Max Verstappen’s rise, Nico Rosberg’s shock swansong and the best of Formula One 2016

From front, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardot the F1 Drivers Class of 2016 group photo during the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit on November 27, 2016. Clive Mason / Getty ImagesShow less

As the Formula One fraternity enjoys its brief break before the challenge of preparing for the 2017 season begins in the New Year, here is a look at some of the sport’s talking points.

More from Verstappen

As years go, 2016 was a superb one if you were Max Verstappen.

He was promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing after four races, won on his first time out with the Austrian team in Spain to become the sport’s youngest race-winner, and he finished on the podium seven times in total.

His drive from the back of the grid to third, in a matter of a few laps, in the rain in Brazil last month was the performance of a racing great, with his car control appearing to be on a different level to most of the drivers around him.

What was most encouraging though was he was getting even quicker as the season went on. In Daniel Ricciardo he had one of the fastest, and most highly regarded, drivers as a teammate, and it was fair to say initially that the Australian had a slight edge on raw speed on him.

But Verstappen, 19, kept improving, and he out-qualified Ricciardo 4-2 in the final six races of the year, and he put Ricciardo in the shade with strong drives in Brazil and at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Ominous stuff for Ricciardo and the rest of F1.

If Verstappen can be this good after joining a new team midseason, what will he be like with more experience, and a full preseason with Red Bull, next year.

It is an exciting prospect, especially for those hoping for someone to challenge the dominant Mercedes-GP team.

Rosberg will be missed

Even though he is world champion, it has been easy to diminish the now retired Nico Rosberg.

Yes, the German did have an element of fortune in clinching the championship due to the ill-fortune with mechanical unreliability that hit Mercedes-GP teammate Lewis Hamilton. But he outperformed the Briton more often than in any other season in the same car, made few mistakes, and held his nerve, under great pressure in Abu Dhabi to become champion.

But now he is gone, and F1 is already missing him. The fact Mercedes are taking so much time on naming his replacement hints at the size of the shoes they have to fill.

Rosberg may not have been the match of Hamilton, consistently, on raw pace, but he still pushed him very hard.

If Hamilton is one of the greatest drivers of the sport’s history, then Rosberg’s efforts were pretty good in comparison.

Whoever does get the drive, with it looking increasingly likely to be Valtteri Bottas from Williams, will face the same challenge as Rosberg in trying to beat a triple world champion in the same machinery.

Rosberg did it, and it left him emotionally spent in the process, and he thoroughly deserves to enjoy his retirement.

Raikkonen’s swansong

Given how poor he was in 2014 and 2015, not many people would have been too confident of Raikkonen being on the F1 grid for 2017 with Ferrari.

But the 2007 world champion had a much stronger year in 2016, unfortunately though just as the speed of his team’s car was diminishing.

It was not Raikkonen’s fault that Ferrari appeared to get lost aerodynamically during the season, and his pace compared to four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel held up very well, and he out-qualified the German 11-10, a pretty good turnaround compared to being outshone 15-4 in 2015.

With new technical regulations for 2017, which will have a dramatic effect on the aerodynamic performance of the cars, the omens are not good for Ferrari, given this has been their weakness this year.

If it is a tough year for the team, and you would not blame Raikkonen, 37, if he did think about hanging up his racing gloves at the end of the season if another year of making up the numbers is about to happen.

Drivers’ market

The 2016 season was relatively quiet on drivers’ moving around, at least at the front of the grid.

Rosberg’s unexpected retirement threw open things a little postseason, but if you think this has been fun, then next autumn will be very interesting with a number of top level drivers coming to the end of their contracts.

Both Ferrari drivers, Vettel and Raikkonen, are out of contract, as is McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Force India’s Sergio Perez, and Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean.

Williams driver Bottas, in theory, will end his deal with Williams at the end of the 2017, but there is strong speculation he is the man heading to Mercedes to replace Rosberg.

All are considered top racers in the sport, and their availability should at least add plenty of intrigue to proceedings as the year goes on and eyes begin to head towards 2018.

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