FORMULA ONE · 2016
The 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 70th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile ( FIA )'s Formula One motor racing. It featured the 67th Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sp
2016 Race Calendar
The following teams and drivers took part in the 2016 Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli .
Five drivers drove in free practice sessions in place of regular drivers.
Both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso underwent changes regarding their power unit supply. The former formally ended their nine-year partnership with engine supplier Renault at the end of the 2015 season, with the team citing the lack of performance from the Renault Energy-F1 2015 engine as a leading factor in the change. The team continued using Renault engines, but they were rebadged as TAG Heuer . Team principal Christian Horner named Renault's partnership with Mario Illi... Marussia applied for their team name to be changed to Manor Racing , a request granted in January 2016. The team adopted the formal name of "Manor Racing MRT" and switched from Ferrari to Mercedes power, with the team upgrading to a 2016-specification engine after having used a year-old Ferrari engine in 2015. The team underwent a management reshuffle following the resignation of team principal John Booth and sporting director Graeme Lowdon . Sauber underwent a change in ownership in the week prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix , with the team being purchased by Longbow Finance. Despite the acquisition and the retirement of team founder Peter Sauber , the team continued to use the Sauber identity.
The driver line-ups saw a couple of changes prior to the 2016 season and three more while the season was underway. Romain Grosjean left Lotus at the end of the 2015 season. He signed with the newly formed Haas F1 Team for 2016, where he was joined by former Sauber driver Esteban Gutiérrez . Gutiérrez returned to competition after spending a season as Ferrari's test and reserve driver. After having taken over the Lotus team, Renault introduced a new driver-line up. Jolyon Palmer , the 2014 GP2 Series champion, made his race debut in Melbourne . Palmer had previously made regular free practice appearances with the team when it was known as Lotus in 2015. Despite originally having signed a contract with Lotus for 2016, Pastor Maldonado announced he would not be driving for Renault after his sponsors were unable to fulfil their contractual obligations to the ... Manor did not retain their 2015 drivers either, opting to sign two rookies for its 2016 campaign: reigning Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Pascal Wehrlein and GP2 Series regular Rio Haryanto , who became the first Indonesian driver to race in the championship. Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi —who drove for the team when it competed as Marussia—were not retained by the team. Both moved to the FIA World Endurance Championship with Manor Motorsport , [ N 3 ] while Alexande...
After suffering broken ribs and a pneumothorax injury as a result of an accident during the Australian Grand Prix , Fernando Alonso was ruled out of the Bahrain Grand Prix as a precaution after medical exams. McLaren reserve driver and reigning GP2 Series champion Stoffel Vandoorne made his Formula One debut, replacing Alonso. Alonso returned to his seat for the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks later. Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen traded places ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix ...
Cars were required to be designed with a separate wastegate for exhaust gases to pass through in a bid to increase the noise of the cars following criticism since the introduction of the 2014 generation of engines . The FIA also opted to increase the number of tokens available for power unit development starting in 2016. While the initial plans would have given manufacturers fifteen tokens for the season, the number was raised to thirty-two, the same number as 2014, in order to allow stru...
Tyre supplier Pirelli introduced a fifth dry tyre compound known as "ultrasoft", with the manufacturer stating that they would only be available on street circuits. Pirelli further changed their approach to tyre supply in 2016, bringing three dry compounds to races instead of two. The compounds are made public two weeks before each event. Pirelli assigns two "choice" compounds, and a third set (the softest available regardless of Pirelli's selection) are given to team...
The stewards were given greater powers in enforcing track limits, with drivers required to stay between the white lines marking the edges of the circuit, except in cases of driver error. Any driver who caused the start of a race to be aborted would have been required to start the race from pit lane at the restart. The procedure for issuing gearbox penalties was amended as well, so that penalties were applied in the order that they were awarded, bringing the system in line with the ... Rosberg reduced Hamilton's championship lead to two points at the next round in Italy, taking advantage of a slow start by Hamilton to establish an early lead that went unchallenged through the race. Hamilton dropped as low as fifth at the start, recovering to fourth in the opening laps and got ahead of the Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen by making one pit-stop less. Vettel went on to finish third—his first podium finish in five races—with Räikkönen fourth as the team introduced...