As the debate continues about the proposed changes to F1 in 2017 suggested by the sport’s Strategy Group, the Sky Sports Digital team look into their crystal balls to suggest the impact F1’s latest 'rules revolution' could have on race day when F1 returns to Montreal in two seasons' time...
Please note that none of the suggested driver-market changes are predictions Sky Sports Digital believe will occur, but are merely a means of fast-forwarding the current grid by two years for the purposes of this feature.
2017 Canadian GP Report
F1 faces a fresh bout of unwelcome criticism after Sebastian Vettel maintained his world title push with victory in a disappointing Canadian GP - prompting critics to urge the sport to rewind to its golden age of 2014-15.
While the latest range of cars are indisputably faster than their predecessors, there is increasing concern about the sport's failure to overcome its longstanding battle to clean up the 'dirty air' a close-following car has to endure and the worthiness of a tyre war which is currently determining the shape of the world championship.
Vettel was never challenged at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and led home team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the sister SF17-XWing Quattro by a comfortable 14 seconds as Ferrari continued to dominate world championship rivals Mercedes in a race that managed simultaneously to be both soporific and insanely complex.
Lewis Hamilton appeared on the podium but it was Fernando Alonso who eventually claimed third place after his fellow Silver Arrows' misfortunes continued with a second disqualification in as many races.
In truth, the fare served up was as bland and dull as the grey clouds which blew moribund from the St Lawrence River and will surely lead to more questions being asked about the wisdom of implementing this season’s comprehensive technical and sporting shake-up.
The changes – featuring wider, lighter cars with bigger wheels and more “aggressive” aerodynamics – were introduced to make the field faster, along with the return of refuelling. That they have succeeded can be seen from the fact that Vettel’s fastest lap was over five seconds quicker than the previous benchmark, set by Rubens Barrichello back in 2004.
But although the cars might be more impressive to watch than their predecessors, getting two of them to keep close company remains the holy grail for those handed such tasks in the sport’s confusing panoply of strategy and working groups. They’d probably have more success mating pandas.
As far as the majority of the 100,000 crowd was concerned, the cost was a wholesale lack of track action - aside from those sat on the pit straight, opposite where virtually all the jostling for position was taking place as a mind-boggling array of tyre and fuel strategies played out.
For the record, Vettel won with a Pirelli supersoft-soft-supersoft-soft compound strategy which neutered Bottas’s soft-soft-supersoft-supersoft deployment, while the two Mercedes ran on contrarian Michelin-shod strategies of soft-soft-supersoft-soft and supersoft-soft-supersoft-soft.
Yet such was the confusion afterwards that Professor Stephen Hawking, who conducted the podium interviews, had to tell the top three precisely what had happened.
Heads were also being scratched elsewhere, with Hamilton remaining the centre of attention as the sport continues to argue over trivialities that are likely to bemuse fans further.
A fortnight ago at the Monaco GP, it was his crash helmet that brought censure from the FIA after a design advertising Hamilton’s new album breached the rulebook.
And the budding record label mogul again had to face the governing body’s own brand of music on Sunday after Mercedes’ use of a DJ alongside their roster of pitwall engineers and strategists was questioned by rivals.
The official reason for the move is one of sports psychology: mood music that inspires Hamilton to push to the maximum when necessary and also manage his pace when required.
Yet rivals are convinced that Mercedes are in fact circumventing the radio ban that prevents teams from giving drivers information which might enhance their performance on track.
“It’s something that’s been a long time coming,” complained Audi. "Mercedes claim it’s a sports psychology tool but, purely and simply, it’s another form of communication.
“You might hear bad boy rap lyrics but it’s easy to use such profane language as coded messages.”
In common currency fast gaining value in the paddock, it was another ‘Noah’ of a race, with franchises Haas and Force India following obediently behind their respective works Ferrari and Mercedes teams.
Still, there was a slice of history to be made as Danica Patrick came home fifth behind Haas team-mate Esteban Gutierrez – the best-ever result for a woman in a Grand Prix. The Audis of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Rosberg finished eighth and ninth respectively, while there was joy unbounded down at plucky little indie Williams, the sole remaining independent outfit on the grid, for whom Jenson Button claimed a rare point with 10th.
“This is a huge achievement for us,” a tearful Claire Williams said afterwards. “It stands alongside any of the nine constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ championships we’ve won previously.”
However, Button's fellow veteran Kimi Raikkonen finished out of the points after once again struggling to recover from a disappointing performance in qualifying.
McLaren-Honda’s problems also persist, with the works team actually conspiring to finish behind franchise ART. Max Verstappen was 12th but the sister MP4-32H/17XFU2 of Stoffel Vandoorne limped home a thrice-lapped 18th.
Vandoorne fell victim to the latest in a string of operational errors by the team, who mistakenly opted to use all four Pirelli tyre compounds on the young Belgian’s car. McLaren boss Ron Dennis, who re-gained full operational control of the team at the start of the season - and who also manned their refuelling rig during the race - has announced an enquiry.
Speaking of which, it’s understood that F1’s powers-that-be have decided that they’re not happy with sport in its current guise and have proceeded with the formation of another new working group tasked with improving ‘the show’.
In a similar move to that announced last time, and the other times before that, fans will also be invited to give feedback. “The cars look great now but the racing’s taken a turn for the worse, hasn’t it?” Bernie Ecclestone said. “I’m not happy. We need to get it back to how it was two or three years ago.”