formula 1 Formula 1 World Championship 2016 Season Discussion

[Chasethebase Veteran]

 

Formula 1 World Championship 2016 Season Discussion

The 2016 Formula One season will be the 67th season of the 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. Teams and drivers are scheduled to take part in twenty-one Grands Prix—making for the longest season in the sport's history—starting in Australia on 20 March and finishing in Abu Dhabi on 27 November as they compete for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championships.

 

The 2016 season will see the grid expand to 22 cars with the addition of the Haas F1 Team entry. The calendar will also expand, with the return of the German Grand Prix and the revival of the Grand Prix of Europe in Azerbaijan.

 

Lewis Hamilton will start the season as the defending Drivers' Champion for the second year running, after winning his third World Championship title at the 2015 United States Grand Prix. His team, Mercedes will start the season as the defending Constructors' Champion, having secured its second championship title at the 2015 Russian Grand Prix.

 

 

Signed Teams and Drivers

 

 

Scheduled Events

 

 

 

Useful Google Calendar of Events can be found here.

 

[+John. Subscriber¹]

I can't see Mercedes going anywhere but up. The only thing that can happen is if Ferrari up their game and give them some decent competition.

[Chasethebase Veteran]

I'm going to make a few predictions now, and see what happens.

 

Teams

 

There will be four distinct tiers, you'll have S Tier, which will contain Mercedes and Ferrari, who will be neck and neck fighting over the championship. Then you will have A Tier, which will contain Williams, McLaren (more on that later), and Force India. B Tier will be Red Bull, Sauber and Haas, while the C Tier teams will be Toro Rosso, Marussia and Renault.

 

The key items of note, are that McLaren's chassis was actually one of the best on the grid in 2015, and if they can nail that again in 2016, and the Honda engine is actually good, then you'll have a strong package which should be able to compete at the front, maybe not wins, but possible podiums depending on performance.

 

I feel that Red Bull will fall back, as their engine development will not be close knit with Renault now, and as such they will fall back as they will literally rely on aero for some strong results. I see Haas coming in strong, possibly being ahead of Red Bull but behind Force India.

 

Toro Rosso, with their 2015 spec Ferrari engine, will absolutely fall back behind the pack, however will likely be able to keep ahead of Marussia and Renault, who, with limited funding throughout the 2015 season, have been unable to develop their car much at all, so will be at the back of the pack.

 

Drivers

 

• Lewis will outperform Nico once again, over the course of the season.
• Seb will outperform Kimi, but Kimi will have a better season. Seb may finish ahead of Nico in the drivers championship
• The rest of the teams should be closely matched again.
• In terms of Manor Marussia, I predict that Rossi and Wehrlein will be the two drivers. Rossi is a maybe, while Wehrlein seems likely, as Mercedes want close ties with Manor now as the Toro Rosso to their Red Bull.

Circuits

 

Baku will be boring, NEXT.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

 

[philcruicks]

Going to be an interesting season I think, hopefully McLaren can make a good comeback if Honda can get the engine going well, and Haas should make a decent impact in the mid-field.

I hope Ferrari can really start to compete with Mercedes and get some more action going at the front.

 

Renault will be interesting as well, will they continue to suck or now they're once again invested as a works team they might make some good progress, the other 2 works teams are the top 2 teams...so logic dictates they should do fairly well..but I reserve judgement for now.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I'm going to wait and see until after the first tests before making any predictions. At this point it's impossible to tell which team will improve by how much. Who knows, Manor could be the big surprise; or Haas could be beating Ferrari right away. 

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team/status/684791351163154433

 

 

 

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

https://twitter.com/thebuxtonblog/status/685786703441858560

 

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Quote

Coulthard confirmed for Channel 4 F1 role

David Coulthard will be part of Channel 4’s F1 commentary team in 2016, the broadcaster has confirmed.

C4’s coverage will be produced by Whisper Films, a company co-owned by Coulthard and former BBC F1 anchorman Jake Humphrey, opening up the obvious possibility of the latter becoming part of the new team. It’s understood that his contract to present football for BT Sport would allow him to double up.

Source: Adam Cooper

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Quote

 

Pastor Maldonado could lose Renault seat over late payment

 

Pastor Maldonado is in danger of losing his drive at Renault this year as a result of late payment of funds.

 

The Venezuelan's sponsor - national oil company PDVSA - pays the team a reputed $50m (£35m), but the money is several weeks overdue, sources say.

 

Maldonado, 30, will be replaced by former McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen if the payment is not made soon.

 

Renault have taken over the Lotus team and need confirmed drivers in time for a major media launch in early February.

 

British novice Jolyon Palmer is Renault's other driver for the 2016 season, which starts in Australia on 20 March.

 

A Renault spokesman said: "It's speculation at the moment. We have a contract with Pastor. That is the current situation.

