Clanregeln » -break for 2017?Having been pushed back from an original

MONTREAL -- Troy Smith is ready to hear Anthony Calvillos name mentioned every time he lines up at quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes. The Heisman Trophy-winning pivot, who joined the Alouettes midway through last season, will be the clubs first opening-game starter other than Calvillo in 15 years when Montreal plays its first game of the 2014 CFL regular season at Calgary on Saturday. They are massive shoes to fill, with Calvillo having retired in the off-season as the leagues all-time passing leader. "Ill never stop hearing those references," Smith said this week. "I think its great to be mentioned with a great name like that. "I havent done nearly the things he has, and just holding onto his coattails a bit has been fun so far. But as a man, I definitely want to make my own path. Thats why Im here." Smith takes over the key position on a team that was a powerhouse for most of Calvillos time behind centre, but which has been sliding in recent seasons. And even though they remain well-stocked with top talent at many positions, the Alouettes are perceived as a team in decline. Last season was a disaster, with the inexperienced Dan Hawkins fired as head coach only five games into the season, followed shortly by a season-ending, and career-ending, injury to Calvillo. They finished 8-10, tying their worst record since they returned to Montreal after a 10-year gap in 1996, and lost to Hamilton in the East Division semifinal. This season hasnt started well either, with team architect Jim Popps bid to keep the head coaching as well as general managing job turned down. Tom Higgins, who was out of coaching since 2007, was named the new head coach, but the offensive co-ordinator he hired, Rick Worman, was fired midway through training camp. Then the club lost both its pre-season games, including a 26-10 setback at home against expansion Ottawa in which they failed to score a touchdown with new OC Ryan Dinwiddie calling the plays. Smith was not sharp while playing just over half of that game, but neither were backups Tanner Marsh and Alex Brink. All three got starts last season, with Smith emerging as the most promising to take over the top job. Now he has to play well enough to keep it. "I dont look at it as a transition year," said Popp. "That was last year. "Theres going to be a transition, but we were faced with this starting in Game 6, and we played two thirds of the year without Anthony Calvillo, knowing he probably wasnt coming back. "We had four different quarterbacks that won games and the team realized they could win without Anthony. That was a big hurdle. Its a little nerve-wracking, but like with all great players you lose, you just have to march on. Its not so much to replace that guy, but to find someone you can win with. How great theyll be, well find out." There were two main positives to come out of the off-season. One was the return of Larry Taylor, who gives them a kick return threat they havent had in recent seasons. Another was the signing of former NFL star receiver Chad (Ochocinco) Johnson, who so far looks to have a positive influence on and off the field. The 36-year-old Johnson has been out of football for two years, but Popp said he showed up in shape and has been a "great fit." "I think he can do great things for us," Popp said. "Every time we play somebody, their attention is on him, and not on S.J. Green and Duran Carter. So if hes an attention grabber and everyones talking about him, great. Chads used to that. And Chad, with each game and experience he has in this league, is only going to get better as the season goes along." Smith will have an impressive set of receivers with Green, Carter, Johnson, Taylor, Brandon London, Eric Deslauriers and the repatriated Dave Stala. Gone are Jamel Richardson, who had a knee injury and was cut, and veteran Arland Bruce. "Weve got the best receiving corps in the league," said Popp, who is particularly high on Carter, the son of former NFL great Cris Carter, who gained 909 yards in only 12 games after making his CFL debut in August. "All I say is CFL, enjoy what youre watching because youll be watching him in the NFL next season, Hell have the majority of NFL teams after him, and were not talking about as a third or fourth receiver. He can go in and have an impact like Cam Wake. Hes at that level." There is a first-rate running back in Brandon Whitaker and a solid offensive line anchored by left tackle Josh Bourke, despite the retirements of Scott Flory and Andrew Woodruff and the departure of Michael Ola to the NFL. The defence lost starting middle linebacker Shea Emry to Toronto, but should remain among the leagues best under defensive