performs!" But we all should know that what is said in F1 is not always the truth. Of course they could be honest here, but let's look at their opportunities for next season: Drivers like Alonso or Vettel are going to be without a contract (yet) and those two seem to be definetly more attractive than Valterri (as bad as it sounds). Yes I know, I already wrote about how unlikely it would be to draft in Alonso, because of let's say his past with Hamilton. But who says that they actually want to keep Hamilton? Almost everyone, and why? Because he has a contract. But why shouldn't he go for a shock retirement just like Rosberg did? What if Mercedes won't perform next season and Hamilton is fed up with the team? And again, all of that is being unlikely and remains to be seen.
Much more realistic seems the Vettel deal, who is OBVIOUSLY (hehe) fed up with Ferrari, or at least was that in 2016. And we all know that Mercedes really wants to have a German driver. So we should never say never to that.
To sum this up: Bottas seems to be the savest decision Mercedes could make for 2017. From my point of view, it isn't a really interesting or hype generating move, but the smartest they could do. Let's see, maybe he'll surprise me and actually play Hamilton into the ground.
Connected to this transfer, we have the comeback of Felipe Massa to Williams, who retired at the end of 2016 and now is back in a cockpit for 2017...... Okay okay, you might could already read out of that, that this seems rather awkward to me... Don't get me wrong, I am happy that we'll keep Felipe for one more season in the paddock but.... After such a nice send off he got in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, it just feels wrong to come back so soon. But Williams should have made a save choice, just like Mercedes did. They need an experienced driver and also someone, who could be a kind of mentor for a rookie like Lance Stroll.
And then, there's also Pascal Wehrlein. And if you ask me, I hold the view that Mercedes have let their own protégée down a bit. Sauber, who'll compete with 2016 Ferrari engines in 2017 are not likely to be more competitive than they were last season. We saw how much that affected Toro Rosso, especially at the end of the season. It just feels like a further step back from him, which seems unfair to me, because he performed really well at Manor by even scoring his point in Austria. And I know, that his attitude doesn't seem to be the best, but still if his own big supporter lets him down.... I would be a bit sore if I would be him....
Talking about the former Manor driver, we tackle another important point of the last month. Manor had to go into administration and is set to leave F1, although they started to look very promising after 2016. It's an absolute shame to lose an as sympathic team as Manor was. They went through so many highs and lows, which is also partly visible in all of their name changes, and now it's all over. I just wanted to thank the team for all the great moments it delivered to us fans. I guess every F1 fan will remember Jules Bianchi's 9th place in Monaco, and how happy the team and Jules were with that result. But also Wehrlein's point last season in Austria was definitely a high. I almost forgot that they already went before the 2015 season into administration, which is also the reason why they had to compete the whole season with a 2014 car. In all of the races they were about 4 seconds slower than the rest of the pack, but also that created a lot of funny moments and I guess that there were still a lot of people cheering for the team. All of those moments are history now and all I can say now is: Thanks for the ride! It was a lot of fun!
But there's hope, that we won't have to face sad moments like this particular one anymore in the future, because also politically and economically, a lot has changed since I was away. Connected to Liberty Media's takeover of Formula 1, good old Bernie has to leave his position as the patriarch of Formula 1. His position got taken by Chase Carey, who looks with his facial hair maybe not to confidence-inspiring, at least that's my impression of him, but already started to convince me by the first decisions he made. The most important of those was to take Ross Brawn into his team to "make Formula 1 great again." For those who don't know who Ross Brawn is, I just can say: everything. And by that, I mean almost everything  he only slightly touched in terms of F1 became successful. The two points for which he is most known is on the one hand the era together with Michael Schumacher, especially as a strategist at Ferrari, and on the other hand when he took over the Honda team after the 2008 season and making his rebranded BrawnGP car in 2009 to a championship winning one. If somebody could make the sport attractive again, it is him. Therefore, my hopes are very high that he will make good decisions in the future.
Alright, so those are the major points I wanted to ramble about a bit. Of course there are a lot more minor ones, like the livery speculations at McLaren (FK YES FINALLY COLOUR! :D ) plus their changing of the name of next years car. But maybe we should wait about some of them, once we can be sure that everything is actually true. Thanks for reading and I hope I'll find the time to do these posts more regularly in the future!

