The Competitors for the 2016 Formula One World Championship
McLaren Racing Engineering
2015 WCC Position: 1st
Team Principals: James Hunt, Gordon Murray, Gerald Forsythe
Team Base: Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom
#10 Kyle Busch (United States)
#11 Sergio Perez (Mexico) (R)
Chassis: McLaren MP5/4
Engine: Chrysler MR25 1750cc V6 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Chrysler Electronics Systems
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza
Fuel Supplier: Exxon
Lubricant Supplier: Mobil 1
Sponsors: Mobil 1, Dell, Budweiser, Chrysler, Akamai Technologies, Loctite, TI Automotive, Mozilla Foundation
McLaren were Constructor's champs in 2015 and saw Kyle Busch end up finishing third in the World Driver's Championship, but in 2016 they are most angry. Why? They were working on a new deal with Valtteri Bottas only for Neste Oil's money and Jordan's open seat to draw their expert wingman off. Bottas has largely played down the move, but James Hunt and Gordon Murray, not to mention Kyle Busch, most certainly aren't, and while none are talking trash about Bottas, they have one goal in 2016: Beat Eddie Jordan's ass. Lead-footed sports car standout (and 2012 GP2 champ) Sergio Perez finally punches his way into Formula One and into a seat with McLaren, and everyone involved at McLaren has said categorically that this team has never had a Number One driver and never will, and Busch and Perez both think quite glowingly of the other. Look out folks....
Jordan Mercedes Grand Prix Team
2015 WCC Position: 2nd
Team Principal: Eddie Jordan
Team Base: Castle Donington, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
#1 Sebastian Vettel (Germany)
#77 Valtteri Bottas (Finland)
Chassis: Jordan FR1/16
Engine: Mercedes FT-029A 1750cc V4 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Siemens
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Neste Oil
Sponsors: Red Bull, Mercedes-Benz, Blaupunkt, Neste Oil, AC Schnitzer, Bridgestone, Rays Engineering
A big year for Jordan, as after four years Will Power departed the team as part of the roundy-round of drivers that ended up being the talk of the 2015-16 off-season, with the cars not changing that much but pretty much everything else doing so. Nicholas Robinson's return to Formula One ended up being one of the talks of the 2015-16 season, along with that of a number of engineers who had gone to Indycar as part of their new cars and car developments earlier in the decade. But the trends of oil companies using the Formula One teams they are involved with for the development of new fuels and lubricants has been joined by a bunch of new players, and Neste Oil, who came to the team and effectively leveraged Valtteri Bottas into being the man who took over Will Power's old seat, means business, as does everyone else involved in the team....
Stewart/Tyrrell Grand Prix Engineering
2015 WCC Position: 3rd
Team Principals: Jackie Stewart, Jeff Gordon
Team Base: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
#44 Lewis Hamilton (United Kingdom)
#45 James Hinchcliffe (Canada)
Chassis: Stewart/Tyrrell F46
Engine: Ford-Cosworth CA2016 1750cc V6 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Western Electric
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Petro-Canada
Sponsors: HSBC, Ford, Petro-Canada, Standard Life, AMD Technologies, Western Electric, Linamar Visteon
Stewart/Tyrrell knows when they have a good thing, and while McLaren beat them to the 2015 Constructor's title largely owing to consistency, and James Hinchcliffe, who had an up-and-down 2015, is well known to have not liked that at all, the outgoing Canadian retained by Stewart/Tyrrell in large part owing to his annoyance at his results. The driving team of Lewis Hamilton and Hinchcliffe is as good as any on the planet, and Sir Jackie Stewart has every confidence in the team, drivers and most of all their 2016 car....
Ligier Team Prost
2015 WCC Position: 4th
Team Principals: Alain Prost, Jacques Nicolet
Team Base: Guyancourt, Paris, France
#14 Fernando Alonso (Spain)
#17 Jules Bianchi (France)
Chassis: Prost-Ligier JS58
Engine: Renault RS32TC 1750cc V4 turbo-compound
Hybrid System: Alstom
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Total
Sponsors: Renault, Total, Michelin, RBC Generale, Dassault Group, Air Liquide, Aeropostale, Alterea SCA
France's Formula One team became an ever stronger outfit over the off-season when the owner of sports car juggernaut Onroak Automotive, Jacques Nicolet, joined with Prost, bringing among other things the involvement of the Ligier name, sanctioned by Guy Ligier - the famed French race team owner living just long enough to see the first new Ligier Grand Prix Racer in two decades unveiled before he passed away from cancer in January 2016. Sadness over that or not, the French monsters with their thundering Renault engines were a force to reckon with in 2015 with race wins for both Fernando Alonso and Jules Bianchi, and they aim to make the name legendary once more....