co-ordinator Noel Thorpe with veterans like rush end John Bowman and linebacker Chip Cox leading the unit. The Alouettes kick teams have been weak for the last three seasons, including when Marc Trestman was head coach and didnt name a full-time special teams co-ordinator. But they looked good both on returns and kick coverage in the pre-season and they may be a key area of improvement. Taylors ability to avoid the first wave to pick up extra yardage should be a bonus. It will likely take some time for the offence to jell. And if it turns out that Smith doesnt have what it takes to be a regular CFL starter, it could be a long season indeed. Starting the campaign against Calgary, followed by a home game against B.C., should give Higgins and idea of what it will take to re-establish Montreals reputation as a Grey Cup contender. "Every indication is that Troy Smiths going to be our guy, but sometimes there are growing pains," said Higgins. "If you look at Anthonys career, at the start it wasnt as stellar as it was at the end. "All that being said, (Smith) comes with good intangibles. Hes from a good program. Hes got the system down. Practices are going good. So lets see him get measured up against the best." After nearly a year in the making, Formula 1’s proposed rules makeover for faster, more dynamic cars from 2017 has reached a critical seven days. April 30 is the deadline by which regulations concerning design, tyres and engines must be agreed if they are to come into force in time for next season.So, entering a key few days for F1s future, how does the situation stand and what is 2017 shaping up to look like? Why is the next week make-or-break for 2017?Having been pushed back from an original March 1 deadline, April 30 is now the final point at which the Sporting and Technical Regulations for 2017 must be finalised.The Strategy Group and F1 Commission are meeting on Tuesday to thrash out the final details, with hope that the plans will not be derailed at the final moment.What were the original plans? In May last year, the FIA announced the Strategy Group had agreed on the need to make F1 more spectacular from 2017.The intention was to make cars between five and six seconds faster a lap, with the regulations to be overhauled to also ensure the challengers possessed more aggressive looks.So what will the cars look like?In what is possibly the first time F1 has made aesthetics a central pillar of future regulations, 2017s cars are set to look more aggressive thanks to regulations to make them wider, heavier and run on fatter tyres. Wings will also be wider, with the rear wing lower than is currently the case.Bodywork dimensions were published in February and teams are already working to this blueprint in early development work at their factories.The cars are pretty good looking, Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds told Sky Sports F1.We are running ours in the wind tunnel this week and it looks like a proper racing car. Its got very big rear tyres on it and it doesnt look retro, which is a thing I was worried about.The front wing is swept back a little bit, as are the sidepods, and the rear-wing endplates slope backwards. It almost gives an impression of the car moving when its standing still, so it does look good. 2017 bodywork: Key changes at a glance 2016 2017 Front tyres 245mm wide 305mm wide Rear tyres 325mm wide 405mm wide Suspension track 1800mm 2000mm Front wing span 1650mm 1800mm Rear wing 750mm wide / 950mm high 950mm wide / 800mm high Maximum Weight 702kg 722kg + tyres How much faster will the cars be?Although the original intention was to bring lap times down by up to six seconds, more moderate gains around the four-second mark are now expected from the new rules themselves.Personally, I could never understand why we would want to do that, said Symonds of the six-second target.It doesnt do anything per se. When we run the cars with 100kg of fuel in, they are nearly five seconds slower than they might be in qualifying trim. So I dont think the actual lap time really matters much.In any case, the natural rate of F1 development already means the current 2016 cars are even faster than last years. At the Bahrain GP, Lewis Hamiltons pole position time was three seconds under 2015s benchmark and, despite the smaller-capacity V6 engines, was the quickest-ever lap seen at the venue.According to Mercedes Toto Wolff, the 2017 cars will be more difficult to drive and deploy much more G on the driver like in the past.Will overtaking improve? Here is the rub of the 2017 overhaul.While the decrease in lap times and increase in downforce is likely to make the cars more challenging for drivers, few believe the changes will do anything to alleviate F1s overtaking issues - and some fear the age-old problem of cars being able to follow each other closely will only get worse.The car is a bit quicker - not stunningly quicker, but they will be a bit quicker - but I dont think theres anything there thats going to improve the racing, unfortunately, says Symonds. When is the Russian GP on Sky? All the broadcast times you need for the Sochi weekend - live only on Sky Sports F1 The truism is that the more downforce youve got on the car the more youre going to be affected by the wake of another car.dddddddddddd And the 2017 cars do have a bit more downforce, so I do think theyre going to be affected more than the current cars.I certainly hope we havent made things significantly worse, but Im sure we havent made them better. And I sort of doubt that are the same.Drivers have voiced similar fears, with Lewis Hamilton perhaps putting it most starkly: I think we need more mechanical grip and less aero wake coming off the back of the cars so we can get close and overtake. Give us five seconds worth of lap time from aero and nothing will change - well just be driving faster.What is happening with engines? Despite some high-profile and persistent opposition to the V6 hybrids since their 2014 introduction - most notably from Bernie Ecclestone - the technology is set to remain in place until 2020.But the manufacturers are set to cede ground where it comes to customer costs and the guarantee of supply. The FIA has pushed for the fees customer teams pay for their engines to come down to €12m by 2018 at the latest and the manufacturers say they are on course to deliver that.Weve offered much cheaper engines and actually met the targets we set ourselves, Mercedes Toto Wolff told Sky F1. We have structured an obligation to supply - which we dont like particularly, but we have offered it to not run into a Red Bull situation again - and all that is on paper.Manufacturers were also tasked with addressing issues of performance convergence to ensure there is a smaller disparity between the four power units in use on the grid.Will they be louder? Complaints from fans, and some drivers, over the quieter noise generated by the V6 engines has lingered for two years now and the FIA remain keen for the sports soundtrack to be pumped up.We are working on various concepts and have made it one of the key points in order to find solutions, stressed Wolff, with Mercedes commitment to finding improvements underlined by the fact they are currently advertising for a noise engineer to join their engine division in Brixworth.Would-be candidates need to be ready for the challenging task of improving the turbo hybrid V6 noise appeal without sacrificing power unit or vehicle performance.Whats the plan for tyres? With Formula 1 intent on increasing downforce, plans have long been in place to make the tyres wider to increase mechanical grip.The front tyres will be a 305mm-wide thread rather than the current 245mm, while rear tyres will be increased to a 405mm-wide thread from 325mm.As seen by this season, strategy on rubber can have a huge say on racing and tyres are to be a major component in the 2017 changes. However, it was only this week that Pirelli were granted extra tyre testing.The Italian manufacturer will be afforded 25 car days to test the new tyres in 2016, 2017 and 2018 using current cars. As the 2017 cars step up in downforce, Pirelli must make sure the tyres can cope with the higher than usual pressures.Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery told Sky F1 in Shanghai: The tyres are going to be quite different. We are moving towards a much larger thermal zone than we have now. You hear the drivers saying We want to push on, so they will be able to. There will be much less degradation and a different type of performance.And what about head protection? Kimi Raikkonen tests out his Ferrari with the new safety halo during pre-season testing in Barcelona. Following growing pressure from drivers, the FIA has set the target of introducing some form of cockpit protection from next season. The Mercedes-devised halo has long been considered the front-running concept and was briefly tested by Ferrari for the first time during pre-season testing at Barcelona.However, Red Bull have simultaneously developed an alternative canopy design - which they believe is a more refined solution. The team were planning to complete static tests of it this week before a potential trial on the RB12 in first practice in Russia. Watch the whole Russian GP weekend - LIVE ONLY on Sky Sports F1. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday May 1, with build-up from 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV. Also See: Pirelli granted 2017 tyre tests When is the Russian GP on Sky? ' ' '