F1 2016: What's changed from 2015?
While the rules are fundamentally unchanged for the new season, there are a number of subtle - and not-so-subtle - tweaks to be aware of...
Saturday 19 March 2016 05:28, UK
There will be 11 teams on the F1 grid with the American-based Haas outfit joining the sport.
Lotus will be known as Renault after the French manufacturers rejoined the sport as a full works outfit. The team will field an all-new driver line-up with Jolyon Palmer partnering Kevin Magnussen after Romain Grosjean departed for Haas and Pastor Maldonado left F1.
Manor are the only other team to have changed their driver line-up from 2015 while Esteban Gutierrez will partner Grosjean at newcomers Haas.
There will be 21 races this season, the most in any season in F1 history and an increase of two compared to 2015 with the German GP returning at Hockenheim and Baku in Azerbaijan making its debut under the title of the European GP.
July will host four races - including the British GP - with the calendar also featuring six back-to-back events.
The Qualifying system will be changed in order to create more unpredictability grids. While the three part Q1, Q2, Q3 qualifying system remains, the slowest drivers will be eliminated at more regular intervals in the sessions until there are just two drivers left on track fighting for pole in the final 90 seconds of Q3.
Toro Rosso will be powered by a year-old specification of Ferrari engines. Manor will be powered by Mercedes, replacing Lotus - now Renault - on the Silver Arrows' roster of engine customer,
Red Bull will be known as Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer after signing a deal to run rebadged Renault engines in 2015.
The Virtual Safety Car will be used in practice sessions as well as races.
Restrictions on the use of team radio will be more strictly enforced as per Article 20.1 of the sporting regulations, which states: 'The driver must drive the car alone and unaided.'
All four engine makers will be permitted to spend 32 development tokens on their 2016 engines - an increase of seven compared to their previously specified allowance for the year.
All the drivers will have an extra penalty-free engine as the allocation increases from four to five if there are are more than 20 grands prix scheduled
Cars must be fiitted with a separate exhaust wastegate tailpipe in order to increase the noise produced by the V6 engines. Only wastegate exchaust gasses are allowed to pass through this pipe.
Three, rather than two, Pirelli tyre compounds will be available at every race weekend. Teams have a free choice on 10 of the 13 sets for each of their cars per weekend, although they must still run two different compounds in a dry race.
The ultrasoft compound becomes the fifth - and fastest - slick tyre in Pirelli's range.