Is it worth to attend a Formula 1 race?

Now Christmas is over and I can imagine that lots of you received some good money. You might ask yourself now what you should do with it. If you're an F1 fan and actually living in a country or even close to a track where a race is hosted (in contradiction to me :( ) you might contemplate about attending that particular race. But of course, a ticket for a F1 race weekend is quite expensive and possibly comes close to burst the limits of your Christmas budget. So, it's a hard decision whether you should attend the race or not. Regarding myself, I attended a F1 race for the first time in 2016, the German GP in Hockenheim and if you're asking yourself such a question as you've already read in the title of the blogpost, I could give you some help with the following.

Okay, first of all, I have to be honest: I didn't have to make that decision. It was my birthday present for my 18th birthday and my wish to attend the race weekend at Hockenheim. So, I can't really talk about how I made that decision, only give you some of my impressions.

But now, to answer the question straightaway from my point of view: Yes! You should watch F1 live! Definitely. Yes I know, to get the experience of a race weekend at a publicly widespreaded motorsport event, such as MotoGP or in particular Formula 1 is always very expensive, especially if you also have to pay for a hotel, because you're living quite far away from the track. That was also the case for me last summer. But there is a way to get at least the tickets a bit cheaper than they cost usual. The only thing to do is quite easy: Buy the tickets as early as possible, because there are usually early bird discounts on them. That's not the only advantage of booking early: You also have the chance to get the best seats, which are most often if you book too late already sold. So think fast! To give you an example, I am still thinking about attending the MotoGP German GP next year and if I get the tickets before the end of January, which means about 5 months before the race, I could save about 9 - 19 €, depending on the grandstand I choose. Considering the full prize, that's maybe not toooo much, but at least something and from my point of view worth it if you're really sure that you want to be at the race. See it that way, it would at least be the lunch "for free" at the race :)

Another tip would be to search yourself a grandstand from which you can see a quite huge part of the track. If you even can afford yourself the indulgence of chosing the track where you want to watch the race, take one where you have the chance to see a huge part of the track. Brazil would be a good example, where you can see almost the whole track from one of the grandstands. Also in Silverstone there are parts of the track, where u can see the cars for a long time, such as in the "Luffield", "Club" or "Village" section. Or as it was in my case, but won't be for you in 2017 because we won't have a race there, Hockenheim is a good venue to watch a race. The situation of the grandstands on that track makes it quite easy for you to chose the right seats. Most of them are around the Motodrom, where you can watch the same car for about 30 seconds straight, and it was also the place where I had my seat, on the inner grandstand before the "Sachskurve". The only disadvantage of getting your place in one of those sections is, that you won't be able to see the cars at highspeed. If you want to have that, go for the main grandstand next to the start-finish straight. But the tickets there are usually more expensive than in the sections I described beforehand, with the only advantage that you can watch the race start live. So I would recommend one of the slower sections. 

