2015 Formula One World Championship

Lewis Hamilton was the defending Drivers' Champion after securing his second title at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . His team, Mercedes , began the season as the defending Constructors' Champion, having clinched its first championship title at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix .

Four drivers drove as third or test drivers throughout the season.

Both Caterham F1 and Marussia went into administration towards the end of the 2014 season. The latter was saved narrowly from liquidation in February 2015, re-entering as Manor Marussia, when new investment was secured and the team left administration after an agreement with creditors was reached. [ 19 ] Caterham ultimately folded and its assets were auctioned off by company administrators after the start of the season. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ]

The driver line-ups saw a couple of changes prior to the 2015 season and one more prior to the Singapore Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel left Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2014 season after six years with the team and nine years with its wider junior development programme to join Scuderia Ferrari in a multi-year deal replacing Fernando Alonso . However, the news would be firstly announced by Christian Horner in an interview with Sky Sports days after Vettel had told him of the move. Alonso, who...

Toro Rosso changed their entire line-up: along with Kvyat joining Red Bull, the team chose not to renew Jean-Éric Vergne 's contract. Vergne went on to compete in the Formula E Championship while also becoming a Ferrari development driver. [ 28 ] They were replaced by the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Carlos Sainz Jr. [ 29 ] and the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship third-place finisher Max Verstappen . The latter became the youngest driver to make a Formula One début, at the a...

Manor Marussia also had two new drivers: They employed the former Caterham driver Will Stevens to drive for his first full season in the sport, [ 35 ] while another former Caterham test driver, Roberto Merhi , was signed to a short-term deal while he also drove in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series . [ 36 ] Max Chilton relinquished his seat, joining the Indy Lights championship, [ 37 ] while Jules Bianchi was in a coma at the start of the season and ultimately died from injuries sustained at the 201...

Kamui Kobayashi went on to race in the Super Formula series in Japan after the folding of Caterham left him without a drive in Formula One. [ 42 ]

The Grand Prix of America and the Indian Grand Prix were both contracted but did not feature on the calendar. [ 43 ] The former originally aimed for a debut in 2013 at the Port Imperial Street Circuit in New Jersey after a 15-year contract was signed, but was delayed for a third straight year, [ 47 ] [ 48 ] while the latter was cancelled for the second consecutive year due to an unresolved tax case in the Bombay High Court. [ 49 ]

Following the backlash over "ugly" nose designs in 2014, the FIA moved to amend the rules surrounding nose designs for the 2015 season. Noses were lower than in 2014, retaining a minimum cross section, but they had to taper to a point at a fixed linear rate, effectively outlawing the dramatic finger shapes seen in 2014 in favour of a more gradual shape. Furthermore, the design of the nose had to be symmetrical and consistent with the centreline of the car, thereby banning the more exotic designs...

The minimum weight of the cars at all times during an event was increased to 702 kilograms (1,548 lb), a difference of 10 kilograms (22 lb) from 2014, [ 43 ] addressing concerns raised the year before that the lighter weight limit forced taller drivers to become unhealthily slim. [ 61 ] The ban on front-and-rear interconnected suspension systems (FRIC) that had been implemented in the middle of the 2014 season was formalised, with the regulations stating that the front and rear suspension had to...

As well as the existing five-second penalty that could be served during a driver's scheduled pit stop, a new ten-second penalty was introduced, to be served in the same manner. [ 43 ] If a car was deemed to have been released from a pit stop in an unsafe manner, the driver would receive a ten-second stop-and-go penalty. Further penalties could be applied if the stewards believed the driver was aware of this and attempted to drive the car regardless. [ 43 ] If any team personnel or team equipment...

The rules regarding qualifying and the start times of some races were tweaked. The qualifying procedure was further clarified to cater to different sizes of starting grids: if twenty-four cars were entered for the race, seven would have been eliminated after each of the first two qualifying segments; if twenty-two were entered, six would have been eliminated after each qualifying segment and so on if fewer cars were eligible. [ 43 ] In light of a regulation introduced in 2014 dictating that a ra...