 

"Who knows what could happen by Australia but, at the moment, we are going forward with Pastor and Jolyon."

 

Maldonado's manager, Nicolas Todt, was not available for comment.

 

Magnussen was given a tour of the Renault factory in Oxfordshire last week in full view of the whole team.

 

Insiders believe the situation has been leaked as a tactic to try to put pressure on PDVSA to pay the money it owes, but the Venezuelan economy is struggling as a result of a huge drop in oil prices.

 

Maldonado owes his position in F1 to former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who arranged for the sponsorship as a means of boosting the country's prestige.

 

Chavez died in 2013 but Maldonado's funding has continued under current president Nicolas Maduro.

 

Maldonado has won one race - the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix for Williams - in an F1 career that has been notable for its volatility.

 

His propensity for incident has led to the nickname 'Crash-tor' and has even spawned a satirical website devoted to his accident record.

 

Renault was reluctant to keep Maldonado for 2016, but he was signed by Lotus before the takeover was complete.

 

Magnussen, 23, is a free agent having been released by McLaren following a year as their reserve driver in 2015.

 

The Dane raced for the team in 2014 as team-mate to Briton Jenson Button and was second on his debut in Australia that year.

 

He is regarded as one of the most talented drivers without a current place on the F1 grid for 2016.

 

Source: BBC Sport

[Skiver Veteran]

On 30/12/2015 at 6:37 PM, Steve B. said:

I'm going to make a few predictions now, and see what happens.

 

Teams

 

There will be four distinct tiers, you'll have S Tier, which will contain Mercedes and Ferrari, who will be neck and neck fighting over the championship. Then you will have A Tier, which will contain Williams, McLaren (more on that later), and Force India. B Tier will be Red Bull, Sauber and Haas, while the C Tier teams will be Toro Rosso, Marussia and Renault.

 

The key items of note, are that McLaren's chassis was actually one of the best on the grid in 2015, and if they can nail that again in 2016, and the Honda engine is actually good, then you'll have a strong package which should be able to compete at the front, maybe not wins, but possible podiums depending on performance.

 

I feel that Red Bull will fall back, as their engine development will not be close knit with Renault now, and as such they will fall back as they will literally rely on aero for some strong results. I see Haas coming in strong, possibly being ahead of Red Bull but behind Force India.

 

Toro Rosso, with their 2015 spec Ferrari engine, will absolutely fall back behind the pack, however will likely be able to keep ahead of Marussia and Renault, who, with limited funding throughout the 2015 season, have been unable to develop their car much at all, so will be at the back of the pack.

 

Drivers

 

• Lewis will outperform Nico once again, over the course of the season.
• Seb will outperform Kimi, but Kimi will have a better season. Seb may finish ahead of Nico in the drivers championship
• The rest of the teams should be closely matched again.
• In terms of Manor Marussia, I predict that Rossi and Wehrlein will be the two drivers. Rossi is a maybe, while Wehrlein seems likely, as Mercedes want close ties with Manor now as the Toro Rosso to their Red Bull.

Circuits

 

Baku will be boring, NEXT.

Interesting predictions but I'm inclined to disagree on some of them.

 

Tier S:

Mercedes and Ferrari

Tier A:
Williams and Force India
Tier B: 
Red Bull
Sauber
McLaren
Toro Rosso
Tier C: 

Marussia
Haas*

 

*Haas will move up into Tier C mid way through the season.

 

McLaren will continue to have a fundamentally good Chassis but the engine development will be focused on reliability over power deficiencies - they'll finish more races but still be sitting ducks on tracks with higher average speed.
 

Ferrari won't have made any progress on Mercedes but Mercedes won't increase any gap - it will be much the same as last year.

I'm a Hamilton fan, but a part of me see's Nico getting the championship this year or at the very least it will be a fight to the last race with few points between.

Marussia makes a second up on teams but is still a solid 2-3 seconds per lap slower and folds at the end of the season.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

3 minutes ago, Skiver said:

Interesting predictions but I'm inclined to disagree on some of them.

 

Tier S:

Mercedes and Ferrari

Tier A:
Williams and Force India
Tier B: 
Red Bull
Sauber
McLaren
Toro Rosso
Tier C: 

Marussia
Haas*

 

*Haas will move up into Tier C mid way through the season.

 

McLaren will continue to have a fundamentally good Chassis but the engine development will be focused on reliability over power deficiencies - they'll finish more races but still be sitting ducks on tracks with higher average speed.
 

Ferrari won't have made any progress on Mercedes but Mercedes won't increase any gap - it will be much the same as last year.

I'm a Hamilton fan, but a part of me see's Nico getting the championship this year or at the very least it will be a fight to the last race with few points between.

Marussia makes a second up on teams but is still a solid 2-3 seconds per lap slower and folds at the end of the season.

You forgot to mention Renault.