Furthermore, choose a section of the grandstand, where you have a huge canvas in sight. Watching the cars roar past you is pretty nice, but still, I guess you want to see more of the race than the bit of it you see in your section, especially at the start of the race or also in Quali and training sessions, when the cars are either closely packed or not too frequently in front of you. Therefore, you want to have a big television screen, where all the sessions are shown, just like they are in TV. When I was at Hockenheim, I didn't have the best place in that case. There was a telescreen in front of me, the only problem was, that it was quite far away, which means that I could not see too much on it. Still, it was good to have one to see at least some of the action, which happened at other parts of the track. To sum this up: Choose yourself a seat, where a telescreen is right in front of you.
Moreover, you have to keep in mind, that if you buy tickets you're not only paying to see the Formula 1 sessions, but also a certain framework programme, which could be different at some tracks. Again, if you can afford the indulgence of choosing the track you want, I recommend you to choose one, where also the GP2, and maybe also a GP3 race is hosted. In the best case, there is also a Porsche Supercup race as well. I had the luck that all 3 competitions were hosted in Hockenheim last season, and it was definitely a part of the experience I got, already because you got to hear some V8 engine sounds by the GP2 machines, which F1 doesn't deliver anymore these days. I don't really know what other tracks are doing, which are not hosting races of the smaller categories, but I'm sure that they are doing something special as well. The problem is, those events might not be specific about motorsport, so if you're going to see racing, I recommend a track which hosts at least GP2 as well.
Alright, now those are the tips I can give you if you've already decided to go and watch a race live. For those who couldn't decide yet, because many say "F1 is boring" or "It's just too expensive, I can see more of it on TV anyways", just give it a go, if you're really a Formula 1 fan! The latter may be right, but those are never going to get that special feeling, a vibe a true F1 fan is only going to get at the race track.
First of all, there are the fans. Many people from all around the world are coming to support their specific drivers. Of course, there are most likely to be fellow countrymen if you're going to F1 in your country, but there are always going to be international fans. In the case of the German GP, there were a lot of Dutch people, obviously due to the whole Max Verstappen hype. And they were also the most visible. The whole Dutch flags and orange colours everywhere just couldn't be overlooked. The way especially those people supported their driver was very special and really interesting to see! Moreover, there were a lot of British fans. After Hamilton's win, they started to sing the British national anthem. What a great moment that was! But also the support of the German fans, especially focusing on Sebastian Vettel was awesome. Every lap he came around our grandstand, people stood up and cheered for him. And yep, I did that too :)
Apart from that, the formation lap was also a great moment. I had the luck to sit on a grandstand, where the people formed during the national anthem and the formation lap a gigantic German flag. It just gave me goosebumps, when all the cars drove past us, kind of in the calm before the storm, and we all were holding up our sheets of paper to form the flag. I'm sure, It's a moment I'll never forget in my life.
Finally, after the race, you'll have the chance to go on the track. If you're placed quite close to the podium, which is most likely at the start - finish straight, I recommend you to be as qucik as possible on track, so you can see as much of it as you can. I wasn't too close to that, so I couldn't watch it. Still, you can have some fun on the track after the race. Be sure to take some of the tire grains with you, they are a great souvenir! :) But be careful, they might be still a bit hot and formable. If you're lucky and search a bit for it, you might find some carbon fibre tiles as well. You will be surprised how light they are!

Here are two pieces of rubber and the carbon fibre tile I found at the track. I made the photo on my desk at home, that's the reason for the white background :)

Even if you're not able to watch the podium ceremony, you should still do a walk to the start - finish straight. At most of the tracks they will allow you to climb onto the pit wall to have a look into the pit lane. I did that as well, and could watch the Ferrari crew during they packed up their stuff. It's really interesting to see all the front wings laying next to the boxes as well. Again if you're lucky, you'll maybe even see some TV crews doing interviews. I had the luck to wacth how Toto Wolff got interviewed. So as you can see, the moments after the race are a great experience for itself that you definitely shouldn't miss!
I hope I gave you enough examples of what a great experience a F1 race is and help some of you with the decision whether to watch F1 live or not. Of course, no one is going to guarantee you a very exciting race, there were always races in F1 with not too much action, but what I can guarantee you is, that the experience of just being there is something you won't forget too quick, no matter how good or bad the race was. And I can say that, because the German GP this year was a quite average one. Still, it's something I would always attend again, if I had the chance.
Thanks again for reading and I would really like to know if you ever attended a race, if so, which season it was, at which track you were and also how much you liked it. Moreover, it would be interesting to know if I could help you a bit with that post. Just write all of that into the comments!

Georg