Scuderia Ferrari
2015 WCC Position: 5th
Team Principals: Stefan Bellof, Stefano Domenicali
Team Base: Maranello, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
#19 Felipe Massa (Brazil)
#28 A.J. Allmendinger (United States)
Chassis: Ferrari SF16-H
Engine: Ferrari Type 060/1 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Magnetti Marelli
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Royal Dutch Shell
Sponsors: Grupo Santander, Royal Dutch Shell, Fiat, Magnetti Marelli, Etihad Airways, Acer Electronics, Puma Clothing
Ferrari improved rather a lot from 2014 and 2015, and it showed in the team's performances - however, the SF15-R was a fast car in a straight line, but it showed a problem with Ferrari's aerodynamic development as its car was well known to have more drag than was optimal. The SF16-H, with its aggressively-shaped bodywork, aims to fix that, and the new Type 060 V12 aims to help with that, as the flat-twelve unit forced the car's radiators to be further out, which Ferrari felt was a problem for the car's aerodynamics. The new wide-angle V12 is meant to fix that, and the SF16-H is hoped by its drivers - the same as in 2015 - to be just as fast in corners as the older one, but faster in a straight line as a result of the less drag....
Williams Grand Prix Engineering
2015 WCC Position: 6th
Team Principal: Frank Williams
Team Base: Grove, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
#12 Will Power (Australia)
#25 Ryan Hunter-Reay (United States)
Chassis: Williams FW38
Engine: BMW P97 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Ferranti Automotion
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: BP
Sponsors: Martini, Hewlett-Packard, Royal Bank of Scotland, Marks and Spencer, Canon Cameras, British Airways
Aside from the departure of Vitaly Petrov and the arrival of Will Power, not a lot changed at Williams aside from the sort of gradual-yet-effective evolution that both Frank Williams' team and their engine suppliers in BMW are well-known for. The BMW V12 engines have proven better than the average in power and truly exquisite in sound, and the FW38, with its long, shapely rear bodywork and unusual wide-mouth front wing arrangement, is in most ways a major improvement of the high-downforce FW37, and the team hopes their cars can prove race winners just as they were in 2015....
Vector USF1 Automotive Technologies
2015 WCC Position: 7th
Team Principals: Peter Windsor, Chip Ganassi, Gerald Weigert
Team Base: Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
#22 Katherine Legge (United Kingdom)
#33 Max Verstappen (Netherlands) (R)
Chassis: Vector F1/04
Engine: Vector MV06 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Western Electric
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Fuel Supplier: Hess Petroleum
Lubricant Supplier: Valvoline
Sponsors: Valvoline, Monster Energy, Lionsgate, Kobalt Tools, Hess Petroleum, Discovery Communications, Southern Pacific Lines
Two seasons have led to a massive rise in success for Vector USF1, and the third time they hope is a charm, particularly after Katherine Legge's win at Silverstone and four other podiums achieved by her. Second-generation Dutch wonderkid Max Verstappen ended up at the team after the team's attempt to resign Beitske Visser fell through after she took up a seat at GP2 Europe champs ART Grand Prix, stating that she wanted to return to Formula One but when she "Was ready to dominate it", but recommending ART's 18-year-old GP2 Europe champ for the seat. Vector says they are ready to be week-in week-out contenders, and having seen them race in 2015, few doubt the Detroit-based team can do just that....
