THE NEW YEAR IS HERE, AND IN RALLYING TERMS THAT MEANS JUST ONE THING: THE NEW ERA OF THE WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP HAS ARRIVED AND THE FIRST STAGES ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

After all the build-up and anticipation, secret tests, camouflage and spy-shots, the new breed of leaner, wider and more powerful World Rally Cars wil make their debut on Thursday, January 19 when the 13-round season gets underway with Rallye Monte-Carlo. 

And that's just for starters. As well as the new cars, we'll finally get to see how this year's crop of drivers fare behind the wheel.

Sébastien Ogier in a Ford Fiesta? Unthinkable a few months ago. But it's going to happen in a few weeks. Then there are the teams; Toyota and Citroën, both back in full manufacturer spec, prepare to take on established names of Hyundai and M-Sport.  

There are new regulations to get to grips with too. From three-car teams, to start order tweaks and a new super-sized Powerstage, there's a lot to take in.   

To help you prepare, over the coming days we'll bring you a series of quick reference guides about the season ahead. From the new cars and regulations, to the teams and support championships, we'll tell you what you need to know. Up first...

The 2017 WRC lowdown: World Rally Cars 

Introduction

Lighter, wider and more spectacular than last year's models, the WRC's 2017 top-level cars have been built to technical regulations that allow greater aerodynamic freedom, more engine power and the re-introduction of active centre differentials. After extensive testing in 2016, new cars from Citroën, Hyundai, M-Sport and Toyota will make their competitive debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo. Here's what makes them special: 

Bodyshell

The new cars are 10 kilos lighter and 55mm wider than their predecessors. They are also 100 per cent more aggressive-looking thanks to new aerodynamic kits. At the front, a splitter protrudes 60mm further forward, while a rear diffusor stretches back an extra 30mm. Wheel arches are wider to accommodate the extra track, and an enormous rear wing sits 50mm above the roofline to provide downforce and extra grip at the rear. Around the car, additional grills and ducts manage airflow to keep brakes and engine running cool. Inside, the cars boast more safety features than ever. The thickness of energy-absorbing foam surrounding drivers is up from 200mm to 240mm, while repositioned seats, wrap-around head protectors, strengthened door panels and improvements to roll cage design all play their part in protecting the occupants. 

Under the bonnet 

Up front, the 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo engine remains, but widening the turbo restrictor from 33mm to 36mm means power is up from around 310bhp to 380bhp. Limiting turbo boost to 2.5-bar keeps maximum torque in line the previous figure of around 430 Nm. The gearbox is a six-speed sequential unit, upgraded to cope with the extra power and operated by a hydraulic paddle shift. There are passive diffs front and rear, but for the first time since 2010 the transmission now features an active centre differential to allow the driver to tune the car’s handling to different conditions. 

The driving experience?

Over to Citroën ace Kris Meeke: "It’s quite a big step from 2016. When you drive them in anger, they’re a different beast; you really have to be on your game, every metre, to keep on top of them."

The Canadian Grand Prix is an annual auto race held In Canada since 1961, and It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario as a sports car event, before alternating between Mosport and Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Quebec after Formula One took over the event. After 1971, safety concerns led to the Grand Prix moving permanently to Mosport. In 1978, after similar safety concerns with Mosport, the Canadian Grand Prix moved to its current home on Île Notre-Dame in Montreal.

In 2014, the Grand Prix organizers announced they had agreed to a 10-year extension to keep the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve through 2024.

Canadian Grand Prix, seventh round of the 2016 Formula 1 season

Circuit Name: Circuit Île Notre-Dame / Gilles Villeneuve

Race Laps: 70

Circuit Length: 4.361 km (2.709 mi)

Race Length: 305.270 km (189.694 mi)

Number of corners: 14 (8 Right, 6 Left)

DRS Zone: Two Zones (Zone 1 Between Turn 12 and 13, zone 2 Between 14 turn  and 1 at the Start/Finish Line)

Circuit Direction: Clockwise

Pole Position 2015: Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes 1:14.393

Race Lap Record: Rubens Barrichello 1:13.622 – Ferrari 2004

Pirelli used compounds

Pirelli will bring the following three compounds to the Canadian round, to be held (June 10 - 12) on The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit

Yellow soft: the hardest compound in the selection, poised to play an important role in the race.

