User:Pch187/2016 Formula One season



The 2016 Formula One season will be the 67th Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula One world championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The season consisted of 21 races, starting in Australia on the 20th March and ending in Abu Dhabi on the 27th November.

Team Changes

 * Haas F1 Team, a team formed by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Gene Haas, will join the Formula One grid, becoming the first American team to compete since the failed US F1 team bid in and the unrelated Haas Lola team competed in  . The team will use engines from Ferrari and a chassis provided by Dallara, who previously supplied HRT from  to.
 * With Haas using Ferrari engines, Marussia switched to Mercedes, after using a 2014-engine the previous season. The team will undergo a management reshuffle following the resignation of team principal John Booth and sporting director Graeme Lowdon . In January, it was announced that they compete as Manor Racing for the 2016 season
 * Red Bull ended their nine year association with Renault, citing that lack of performance of the 2015 engine as their excuse for separation . However, after failed attempts to gain another engine from Ferrari (although sister team Toro Rosso will change from Renault to a 2015 Ferrari engine ), Mercedes and Honda , meant that Red Bull (who still had a contract with Renault) had to use Renault engines, re-branded as TAG Heuer . Horner ater said that the team had held exploratory talks with the Volkswagen Group about entering the sport as an engine supplier, but that negotiations came to a halt following the emissions scandal that broke in September 2015.
 * Renault will return to Formula One as a full factory-supported team after they purchased Lotus from Genii Capital, the venture capital firm they had originally sold the same team to in, and supplied engines to up until the end of . Lotus' 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.

Driver Changes

 * Romain Grosjean left Lotus at the end of the 2015 season and joined the newly formed Haas F1 team for 2016, where he will be joined by former Sauber driver Esteban Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez will return to competition after spending a season as Ferrari's test and reserve driver . Grosjean's place at Lotus was eventually taken by 2014 GP2 Series champion Jolyon Palmer.
 * Despite originally having signed a contract with Lotus for 2016, Pastor Maldonado announced he will not be driving for Renault in the 2016 season. This is due the failure of his sponsor PDVSA to pay his sponsorship for the season. He was replaced by Kevin Magnussen, who was released at McLaren when they chose not to renew his contract after he entered a single race for the team in 2015.
 * Manor signed 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Pascal Wehrlein to a one-year deal, and later signed former GP2 driver Rio Haryanto , leaving Will Stevens, Alexander Rossi and Roberto Merhi without a drive.

Mid-season changes

 * Fernando Alonso was ruled out of the Bahrain Grand Prix as a precaution after medical exams following his collision with Esteban Gutiérrez in Australia revealed that he had broken ribs and a pneumothorax injury. McLaren reserve driver and reigning GP2 Series champion Stoffel Vandoorne will make his Formula One début, replacing Alonso
 * Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat traded places at Toro Rosso and Red Bull before the Spanish Grand Prix . Red Bull explained the decision to swap their drivers about 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 team-mate Carlos Sainz, Jr. in Toro Rosso.
 * Esteban Ocon replaced Rio Haryanto at the Belgian Grand Prix after Haryanto's sponsors were unable to complete their financial obligations to the Manor team . Haryanto was subsequently demoted to reserve driver.

Regulation Changes

 * The FIA and Formula One Management will be granted greater power to change the Sporting and Technical Regulations and to make decisions affecting the governance of the sport.

Technical Changes

 * Cars will be required to be designed with a separate wastegate for exhaust gases to pass through—colloquially dubbed the "screamer pipe"—in a bid to increase the noise of the cars following criticism since the introduction of the 2014 generation of engines.
 * Tyre supplier Pirelli will introduce a fifth tyre compound known as "ultrasoft". Pirelli will change their approach to tyre supply in 2016, bringing three compounds to races instead of two and allowing teams the freedom to choose which two compounds they use. Teams are allowed to supply their two cars with a different selection. The choices will be made public two weeks before the race.
 * The FIA has opted to increase the number of tokens available for power unit development stating 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, in order to allow struggling manufacturers such as Renault and Honda to improve their development. This decision also allows further development on parts that were initially planned to be closed off, including the upper and lower crankcase, valve drive, crankshaft, air-valve system and ancillaries drive.

Sporting Changes

 * Starting in 2016, the number of pre-season tests will be reduced from three to two.
 * The stewards will be 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. The change was introduced after an investigation by Pirelli into Sebastian Vettel's high-speed blow-out at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix that concluded that Vettel's off-track excursions had been a significant factor in the incident.
 * The FIA is also exploring a number of solutions to discourage drivers from abusing track limits and aid in their policing, including GPS tracking, the reprofiling of kerbs, the installation of pressure-sensitive sensors and the use of high-speed cameras.
 * Any driver who causes the start of the race to be aborted will be required to start the race from pit lane at the restart.
 * The procedure for issuing gearbox penalties will be amended so that penalties are applied in the order that they are awarded, bringing the system in line with the wider grid penalty system.
 * The Virtual Safety Car system will be used in practice sessions as well to avoid the unnecessary use of red flags and session stoppages.
 * The drag reduction system, which is deactivated when under Virtual Safety Car periods and full-course yellow flags will be available as soon as a Virtual Safety Car period has ended; drivers previously had to wait two laps before the system was reactivated.
 * The process new drivers go through in order to qualify for a superlicence will be changed, with additional restrictions put in place as part of the wider FIA Global Pathway. The changes were introduced following controversy surrounding Max Verstappen qualifying for a superlicence at the age of sixteen after a single season competing in European Formula 3.
 * The qualifying process was heavily revised two weeks before the season began. The three-period format first introduced in 2006 was retained, but with a progressive "knock-out" style of elimination.
 * Despite widespread criticism of the format at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix,     and a vote from the teams to revert to the pre-2016 format, the FIA's F1 Commission chose to maintain the system ahead of a full review later in the season.

Pre-season Testing
Bold indicates Fastest Time for team in test. Italics indicates Fastest time of specific day

First Test
Notes
 * ~ – Development Driver
 * † – 2015 Car

Calendar Changes

 * The European Grand Prix will return to the calendar with the race to be held on a street circuit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It will be the first Grand Prix to be held in Azerbaijan.
 * The German Grand Prix will return to the Hockenheimring after the event was cancelled in 2015 when a venue could not be secured. The circuit had previously hosted the race in as part of their agreement with the Nürburgring to host the event every even-numbered year.
 * The Malaysian Grand Prix—which had been held in the early months of the year since the 2001 season—will now be held later in the year, paired up with the Japanese Grand Prix in October.
 * The Russian Grand Prix will be brought forward from its October date to May, becoming the fourth round of the season.
 * 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. The race was originally scheduled to début in, but has been delayed for four consecutive years.
 * In 2006, Formula One Management signed a seven-year contract to run the Korean Grand Prix at the Korea International Circuit beginning in 2010. However, the event was discontinued in 2014, and was omitted from the calendar for the third consecutive season in 2016.

Driver's Championship
Notes: † – Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Constructors Championship
Notes: † – Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.