The 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 71st season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 68th Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Teams and drivers competed in twenty Grands Prix—starting in Australia on 26 March and ending in Abu Dhabi on 26 November—for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championships.
The reigning Drivers' Champion Nico Rosberg was originally due to drive for Mercedes in 2017. He announced his retirement from the sport in December 2016 after winning his first drivers' World Championship, so the 2017 season was the first since 1994 in which the reigning champion did not compete.[1] Mercedes started the season as the defending Constructors' Champion, having secured their third consecutive title at the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix.[2]
2017 was the first genuine inter-team title battle for five years. Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes had to contend with a resurgent Ferrari team with lead driver Sebastian Vettel heading the championship for the first 12 rounds and challenging deep into the twenty race season.[3][4][5] At the conclusion of the championship, Hamilton won his fourth World Drivers' Championship title. Hamilton finished 46 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second with 317 points and Valtteri Bottas in third with 305 points.[6][7] In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes won their fourth consecutive title at the 2017 United States Grand Prix and finished with 668 points. Ferrari finished second with 522 points and Red Bull Racing were third with 368 points.[8]