Red supersoft: two teams have interestingly chosen not to nominate this compound at all.

Purple ultrasoft: very popular on its Monaco debut and chosen extensively in Canada.

THE CIRCUIT FROM A TYRE POINT OF VIEW:

Like Monaco, Canada is a low-grip circuit with a high degree of weekend track evolution.

The cars reach speeds in excess of 300kph, meaning that they tend to run low downforce.

The track is also famous for high kerbs, which provide the tyre structure with a big challenge.

Weather conditions are variable: a factor that has led to a number of safety cars in the past.

The hallmarks of Canada are acceleration and braking: longitudinal rather than lateral forces.

Montreal is a semi-permanent facility, so track surfaces (and grip) can vary during the lap.

HOW IT WAS A YEAR AGO:         

Winner: Hamilton (one stop: started on supersoft, changed to soft on lap 32 of 70).

Best-placed alternative strategy: Raikkonen, fourth with two stops. Started and finished the race with the supersoft tyres but did his middle stint on the soft tyre.

The top-three finishers all used a one-stop strategy, stopping within three laps of each other.

PAUL HEMBERY, PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR:                      

“In Canada there’s the potential for some quite mixed weather conditions, as we also saw in Monaco, so this could make it a very complex race as has often been the case in the past. The compounds that we have nominated mean that there is plenty of scope for strategy, on a circuit where it’s definitely possible to overtake on the track as well. The ultrasoft made its mark when it first appeared in Monaco but Canada is a very different type of circuit with more demands on tyres. This could lead to a number of different tactics coming into play, as evidenced from the tyre choices made by each team prior to the race.”

Drivers / Teams compound choices

Australian Grand Prix Winners (By year)

(Held under the FIA Formula One world Championship)

Multiple Winners (Drivers)

Multiple Winners (Constructors)

Numbers and Facts

Most wins (driver) 7, Michael Schumacher 1994 – 97 – 98 – 2000 – 02 – 03 – 04

Most wins (constructor) 13, McLaren (most recent 2012 and wins here = 9 which is bettered by Ferrari at CGV [10])

Wins from pole position 20, 1969 – 71 – 74 – 76 – 79 – 83 – 84 – 86 – 88 – 90 – 93 – 94 – 96 – 97 – 2000 – 06 – 07 – 10 – 13 – 15

Lowest grid for past winner 10, Jacques Laffite – 1981

Most recent 1-2 finish 2015, Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg)

Most emphatic win (here) 1 lap 1968 – Denny Hulme-Bruce McLaren (at Ile Notre Dame = 42.029s 1983 – Rene Arnoux-Eddie Cheever)

Closest winning margin 0.174s 2000 – Michael Schumacher-Rubens Barrichello

Rain-affected races 6, 1971 – 73 – 81 – 89 – 90 – 2000 – 2011

Safety Car-affected races 12, 1973 – 97 – 98 – 99 – 2001 – 02 – 05 – 06 – 07 – 08 – 11 – 12

Red Flag (and result declared) races 0

Fastest race (here) 2004, 70 L @ 1:28’24.803

Slowest race (here) 1967, 90 L @ 2:40’40.0 (Mosport). Note: 2011 accumulated race time was 70 L @ 4:04’39.537

Most pole positions (driver) 6, Michael Schumacher 1994 – 95 – 97 – 99 – 2000 – 01

Most pole positions (constructor) 11, McLaren 1972 – 74 – 76 – 88 – 89 – 90 – 92 – 98 – 2007 – 08 – 10

What Happened last race here?

Lewis Hamilton took a controlled victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, fending off team-mate Nico Rosberg.

The Mercedes drivers circulated at the front throughout an unusually uneventful race as Williams's Valtteri Bottas beat Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to third.

After Hamilton led comfortably through the first part of the race, Rosberg came at him after their sole pit stops, but the world champion was never under threat.

Behind them, Raikkonen was on course for a comfortable third place until a spin at the hairpin on lap 27, caused by the hybrid system kicking in unexpectedly.

