Mercedes successfully defended their World Constructors’ title in a highly dominant performance, winning 19 of the 21 races ran during the season. [2] Renault returned to the sport as a constructor after a four-year absence following their takeover of Lotus prior to the start of the season. The European Grand Prix was also revived, with the event visiting a new circuit in Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku. In the World Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes successfully defended their title for the second consecutive year, beating Red Bull Racing by 297 points.
Lotus’s participation in the 2016 season was in question pending the resolution of a High Court case brought against the team by HM Revenue and Customs over unpaid PAYE tax. Both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso underwent changes regarding their power unit supply.
Team principal Christian Horner named Renault’s partnership with Mario Illien and his company Ilmor as a reason for staying with the manufacturer. [31] Meanwhile, Scuderia Toro Rosso returned to using Ferrari power units, as they had done prior to the start of 2014, after Renault announced that they would no longer supply customer engines.
Sauber underwent a change in ownership in the week prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the team being purchased by Longbow Finance. [45] Despite originally having signed a contract with Lotus for 2016,[46] Pastor Maldonado announced he would not be driving for Renault after his sponsors were unable to fulfil their contractual obligations to the team. [47] He was replaced by Kevin Magnussen, who was released by McLaren when they chose not to renew his contract after he entered a single race for the team in 2015. [55] McLaren reserve driver and reigning GP2 Series champion Stoffel Vandoorne made his Formula One debut, replacing Alonso.
[58] Red Bull explained the decision to swap their drivers as being made to relieve pressure on Kvyat following criticism for his role in a first-lap accident in the Russian Grand Prix, and to ease ongoing tension between Verstappen and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. at Toro Rosso. [59] Rio Haryanto lost his race seat after the German Grand Prix, when his sponsors were unable to meet their financial obligations to the team. [61] His race seat was filled by 2015 GP3 Series champion and Renault test driver Esteban Ocon, who made his Formula One debut with MRT at the Belgian Grand Prix. Nations that hosted a Grand Prix in 2016 are highlighted in green, with circuit locations marked with a black dot. The race was moved from its previous home in Valencia to a brand-new street circuit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. [1] The Grand Prix of America was set to be held for the first time at the Port Imperial Street Circuit in New Jersey, in accordance with a fifteen-year contract. [1] In 2006, Formula One Management had signed a seven-year contract to run the Korean Grand Prix at the Korea International Circuit beginning in 2010. [73] From the Monaco race weekend onwards, the FIA allowed drivers to choose alternative helmet designs for one race weekend per season,[74] a practice previously prohibited as drivers were required to wear the same design to make them more recognisable to spectators and television audiences.
[82] The rules governing the use of the drag reduction system, which is deactivated when under Virtual Safety Car periods and full-course yellow flags, were also amended.
Drivers were now allowed to make use of the device as soon as a Virtual Safety Car period has ended;[82] while they previously had to wait two laps before the system was reactivated.
[90] Following a series of controversial penalties at the British and Hungarian Grands Prix and extended debate over the application of the rules, however, the FIA relaxed the restrictions on radio-communication which were introduced at the start of the season; starting with the German Grand Prix, applying them to the formation lap only. The changes were introduced following the controversy which surrounded Max Verstappen qualifying for a superlicence at the age of sixteen after a single season competing in European Formula 3.
[102][103] The second four days of testing also saw the teams examine a proposed feature for driver head protection, dubbed the “halo”. The season started with the Australian Grand Prix, and featured the newly introduced elimination-style qualifying format. [106] The race ended with a 1–2 finish for Mercedes with Nico Rosberg taking victory from Lewis Hamilton in second. [109] Gutiérrez ended up in the gravel trap with terminal rear tyre damage, and quickly went over to Alonso who managed to exit his cockpit unaided. [109] Due to the huge amount of debris caused by the accident the race was red flagged, with the cars subsequently lining up in the pitlane. [110] Romain Grosjean finished sixth in the other Haas and they became the first brand new team to score points in their inaugural race since Toyota did so in 2002.
