5 Things We'd Like to See in the 2016 Formula 1 Season
With runaway championship winners in Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, the 2015 Formula One season ultimately failed to meet our expectations.
For the second year in succession, the Silver Arrows sealed the constructors' title as early as the Russian Grand Prix, while Hamilton—having been pushed all the way by team-mate Nico Rosberg in 2014—was able to take his foot off the gas with three rounds to spare.
With a new year, though, there are new hopes, new dreams and new targets to be set.
The story of 2016 is likely to hinge upon Ferrari's ability to offer four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 title winner, a car good enough to beat Hamilton and Rosberg on a regular basis.
Should the Prancing Horse make another step forward, this year could represent the first chapter in one of the all-time great rivalries between Hamilton and Vettel. If not, we will be once again be left to rely on Rosberg, ever the bridesmaid, to create a worthwhile battle.
The upcoming season, however, will be defined by so much more than the fight at the front.
From a McLaren-Honda fightback to our hopes for one of the Haas drivers, here are five things we'd like to see in 2016.
McLaren-Honda to Be Reasonably Competitive
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Six points finishes. Twenty-seven points in total. Ninth place in the constructors' standings. Twelve separate retirements. No Q3 appearances. One power-hungry chairman. And two world champions rapidly losing their patience.
The numbers of McLaren-Honda's worst season since 1980 have been analysed beyond belief since 2015 came to an end, and attention has long since turned toward the team's recovery prospects.
Although Jenson Button's assertion, per Autosport (h/t Eurosport), that there is "a lot coming" for 2016 feels like the claim of a man relying more on hope than expectation, there are reasons to believe McLaren will be in better shape this year.
The MP4-31 is likely to be the first McLaren to be fully designed by Peter Prodromou, formerly the right-hand man of Adrian Newey and a marquee signing from Red Bull Racing in 2014, and the new chassis has produced "encouraging figures" in the wind tunnel," per Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble.
A strong car, however, is nothing without a competent engine, and McLaren's prospects will very much depend on Honda, whose underpowered, inefficient and unreliable power unit was at the root of their struggles in 2015.
Noble claims the changes made by the Japanese company "are expected to deliver a significant step forward in pace" in 2016, but it is fanciful to think a manufacturer in just its second season will produce an engine equal to those of Mercedes and Ferrari, who are embarking upon their third year of V6 technology.
Despite the widespread sympathy and support for Button and Fernando Alonso, McLaren—without a victory since 2012—are undeserving of an overnight, Ferrari-esque leap from the wilderness to race and championship-winning contention.
Consistent, minor points finishes and a respectable top-six place in the championship would be satisfactory way for McLaren to banish the bad memories and, perhaps most significantly, prove 2015 was nothing more than a one-off.
The Red Bull Boys to Be Given a Fighting Chance After Engine Dramas
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Prior to the final race of 2015 in Abu Dhabi, the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso racers posed for an end-of-season photograph with Dr. Helmut Marko, the head of Red Bull's young-driver scheme, above.
Should Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. all go on to fulfil their potential in the coming years, that image may one day be remembered as the F1 equivalent of the iconic Class of '92 picture featuring a young David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.
To truly excel, however, the drivers need the tools at their disposal to succeed on track, and after Red Bull's dramas in finding an engine-supply deal for 2016, they may struggle to have them for the upcoming season.
After being turned away by Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda, Red Bull will again compete with Renault power in 2016, albeit with engines branded by timepiece manufacturer TAG Heuer.
Although Renault has recruited engine expert Mario Illien to aid the development of its V6 power unit, Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey has told Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble how the four-time world champions are braced for another "extremely difficult season" after a winless 2015.
While Toro Rosso are thought to have the better deal by agreeing to run Ferrari powertrains in 2016, the fact they will use 2015-specification units could hinder the team if all four engine manufacturers make substantial improvements over the winter and then make further gains using the in-season development token system.
Sainz's claim, per Fox Sports' Adam Cooper, that Toro Rosso must "maximise" their tried-and-tested engine in the first half of 2015 suggests the team are fully aware their machinery will quickly become outdated.
It is as yet unclear how their respective engine arrangements will impact the competitiveness of the Red Bull teams.
But it would be hugely costly for F1 if the growth of four of the brightest young talents on the grid—who have provided some of the most memorable moments of the last two seasons—were to be stunted through no fault of their own.
