FORMULA ONE · 2015
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 . Hamil
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 . 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, while Vettel sat a further twenty-one points behind. Hamilton's tenth pole position in Belgium assured him of victory in the FIA Pole Trophy, the award ... Notes: Notes:
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. Caterham ultimately folded and its assets were auctioned off by company administrators after the start of the season.
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. They were replaced by the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Carlos Sainz Jr. 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, 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 . Max Chilton relinquished his seat, joining the Indy Lights championship, 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.
The Grand Prix of America and the Indian Grand Prix were both contracted but did not feature on the calendar. 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, while the latter was cancelled for the second consecutive year due to an unresolved tax case in the Bombay High Court.
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, addressing concerns raised the year before that the lighter weight limit forced taller drivers to become unhealthily slim. 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...