Ferrari SF70H
The Ferrari SF70H is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Scuderia Ferrari to compete in the 2017 Formula One season. It was driven by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. The car made its competitive début at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, where it finished first and fourth in the hands of Vettel and Räikkönen, respectively. In keeping with his tradition of giving his cars female nicknames, Vettel named his SF70H "Gina".
Background and design
Name
The model was named "SF70H", marking Ferrari's 70th anniversary as a manufacturer.Chassis
The chassis was designed by Mattia Binotto, Simone Resta, Enrico Cardile, David Sanchez and Rory Byrne with Corrado Iotti leading the powertrain design. The SF70H features a shark fin for the first time since the F10 in 2010 and the nose cone inlets since the F2008 in 2008.Competition history
Opening rounds
The car proved to be fast in pre-season testing, and it carried its form into the first race of the season, the. Vettel qualified in 2nd, splitting the two Mercedes cars and Räikkönen qualified in 4th. Vettel took the lead from Lewis Hamilton on lap 17 when he pitted for new tyres. Hamilton rejoined behind Max Verstappen and could not pass him. Vettel took advantage of this and came out in the lead after his stop. Vettel went on to win the inaugural race of the season ahead of the two Mercedes drivers, giving Ferrari its first win since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix. Räikkönen finished in 4th after fending off a late charge from Verstappen. This result also marked the first race weekend after which a Mercedes-powered team was not leading the Constructors' Championship since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.In China Vettel and Räikkönen qualified in same positions as in Australia, i.e., in 2nd and 4th respectively. The race started in semi-dry conditions. Everyone, except Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr. started on the Intermediate tyre compound. At the end of lap 2, many drivers including Vettel decided to pit for dry tyres under the Virtual Safety Car caused by Williams' Lance Stroll who had crashed. This proved to be very costly for Vettel as Sauber's Antonio Giovinazzi crashed on lap 4 which forced the Safety Car to come out. This meant that the two Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen along with Räikkönen had eclipsed Vettel in the pits and he was relegated to 5th. Vettel eventually managed to climb back up into 2nd and maintain his position till the end. Räikkönen meanwhile struggled with understeer throughout the whole weekend. At the start of the race, he was overtaken by Ricciardo into the first corner. Unlike his teammate, Räikkönen could not find a way past the two Red Bull cars and finished in fifth. Hamilton winning the race meant that he and Vettel were tied in points after two races. Mercedes also managed to outscore Ferrari which put them 1 point ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship before the Bahrain Grand Prix.
At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel qualified third, 4 tenths of a second down on pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas. Räikkönen qualified fifth, behind Ricciardo. At the start, Vettel passed Hamilton for second and was pushing Bottas who struggled with pace and rear tyres. Vettel pitted for supersoft tyres when the safety car came out. Vettel came out in first place and started making advantage on softer tyres. Vettel pitted again and returned on soft tyres, while Hamilton took the lead on older tyres, with Bottas moving into second place. Hamilton pitted for new tyres and started chasing Vettel. He easily passed Bottas but Vettel maintained the lead to win the Bahrain Grand Prix for the third time, with Räikkönen finishing fourth. It was Vettel's second win in first three races in the season.
Ferrari would earn their first front-row lockout of the season in Russia with Vettel taking pole position. However Bottas was able to overtake both Vettel and Räikkönen at the start and maintained the lead throughout the race. Vettel initially struggled to match Bottas' pace but in the second half of the race, he was able to close the gap to Bottas, who was on an older set of tyres than Vettel. During the last lap, Vettel managed to get within a second of Bottas but it was too little too late as Bottas claimed his first win of his career. Räikkönen secured his first podium finish of the season by finishing in third and also had the fastest lap of the race. With 20% of the season completed, Vettel led the Drivers' Championship by 13 points over Hamilton and Ferrari trailed Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship by a single point.
European rounds and Canada
Ferrari were again very fast in Spain, despite major upgrades to the Mercedes cars. Vettel, who had a scare in Q1 when he was ordered to stop the car on the track, was on course to take pole. He was 3 tenths up on Hamilton's best lap in the second sector but lost time in the final sector and qualified second, 0.051 seconds behind Hamilton. Räikkönen qualified in fourth, 0.290 seconds off the pole time. In the race, Vettel got a better start than Hamilton from second and was into first position by turn 1. Max Verstappen, Kimi Räikkönen and Valtteri Bottas tried to go three-wide through turn 1 but Bottas clipped the inside kerb, hitting Räikkönen, who hit Verstappen. It ended both Räikkönen and Verstappen's race but Bottas was able to continue. Meanwhile, Vettel had stretched the gap to 2.2 seconds over Hamilton by the end of lap 1; the gap stayed around that margin till lap 14, when Vettel pitted from the lead for soft tyres, to cover off the undercut threat from Hamilton. He made easy work of passing Daniel Ricciardo but lost around 4 seconds trying to pass Bottas. Hamilton stayed out till lap 21 and then changed onto a set of mediums, rejoining 7 seconds back. Then the Virtual Safety Car was deployed for the Felipe Massa/Stoffel Vandoorne crash. Hamilton pitted just before the end of the VSC for softs, while Vettel pitted the next lap for mediums. They were side by side at turn 1, touched wheels and Hamilton was forced off the track and had to fall behind Vettel. He got past on lap 44 and won the race. He thus reduced the gap to Vettel in the Drivers' Championship to 6 points, while Mercedes extended their Constructors' lead to 8 points.At Monaco, both Mercedes cars struggled to find the right setup, while Ferrari were very fast yet again. Kimi Räikkönen got his first pole position since 2008 French Grand Prix by 0.043 seconds over Vettel, who himself was just 0.002 seconds clear of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in third. But, crucially for the championship, Hamilton would start the race in thirteenth place. The two Ferraris stayed one and two until lap 34, when Räikkönen pitted to cover off the undercut from Bottas and Verstappen. Vettel stayed out for an extra five laps, putting in blistering lap times mostly quicker than those of Räikkönen on fresh supersofts. Vettel came in on lap 39, and rejoined ahead of Räikkönen, and led to the finish despite a safety car. After the race, talks arose that Ferrari had deliberately put Räikkönen on the slower strategy so that Vettel could maximize the points gain from Hamilton's lowly finish. This was the first Ferrari win at Monaco since 2001 and first Ferrari 1–2 finish since the infamous 2010 German Grand Prix. Ferrari retook the lead in the Constructors' Championship after both Mercedes cars had a poor race and Vettel increased his lead over Hamilton to 25 points.
Ferrari had a poor weekend in Canada. Vettel qualified in second splitting the two Mercedes cars and Räikkönen qualified in fourth ahead of the two Red Bulls. At the start Vettel lost positions to Bottas and a fast starting Verstappen, who jumped from fifth to second before turn 1. Verstappen made slight contact with Vettel which damaged Vettel's front wing. After the safety car period which was triggered by Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso crashing into Felipe Massa's Williams, half of Vettel's front wing fell off his car and he had to pit 2 laps later which relegated him to last place. Vettel made a comeback drive and managed to overtake the two Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon, who were engaged in an inter-team battle which possibly cost them a chance for a podium finish, and finished in fourth; Räikkonen meanwhile was running in sixth but had a brake issue which forced him to limp home in seventh. This allowed Mercedes to retake the lead in the Constructors' Championship by 8 points.
At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Räikkönen managed to out-qualify Vettel as they lined up on the second row of the grid behind the two Mercedes. A race which saw many crashes and incidents, was also a centre of controversy for Vettel who, under the safety car, steered his car into Hamilton's in frustration as he claimed that Hamilton had brake checked him just before the restart which caused damage to his front wing. He was awarded a 10-second stop-go penalty for that move. He finished in fourth, ahead of Hamilton who had to make a mandatory pit stop to change his loose headrest. Three penalty points were added to Vettel's licence and he later admitted his mistake and apologised to Hamilton and the FIA which saw him avoid a possible race ban. Räikkönen collided with Bottas on the opening lap. He retired on lap 46 as a precaution to prevent the failure of his suspension which had received damage from the crash with Bottas.
In Austria, Vettel qualified in second ahead of Räikkönen in third. Vettel finished second behind Bottas even after a late challenge for victory, finishing just six tenths of a second behind the winner; Räikkönen meanwhile struggled for pace throughout the whole race and dropped behind Ricciardo and Hamilton to finish in fifth.
At the British Grand Prix, Ferrari seemed to struggle to keep up with the Mercedes as Hamilton was half a second quicker than Räikkönen in qualifying who lined up in 2nd ahead of Vettel in 3rd. During the start of the race, Vettel dropped behind Verstappen and was relegated to 4th but he regained his position by undercutting the Red Bull in the pits. On lap 49, running in 2nd place, Räikkönen's front left tyre lost pressure and he had to pit 2 laps from the end which saw him fall to 4th behind Vettel. On the next lap Vettel suffered with the same issue as his teammate which forced him to pit with 1 lap to go while in 3rd. This re-promoted Räikkönen to the podium and saw Vettel fall down to 7th and they finished in those positions. This allowed Hamilton, who won the fourth British Grand Prix in succession, to reduce the championship deficit to Vettel to just 1 point and allowed Mercedes to open up a gap of 55 points in the Constructors' Championship at the halfway point of the season.
After an appalling weekend in Silverstone, Ferrari looked to be struggling during Friday practice in Hungary; however both cars looked dominant on Saturday with Vettel scoring pole position from Räikkönen and being half a second quicker than Bottas and seven-tenths faster than Hamilton despite Mercedes holding a 0.5–0.7 seconds advantage over Ferrari in qualifying trim. On Sunday morning, Vettel's car developed a hydraulic problem which had to be rectified quickly before the race began. As the race began, it was apparent that Ferrari had the quickest car on circuit, although Vettel's pace started dropping after the initial stint. This was due to a steering wheel issues which occurred before the race began which meant that Vettel was holding up Räikkönen but was allowing the Mercedes to close in on the Ferraris. Despite this, Vettel won the race from Räikkönen and was 12.462 seconds ahead of Bottas in 3rd place. As a result of this, Ferrari were 2nd in the Constructors' Championship, 39 points behind Mercedes, while Vettel was leading the Drivers' Championship by 14 points ahead of Hamilton going into the summer break with Bottas 33 points behind in 3rd and Räikkönen in 5th place 86 points behind Vettel.
Ferrari proved to be very competitive at the, considering that Spa was considered to be a track which suited Mercedes. Vettel qualified second while Räikkönen got P4. On Sunday Vettel had the better race pace and put Hamilton constantly under pressure. It was a close battle but he wasn't able to pass him. Räikkönen was fourth in the second Ferrari after a recovery drive. The Finn had been given a 10-second stop-go penalty for ignoring yellow flags when the luckless Max Verstappen retired.
Ferrari was off pace at their home Grand Prix in Italy. In a wet weather qualifying session Vettel and Räikkönen only managed to qualify in P7 and P8, 2.5 seconds off Hamilton's pole time. Due to engine penalties from both Red Bulls, they were promoted to P5 and P6. During the race both drivers couldn't go the pace from the Mercedes' drivers and even came under pressure from Red Bull. Vettel managed damage limitation by grabbing the final podium spot, giving the tifosi a reason to cheer. Räikkönen finished fifth, behind Ricciardo. At the end of the European rounds Vettel lost his lead in the Drivers' Championship. Going into the overseas races he was 3 points behind Hamilton while Ferrari was 62 points behind Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship.