Rosberg bounced back from his two bad races to dominate in Baku, where Hamilton hurt his chances by making a rare mistake in qualifying before Mercedes started him in the wrong engine mode, consigning him to fifth place.
He then won again in Canada where Rosberg was only fifth, leaving them at 116 to 107. Hamilton's payback for his 2015 loss in the Principality improved his position, with 82 points to Rosberg's 106. Rosberg struggled in the rain and came home seventh Hamilton triumphed, albeit after Red Bull cost Ricciardo a deserved win by screwing up his final pit stop. Hamilton actually fell to third in the championship, behind Raikkonen, as a result of that race - but he fought back in style, and with the help of fortune, in Monaco.
#2016 F1 SEASON REVIEW DRIVER#
Verstappen, suddenly promoted to Red Bull in place of Kvyat, drove like a veteran on his first outing, holding Raikkonen at bay despite intense late pressure to claim a maiden Grand Prix win - the youngest driver to ever do so, by some margin. If that was dramatic, so too was the race's conclusion.
Rosberg went to cover the move, but Hamilton was already committed, and the pair crashed spectacularly, eliminating each other from the race. The German, though, was in the wrong engine mode and, as he reset it, Hamilton attempted to dive down the inside. Hamilton kicked the sequence off, as a poor start from pole allowed Rosberg to jump ahead. If Hamilton was under pressure, the tension only heightened in Spain as he and Rosberg collided on the opening lap - the most serious incident of their long and oft-tempestuous time together as team mates. He managed to climb to second this time, so the scores now were Rosberg 100, Hamilton 57. Rosberg made it four from four in Russia as Hamilton's second ERS failure in qualifying, this time the MGU-K in Q2, left him playing catch-up again. The Russian gained a podium as a result Hamilton was down in seventh, and now trailed Rosberg by 39 points to 75. That left him at the back of the grid and he was delayed by the celebrated clash between the Ferraris after Daniil Kvyat - then at Red Bull - had surprised Sebastian Vettel in the first corner. Rosberg won again in China, as Hamilton had to fight back following a three grid-place drop for an unscheduled gearbox change after damage sustained in Bahrain - which was then compounded by his first MGU-H failure in qualifying. Then came China and Russia, and the start of the mechanical ills that would later impact so strongly on Hamilton's title aspirations. After finishing second, then third behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, that left him on 33 points to Rosberg's 50. Having won the final three rounds of 2015, March saw Rosberg pick up where he'd left off as he made an excellent start to his new season with victories in Australia and Bahrain where, on each occasion, Hamilton made poor getaways due, in part, to the ongoing delicacy of Mercedes' clutch. Hamilton may have deserved a fourth title, but equally Rosberg deserved a first. And it was that, Hamilton's engine failure in Malaysia notwithstanding, which ensured that the German's subsequent success was not merely a matter of luck and the 100 percent mechanical reliability that he enjoyed at his team mate's expense. It was a story in several parts, which notably saw Hamilton coming back from mechanical adversity to close down a 43-point deficit and turn it into a 19-point advantage, before Rosberg staged an equally dramatic fightback of his own. Predictably, the title fight was between Rosberg and Hamilton at Mercedes. Red Bull's Max Verstappen staked his claim as the sport's superstar of the future team mate Daniel Ricciardo did everything to convince of his own world champion credentials and stand-out rookies like Stoffel Vandoorne, Jolyon Palmer, Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon arrived in style.īut, perhaps fittingly given the major regulation shake-up coming for 2017, this year also saw a changing of the 'Old Guard', with the retirements not just of Felipe Massa and Jenson Button, but also Rosberg - who announced his shock departure just days after securing his first drivers' crown - as well as the unexpected removal of Ron Dennis from control at McLaren.īoth on and off the track there was plenty to keep even the most cynical fans engaged, even when it soon became clear that far from building on what they had achieved with three wins in 2015, Ferrari were falling farther behind Mercedes as Red Bull gathered pace and stepped up to pose a greater challenge to the Silver Arrows.
#2016 F1 SEASON REVIEW DRIVERS#
The Mercedes drivers weren't the only headline acts of the year.
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