[113] However, in the week before the race weekend, the sport’s Strategy Working Group over-ruled the teams in order to keep the elimination style for 2016. [106] After qualifying, the system once again came under heavy fire with Hamilton securing pole position ahead of Rosberg and Vettel.
[116] The Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and the Renault of Jolyon Palmer retired before the race started with engine and hydraulics failures, respectively. [119] This yielded Nico Rosberg’s first pole position of the year after Hamilton suffered a number of setbacks both in qualifying and during the race itself, eventually finishing in seventh place, with his teammate taking his third consecutive victory of the 2016 season.
[127] Helped by the race starting behind the safety car he held the lead for 33 laps, but was unable to convert it to a win after his team made a costly error during his pit-stop. [129] Rosberg won the returning European Grand Prix with his second grand slam of the season and of his career, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Pérez, while Hamilton finished fifth after struggling with a software issue that limited his engine’s ability to harvest energy.
[131] The two drivers followed opposing strategies to be first and second after the pit stops, with Hamilton on the preferred racing tyre gradually catching Rosberg. [133] A stewards’ inquiry found that Rosberg had caused an avoidable collision, and handed him a ten-second penalty, though the race result was not affected. [132] Hamilton reduced the deficit to Rosberg to a single point at the next round in Great Britain, where difficult conditions saw the drivers contend with a drying circuit and varying grip levels. [135] Mercedes instructed him to reset the gearbox and to avoid using seventh gear or else risk a catastrophic failure, which prompted an investigation by the stewards for providing him with assistance.
[136] Rosberg was ultimately penalised for the radio call, having ten seconds added to his race time, which demoted him to third behind Verstappen. Following the Austrian Grand Prix, Sauber was the last remaining team that had not scored a single point in the 2016 Formula One World Championship.
[137] The Grand Prix was marked by controversy: Rosberg secured pole position on a drying circuit in qualifying after McLaren’s Fernando Alonso spun in front of him necessitating a double waved yellow flag. [139] The race saw Jenson Button fall afoul of new restrictions on pit-to-car communications that demanded that any car with an issue serious enough to require the intervention of the team be pitted or retired. Following penalties for Rosberg and Button for unauthorised pit-to-car communications in the previous races, the FIA repealed all regulations for the next round in Germany. [142] Rosberg’s race was further complicated by a time penalty for an aggressive pass on Verstappen that forced the Red Bull driver wide. [142] However, Hamilton remained pessimistic about his position as championship leader, as with nine races left in the season, he was anticipating grid penalties for exceeding his engine allocation. [144] He took advantage of first-lap contact between Vettel, Räikkönen and Verstappen to work his way through the field before a heavy accident involving Kevin Magnussen at Eau Rouge forced the race to be temporarily stopped.
[146] Further down the order, Verstappen was subject to increasing criticism over his driving tactics after being caught in several incidents with Räikkönen and Sergio Pérez, while Esteban Ocon finished sixteenth on debut for MRT. [148] 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. Rosberg reclaimed the championship lead in Singapore, qualifying on pole while Hamilton was forced to settle for third after struggling with mechanical issues and driving errors. Red Bull Racing decided to pit Daniel Ricciardo from second to prevent coming under threat from Hamilton.
[154] Ricciardo raced Max Verstappen for the lead when Hamilton’s retirement triggered a Virtual Safety Car, prompting Red Bull to pit both drivers at the same time. [153] On fresher tyres, Ricciardo was able to withstand pressure from Verstappen to win his first race since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.
[154] Nico Rosberg finished third despite having ten seconds added to his race time for contact with Kimi Räikkönen, extending his championship lead to twenty-three points. Rosberg further extended his championship lead to thirty-three points in Japan, starting the race from pole and winning it. [157] Hamilton led another Mercedes 1–2 in Mexico, with the race overshadowed by a late incident that saw Verstappen run wide and cut part of the circuit, triggering an angry radio message from Sebastian Vettel. [164] Hamilton went on to win the race, while Rosberg secured his maiden Drivers’ Championship title with second place. Five days after winning the title, Rosberg announced his immediate retirement from the sport at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Vienna.
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