Prodrive Grand Prix Engineering
2015 WCC Position: 8th
Team Principal: David Richards
Team Base: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
#6 Nico Rosberg (Finland)
#26 Danaya Washington (United States) (R)
Chassis: Prodrive T37
Engine: Toyota RV15 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Denso
Tires: Pirelli PZero Nero
Fuel Supplier: BP
Lubricant Supplier: Ineos
Sponsors: Vodafone, Toyota, Johnnie Walker, Adidas, Ineos, Asus Technologies, Saks Fifth Avenue
Prodrive reached the end of an era with the retirement of world champion Tomas Schekter, who left to retire to his native South Africa, replaced in a bit of a coupe by the 2015 Indycar series champion, Danaya Washington. The Philadelphia-born woman is perhaps an example, like Kyle Busch and Ryan Hunter-Reay, of just how far America's growth in racing drivers has come. Nico Rosberg returns as the new team lead driver, but those who speak of Danaya have said openly that if Rosberg expects Danaya to be a number two he is going to get a rude surprise. The new Toyota RV15 engine is a response to fact that the RV12B was weak compared to its 2015 rivals, and the switch to Pirelli tires comes with it a knowledge that the tires are made for the car. Most observers feel that the 2015 season was a sizable underestimation of what this team is capable of, and both Nico and Danaya aim to prove them right....
Brabham Motor Racing Developments
2015 WCC Position: 9th
Team Principals: Roland Dane, Geoff Brabham
Team Base: Bowen Hills, Queensland, Australia
#3 Daniel Riccardo (Australia)
#97 Shane Van Gisbergen (New Zealand)
Chassis: Brabham BT87
Engine: Holden (Chevrolet) REF1-27 1750cc V6 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Delphi Technocraft
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Fuel Supplier: Hess Petroleum
Lubricant Supplier: Caltex
Sponsors: Caltex, SP Tools, BHP Billiton, Holden, Parmalat, Qantas, Foster's, Citizen, Forgeline
Daniel Riccardo and Shane Van Gisbergen were, along with Jules Bianchi, Katherine Legge and Nico Rosberg, the stories of the 2015 season, and it was only natural that such a result would lead to both the charismatic Western Australian and his aggressive Kiwi teammate would be back, and that Brabham would aim to put an even better car underneath them, particularly after Brabham spent the second half of 2015 improving massively, culminating in Riccardo's victory in the 2015 season finale. Brabham has won it all before in the hands of Mark Webber, and Webber is downright gushing about both Riccardo and Van Gisbergen. Could Brabham win it all once again....
Team Lotus
2015 WCC Position: 10th
Team Principal: Dany Bahar
Team Base: Hethel, Norfolk, United Kingdom
#7 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
#20 Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) (R)
Chassis: Lotus 145A
Engine: Chevrolet REF1-27 1750cc V6 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Delphi Technocraft
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Fuel Supplier: Hess Petroleum
Lubricant Supplier: AMS Oils
Sponsors: Google, General Electric, Chevrolet, Delphi, Seagate Technologies, Hess Petroleum, Electronic Arts
To say Lotus had a really rough 2015 is an understatement, as Kimi Raikkonen found himself being both luckless and without his usual pace, a fact which has driven him crazy over the off-season - and in his usual way, Kimi has spent the off-season driving any Formula One car he can anywhere he can, trying to get his groove back. The problems suffered by Joylon Palmer and the truly atrocious luck suffered by Alex Lynn is something Lotus hopes to forget, and with Lynn off to Formula E, Kevin Magnussen takes over the second Lotus. The edge-bodied Lotus 145A is said to make more downforce than any other F1 car Lotus has ever made, and one figures both Raikkonen and Magnussen can very well use it....
Autobacs Honda Formula One
2015 WCC Position: 11th
Team Principal: Aguri Suzuki
Team Base: Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan
#18 Kazuki Nakajima (Japan)
#88 Sakura Miyasaki (Japan)
Chassis: Dome ARTA F125AH
Engine: Honda RA820C 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Hitachi
Tires: Yokohama Advan Neova
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Eneos
Sponsors: Autobacs, Sony Playstation, Gran Turismo 6, Eneos, Japan Air Lines, Yokohama, Kyocera Electronics, Trust Power
A car that handled dreadfully at higher speeds and persistent reliability trouble with the over-complicated Honda RA816 engine (with its electromagnetic variable valve timing, which has since been scrapped in favor of pneumatic valve actuation) resulted in an appalling year, outside of great performances at Suzuka, Monaco and Barcelona and a handful of faster races. Boyfriend-girlfriend team Kazuki Nakajima and Sakura Miyasaki are back hoping the cars are better this time, a fact that the team has been angry at themselves over for months. Autobacs can do better than their 2015 efforts, and they aim to do just that....
