#BBC 2016 F1 SEASON REVIEW DRIVERS#
#BBC 2016 F1 SEASON REVIEW SERIES#

#BBC 2016 F1 SEASON REVIEW DRIVERS#

Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished third and fourth respectively in the drivers' championship Both are into their late 30s.ДЇernando Alonso is also pretty disgruntled, although his McLaren contract lasts until the end of 2017 and he is more than likely to stick that out - and possibly do another there or somewhere else, too. Jenson Button's McLaren contract runs out.

Kimi Raikkonen is on a one-year deal at Ferrari. There will likely be something of a changing of the guard in F1 at the end of 2016. The team's only real area of weakness was operationally, when they out-thought themselves on occasions.ДЄn example was when they messed up the strategy on Hamilton's car and lost him the race in Monaco. Red Bull got close in terms of aerodynamics, but the Mercedes was still mechanically better than any other car and had a consistency and reliability no other car had. Last year, they built a car that had no equal, and this year they optimised it further. They set all-time records for 12 one-twos, 31 podium finishes, most points and the highest percentage of points in a season. They equalled their own record of 16 wins and that of 18 poles held jointly with Red Bull. The world champions re-wrote records this season. The intensity was very high, and that's probably why he lifted off the throttle a bit when he did. Hamilton put a lot of effort into making sure he won the title again in 2015. On the other side of the garage, that fight also took a lot of energy out of Rosberg. All that pressure of 'will I win another title?' was gone. He needed to go to Mercedes to find himself - and he did that in Abu Dhabi 2014. It looked like he had fallen out of love with so many parts of the sport and his life. He was still fast, but on track the McLaren was not as good as the Red Bull or often reliable enough, and off track he fell out with his dad and the authorities.

#BBC 2016 F1 SEASON REVIEW SERIES#

Hamilton came very close to winning the championship in his debut season in 2007, did win it in his second but then had to deal with a series of disappointments. I'm pretty certain the reason Hamilton could do that was because the weight and pressure of expectation had been lifted off his shoulders by finally winning his second title, six years after his first. Max Verstappen (left) overtakes Sergio Perez during this season's Brazilian Grand Prix Hamilton romped away with the year, and it was only when he had won the title that he lifted off a little in my opinion that team-mate Nico Rosberg got himself in a better place mentally and got on terms. He nailed qualifying and then delivered in the races. He had tidied up everything that was weak last year, when he was very unstable in qualifying, and was so strong at the beginning of this season. THE GOODДЄfter clinching his second title at the final race of 2014, Hamilton came out of the blocks flying at the start of the year. So as the year draws to a close, let's have a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of F1 2015.

Bbc 2016 f1 season review