2016 Formula One Sweeps.

On the eve of the start of the first winter training sessions next week the last seats for the 2016 season are filled.

With one extra team ( Haas F1 ) entering this year the field is back up to 22 cars.

Here is a report on who drives where this coming season.

First and second again in the championship last year, Mercedes surely start as favourites for the forthcoming season.

Lewis Hamilton is a title away from drawing level with Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel, although his teammate will be desperate to stop him and finally become a world champion himself.

The German won the final three races of 2015, the first time in his career he’s won a hat-trick of grands prix. Keeping that momentum will be key to his prospects this year.

Mercedes’ main challengers last season as the only other team to win a grand prix, with Vettel collecting wins in Malaysia, Hungary and Singapore.

By the end of the year Ferrari’s engine wasn’t far behind that of the Mercs, which is a sign that the gap is closing. And the closer it is, the more competition we’re going to have at the front.

In any case, this will be a vital season for Raikkonen having been largely outclassed by his German teammate in 2015. A poor season could tempt Ferrari to look at other options.

Another unchanged line-up. Williams could well have won the British Grand Prix last year had they been a bit cannier with strategy, but typical struggles on low-speed circuits meant their opportunities to win races were lacking.

At 34 Felipe Massa is still going strong, although his Finnish teammate generally tends to get more out of the car. Bottas would surely be a candidate for bigger teams should a seat become available in the near future.

2015 was tricky for Red Bull, and it’s hard to see how 2016 will be any better given that they’re still using the Renault engine they were so desperate to get rid of last year.

Ricciardo was the star of 2014 after beating four-time world champion Vettel whilst he was still a relative rookie, although Kvyat held his own against the Aussie and outscored him in their first season together.

An interesting battle to keep an eye on, even if it doesn’t play out at the front of the pack.

The team finished fifth in the constructors championship last year, pulling off a string of impressive results in the second half of the season.

The best of those was a sensational podium finish for Sergio Perez at the Russian Grand Prix; a sweet moment for the Mexican whose F1 career looked in decline after being ditched by McLaren in 2013.

Maintaining this position in the field would be a great achievement for Force India, but don’t be too surprised if they’re caught by richer teams.

The French manufacturer returns as a full works team having bought the Lotus outfit which struggled with its finances last year.

Renault are in it for the long-haul having targeted podiums in 2018 and a world championship in 2020, but immediate progress this season is unlikely given the short amount of time they’ve had to focus on developing the car.

That said, their line-up is strong: Kevin Magnussen fills the void left by Pastor Maldonado, and Jolyon Palmer takes the seat vacated by Frenchman Romain Grosjean. Both are young, hungry and recognise the team’s potential. Neither will want to let this opportunity slip their grasp.

Without a single yard of F1 racing experience between them in 2015, Verstappen and Sainz proved to be the most exciting pairing on the grid last year.

The Dutchman especially thrilled fans around the world, producing a season stuffed with daring overtakes and two fourth place finishes in a car that few could have pushed that high up the grid.

Team boss Christian Horner has admitted that Toro Rosso are likely to outperform their parent team in the early part of the new season. It’ll be quite a sight if it happens.

Sauber were eighth in the standings last year, with a smattering of points finishes and decent reliability ensuring they finished above McLaren.

With a limited budget and ambitious rivals, success will be hard to come by for Nasr and Ericsson this season. A Ferrari engine gives them the same power as newcomers Haas F1, over whom they should have the advantage of experience.

But with Manor and McLaren showing signs of improvement, Sauber need to have something up their sleeve to stay ahead.

It would be remarkable if McLaren were to endure a repeat of last year’s disaster, especially when Honda have been working non-stop over the off-season to bring their power unit up to speed.

The team was miles off the pace because of a fundamental flaw in the engine which couldn’t be rectified last year because of F1’s ‘token’ development rules. 2016 should deliver big improvements, even if race wins remain out of reach.

Both drivers remain among the sport’s top bracket of names, although at 36 and 34 years of age, neither is getting any younger. Can they get the car into a position where it’s ready for a title challenge in 2017?

After employing three drivers over the course of last season, Manor enter 2016 with two completely new faces in the form of DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein and ex GP2 driver Rio Haryanto.

The latter becomes Indonesia’s first ever F1 driver, while Wehrlein lines up on the grid for the first time having performed duties as Mercedes’ reserve driver last season.

Manor have secured a Mercedes engine and have agreed a technical partnership with Williams for the forthcoming season. How much they’ll improve remains to be seen, but don’t expect them to be lapped quite as much this year…

Formula One’s newest team, backed by American owner Gene Haas.

Romain Grosjean has taken a risk joining the team, probably in the hope that their ties with Ferrari lead to an opportunity with the Italian outfit later in his career. He is joined by former Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez, who arrives having spent a year as backup to Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

The North Carolina-based team has bought as many parts as is legally permitted from Ferrari in order to hit the ground running. It would be a big disappointment from their point of view if that investment didn’t pay dividends during the season.

 
Formula 1's controversial qualifying revamp will be introduced in full from the season-opening Australian GP.

In a statement, the FIA, the sport's governing body, confirmed: 'The World Motor Sport Council approved the new qualification format, the principles of which were unanimously accepted by the F1 Commission. The new system should be introduced for the first round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.'

The move to introduce more regular driver eliminations during the one-hour qualifying session was announced by the F1 Commission last week, but the timetable for its introduction was thrown into doubt within days by Bernie Ecclestone. A watered down system – in which Q3 would remain unchanged – was then discussed by team managers and the FIA at pre-season testing in Barcelona.

However, the full original proposal has now been rubber stamped just two weeks before the new season starts.

“There will be a knock-out in all three segments,” reported Sky Sports News HQ's Craig Slater. “There had been questions about whether the software could be done in time but, as I understand it, Formula One Management have given assurances that it can be done.”

How new-look qualifying will work

While the basic structure of F1's three-part knockout qualifying format will be retained, drivers will drop out of the running more regularly than is currently the case in a bid to increase the chance of unpredictable grids.

Q1 will last for 16 minutes and after seven minutes the slowest driver will be knocked out and forced to return to the pit lane. Six more drivers will then be eliminated at 90-second intervals before the session concludes.

With 15 drivers left in the running, a 15-minute Q2 session will then take place with the next slowest driver knocked out after six minutes followed by six more at 90-second intervals.

Eight rather than 10 drivers will then take part in the final Q3 session to determine pole position. This phase will increase from 10 to 14 minutes in length but the driver with the slowest time will be eliminated after five minutes and then one more every 90 seconds.

The fastest two drivers are left to contest pole in the final minute and a half of the session.

F1's drivers met with FIA race director Charlie Whiting in the Barcelona paddock on Wednesday night and voiced their opposition to the changes, with Sergio Perez telling Sky Sports they feared the rules would “complicate” qualifying for fans.

The first race of the 2016 F1 season, the Australian GP, is exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. The race in Melbourne starts at 5am on Sunday March 20.

Count T and M in 

Woody  Pythia  paid  220A$      for the whole season

And as Last year  Lewis Hamilton is the man to beat