Ferrari Leads, Hamilton Finishes

Wider, faster cars and new owners reshaped Formula One, and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel led for twelve rounds before Lewis Hamilton took a fourth title.

Almost everything around the racing changed in 2017. Liberty Media completed its purchase of the sport, Bernie Ecclestone left after forty years in charge, and Ross Brawn arrived as managing director. The cars changed shape too. New bodywork rules aimed to take four to five seconds off a lap, tires grew a quarter wider, and the minimum weight rose to 728 kilograms, so the cars became bigger, heavier and, by design, faster, which is not the usual order of things. For the first season since 1994 the reigning champion was missing, because Nico Rosberg had retired, and Valtteri Bottas moved from Williams to fill the seat at Mercedes.

The calendar

• Australian Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel
• Chinese Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Bahrain Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel
• Russian Grand Prix, won by Valtteri Bottas
• Spanish Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Monaco Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel
• Canadian Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Azerbaijan Grand Prix, won by Daniel Ricciardo
• Austrian Grand Prix, won by Valtteri Bottas
• British Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Hungarian Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel
• Belgian Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Italian Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Singapore Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Malaysian Grand Prix, won by Max Verstappen
• Japanese Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• United States Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
• Mexican Grand Prix, won by Max Verstappen
• Brazilian Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel
• Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, won by Valtteri Bottas