F1 2016 - Meet the teams, drivers and cars

[CarMadMike]

Today marks the start of the pre-season testing, which is quite different compared to how it used to be in that we're seeing most of the cars officially for the first time today rather than the 3-4 week period of unveiling that most teams used to do a few years ago (that some still do).

McLaren-Honda:

• Jenson Button & Fernando Alonso stay put.
  
  
• Still without a title sponsor, which is making them lose out on about £20m per year.
  
• Appears to be sticking with Ron Dennis as team principle, and Eric Boullier as Racing Director.
  
• Obvious concerns over pace/reliability, Ron Dennis refused to make predictions about the 2016 season.
  

 

 

Scuderia Ferrari:

• Sticking with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen
  
  
• Quick in pre-season testing.
  
  
• Most likely the biggest competitors to Mercedes in 2016
  

 

 

Red Bull-Tag Heuer:

• Sticking with Daniil Kyvat and Daniel Ricciardo
  
  
• Infiniti has dropped out as a title sponsor, meaning the purple colour has gone from the livery.
  
  
• Matt Black finish on the Red Bulls, it stands out rather well on TV.
  
  
• The Renault engines are labelled as Tag-Heuer engines, and are expected to develop well throughout the season.
  
  
• Christian Horner does not expect RB to be challenging Mercedes for pole.
  

 

 

Scuderia Toro Rosso:

• As seen by the scuderia in the name, Toro Rosso will now be running Ferrari engines, different to their sister team RB.
  
• Sticking with Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz JR.
  
  
• Due to differences in the size of the ferrari and renault engines, the Toro Rossos will be more different than in previous years.
  

 

 

Force India:

• Staying with Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez
  
  
• Had a fairly strong 2015, has potential to grab some points in 2016.
  

 

 

Manor Racing:

• The old Marussia F1 team has rebranded to become Manor
  
  
• Switch from Ferrari engines, to Mercedes power.
  
  
• Management reshuffle, Booth and Lowdon both gone. Dave Ryan is the new racing director
  
  
• Driver reshuffle, Will Stevens and Roberto Mehri out, Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein in.
  
• They're a bit more confident that the MRT05 will be quite competitive.
  

 

 

 

 

Haas F1:

 

• New team for 2016
  
  
• Will be using Ferrari power (and many other Ferrari components).
  
  
• Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean will be the drivers.
  
  
• Former Jaguar and RBR technical director Gunther Steiner will be the team principle.
  
  
• Gene Haas, team owner, expects the team to be a backrunner for a few years much like his other motorsport teams, before doing well.
  

 

 

Williams:

 

• Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas will remain drivers.
  
  
• Susie Wolff no longer a reserve driver, replaced by Alex Lynn
  
  
• They're being quite careful about how optimistic they are for the upcoming season, but hopefully they'll continue to bite at the rear of the front runners if not more.
  

 

 

Sauber:

 

• Maruc Ericsson and Felipe Nasr have kept their seats.
  
  
• Not much else to report on the Sauber front..... which hopefully isn't indicative of their upcoming season.
  
  

 

 

Renault:

 

• Formerly Lotus F1 (Which was formerly Renault).
  
• Grosjean has moved to Haas, Maldonado has lost his seat in F1.
  
• Jolyon Palmer (GP2 Champ) and Kevin Magnussen are the confirmed drivers.
  
• Bob Bell is the chief technical director and Frederic Vasseur is the racing director.
  
• The RS16's livery is meant to be temporary? I'm sure I've heard that they're waiting on a title sponsor similar to McLaren.
  

 

 

 

Mercedes F1:

• Hamilton and Rosberg have kept their seats.
  
  
• Still consists of the Niki Lauda/Toto Wolff/Paddy Lowe trio as management.
  
• The car is looking quick as expected.
  

 

 

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So what's there to know?

- The cars appear to have gone on a bit of a diet at the rear, not necessarily lighter, they just appear to have a skinnier arse.

- The noise is meant to be a huge improvement, 10-15% louder.

- The Ferrari is meant to be closer to the Mercedes than in the previous 2 years, but where will Williams come?

- WIll Manor be as competitive as they've let on?

[superhyper]

• Tbh I'm expecting a 2014 vol. 3 out of this season, but I do have high hopes for Ferrari this year.
  
• I'm also afraid that even though Williams was looking strong at the end of 2014, they've fallen way behind Ferrari now.
  
• Red Bull's livery looks insanely cool and I also love the white bits in the Ferrari.
  
• Kevin Magnussen is back
  
• Toro Rosso is using the (better?) Ferrari engines so their speed should be decent.
   
  All in all it's going to be very interesting how this season turns out :hmmm:
  

[Soundwave]

Really loving the new 2016 Ferrari livery. :drool:

 

This season can't start soon enough for me. :nods:

[CarMadMike]

• Tbh I'm expecting a 2014 vol. 3 out of this season, but I do have high hopes for Ferrari this year.
  
• I'm also afraid that even though Williams was looking strong at the end of 2014, they've fallen way behind Ferrari now.
  

 

Yeah it's a high possibility, I expect Ferrari to be closer but still not there yet. However Vettel complaining about it is still WAYYYYYYY too ironic for my liking, surely he understands out of everyone, and all the hundreds of millions that watch F1, that he is the person in the worst position to complain about mercedes dominance? :p He made yet more comments this week, Hamilton pointed out the irony.

 

And yeah I'm also concerned about Williams, the team is very likable, Claire, Bottas, Massa are all fan favourites so people want to see it succeed. But they're also not a team likely to boast about the upcoming year etc so maybe they'll surprise us? Their recent success has always come as quite a surprise.

[Eudemon]

I just really want to see more of a challenge between the teams rather than an outright winning one all the time.

 

On the livery front: the Williams and the Red Bull certainly catch my eye as does the Ferrari but never been a big Scuderia fan. The McLaren imo looks real good in a sort of bare bones look. It is quite remarkable just how far many of these teams have fallen though in the last couple of years.

[superhyper]

He made yet more comments this week, Hamilton pointed out the irony.

 

And yet people seem to forget how salty he was himself when he wasn't in the dominant team :p Now that's ironic!

[CarMadMike]

And yet people seem to forget how salty he was himself when he wasn't in the dominant team :p Now that's ironic!

 

I don't think they do forget, Hamilton is just a 'salty' kinda guy even when he wins.

[Camel]

I guess salty is what getting paid £30,000,000 a year(or something equally as absurd) does to some, or most people. As a racing driver he is amazing as are most of the other people in F1 or at the top of their respective disciplines.

 

I've been trying to follow the pre-season as muchn as possible but it's not been very possible so far sadly. But I do like what I've seen, especially with how few problems there have been for all of the teams. Just look how far Honda have come since this time last year and Haas making a running start which is great.

 

I reaaally like the Ferrari viewed from above. The black floor towards the rear makes it look awesome.

 

 

I say roll on Australia!