It’s the first day of 2016 and the countdown to the new Formula One season is well underway.
The year ahead will see the first new team arrive in F1 for six years, the return of Renault as a full factory squad, and Lewis Hamilton’s attempt to win a fourth world championship.
Here’s what we already know about the coming season.
Teams and engines
- The grid will expand from ten teams to eleven with the arrival of Haas, who will use Ferrari engines
- For the third time in F1 history, Renault will have a full works team as it has taken over Lotus. The team previously competed as Renault between 2002 and 2011.
- Manor has taken over the supply of Mercedes engines previously used by Lotus
- Red Bull will continue to use Renault engines but they will now be branded by TAG Heuer
- Toro Rosso will use 2015-specification Ferrari power units. It previously used the Italian manufacturer’s engines between 2007 and 2013
Drivers
- At the time of writing, 17 drivers are expected to return with the same teams this year, making this a remarkably stable off-season
- Romain Grosjean has departed Lotus and will drive for new team Haas
- After a year on the sidelines at Ferrari having been dropped by Sauber, Esteban Gutierrez will return to race duties as Grosjean’s team mate
- Grosjean’s place has been taken by newcomer Jolyon Palmer – the only rookie confirmed in the field so far – alongside Pastor Maldonado
- Manor is the only team yet to confirm its drivers for 2016
- See the list of 2016 F1 drivers and teams
Get the 2016 F1 calendar – and more – on your mobile
An unprecedented 21-race schedule for 2016 has been confirmed by the FIA. The newest addition is a street race in Baku which will include several tight bends which lead the cars through historic parts of the city.
You can add all the races to your preferred online calendar using the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar. It will be updated with any changes to the schedule, and start times for all the practice, qualifying and race sessions will be added closer to the start of the season. It also includes details of F1 test sessions and will be updated with F1 car launch dates when they are announced.
F1 Fanatic also maintains calendars for IndyCar and the World Endurance Championship which you can find below. GP2, Formula 3.5 V8 and GP3 calendars will be added once they are confirmed:
- Get the F1 Fanatic Calendar for your mobile device
- IndyCar calendar
- World Endurance Championship calendar
Go ad-free for just £1 per month
>> Find out more and sign up
Plan your 2016 race trip
If you need some help planning your trip F1 Fanatic’s active community of race-goers are on hand to pass on their knowledge:
- Going to the 2016 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park
- Going to the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit
- Going to the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit
- Going to the 2016 Russian Grand Prix at Sochi
- Going to the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya
- Going to the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix at Monte-Carlo
- Going to the 2016 Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
- Going to the 2016 European Grand Prix at the Baku City circuit
- Going to the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix at Silverstone
- Going to the 2016 British Grand Prix at Silverstone
- Going to the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring
- Going to the 2016 German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring
- Going to the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps
- Going to the 2016 Italian Grand Prix at Monza
- Going to the 2016 Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay
- Going to the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit
- Going to the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka
- Going to the 2016 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas
- Going to the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
- Going to the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos
- Going to the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina
See here for more information on how to plan a trip to an F1 race, what to take with you and more:
Follow the 2016 drivers and teams
The F1 Fanatic Twitter Directory has been fully revised and updated for the new season. It lists over 400 official accounts for F1 drivers, teams, team members, media figures and more.
The only drivers who do not maintain an official Twitter presence are Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. But you can find details for the drivers who do – and many others – here:
And of course make sure you’re following F1 Fanatic’s Twitter accounts:
- F1 Fanatic: F1 Tweets straight from the editor including links to all new articles
- F1 Fanatic Live: Live F1 session coverage
- F1 Fanatic Update: Just links to new articles on F1 Fanatic – nothing else
Support the 2016 drivers and teams
Who are you supporting in 2016? Are you following your favourite driver to a new team? Do any of the rookies have your support already?
You can show who you’re supporting on F1 Fanatic: here’s how:
- Log in with your F1 Fanatic account (sign up here if you don’t have one)
- Select Edit My Profile from the top-right menu
- Select F1 Teams and Drivers
- Make your selections then click Save Changes
2016 F1 season
- Which was F1’s best down-to-the-wire title fight?
- Are tickets too dear? Crowds fell at some tracks in 2016
- F1’s TV audience decline stopped in 2016
- Brawn among key F1 hires announced by Liberty
- Has F1 hit ‘peak penalties’? Fewer sanctions in 2016
Djangles LeVaughn (@royal-spark)
1st January 2016, 12:14
Still confused about the Red Bull/TAG scheme here. Are the engines Red Bull using just re-branded products or can TAG itself develop the units they’re given under the token system?