If a race were suspended (red-flagged), the cars would no longer have lined up on the grid but instead would have slowly proceeded to the pit lane. The pit exit would have been closed and the first car to arrive in the pit lane would have proceeded to the exit with the others lining up behind in the order in which they arrived, regardless of race standing or garage location. Severe circumstances could still have required cars to stop immediately on track. [ 43 ]

Beginning with the Belgian Grand Prix, radio communication from engineers to drivers pertaining to race starts, such as recommended torque map settings for optimal acceleration, was no longer allowed. This restriction added to the partial radio ban implemented at the end of the previous season. [ 64 ] Drivers were also no longer permitted to change the design of their helmet in-season. [ 65 ] The time limit rule was also adjusted, so that after races reached two hours and the leader completed a ...

Lewis Hamilton was the defending Drivers' Champion after securing his second title at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . [ 67 ] His team, Mercedes , began the season as the defending Constructors' Champion, having clinched its first championship title at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix . [ 68 ]

Before the start of the season, Hamilton announced he would not be exercising his option of switching his car number to 1 for 2015, as was his prerogative as reigning World Champion, and would instead race with his career number 44. It was the first season since 1994 , when Alain Prost retired from the sport following his fourth and final World Drivers' Championship title in 1993 , that the field did not contain a number one car. [ 69 ]

Following the financial struggles faced by Marussia and Caterham in 2014, the FIA approved the use of 2014-specification chassis in 2015 provided that teams showed cause and received an individual dispensation to compete with their old chassis. [ 70 ] A request by Manor Marussia to use their 2014 car was rejected by the other teams. [ 71 ] [ 72 ] Subsequent regulation changes allowed the team to use a modified 2014 chassis which met updated safety and dimensional limits. The car was powered by a...

Mercedes began the season with a one–two finish in Australia, resulting in a twenty-eight-point lead after just one round. [ 77 ] They finished over thirty seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel, who finished third and secured a podium finish in his first race with Ferrari. [ 77 ] Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo finished a lap down in sixth, [ 78 ] prompting the team to continue to voice their frustrations with Renault, as they were forced to use its second of four allotted power units for Ricciardo on t...

With McLaren's longest continuous testing session lasting twelve laps in Montmeló – a total of 56 kilometres (35 mi), a sixth of a total Grand Prix distance – before running into engine trouble, Honda elected to detune the power units for the opening Grands Prix in an effort to improve reliability and longevity while the manufacturer worked to improve these areas before homologation . [ 88 ] After both cars qualified on the back row, Kevin Magnussen failed to reach the grid after suffering an ab...

Ferrari came into the season seemingly much more competitive than the previous season, finishing on the podium in the opening race. [ 77 ] Kimi Räikkönen said the SF15-T was "much better" to drive than 2014's F14 T . [ 100 ] In Malaysia, Vettel won comfortably and Räikkönen finished in fourth, despite suffering a tyre failure. [ 83 ] The team then finished third and fourth in China and Räikkönen secured his first podium appearance since rejoining Ferrari the previous season with a second-place f...

Mercedes arrived at Spain already with a comfortable lead. Lewis Hamilton had scored ninety-three points out of a possible one hundred, giving him a twenty-seven-point lead over his teammate Nico Rosberg entering the eight-race European portion of the season. [ 103 ]

Hamilton closed out the European portion of the season with his seventh victory of the season in Italy . With Rosberg's retirement at the event, Hamilton entered the closing rounds of the season with a lead of fifty-three points over his teammate in the Drivers' Championship standings, the largest gap of the season at that point, [ 120 ] while Vettel sat a further twenty-one points behind. [ 121 ] Hamilton's tenth pole position in Belgium assured him of victory in the FIA Pole Trophy, the award ...

Shortly before the thirteenth round in Singapore , Manor Marussia announced that the American GP2 driver Alexander Rossi would race for the team, replacing Merhi in five of the final seven rounds, while Merhi was retained for the remaining two. [ 125 ] Vettel won his third victory of the season in Singapore, closing his gap to Nico Rosberg in second place to just eight points. [ 126 ]

Rosberg could not close the gap to Hamilton in Japan or Russia; despite winning pole position in both races, his leads were short-lived. [ 127 ] [ 128 ] He was passed by Hamilton on the opening corner in Japan [ 127 ] and retired on lap seven in Russia. [ 128 ] Vettel capitalised on the results with third and second-place finishes respectively, to take second place in the Drivers' Championship from Rosberg with four rounds remaining, while Hamilton extended his lead to sixty-six points, the high...

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in every race, using the following structure: [ 148 ]

In the event of a tie, a count-back system was used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's best result used to decide the standings. [ b ]

Notes:

Notes: