Your Guide to the 2016 F1 Season: Qualifying Changes and Driver pairings

Get your Foxtel subscription up to date, it’s time to add the sport pack because the F1 seasons starts in just a few days!  In 2016 everything old is new again but there are some pretty big changes too.  Here’s the EFTM guide to what’s what in Formula One for 2016.

Now don’t for a second think this is the “ultimate” guide, what we’re hoping to do here is put you on the right page when the F1 weekend begins.

We’ve got for you below all the driver pairings and team’s, plus the best news which is the changes to Qualifying.

Qualifying

There’s big changes to Qualifying, this has the potential to add more spice to the weekend than anything else.

In recent years we’ve had three periods of qualifying, the first saw the bottom group of cars eliminated at the very end of the session which lasted around twenty minutes.  Then after another period of qualifying another group are eliminated leaving just ten cars who would fight it out until the end with any single one of them having the chance to take pole position right down to the wire.

It’s that down to the wire where things end.

In 2016 there are once again three periods of qualifying, with a mega twist.

Q1 will see 22 cars take to the track.  It’s a 16 minute session.  After 7 minutes, the car with the slowest recorded lap-time is eliminated.

Every 90 seconds after that another car is eliminated.  As each car is eliminated they are slotted into a grid position from the back row through to the front row.

That continues in Q2.  A 15 minute session this time, 15 cars take to the track and after 6 minutes the eliminations begin.

Finally, in Q3 there are 8 cars left.  In this 14 minute session the eliminations begin after 5 minutes. This leaves two cars fighting it out for pole position right down to the wire.

The strategy change is immense.  Teams need to ensure they have not only banked a solid lap, but they are ready to keep banking laps.  This will see top cars eliminated more often in Q1 and many missing the chance to get to that final shoot out.  It’s going to be huge. Bring it on.

The Teams & Drivers

There’s a sense of similarity to the grid but there’s also a bunch of interesting changes.

The top teams all remain in tact, but as is often the case a bit of fresh blood has entered the field.

A new team graces the grid from the USA – Haas F1 recruited Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez for their debut season.

At Manor a fresh driver lineup sees Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto battling for speed, while the old Lotus becomes Renault with Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer.

Here is your 2016 F1 Team and Driver lineup.