Nase (@)
1st January 2016, 13:20
It’s the former.
SJC (@sjc327)
1st January 2016, 19:03
What’s the point then? If they’re just Renaults, and everyone knows they’re Renaults, why bother pretending they’re not Renaults?
bull mello (@bullmello)
1st January 2016, 23:00
@sjc327 – Sponsor money, plain and simple. Could just as well be branded Rolex, Prada, Starbucks, Armani, Moët & Chandon or Hostess Twinkies for that matter.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd January 2016, 10:26
As @bullmello mentions, its a sponsor who pays the bills for the engine. And as Renault itself had no wish to (or rather, a wish not to) appear on the cars, that was the most sensible way forward for both the team and the engine supplier @sjc327
Nase (@)
5th January 2016, 1:47
@sjc327
Sponsor money (to a certain degree) and image reasons. Running Renault engines under a different name is one way of keeping word after last year’s ‘separation’ from Renault. A combination of symbolically distancing themselves from the manufacturer as well as preventing Renault from being obviously linked with Red Bull’s results.
If it works as intended (and I’m sure it will – RB has an impressively effective PR department), future success will be credited to Red Bull, while future misfortune will give rise to more frequent mentions of the actual engine supplier.
PJ (@)
2nd January 2016, 14:14
It was speculated at one point that Red Bull would work with Ilmor to develop a different turbo system to what renault have provided.
Henrik
1st January 2016, 12:15
“Grosjean’s place has been taken by newcomer Jolyon Palmer – the only rookie confirmed in the field so far – alongside Pastor Maldonado”
How many years will Maldonado be considered a rookie?
lockup (@)
1st January 2016, 13:32
Hard to even count all the interesting stories coming up this year. Among them for me are:
Engine supply saga
Red Bull vs Torro Rosso
Merc vs Ferrari
Haas
Rosberg vs Hamilton vs Vettel
Rosberg’s contract speculation
Honda
Manor
Button vs Alonso
Lewis (assorted sagas)
Can’t wait! :O
RaceProUK (@)
1st January 2016, 14:58
I can predict this one: there’ll be six to eight months of tabloid-grade tripe, then Merc will say “Oh, yeah, we renewed his contract”.
lockup (@)
1st January 2016, 17:01
Lol very likely @raceprouk.
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
1st January 2016, 16:42
Now let’s ride the car launch hype train.
Imre (@f1mre)
1st January 2016, 18:04
Does anyone know or have a BTCC Google+ calendar?
Thanks for the Google+ calendar, it will be the first year I’m going to try this and all my followed series except for BTCC are covered by Keith.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
1st January 2016, 20:45
Who are likely candidated for the Manor seats? I’m guessing Rossi and Stevens.
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
1st January 2016, 23:18
I would like to see more exciting races.
HK (@me4me)
2nd January 2016, 12:29
Can’t wait for pre-season testing to get underway. I always enjoy that time a year, with new cars getting unveiled, and speculation going into overdrive. Also enjoy Ted’s daily notebooks and the buildup for the Australian GP.
But for now, it’s time to enjoy the Dakar rally!
Cyberaxiom (@dave-m)
2nd January 2016, 13:02
This part of the year used to be so exciting, as each week we’d have a new car launch and get to see what everyone came up with. Now due to testing restrictions, and no-one wanting to give away their secrets, I’m guessing we won’t see anything of any new cars until mid-February ahead of the first test. Even in the off-season F1’s found a way to reduce interest from the fans!
HK (@me4me)
2nd January 2016, 17:06
@dave-m, I don’t think that is necessarily down to testing restrictions. I think it’s a combination of the fact that teams have learned to push to the last possible day to finalize the car, as well as the F1 season being as long as it is. The last race wasn’t that long ago after all.
Cyberaxiom (@dave-m)
2nd January 2016, 17:33
Possibly @me4me, but if there were unlimited testing (and the tests weren’t centrally co-ordinated) I imagine that at least Mercedes and Ferrari would be pounding around tracks from sometime in January to start getting mileage on the new machines.
Willem Cecchi (@)
2nd January 2016, 18:56
“Grosjean’s place has been taken by newcomer Jolyon Palmer – the only rookie confirmed in the field so far – alongside Pastor Maldonado”
Please tell me I am not the only one that laughed at this.
mfreire
3rd January 2016, 23:33
Keith- the next Formula E round in March after Buenos Aires is at Hermanos Rodriguez on a special layout there.