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Pundit X Preview: S17 F1 Season

As offseason testing comes to a close and the teams and drivers prepare fore the opening round in Australia, Pundit X makes his highly anticipated team and driver outlooks and predictions for the upcoming Formula 1 season!

Last season proved the be the changing of the guard, with youth and enthusiasm prevailing over age and experience. The championship came down to the very last lap of the very last race, and when it was all said and done, Red Bull's Romain Louis Grosjean Jr. would go on to win his 1st ever Drivers Championship. The Constructors Championship, on the other hand, wasn't as competitive, as Red Bull would clinch their 4th Constructors Championship (and their 2nd in a row) with 3 races to go in the season.

As the new season looms, quite a few drivers representing the "old guard" have retired from racing altogether (PSG, Acarini, Tok). It's definitely a sign that the "new wave" of F1 drivers are beginning to take over. Though there are still some cagey veterans out there that will try to give these youngsters a run for their money.

Team and Driver outlooks: Teams are underlined, drivers are in bold, statistics are in italics

Red Bull:9th season, 4 Constructor's Championships, 3705 total pts. 59 total wins, finished 1st in S16 Constructors Championship, 589 pts. in S16, 11 wins in S16: The S15 Constructors Champions kept their usual dominant form, winning 11 of the 20 races last season and gaining pole position 17 times out of a possible 20. Don't let that fool you into thinking the season was a total breeze for them though. At times there was some cause for concern. For starters, they weren't as bulletproof as they were in past seasons in terms of reliability. Second, the same strategy woes that at times cost them race wins in S15 still found a way to rear its ugly head in S16. As S17 is about to begin, the team is going through a pretty big change as their longtime ace Philippe de Saint-Germain Jr. has retired from racing, leaving a huge void for his replacement Alexandre de Montferrand to fill. As tough as a transition period like this may be, Red Bull is probably the one team capable of handling something like this. Their car is still the best in the field, and Romain Louis Grosjean Jr. has shown he's more than capable of taking over as team leader. I think it'll be a lot tighter this time around, but I pick them to win the Constructors Championship again this season.

#1. Romain Louis Grosjean Jr. (FRA): 4th season, 1 Drivers Championship, 676 career pts., 11 career wins, finished 1st in S16 Drivers championship, 350 pts. in S16, 9 wins in S16.: Really came into his own in S15, in what can be described as a "passing of the torch" moment, as he would win his 1st ever Drivers Championship, and in doing so spoiling the swansong season of his legendary teammate Philippe de Saint-Germain Jr. With PSG now gone, the heir apparent is has now taken the top spot of the Red Bull throne. And to think people had doubts about him back when he first started in F1. He's proven a lot of people wrong, and looks like he could go on to break almost all of the F1 records PSG holds within the next 5 years.

#2. Alexandre de Montferrand (FRA): 1st season: While Grosjean had to go through a lot of scrutiny for being the successor to PSG, this rookie could possibly go through even more for being the guy that has to be PSG's REPLACEMENT. Not only that, but he's joining a team that expects nothing short of domination. He joins Red Bull after an impressive season in IndyCar. On terms of talent, seems to be almost on par with his teammate. He may struggle a bit with the pressures of the sport and the heavy shoes he has to fill, but don't be surprised if he manages to snatch a win or two in his 1st season of F1 action.

McLaren: 9th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 1726 total pts., 8 total wins, finished 2nd in S16 Constructors Championship, 484 pts. in S16, 5 wins in S16: Looked to really take the fight to Red Bull for the Constructors championship in S16, but saw their chances slip away as Guido Di Rado was mostly a disappointment in his 1st season with the McLaren team.
They need him to do better this time around if McLaren wants to give Red Bull a serious fight this time around. But even then, I'm not sure if that'll be enough, as the car, while still one of the best in the field, has not only lost a step or two to Red Bull, but also seems to be surpassed by Jordan.

#3. Rocco Rapido (SUI): 5th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 815 career pts., 7 career wins, finished 2nd in S16 Drivers Championship, 340 pts. in S16, 5 wins in S16: Lead the championship at several points during the season and came within less than a second of winning the Drivers Championship. This year might be a bit tougher as McLaren doesn't seem like it can keep up with Red Bull and Jordan, but can still manage to win a few races.

