2017 F1 Season
20 races · Mercedes W08
The 2017 season brought hope back to Ferrari fans. With a rule change towards wider, faster cars, the Scuderia produced the SF70H, the most serious rival Mercedes had faced since the start of the hybrid era.
Sebastian Vettel led the championship for much of the first half of the year, in a direct duel with Lewis Hamilton that promised to go all the way. But the balance tipped after the summer: a Vettel crash at the start in Singapore and a run of Ferrari reliability problems deflated his chances.
Hamilton and Mercedes hit their stride in the closing stretch and the Briton was crowned four-time world champion, cementing his status among the greatest in history.
Drivers' Champion
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes W08
Constructors' Champion
Mercedes
20 races
Key moment
"Singapore: Vettel crashes with Verstappen and Räikkönen at the start, loses his championship lead."
The 2017 grid, car by car
The 10 teams that raced in 2017, ordered by how good we rate the car. It is our own judgement, not an official figure: what it is worth is that the same yardstick is applied to every season since 1988, so you can compare eras.
| # | Team | Our rating | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 98 | Lewis Hamilton · Valtteri Bottas |
| 2 | Ferrari | 95 | Sebastian Vettel · Kimi Räikkönen |
| 3 | Red Bull | 90 | Max Verstappen · Daniel Ricciardo |
| 4 | Force India | 83 | Sergio Perez · Esteban Ocon |
| 5 | Williams | 77 | Felipe Massa · Lance Stroll |
| 6 | Renault | 76 | Nico Hulkenberg · Jolyon Palmer |
| 7 | Toro Rosso | 73 | Carlos Sainz · Daniil Kvyat |
| 8 | Haas | 73 | Romain Grosjean · Kevin Magnussen |
| 9 | McLaren | 70 | Fernando Alonso · Stoffel Vandoorne |
| 10 | Sauber | 64 | Pascal Wehrlein · Marcus Ericsson |
How 2017 actually ended
The official final standings, from Australian Grand Prix to Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This is the real result, not the simulation above.
| Driver | Points | Wins | Podiums | Poles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Lewis HamiltonMercedes | 363 | 9 | 13 | 11 |
| 2Sebastian VettelFerrari | 317 | 5 | 13 | 4 |
| 3Valtteri BottasMercedes | 305 | 3 | 13 | 4 |
| 4Kimi RäikkönenFerrari | 205 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull | 200 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| 6Max VerstappenRed Bull | 168 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 7Sergio PérezForce India | 100 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8Esteban OconForce India | 87 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hamilton took it by 46 points with 9 wins and 11 poles across 20 races. 5 different drivers won that season, and the last Grand Prix went to Valtteri Bottas.
Official FIA standings via Jolpica (formerly Ergast).
What if 2017 had been raced 100 times?
We took the real 2017 grid (every car with its performance and reliability, every driver with his rating) and re-ran the full 21-race championship 100 times.
| Driver | Avg. finish | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamiltonreal championMercedes | P1 | 100% |
| Sebastian VettelFerrari | P2.2 | 0% |
| Valtteri BottasMercedes | P3.2 | 0% |
| Kimi RäikkönenFerrari | P3.8 | 0% |
| Max VerstappenRed Bull | P4.8 | 0% |
| Daniel RicciardoRed Bull | P6 | 0% |
Lewis Hamilton wins 100% of the simulated championships. Runner-up Sebastian Vettel manages 0%: with that machinery, the real result was very nearly the only one available.
Tags
What if Senna, Hamilton or Alonso had driven the 2017 championship-winning car?
Hypotheses from 2017
Drivers of 2017
Keep reading
What we have measured about 2017 and about what decided it, with our own numbers.
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