2016 Italian F4 Championship

The 2016 Italian F4 Championship (commercially titled 2016 Italian F4 Championship Powered by Abarth) was the third season of the Italian F4 Championship. It began on 9 April in Misano and finished on 30 October in Monza after seven rounds.

Calendar
The calendar was published on 23 November 2015, with all events held in Italy.

Season summary
A Formula 4 record of 41 cars entered the first round of the season at Misano, highlighting the Italian series' popularity as it competed against the German championship for the most talented drivers. Due to the large number of entries and lack of circuit space, the race format was radically changed. Drivers were placed in three groups (A, B and C) depending on their qualifying placement. Each group contested two qualifying races, facing one of the other groups in each race. After the three qualifying races, the 36 drivers having scored the most points contested the final race. All four races were 25 minutes plus one lap in length and yielded the same number of points. The first group race proved largely uneventful, however the second was held in wet conditions with a safety car start – Mick Schumacher claiming both Saturday race wins. The final group race saw a four-car pile-up at the start involving Diego Bertonelli, Leonard Hoogenboom, Ye Yifei and Aaron di Comberti, requiring a complete restart; the race ended under red flags after Jaden Conwright spun into the barrier at the last corner, with Raúl Guzmán awarded victory. In the 36-car final, Mauricio Baiz stalled at the start and was collected by Thomas Preining, whilst rookie Juan Manuel Correa terminally damaged his suspension in a coming together with Simone Cunati. Marcos Siebert won the final race of the weekend, followed by Jüri Vips and Guzmán.

The unique format was retained for the second round at Adria International Raceway, however a major drop to 31 entries made it an ultimately unnecessary precaution as the circuit had a 32-car limit. Amongst the absentees were Lechner Racing, who elected to focus on the German series, and Prema Powerteam. Kevin Kratz suffered a major crash in practice and was ruled out of the weekend. Baiz claimed his first Italian F4 victory in Race 1, and backed it up with second in Race 2 behind Guzmán after Baiz's team-mate Ye was disqualified. Siebert went from fourth to first in Race 3 after a clash between Federico Iribarne, Giacomo Bianchi and Fabienne Wohlwend brought out the safety car, before Baiz capped off his breakout weekend with a lights-to-flag win in a chaotic final after a safety car in the closing stages caught the wrong driver, resulting in a 30-second gap between the top eight and the rest of the field.

Following the massive decline in entries for the second round, the series reverted to the three-race format used in 2015 from the third round at Imola onwards. A carnage-filled opening race saw Siebert win from pole amidst two safety cars and a red-flag finish – Prema team-mates Correa and Vips crashed at pit entry, followed by a rollover for Federico Malvestiti having crossed the circuit at Rivazza 1 and then Diego Ciantini beaching himself in the gravel at Tamburello. Schumacher triumphed on his return to the series in a damp Race 2 run mostly under safety car, before Correa claimed his first-ever race win in cars in a reverse-grid sprint race truncated by a race-ending airborne crash for Ciantini on the main straight – despite the incident, the Argentine was classified third on count-back having been involved in a podium battle with Yan Leon Shlom.

Correa continued where he left off in the fourth round at Mugello, scoring a grand chelem in the first heat having dominated qualifying, led every lap and claimed the fastest lap in Race 1. Race 2 was marred by a major start-line crash in which João Vieira stalled at the front of the grid, with Conwright and Mariano Lavigna, unsighted from the back of the field, careening into the Brazilian – leaving débutant Lavigna with a foot injury. Having conducted a full-race restart, Correa's run of good form came to a sudden end when team-mate Schumacher crashed into him at San Donato on the second lap whilst fighting for the lead, putting the German out with terminal damage and gifting a maiden win to Giuliano Raucci for the privateer Diegi Motorsport team. Siebert jumped from third to first at the start of Race 3 and maintained his lead to the end of an uneventful heat to put himself 39 points clear of Schumacher at the top of the standings; Schumacher not helped by another non-score in the last race despite setting the fastest lap.

DR Formula had a dream start to the Vallelunga weekend, with Gúzman and team-mate Artem Petrov finishing the opening race 1–2 in mixed conditions that led to Kratz aquaplaning off at Cimini 1 at high speed. The weather cleared for Race 2, but the grass was still slippery as Ricardo Feller (replacing Ye for the round) discovered having slid off the circuit and launching off the kerb at Campagnano – Schumacher won the race having jumped Vips at the start. Correa won Race 3, which was mostly run under safety car due to debris from another start-line incident (this time between Gúzman, Vieira and Marino Sato); but with Schumacher second and Siebert having finished no higher than 5th all weekend, the German had closed the championship gap to 10 points.

Returning to Imola for the penultimate round, the title race looked like a guaranteed two-way fight between Marcos Siebert of Jenzer Motorsport and Mick Schumacher of Prema Powerteam – however, having beaten his rival to pole position, Schumacher squandered his run of momentum with a drive-through penalty for a jump-start in the opening race, resulting in no points despite a fightback to 13th; but the German was saved by a post-race penalty for Siebert, voiding the Argentine's podium finish, as Job van Uitert took his first win. Schumacher's weekend went from bad to worse in Race 2 when he was crashed into at the first corner by a false-starting Bertonelli; Van Uitert claimed back-to-back wins having fended off Lorenzo Colombo through a multitude of safety car restarts. Sato claimed his first win after a track-limits penalty was imposed on Shlom in the reverse-grid sprint, as both championship contenders failed to score – Schumacher starting at the back and Siebert spinning at Tamburello on the final lap. Gúzman also failed to make inroads on the top two in the standings having collided with Correa in the final race, leaving a 25-point margin at the top with one round remaining.

Schumacher started the final weekend at Monza in the best possible way, jumping Sebastián Fernández at the start and taking a commanding victory, whilst rival Siebert made an ultimately crucial drive from 11th to 2nd to maintain a comfortable points lead – aided by a collision between Vips, Fernández and Bertonelli at Lesmo 1. This meant Schumacher had to beat Siebert in Race 2 to keep his championship hopes alive – but light contact with eventual race-winner Fernández at Variante della Roggia broke the German's front wing, necessitating a pit-stop and allowing Siebert to cruise home in fifth to take the title. Vips claimed the last race win of the year, as well as the rookie championship, in comfortable fashion after a first-corner collision between Bertonelli, Kush Maini and Siebert beached the new champion on a kerb, whilst Sato and Ye collided in a battle for second and an energised 10-car battle took place for the minor points.

Despite the clear intentions of the FIA Global Pathway to make Formula 4 the starting point on the road to Formula One, and the regulations being in their third year of usage, a lack of cost control saw the record-breaking entry numbers seen at the start of the season fall away as competitors ultimately voted with their feet. Whilst Italian F4 maintained its reputation as the most competitive Formula 4 championship internationally, it would take another six years before 40+ car fields returned to the series.

Championship standings
Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in each race. No points were awarded for pole position or fastest lap. Only the best sixteen results were counted towards the championship. Race 3 of the first meeting at Imola Circuit was stopped after five laps, and half points were awarded.
 * Points system