#4. Guido Di Rado (ITA): 8th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 677 career pts., 4 career wins, finished 5th in S16 Drivers Championship, 144 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16.: Looked like he would be a serious contender in his 1st season with McLaren, but failed rather miserably to live up to those expectations. As a result, Red Bull was able to win the Constructors Championship rather easily. He'll certainly look to bounce back as he has shown in the past that he can be a driver that can win races and contend for the championship.

Jordan: 9th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 2440 total pts., 13 total wins, finished 3rd in S16 Constructors Championship, 378 pts. in S16, 4 wins in S16: Jordan broke a 2 season winless drought in S16 as rookie stud Damon Michael Novikov notched a very impressive 4 wins in just his 1st year of F1. The team looks to make a serious push to end Red Bull's reign of dominance as they dropped longtime driver Charvec Libor in exchange for rookie Bretislav Zatacka. The car also looks to be the only one that could possibly give Red Bull a run for their money.

#5. Damon Michael Novikov (RUS): 2nd season, 0 Drivers Championships, 247 career pts. 4 career wins, finished 3rd in S16 Drivers Championship, 247 pts. in S16, 4 wins in S16: Had one of the finest rookie seasons in recent memory with 4 wins and a 3rd place points finish. Can very well improve upon that with a very solid car. Even though Red Bull has a very slight edge to Jordan in terms of the cars, driver for driver I think I have to give the edge to Novikov over Grosjean. With that in mind, I think I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Novikov is my pick to win the Drivers Championship.

#6. Bretislav Zatacka (CZE):1st season: Joins Jordan this season, replacing Charvec Libor. Even with Libor's inconsistencies, this move did surprise me a bit. Even though this move is an upgrade, plus me targeting Libor as a driver possibly on the hot seat, fact of the matter is that Libor didn't really have THAT bad of a season. I mean, Libor finished only 14 points behind Di Rado last season, when Di Rado is a much better driver in a better S16 car. Now, I'm not saying that Zatacka can't hack it, because I think he'll be a decent driver, and a more consistent one at that. I'm just saying this move did catch me a bit off guard.

Mercedes: 9th season, 1 Constructors Championship, 3134 total pts. 39 total wins, finished 4th in S16 Constructors Championship,205 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: S16 was Mercedes' worst season to date, going winless for the first time ever and scoring an all time low 205 points as a team. The team stumbled to mid-pack out of the gate and by the time they got their car to up to par with the top teams, they got bitten by bad luck due to some rather uncharacteristic errors by their two veteran drivers. Unfortunately, the car looks to be even worse than it was the previous season, and the way things are going, they could possibly find themselves at the bottom in the next few seasons if they don't get things turned around.

#7. Paolo Grandi (ITA): 9th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 2021 career pts., 32 career wins, finished 7th in S16 Drivers Championship, 129 pts in S16, 0 wins in S16: Without a doubt the best driver in F1 not to win a championship. He had to endure the 1st half of the season with a car that wasn't up to snuff. By the time the car got good enough in the 2nd half, finally showed some speed but threw away his best chances of wins with some uncharacteristic mistakes. This time around, it looks like the opportunities for wins might not even be there. Even scoring points might be a stretch. That's really a shame, because he deserves a championship more than anyone else in the field. I mean, he's currently 2nd on the all-time wins list for heaven's sake! He looks like he might try and stay around until he finally gets his much deserved championship, but would he be willing to possibly leave Mercedes in order to get it?

#8. Stanislaw Bum (POL): 9th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 1111 career pts., 7 career wins, finished 10th in S16 Drivers Championship, 76 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16.: An F1 original who's been solid for many years. As the Mercedes car seems to get weaker and weaker, I get the feeling this could be his last season with the team, if not his last in F1 altogether, as many of the drivers that have been in F1 since the very beginning are now on their way out.

OMR: 9th season, 3 Constructors Championships, 3300 total pts., 35 total wins, finished 5th in S16 Constructor's Championship, 185 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Despite being able to surpass their S15 point total, OMR couldn't improve upon their 5th place finish as the car looked good early, but faded a bit down the stretch. Longtime OMR ace Andre Acarini retired during the offseason, which meant that along with the retirement of PSG, this leaves Grosjean as the only former champion left in F1. Expect OMR to drop a few spots from where they were last time as their car is good, but not great. Problem with that is many of the middle tier teams have upped their game and OMR hasn't been able to keep up.

#9 Alex Botta (ITA): 8th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 990 career pts., 10 career wins, finished 9th in S16 Drivers Championship, 92 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Takes over the #1 spot at OMR following Andre Acarini's retirement. While he does have the talent and the experience for it, I'd be a bit nervous about making him "the guy". To me, he doesn't always seem to be the most motivated driver out there, which at times has led to some of his dips in performance.

#10. Jose Pedro Lamy (POR):1st season: Replaces the retiring Andre Acarini at OMR. Has mostly jumped from series to series until now, but has put up very impressive results in almost every series he's been in. He'll be a solid driver for years, and should get a few points for OMR this season.

Sempre Senna: 8th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 275 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 6th in S16 Constructors Championship, 56 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: If you read last season's preview, you already know where I stand with this team, but incase you didn't I'll tell you how I feel about these guys: I don't like them, and I still think the way they do business is incredibly stupid. Now, as far as their cars, I have to give credit where credit is due. They have a very good car this season (probably the best car they've ever had) that should consistently compete for points, and possibly even a win (though I'm praying that doesn't happen).

#11. Marcin Lupa (POL): 8th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 180 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 12th in S16 Drivers Championship, 33 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: A good driver that's shown flashes of brilliance, but hasn't really been able to put it all together for 1 whole season. With this car, if he can put up solid results throughout the season, he could possibly finish in the top 5. But that seems to be a fairly big if.

#12. Kamil Speedowski (POL): 5th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 72 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 15th in S16 Drivers Championship, 23 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Remember last season when I said they were crazy if they thought they could convince Stanislaw Bum to leave Mercedes? Well, with the way Mercedes looks right now, I take that statement back (Sort of, implying that Bum doesn't retire at the end of the season). Honestly though, knowing how adamant Sempre Senna is about sticking only to drivers from their home country of Poland (which is dumb to me, because you're handcuffing yourself by not allowing yourself the chance to branch out to better drivers from other countries), it wouldn't surprise me if Speedowski would be replaced at the end of the season, either by Bum, Franciszek Maurer, or Gerard Berger Jr. Speedowski is okay as a driver, but there's other drivers out there better suited for this good of a car.

Williams: 9th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 159 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 7th in S16 Constructors Championship, 43 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Williams basically stayed in the same position they were in in S15, duplicating their 7th place points finish. Despite an improved car, they should pretty mush stay around the same spot they were in the past 2 seasons.

#14. Sandor Torghelle (HUN): 3rd season, 0 Drivers Championships, 38 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 11th in S16 Drivers Championship, 38 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Moves to Williams after racing for Audi last season, replacing Kaius Kauria. For Williams this move is neither an upgrade nor a downgrade, but for Torghelle this certainly is an upgrade as the Williams car is much faster. Looks to improve upon a solid 2nd season.

#15. Pentti Lund (FIN): 3rd season, 0 Drivers Championships, 63 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 14th in S16 Drivers championship, 27 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Dropped a bit in S16 as he had a good 1st half of the season, but struggled in the 2nd half. A solid driver that could be a contender with the right car.

Audi: 5th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 80 career pts., 0 career wins., finished 8th in S16 Constructors Championship, 41 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Audi rebounded from a miserable S15 to put up their highest season point tally ever in S16 with 41 points. However, it looks like they might return to S15 form, as the car is just dreadful.

#16. Lukin Kaderabek (CZE): 7th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 770 career pts., 2 career wins, did not participate in F1 in S16: Makes his return to F1 this season after spending last season in V8 Supercars. At 35 years old this will probably be his last season racing period, and though it's good to see him back in an F1 car, he'll most likely be middling through the back of the field in a slow Audi car.