 

As stated before, I'm going to wait until after the pre-season tests to make any predictions. I will say this: Haas is looking like it could be the best prepared new team since Stewart Ford in 1997. I would not be surprised to see them in the midfield right from the get go.

[Skiver Veteran]

3 minutes ago, Frank B. said:

You forgot to mention Renault.

 

As stated before, I'm going to wait until after the pre-season tests to make any predictions. I will say this: Haas is looking like it could be the best prepared new team since Stewart Ford in 1997. I would not be surprised to see them in the midfield right from the get go.

So I did, I think they would go into Tier B - that will be where most of the action will be.

 

Completely agree, these are nothing more than predictions based on gut feel. Feb will reveal all.

 

I was thinking Haas could start well but then it just sounds like Honda to me now, we all expected Honda/Mclaren to come in and challenge Mercedes pretty much from the get go but it just never even got close. I think Haas will be a similar story but they will make progress quicker given the Ferrari Power Unit it will all be chassis related.

[Noir Angel]

With stable regulations it's hard to see Mercedes being knocked off their perch, but a lot will depend on how much ground Ferrari can make up in terms of packaging and aero. I still have a feeling Honda are going to stay uncompetitive, they have too much ground to make up. I expect Renault to close up a bit, but without works support I don't expect Red Bull to make much progress, this will be a transitional season for them until they're able to get a better engine.

[MightyJordan]

Channel 4's picked the ten grand prixs they're going to show this year.

 

Round	Race	Date	Channel
1	Australian Grand Prix	March 18 – 20	Sky
2	Bahrain Grand Prix	April 1 – 3	Channel 4/Sky
3	Chinese Grand Prix	April 15 – 17	Sky
4	Russian Grand Prix	April 29 – May 1	Sky
5	Spanish Grand Prix	May 13 – 15	Channel 4/Sky
6	Monaco Grand Prix	May 26 – 29	Sky
7	Canadian Grand Prix	June 10 – 12	Sky
8	European Grand Prix	June 17 – 19	Channel 4/Sky
9	Austrian Grand Prix	July 1 – 3	Sky
10	British Grand Prix	July 8 – 10	Channel 4/Sky
11	Hungarian Grand Prix	July 22 – 24	Channel 4/Sky
12	German Grand Prix	July 29 – 31	Sky
13	Belgian Grand Prix	August 26 – 28	Channel 4/Sky
14	Italian Grand Prix	September 2 – 4	Channel 4/Sky
15	Singapore Grand Prix	September 16 – 18	Sky
16	Malaysian Grand Prix	September 30 – October 2	Channel 4/Sky
17	Japanese Grand Prix	October 7 – 9	Sky
18	United States Grand Prix	October 21 – 23	Sky
19	Mexican Grand Prix	October 28 – 30	Channel 4/Sky
20	Brazilian Grand Prix	November 11 – 13	Sky
21	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	November 25 – 27	Channel 4/Sky

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/01/18/channel-4-confirms-ten-live-f1-races-for-2016/

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chasethebase Veteran]

On 19/01/2016 at 4:37 PM, Frank B. said:

 

 

So the Marussia aspect is gone properly now. Makes sense at this point, no surprises that the car will appear on the day of the first test mind you. This will be standard fare for all teams I imagine, I wonder if we will get driver announcements that day as well?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

 

 

[Daedroth]

1 hour ago, Frank B. said:

 

 

So that mean's the Parabolica is losing even more?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

20 minutes ago, Daedroth said:

So that mean's the Parabolica is losing even more?

They're changing the Curva Grande, the long sweeping right-hand corner after the start finish straight. Not the Parabolica.

[MightyJordan]

2 minutes ago, Frank B. said:

They're changing ruining the Curva Grande

FTFY

[Daedroth]

32 minutes ago, Frank B. said:

They're changing the Curva Grande, the long sweeping right-hand corner after the start finish straight. Not the Parabolica.

Ah OK, I always get the two confused.

 

So they've already ruined the Parabolica, now they're doing the same to the Curva Grande. Woo!

[Fubar]

They are changing it for the super bikes and have the option to use it for the F1 doesnt mean they will though

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

 

 

[philcruicks]

Kevin Magnussen set to replace Pastor Maldonado at Renault

Kevin Magnussen is poised to replace Pastor Maldonado at Renault for the 2016 season, Sky Sports understands.

The team - then known as Lotus prior to Renault's buy-out in December - announced four months ago that Maldonado would be staying on. But the Venezuelan, reputed to pay almost £20m for his seat, is believed to have been ousted after backing from his sponsors dried up.

Renault, who will unveil their driver line-up as well as their new car at a media event next week in Paris, have refused to confirm or deny speculation that Maldonado has been dropped.

 

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/29871/10145882/kevin-magnussen-set-to-replace-pastor-maldonado-at-renault