2016 f1 season articles archive

Max Verstappen received a surprise promotion to Red Bull just four races into the year and was arguably the team’s leading driver by the end of the season.

Fernando Alonso driver a tremendous season in 2016 but the McLaren driver didn’t get anything like the reward which was deserved.

There is no asterisk next to Nico Rosberg’s world championship, yet the debate over the manner in which he won it isn’t going away.

Carlos Sainz Jnr didn’t get the promotion to Red Bull his team mate enjoyed but was not demotivated in the least, producing a string of top-drawer drives.

Sebastian Vettel endured his second win-less season in three years in 2016 and the Ferrari driver’s frustration was clear to see.

Sergio Perez’s F1 career continued its post-McLaren recovery in his third season at Force India as he made two appearances on the podium.

Before the 2016 season began it seemed incredible Nico Hulkenberg had never visited the podium. Following his near-misses this year it almost appears unjust.

Valtteri Bottas, who is in the running to become Lewis Hamilton’s team mate at Mercedes in 2017, destroyed his team mate in qualifying this year.

The 2016 season was Kimi Raikkonen’s best since returning to Ferrari in 2014. Yet he still wasn’t able to beat a team mate who was decidedly sub-par this year.

It was a dream start to the year for Romain Grosjean and Haas, but life in the midfield quickly got very difficult for them.

Kevin Magnussen seemed to be over-driving the Renault in his pursuit of points, to spectacular but not always rewarding effect.

Jenson Button achieved a few highs during his 2016 campaign but few will doubt he’s chosen the right time to hang up his helmet.

Despite two heavy crashes early in the season and an unfortunate collision with his team mate, Marcus Ericsson raised his game towards the end of the year.

After taking a few races to play himself in Jolyon Palmer got on terms with team mate Kevin Magnussen’s pace but had a few scrapes along the way.

Pascal Wehrlein showed a good deal of promise at Manor and even scored a point. But he came under pressure from a new team mate later in the year.

Felipe Massa began his final season of Formula One well but by the end it was clear he’d chosen the right time to retire.

Esteban Ocon drove for less than half the year after being promoted from the DTM but was coming on strong as the season ended.

Felipe Nasr delivered points for Sauber when the opportunity arose but wasn’t their top driver over the course of the season.