#17. Dare Klun (SVN): 1st season: Out of all the rookies for this season, he's the clear cut weakest of the bunch. I don't mean that to say he's going to be outright terrible like Rafael Rato or Deivision Conceicao, but unlike the other rookies of this season, he just doesn't wow me. He looks to be a guy that'll hang around for 2-3 seasons and then be gone.

BMW: 5th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 163 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 9th in S16 Drivers Championship, 39 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: BMW looks to have really stepped up their game for S16 by putting out their best car ever and by signing the most talked about rookie of S16. They're one of the teams to watch this season.

#18. Sergey Osmolovsky (BLR): 5th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 107 career pts. 0 career wins, finished 13th in S16 Drivers Championship, 31 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Another driver who's come a long way to prove himself as a capable driver in F1. One of the most consistent drivers in the whole series, expect him to have a breakout year with a BMW car that's improved leaps and bounds.

#19. Sergey Kalinin (RUS): 1st season: Replaces Oleg Petrov at BMW, and comes into S17 as the rookie to watch. A talented driver with a bright future, he should score a lot of points in his first season with a strong car.

Windsor: 9th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 204 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 10th in S16 Constructors Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Windsor was the "Best of the Rest" for S16, as they were clearly the best team out of all the teams that failed to get on the board. They're likely to struggle to get on the board this season as well as their car hasn't improved as much as the other middle tier teams have.

#20. Maximus Vanderpuije (CAN): 3rd season, 0 Drivers Championships, 0 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 19th in S16 Drivers Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: This guy's mostly been a victim of driving for the wrong teams in his first 2 seasons. He's shown that he belongs in F1 despite the fact that he's yet to score. Though sadly, it looks as though it could possibly be 3 seasons without a single point for him, as the car hasn't improved much from last season.

#21. Rui B. Martins (POR): 2nd season, 0 Drivers Championships, 0 career pts. 0 career wins, finished 20th in Drivers Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Like his teammate, also a decent driver that's likely to put up good results with the right car. But that's not likely to happen this season.

Ferrari: 9th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 375 total pts., 2 total wins, finished 11th in S16 Constructors Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Good news: Ferrari's car is actually good compared to what it's usually been. Bad news: Compared to the rest of the field the car is average at best. Even with an upgrade to their driver lineup, points aren't likely to happen this season. But with a driver like Dominik Dan, who has a reputation for making bad cars look better than what they really are, anything's possible. At the very least they should get out of the bottom 5.

#22. Charvec Libor (CZE): 9th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 1383 career pts., 7 career wins, finished 6th in S16 Drivers Championship, 131 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Gets booted to Ferrari after spending 8 seasons at Jordan. Replaces Vitaliy Romadov at Ferrari, bringing a huge upgrade to the team's driver lineup. Managed to rebound nicely from a horrible S15, but still was nowhere near the form he had in S13 when he finished 2nd. Honestly, S13 was probably nothing more than a one-hit wonder. Regardless, he's been a talented albeit inconsistent driver that's always fun to watch, good or bad.

#23. Dominik Dan (SVK): 5th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 186 career pts., 1 career win, finished 21st in S16 Drivers Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Another driver that's fun to watch, as always finds a way to take a bad car and make it look good. He wasn't able to get Ferrari on the board last season, but this season looks like it could be possible.

Trabant: 9th season, 0 Constructor's Championships, 37 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 12th in S16 Constructors Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: It's been 4 long seasons since Trabant has last scored a point in F1. Sadly, that drought looks likely to extend to 5 seasons as the car again isn't all that great.

#24. Volker Adler (GER): 5th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 26 career pts., 0 career wins, did not participate in F1 in S16 An F1 original makes his return to the sport after a 4 season layoff. Replaces Marcis Jr. Freiverts at Trabant, as Freiverts left to compete in Indy Series. Adler was the last driver to score a point for Trabant, and the team has brought him back to try to regain some of their old magic. Honestly, I think they're nuts. He's an okay driver, but he's been out of F1 for 4 seasons, and the game has clearly changed. I just don't see this move working for them.

