The now defunct Manor design-team posing with their model. In turn, Bottas departure from the Williams F1 team prompted his retired teammate Felipe Massa to return from his own retirement, which had only lasted for 50 days. Rosberg’s sudden departure led to a chain reaction started by the frantic search for Hamilton’s new teammate, which was ultimately found in Valtteri Bottas. This promptly led Rosberg to retire from racing, having achieved the goals he set out to achieve as a young kid. While Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag first, it was his teammate Nico Rosberg who had the biggest smile on the podium as his second place finishing position guaranteed him to win the 2016 WDC trophy. On the 27th of November at around 18:30 local time (GMT+4), the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was completed. As we look ahead to the coming season, I will also look back at what happened in these three months when F1 was on hiatus, and do a little math on what to expect from the next few weeks of testing. The moment when the newly developed cars take to the track to prepare for the upcoming 2017 season, next monday in Barcelona. In these 90 days, us fans have eagerly been waiting for this moment to arrive. At the moment of writing, it has been exactly 90 days since the flag dropped in Abu Dhabi, which saw Nico Rosberg crowned World Driver’s Champion, snatching the title from his teammate Lewis Hamilton who had won the previous years and was the favourite to take the title in 2016 by a mile. Long have us Formula 1 fans waited for this.

F1 2017 testing dates