Pastor Maldonado to Prove His Worth to Renault
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When it first emerged that Renault were looking to purchase an existing Formula One team, it didn't take long for the calculations to begin: If Lotus, plus a much-needed injection of cash, equalled Renault and works-team status, surely that would take away Pastor Maldonado?
The idea that Renault's return would somehow render Maldonado worthless and even end his F1 career, however, was always fundamentally flawed.
If his PDVSA sponsorship funds weren't required by Renault, he would simply take them along to Force India. Or Sauber. Or, for that matter, any other team looking for a welcome financial boost.
Such is the way that these things turn out, though, Maldonado will not only be driving for a full-blown factory outfit in 2016—he will, following Romain Grosjean's transfer to Haas, be leading one.
The partnership between Maldonado, who has just 14 points finishes in five full seasons in F1, and Jolyon Palmer, a rookie, is seemingly not a driver lineup befitting of a works team.
Yet, as the Enstone-based outfit came close to extinction in the closing months of 2015, Maldonado drove with more responsibility than ever before, suggesting he could yet fill the void left by Grosjean.
At a time his colleagues were locked out of their hospitality unit at Suzuka and police visited the Lotus garage at Interlagos, Maldonado responded by scoring points four times in five races—including a career-best run of three consecutive top-10 finishes—offering his team valuable respite and a sense of escapism.
Sick and tired of being "the news of the day" due to his erratic, inconsistent performances, as he told ESPN F1's Nate Saunders, Maldonado has demonstrated a willingness to change his ways and emerge as a valuable asset to his team.
Perhaps he will finally prove his worth in 2016.
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Haas to Reveal the Real Esteban Gutierrez
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Only rarely does a Formula One driver compete in two full seasons and still fail to make an impression, be it positive or negative.
Yet despite his 38 grand prix appearances to date, does anyone really know just how good Esteban Gutierrez is? And, indeed, just how good he could become?
There are those, of course, who regard him as a serious talent.
Rob Wilson, the esteemed driving coach, told The Racer's Edge YouTube channel how Gutierrez is a "very, very gifted driver" who is "very keen to learn," while team owner Gene Haas recently told Autosport's Ian Parkes how technical partner Ferrari will monitor the Mexican throughout 2016 with a view to offering him a future race seat.
But on the evidence of his two years at Sauber, when he recorded a solitary points finish and made a number of on-track errors, there is nothing to suggest he is worthy of such praise.
And it is tempting to dismiss Gutierrez as a pay driver who earned his opportunity at Haas through his connections to Ferrari, where he held a reserve role in 2015.
Yet Sauber, admittedly, was no place for a youngster between 2013 and '14, and the 24-year-old is likely to benefit from a fresh start and the encouraging, accommodating and patient atmosphere at a brand-new team, where occasional mistakes will be occupational hazards.
Romain Grosjean will be the main attraction at Haas, but we should finally discover what Gutierrez is really made of.
A Frantic, Unpredictable Driver Market
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The driver market is often among the highlights of any given season, especially when that season features the kind of tedious, one-dimensional racing we saw throughout last year.
But in a sign of the times, it was overshadowed by the engine market in 2015 as teams tried to secure the best possible power unit.
The big move of the year—Valtteri Bottas replacing Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari—was called off when the Prancing Horse decided to keep the 2007 world champion as early as August, which fully deflated "silly season" before it gained any real momentum.
Yet the eerily quiet 2015 market has very much set the scene for 2016, when all 11 teams may change their respective driver lineups.
After years spent clinging onto their places in F1, the likes of Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Felipe Massa may be tipped into retirement, creating opportunities for the next generation including Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr., Felipe Nasr, Romain Grosjean, Stoffel Vandoorne and others.
With Toto Wolff telling Autosport's Ian Parkes that Nico Rosberg must earn a new contract, a place at the all-conquering Mercedes team could become vacant, while Fernando Alonso will surely be plotting an exit route from McLaren-Honda if the team endures another disastrous season.
Could Rosberg, a servant of Mercedes for so long, try to take the Silver Arrows down with Sebastian Vettel in the scarlet-red colours of Ferrari? If a vacancy appears alongside Lewis Hamilton, will Alonso finally be offered the seat he has craved since the beginning of 2014? And just who will win the tug of war for Verstappen?
F1 owes us a driver market of several twists and turns in 2016.
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