#25. Petter Solberg (NOR): 2nd season, 0 Drivers Championships, 0 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 28th in S16 Drivers Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Had a very tough time in his 1st season of F1. Looks to have improved during the offseason, but needs to put in some respectable runs to prove he can cope with the pressures of the sport. Look, talent alone may get you in the door, but if you aren't able to handle the pressure of racing at the highest level, you'll be gone before you know it.

Toro Rosso: 4th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 0 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 13th in S16 Constructors Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Things really spiraled out of control for Toro Rosso in S16. They started out at mid-pack, but by the end of the season the only team they could beat on a consistent basis was HamrHedZ. The team did an overhaul to their driver lineup, but the car is still below average.

#26. Oleg Petrov (RUS): 4th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 39 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 17th in S16 Drivers Championship, 8 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Gets booted from BMW to Toro Rosso this season. In terms of performance, has really dropped off since his rookie season, and could find himself out of F1 if he doesn't get it turned around soon.

#27. Sebastian Raikkonen (FIN): 1st season: At 29 he's old for a rookie, but he does have talent plus some hype. I'm just nervous about him going to Toro Rosso, which is starting to gain a reputation as a place where highly hyped rookies who don't pan out watch their F1 careers go down in flames.

LKR: 9th season, 0 Constructor's Championships, 18 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 14th in S16 Constructors Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: This team needs to make some changes fast. They have the worst car in the field right now, and they look like they're on their way to last place by the time this season is over.

#28. Eduardo Diesel (AUT): 9th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 0 career points, 0 career wins, finished 27th in S16 Drivers Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Wait, you're telling me that while 2 former champions have retired, a guy that has been here since the beginning yet has done absolutely nothing is still racing! WHAT!? This is a joke, right? This has gotta be a joke. Hold on, what's that? This is legit? (facepalm) Okay, I've only got 2 words for you sir "PLEASE RETIRE!"

#29. Rudi Bremser (AUT): 5th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 0 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 26th in S16 Drivers Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: Honestly I'd like to see what he could do on a different team, as I think LKR is really holding him back. He really won't be able to do much this season with the car being as dreadful as it is.

HamrHedZ: 9th season, 0 Constructors Championships, 3 total pts., 0 total wins, finished 15th in S16 Constructors Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: After an S16 that will easily go down as one of the worst performances by a team in a single season, things actually look somewhat bright for them going into S17. For starters, they actually managed to get 2 competent drivers. The car's a lot better too. Still ranks among the bottom, but better.

#30. Vitaliy Romadov (RUS): 6th season, 0 Drivers Championships, 0 career pts., 0 career wins, finished 25th in S16 Drivers Championship, 0 pts. in S16, 0 wins in S16: As much as I still think he should be in NASC Gold Cup, I have to admit he's still a huge upgrade over some of the drivers this team has had in past seasons.

#31. Oscar Nilsson (SWE): 1st season: Finally! They manage to bring in a competent rookie. Another old rookie at 29, his skills are a bit weak compared to most of the other rookies in this class, but he has shown some promise in the other series he's competed in. He most likely won't set the world on fire, but he certainly won't embarrass himself either

Pundit X's Predictions:
Drivers:
1. D. Novikov
2. R. Grosjean Jr.
3. R. Rapido
4. G. Di Rado
5. A. de Montferrand
6. M. Lupa
7. S. Kalinin
8. B. Zatacka
9. S. Osmolovsky
10. J. Lamy
11. A. Botta
12. K. Speedowski
13. S. Torghelle
14. P. Lund
15. M. Vanderpuije
16. D. Dan
17. R. Martins
18. C. Libor
19. S. Raikkonen
20. P. Grandi
21. O. Petrov
22. O Nilsson
23. S. Bum
24. V. Romadov
25. P. Solberg
26. L. Kaderabek
27. V. Adler
28. R. Bremser
29. D. Klun
30. E. Diesel

Constructors:
1. Red Bull
2. McLaren
3. Jordan
4. BMW
5. Sempre Senna
6. OMR
7. Williams
8. Windsor
9. Ferrari
10. Toro Rosso
11. Mercedes
12. HamrHedZ
13. Trabant
14. Audi
15. LKR

This concludes Pundit X's Preview for the S17 F1 Season. Until next time, Race Hard, Race Smart, and Drive it Like You Stole it!