Sauber Grand Prix Racing
2015 WCC Position: 12th
Team Principal: Peter Sauber
Team Base: Zurich, Switzerland
#2 Jann Mardenborough (United Kingdom)
#94 Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) (R)
Chassis: Sauber C35
Engine: Mercedes FT-029A 1750cc V4 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Siemens
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza
Fuel Supplier: Royal Dutch Shell
Lubricant Supplier: BASF
Sponsors: BASF, Pioneer, Mercedes-Benz, Qualcomm, Recaro, Bacardi, Bridgestone, Metro International
Sauber had a forgettable 2015, treading water in the mid-pack with the now Brazil-bound Bruno Senna going home to race with his legendary uncle in Brazil's Nations Cup open-wheel series. Replacing him is GP2 Europe runner-up Pascal Wehrlein, who comes with a huge reputation and huge backing from Mercedes-Benz, and with that comes an all-new car, the Sauber C35, which starts pretty much from scratch. Sauber is hoping for huge improvement. Can they get it, the question is....
Virgin Reynard Formula One Racing
2014 WCC Position: 13th
Team Principals: Adrian Reynard, Richard Branson
Team Base: Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
#23 Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland)
#26 Daniil Kvyat (Russia) (R)
Chassis: Reynard F120
Engine: Honda RA820C 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Hitachi
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Eneos
Sponsors: Virgin Active, Microsoft, Kaspersky Labs, Jameson, Lomo, Lululemon Athletica, Loctite, Praxair
Gevo Biofuels ended its association with Formula One at the end of 2015 and with it changed the world that Virgin Reynard lived in. Having spent two full years trying to prove biofuels to the Formula One world and the world around the racing series, Adrian Reynard and Richard Branson are back to doing what they know best - putting on a show in racing. With the same new Honda engines as Autobacs and new chassis to get the racing right, Virgin Reynard is looking for something of a renaissance of their prospects, and they are indeed likely to get it....
Arrows Grand Prix International
2015 WCC Position: 14th
Team Principals: Ross Brawn, Laurence Tomlinson, Jeremy Clarkson
Team Base: Leafield, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
#15 Brad Keselowski (United States) (R)
#29 Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) (R)
Chassis: Arrows A38
Engine: Renault RS32TC 1750cc V4 turbo-compound
Hybrid System: Alstom
Tires: Pirelli PZero Nero
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Sasol
Sponsors: Orange, Sasol, Zepter International, American Motors, Yamaha, LNT Group, Rockford Fosgate, Sky Broadcasting
If anybody had the worst 2015 on the grid, it was Arrows - even Ross Brawn's team leadership and tons of Laurence Tomlinson's dollars and Jeremy Clarkson's media attention couldn't mask a car that handled downright diabolically and was almost assured to have problems - first it was gearboxes, then electronics, driveshafts, fuel pumps....the result was Robert Kubica leaving the team late in the season followed by Nick Heidfeld's monumental crash in Australia after a differential failure, which left him in the hospital for a week and with him angrily parting ways with the team at the end of the season. Needless to say a lot of people got let go from the team at the end of the season....and on top of a massive pile of new engineers, technicians and mechanics come Indycar champ Brad Keselowski and GP2 Asia champion Stoffel Vandoorne, along with Renault engines. Early testing proved to be a whirlwind of emotions for the newly-rebuilt team, but Keselowski and Vandoorne have massive reputations, and the team has extraordinary hopes for a revival of Arrows' fortunes....
Alfa Romeo Formula One
2015 WCC Position: 15th
Team Principals: Robert Evans, Andrea Bergamini, Rocco Benetton, Chad Knaus
Team Base 1: Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Team Base 2: Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America
#4 Sam Bird (United Kingdom)
#36 Raffaele Marciello (Italy)
Chassis: Alfa Romeo F116-H
Engine: Alfa Romeo Tipo 165D 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Delphi Technocraft
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Fuel Supplier: Hess Petroleum
Lubricant Supplier: Agip Petrioli
Sponsors: United Colors of Benetton, AT&T, Martini, Agip Petrioli, Kyocera
Alfa Romeo's return to Formula One didn't go all that badly, though an aerodynamically-compromised chassis (that nonetheless wasn't difficult to drive or incapable) hindered probably the second-most powerful of the naturally-aspirated engines. The team wasn't displeased, however, figuring that the first couple seasons weren't gonna be easy. But with this Trans-Atlantic crew, persistence is par for the course, and they have no intention of staying at the back for long....
