The new F1 season is almost here, and we should be more excited, but somehow aren’t. In previous years every moment would have been spent looking through News Now for every titbit of F1 related news, analysis of testing times, and hours of form study undertaken, but somehow the juices aren’t flowing for F1 2016, yet.
Is last year’s bore fest to blame? Is the tiring off season reporting of Lewis Hamilton’s social life to blame? Is it because our only hope for a decent Championship battle this year means more of the wagging winning finger from Vettel? Is it because the Australian hopes looks to be in a worse position than last year? Probably all of the above, but time to snap out of that and look towards 2016 and the riches it offers. Who knows, we might talk ourselves into getting excited.
So many F1 websites and blogs do a season preview, and no doubt all of them will be better than ours, so we thought we’d do something a little different this year, and revolve everything around the Big Red 5 and Nigel Mansell, as he is one of The Gurgler’s F1 heroes, and a beacon for anyone who wants to know how to race in F1. Sure he had his faults, but on his day, and there were so many, no one raced like Nigel Mansell, and we could sure use a little of that magic this season. So this preview is brought to you by the number Red Five and Nigel Mansell. We call it the Red Five Index in honour of the great man.
FIVE NEW THINGS FOR 2016
- The biggest and most important change has been made to Qualifying. Why the least needed section needed tinkering is beyond us, but we now have to live with it. Here’s our thoughts on the original decision which includes a sensible Qualifying alternative and then our proposal for even more absurd and complicated qualifying.
- Haas are the new team in 2016, and look the most prepared in a long time. Since Toyota’s ill fated F1 entry. The link with Ferrari helps, and may be a model for future newcomers. If the rules allow it. Other F1 teams are dubious of the Ferrari link.
- European Grand Prix at Azerbaijan. Firstly getting to know that Azebaijan is in Europe is interesting, and the new track looks just that also.
- New drivers in at Manor – both of whom have substantial backing. Wehrlein has the help of the Mercedes program, Rio Haryanto has the nation of Indonesia. Jolyon Palmer gets the full time gig at Renault.
- Driver changes – just amongst the smaller team as no one will want to have moved from their 2015 team. Kevin Magnussen returns with Renault, Gutierrez with Haas.
FIVE THINGS WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2016
- The fallout of the first qualifying session.
- Rise of Ferrari as a decent season long challenger.
- Excuses given when Red Bull are beaten by Toro Rosso.
- Haas F1 progression throughout 2016. Always good to see a new team develop.
- 2017 Silly Season which shapes as the biggest in a while, and some serious musical chairs is needed.
FIVE THINGS WE’D LIKE TO SEE IN 2016 BUT WON’T HAPPEN
- A compeditive McLaren bringing Alonso up the front where he belongs. Although the silver lining if not is more sprays over the radio to the pits, and antics when the car breaks down.
- A minimum of 8 wet races or 12 rain affected qualifying sessions. And / Or both.
- A wet first qualifying in Australia to totally screw up the qualifying format and causing maximum chaos.
- More new teams to make a full grid of 26 cars. And even more so pre-qualifying is required. Those were the days – of Colonis, Rials, Eurobruns.
- A Press conference worth hanging around/staying awake for. Ask the questions in the assembly room before the celebration where emotions are high, more stuff would be said, and hats are thrown.
FIVE BOLD PREDICTIONS FOR 2016
- Commentators will still be explaining the qualifying system after it has been canned.
- Lewis Hamilton’s new album to go to Top 5. In the UK at least.
- Monaco will provide a non Mercedes-Vettel Pole and Winner.
- Haas will outscore both Sauber and Renault.
- Nico Hulkenburg will impress but be overlooked for a top drive for 2017.
TEAM BY TEAM PREVIEW
Here’s our Team by Team review – sorted in our predicted end of season Constructors ranking. We’ve also included our Red Five Index – comparing each team to a season of Mansell.
MERCEDES
Mercedes looked to be toying with the opposition at Testing with their long runs on Medium tyres, who knows what the gap will be at Melbourne given the rules are designed to keep them at the front. Three questions remain, have Ferrari caught up enough and will Rosberg make a fight of it or will Lewis Hamilton’s social life get in the way as it appeared to do at the end of 2015. Looks like more of the same in 2016.
Mercedes are the 1992 Nigel Mansell – All conquering.
FERRARI
Is this finally the year that the Prancing Horse have completely closed the gap to the Silver Arrows? They did look very good in Testing, and most are awaiting the Australian GP to see if it turns out to be in-season pace. At a minimum the F1 world needs them to at least make qualifying interesting, althought they’re doing a fine job on that themselves with their new format. Hopefully it means both drivers get a real crack at the front this year, otherwise if Kimi has another season like 2017 there will be no end of suitors keen to jump into the red car. Hard to think it was 10 years since Kimi won his only title.
Ferrari are the 1986/87 Mansell – Front Runner but may ultimately fall short.