That cost him position to Bottas and, although Ferrari chose to pit Raikkonen to fit a set of fresh super-soft tyres with 30 laps to go so he could attack to the end of the race, Bottas was able to do enough to hold him off.

Raikkonen finished ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who drove an attacking race from the back of the grid following an engine problem in qualifying and a five-place grid penalty for overtaking illegally in practice.

2015 Race Classification

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada. Sunday 7 June 2015. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG, 2nd Position, Riccardo Mosconi, Data Engineer, Mercedes AMG F1, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, 1st Position, and Valtteri Bottas, Williams F1, 3rd Position, on the podium.

Did you know?

DRIVERS

✪ Driving of course car ♯44 Lewis Hamilton in Monaco scored his 44th F1 career win

✪ Hamilton’s win from a P3 grid in Monaco was only the third time he has won from P3 in F1. His lowest winning grid is P6 (Great Britain 2014)

✪ Hamilton has set 34 of his 52 pole positions to date on Pirelli tyres. It is 3 more than any other driver in the history of F1 (Vettel next-best 31)

✪ Hamilton is just 16 pole positions from equalling Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68 F1 GP pole positions. Since he has been at Mercedes he has taken pole 26 times already. That is over 40% of all races he’s started for the team (26/ 63 = 41.3%)

✪ Hamilton has won (44) 25.4% of all GP he’s started (173) and is in the top 10 drivers races to win ratio of all-time. This is how he compares:- 1. Fangio 47.0%, 2. Ascari 40.6%, 3. Clark 34.7%, 4. M.Schumacher 29.7%, 5. Ja.Stewart 27.2% 6. Vettel 25.8% (42/ 163), 7.Prost 25.6% 8. Senna 25.5%, 9. Hamilton 25.4%, 10. Moss 24.2%

✪ Having led 54 laps I n Monaco Hamilton has now led 87 F1 GP, 1 more than Ayrton Senna. Only Michael Schumacher has led more (142)

✪ Hamilton’s Fastest lap of the race in Monaco was the 29th of his F1 career to date and beat Jim Clark’s F1 career total of 28. Hamilton’s next Fastest lap will equal Nigel Mansell’s 30, currently the most by a British driver. (Most by a driver of any nationality is Michael Schumacher’s 77)

✪ Nico Rosberg has won 18 GP. Nobody has won more GP and not won the driver’s title at some point in their F1 career

✪ Rosberg in Canada can beat Niki Lauda’s 24 pole positions

✪ There is just 7 points difference between Sebastian Vettel’s all-time record total of 1,956 points and Hamilton’ next-best score of 1,949

✪ Felipe Massa is the only driver to have finished in the points in all 2016 Grand Prix to date

✪ Sergio Perez is scheduled to make his 100th Grand Prix start on Sunday

✪ Perez 3rd place in Monaco in his 99th F1 Grand Prix start was the 50th time the Mexican has finished in the points

✪ Perez has now scored 6 F1 race podiums. A 7th will equal Pedro Rodriguez as the top Mexican F1 podium finisher of all-time

CONSTRUCTORS’

✪ Mercedes won its 50th F1 World Championship race victory in Monaco. To date Mercedes has won just over one-third of all the F1 GP it has has competed in (50 wins/ 133 races = 37.6%). Mercedes is now 1 win behind Red Bull’s F1 career total of 51

✪ Mercedes’s win in Monaco from P3 on the starting grid was only the 4th time the marque had won a F1 World Championship Grand Prix from a starting position not on the front row. An amazing 92% of all Mercedes’s wins to date have come from front row starts

✪ Mercedes needs to lead just 2 more race laps to have then led 3,000 F1 Grand Prix race laps (top is Ferrari with 13,897 race laps led to date)

✪ Mercedes in Monaco equalled Tyrrell’s 66 F1 Grand Prix on the podium (legally the two teams are the same, sharing the official company no)

✪ For the first time this season, in Monaco Ferrari was not represented on the race podium

✪ Red Bull Racing equalled Mercedes’s 58 F1 pole positions with pole in Monaco

✪ Red Bull racing in Monaco equalled Renault’s total to date of 88 F1 Grand Prix podiums