Scuderia Minardi Chrysler
2015 WCC Position: 16th
Team Principals: Giancarlo Minardi, Francois Sicard
Team Base: Faenza, Italy
#24 Max Chilton (United Kingdom)
#54 Kyle Marcelli (Canada)
Chassis: Minardi M18
Engine: Chrysler MR25 1750cc V6 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Chrysler Electronics Systems
Tires: Pirelli PZero Nero
Fuel Supplier: Exxon
Lubricant Supplier: Mobil 1
Sponsors: AMD Technologies, Parmalat, Kappa, Heineken, ASML, Fincantieri, Fondmetal
Minardi had a rough 2015, the car simply not being up to the speed of many of its rivals. Minardi, as usual, does a lot with a little, and they got more than a little bit of help from the problems at Arrows and the departure from Formula One of Rebellion and Piquet, resulting in lots of new faces at Minardi. The team prides itself on camaraderie, and sure enough the arrival of Kyle Marcelli to replace the departing Robert Doornbos is just another piece of the beloved Minardi puzzle....
Panoz Auto Development
2014 WCC Position: 17th
Team Principals: Don Panoz, Ben Bowlby, Mark Gallagher
Team Base: Braselton, Georgia, United States of America
#8 Romain Grosjean (France)
#66 Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) (R)
Chassis: Panoz DP12
Engine: Ford-Cosworth CA2016 1750cc V6 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Western Electric
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Fuel Supplier: Hess Petroleum
Lubricant Supplier: AMS Oils
Sponsors: Caterpillar, Seagate Technology, Zara, Archer Daniels Midland, Boeing, EQ8, Goodyear
Panoz's 2015 pretty much one of being able to race in Formula One, but not often contend, a situation that the team wasn't pleased with to say the least. Panoz's team have been testing the cars pretty much constantly since the middle of 2015. The company's hope is that their bizillion test miles will allow them to show more race in 2016, and there is little reason to doubt that will indeed be the case.....
Jaguar Formula One
2015 WCC Position: 18th
Team Principals: Johnathan Palmer, Tony Purcell
Team Base: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
#21 Jenson Button (United Kingdom)
#42 James Calado (United Kingdom) (R)
Chassis: Jaguar R10
Engine: Ford-Cosworth CA2016 1750cc V6 twin-turbo
Hybrid System: Western Electric
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: BP
Sponsors: Jaguar, BlackBerry, Harrods, DHL Express, BBC, Omega Watches, British Telecom
That Jaguar did not have a good 2015 was obvious by the looks on the faces of those who worked for the team in the last few races, knowing that their focus was on 2016....and Jaguar, having replaced both Sean Edwards and Robert Wickens, managed to coax Jenson Button out of F1 retirement (and his Porsche World Sports Car Championship ride) to fly the flag for Jaguar. The fact that the team's 2015 season was awful now is largely being forgotten, in favor of a hope that the team can do far better in 2016....
Force India Formula One
2015 WCC Position: 19th
Team Principals: Subrata Roy Sahara, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta
Team Base 1: Silverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Team Base 2: Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
#27 Nico Hulkenberg (Germany)
#99 Alisha Abdullah (India) (R)
Chassis: Force India FX10/2
Engine: Toyota RV15 4000cc V12
Hybrid System: Denso
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza
Fuel and Lubricant Supplier: Royal Dutch Shell
Sponsors: Sahara, Tata Group, Infineon, Kingfisher, Reebok, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Life Sciences, Alpinestars, AVG Technologies
While many Formula One teams finishing at the very back of the Formula One grid would be screaming angry at that very fact, Force India's owners and managers understand something that some team owners don't - just because you finish at the back of a Formula One race doesn't mean you suck, a fact that Alisha Abdullah proved in the 2015 Indy 500 and the team's tough work ethic shows. The team's owners picked up more and more people to help with the workload, brought back Nico Hulkenberg to replace the GP2 Asia-bound Sergey Sirotkin and put Abdullah in the place of Narain Karthikeyan. The attitude of the team has the rest of the grid rooting for them, and having Preity Zinta and Alisha Abdullah around doesn't exactly hurt their image....
