2016 Formula One World Championship — 67th season of Formula One motor racing
Nico Rosberg clinched the 2016 Formula One World Drivers' Championship by five points over Lewis Hamilton in the longest season in F1 history to that point.
Key Facts
- Number of Grands Prix
- 21 races — longest season in F1 history at that point
- Drivers' Champion
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
- Champion's winning margin
- 5 points over Lewis Hamilton points
- Constructors' Champion points
- 765 points (then-record) for Mercedes points
- Season span
- 20 March (Australia) to 27 November (Abu Dhabi)
- New constructor
- Haas F1 Team expanded grid to 22 cars
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
The 2016 season brought an expanded grid with the debut of Haas F1 Team and Renault's return as a constructor following its takeover of Lotus. The calendar grew to 21 races, the most in the sport's history at that time, including the revival of the German and European Grands Prix.
Nico Rosberg and teammate Lewis Hamilton contested the Drivers' Championship throughout all 21 races. Hamilton won more races overall, but Rosberg's greater consistency — nine wins and seven further podiums — gave him a five-point victory margin, securing his only World Drivers' Championship title in the season's final race in Abu Dhabi. Mercedes simultaneously defended the Constructors' title with a then-record 765 points.
Rosberg announced his retirement from Formula One days after winning the championship, becoming the second driver in the sport's modern era to retire as reigning champion. Bernie Ecclestone's nearly 40-year tenure as F1's chief executive ended in January 2017 following Liberty Media's acquisition of the sport, marking a significant change in the commercial governance of Formula One.