Formula 1's governing body is "writing to every circuit on the calendar to advise them of specific measures that need to be carried out for safety's sake due to faster cars and higher cornering speeds," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The '17 specification cars are "expected to be three to four seconds a lap quicker than last year's with more corners taken flat out" following regulation changes that include much bigger tires. Int'l Automobile Federation (FIA) Safety Dir Laurent Mekies said, "Every single team has been asked to provide simulations for their 2017 cars. We've used these simulations to feed our simulation software, we therefore simulated every single track with the 2017 cars, so much higher cornering speeds -- up to 40 kph faster in high speed corners. Every single track is receiving from the FIA a requested upgrade based on that work ... that process is ongoing. We are doing it in the order of the championship and therefore not all the tracks have received it yet." Mekies also provided an update on the "halo" cockpit protection system that was evaluated by many of the teams in practice last year. He said, "The engineering work is done. Someone needs to decide if it's right for F1 or not ... the net safety benefit is established" (REUTERS, 1/14). In a separate piece, Baldwin reported F1 tire supplier Pirelli Motorsport Head Paul Hembery said that fans can "expect to see fewer pitstops this year and faster, more aggressive-looking cars." He said, "The (tire) degradation (wear) levels will be reduced substantially compared to the past. And the gap between the (tire) compound levels will be much reduced ... so I think the strategy elements that we've seen in the last seasons will be greatly reduced -- fewer pitstops, following a trend that we've seen actually over the last two years. I'm quite sure we'll see a lot more one-stop races." The wider '17 specification tires are expected to have around 25% more grip, more thermal stability and "last longer than their quick-wearing predecessor that forced drivers to pit as the performance tailed off" (REUTERS, 1/12).
STRONG FIRST IMPRESSION: In London, Sean Gibson reported the manager of the Ferrari Driver Academy said "how impressed" the Scuderia is with 17-year-old Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time champion Michael. The young driver, who will make his debut in Formula 3 racing in '17, has "previously been linked to a junior role with the Mercedes F1 team," but Ferrari has also "expressed a keen interest." FDA Manager Massimo Rivola said, "Obviously we follow him. And this year we will have the opportunity to stay very close to Mick because he will be the teammate of our FDA driver, [Guan Yu] Zhou, in the Prema team. About his future, I don't know what Mick will decide to do. But if he would like to enter the FDA program, he will find a red carpet" (TELEGRAPH, 1/13).