TORO ROSSO
A bold prediction for third and why not? They’ve got sort of a Red Bull chassis and sort of a Ferrari engine, a great combination, and two young hungry drivers who are destined for bigger things. Surely a year old Ferrari engine is better than a current Renault or Insert Sponsor Name here engine. Max Verstappen deservedly got plenty of attention in 2015, Carlos Sainz was almost as good without the fanfare, and it will be interesting to see if there is any second season syndrome this year.
Toro Rosso are the 1984 Mansell – Hard Charging in a car that’s good but not really capable of win except for exceptional circumstances.
RED BULL
After attempting a fling with every other engine company Red Bull have settled on the same engine as last year, but with a fancy new title. That is as close to a new title they will get, as although they look solid enough, they certainly haven’t looked to have closed to gap to Ferrari and Mercedes. Shame for Australian fans that Ricciardo won’t get the chance to shine as much. One big question will be whether they can beat the junior team Toro Rosso. We say no. Who knows what will end up happening by the end of the year, maybe a new engine, maybe another threat to quit, maybe a new name for the Renault like Aston Martin.
Red Bull are the 1988 Mansell – Will be the occasional glimpse of greatness but ultimately the engine will hold them back.
WILLIAMS
Williams and Mansell go hand in hand, and both are tremendously likeable, but for all their likeability you get the feeling Williams have lost their big chance for their second coming and to make the big step up to regular race winners with the emergence of Ferrari as next best. In fact we think that both Red Bull teams will end up ahead of them this season. Ferrari speculation seemed to put Bottas off last season, although Kimi Raikkonen’s driving also didn’t help at times. Massa is great on his day, but how many of those days will be on offer with the Williams this year?
Williams are the 1994 Mansell – still a great team and capable of winning but glory days are behind.
FORCE INDIA
With all the financial issues off track for owner Vijay Mallya, it will be hard to think it won’t affect the team in 2016 or if the owner will actually be around or attempt to sell the club. They do have two excellent drivers, and in our opinion, one of the better talents who will never get a top drive in the shape of Nico Hulkenburg. With the same Mercedes engine as Williams, maybe we have undersold the Force India to finish behind them, but we think the off track stuff will start to affect at some stage. With Sergio Perez they have one of the better race day drivers, and The Hulk have talent to burn, and will be striving to show off his best in 2016. We say watch out for Monaco.
Force India are the 1990 Mansell – Off track politics will spoil a great car and chance to shine.
MCLAREN
McLaren provided a lot of the more light-hearted moments of 2015, which says a lot for the season given we were enjoying their failures and the drivers acerbic reactions to them. Alonso on the sun chair in Brazil was a season highlight, as were the photoshopped pictures. Yes, it was that kind of season. Probably not the kind of exposure Honda wanted in the first year back, but their lack of performance says more about the current state of F1 which doesn’t allow for any new manufacturers or catch up than their failures. Ironically the new engine rules were set up to allow more engine companies to join. Given Honda’s 2015, why would any new engine company come into F1. With the great Alonso and good Button, most are hoping they get something better than the wheelbarrow they copped in 2015. Early signs are promising.
McLaren are the 1989 Mansell – reliability halting chances to shine, but when the sun is out it could be spectacular.
HAAS
Very little will be expected from Haas in their first year, but after testing showed some promise amongst the occasional expected failures, there is some buzz that they will end up in front of some of the established teams by the end of the season, if not the start. Given the benchmark set by some of the new teams of late, Haas look miles ahead and their general motorpsort expertise combined with Ferrari’s F1 know how has an excellent package awaiting Grosjean and Gutierrez.
Haas are the 1985 Mansell – a slowish start with a new combination will end in some excellent performances towards the end – not wins though.
SAUBER/MANOR
Manor looked to have made a good step forward again this year, and hiring the Mercedes attached Wehrlein is a move which will guarantee some good service from the Germans. The new driver Haryanto is at least interesting and will be for as long as the money keeps coming in.
Sauber are Swiss, and as a swiss entity appear to be in neutral, not going forward or backward. Their car and livery looks meh again, and their relative position may change depending on how much the back markers and Haas improve.
These teams are the 1980/1981 Mansell – occasional great stories to be told but very few chances to shine.
RENAULT
A bold prediction for last given lowly Manor’s battles and a new team in Haas, but there’s just the feeling that things could go very badly this year for Renault. Unlike Red Bull who could leave the Renault engine, the newly re-acquired French team can’t and that powerplant is the biggest worry, especially if Honda improve. The drivers are adequate, but not overly interesting, and although probably not missed by fellow drivers, first retirement betting fans and crash enthuasiasts will miss Pastor Maldonaldo spicing up the show this year. One positive is the yellow livery which will allow fans to decipher at least one car from the pack.
Renault are the 1995 Mansell – a great idea that will ultimately end in tears.