✪ Williams is now the only team not to have posted a race retirement so far in 2016

✪ Force India scored their 4th F1 podium in Monaco. Sergio Perez has scored 3 of them (Giancarlo Fisichella the other)

✪ McLaren has finished the last 3 races with at least 1 car in the points. It is the longest point-scoring run for the team since 2014 when they scored points in all races from Monaco until the end of the season (14 races)

✪ Whoever takes pole position on Saturday will claim Pirelli’s 150th F1 World Championship pole (Goodyear 358, Bridgestone 168, Pirelli 149)

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX

✪ Nobody has yet won the Canadian Grand Prix from a starting grid outside the top 10 (Jacques Laffite started from P10 in 1981 – a record)

✪ McLaren has won a record 13 Canadian Grand Prix but, at CGV their 9 wins is beaten by Ferrari who has to date won 10 times

✪ Lewis Hamilton could equal Michael Schumacher’s all-time Canadian Grand Prix record of 8 front row starts on SundayCircuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada. 8th June 2008. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber F1.08, 1st position, and Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber F1.08, 2nd position, arrive in Parc Ferme. Action. Finish.

World Drivers' Championship standings

World Constructors' Championship standings

Drivers penalty points:

1967 Canadian Grand Prix. Mosport Park, Canada. 27 August 1967. Jackie Stewart, BRM P83, retired, leads Jack Brabham, Brabham BT24-Repco, 1st position.

The European Grand Prix, is a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held regularly from 1999 until 2012.

The most recent host venue for this event was the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain, hosting the race from 2008 until 2012.

The race was removed from the calendar in 2013, and will return in 2016 being run on a street circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Number of times held: 22

European Grand Prix, Round eight of the 2016 Formula 1 season

Circuit Name: Baku City Cirtcuit

Race Laps: 51

Circuit Length: 6.006 km (3.732 mi)

Race Length: 306.306 km (190.332 mi)

Number of corners: 20 (8 Right, 12 Left)

DRS Zone: Two Zones (730m on approach of Turn 1, 630m on approach of Turn 3)

Circuit Direction: Anti-Clockwise

Pole Position 2012: Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:38.086

Pirelli used compounds

Pirelli will bring the following three compounds to the European round to be held (17-19 June) on The Baku City Circuit

P Zero White medium: this has not been extensively chosen, so unlikely to figure prominently.
P Zero Yellow soft:  a high working range tyre, which could make it very important in the heat of Baku.
P Zero Red super soft: the most popular choice, which will be used heavily in qualifying and the race.

The tires that Pirelli has said must be used at some point in the race:
One set of P Zero White medium
One set of P Zero Yellow soft
Each driver must have both these sets available for the race, and must use at least one of them.

The tires assigned for Q3 in qualifying:
One set of P Zero Red super soft.

THE LAST EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX:    

The last European Grand Prix was actually held four years ago, in Valencia (where it was also the eighth race of the season). Fernando Alonso won for Ferrari from 11^thon the grid.

PAUL HEMBERY, PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR:

“We’ve heard lots of interesting things about the circuit, and it seems that its character, lap length, and speed will certainly make it stand out. Obviously it’s never easy when you go to a circuit for the first time, but the conditions and the tyres are of course as always the same for everyone. The selection of compounds we have nominated should cope with a wide range of potential conditions; now of course it is down to the teams to get the most out of their choices and to identify the best possible strategies, which is why the running we see in free practice will be particularly important.”

Drivers / Teams compound choices

Australian Grand Prix Winners (By year)

Multiple Winners (Drivers)

Multiple Winners (Constructors)

Numbers and Facts

Most wins (driver) 6 Michael Schumacher 1994 – 1995 – 2000 – 2001 – 2004 – 2006

Most wins (constructor) 7 - Ferrari 2000 – 2001 – 2002 – 2004 – 2006 – 2008 – 2012

Wins from pole position 6 - 1994 – 2001 – 2004 – 2008 – 2010 – 2011

Lowest grid for past winner 14 - Johnny Herbert 1999

Most recent 1-2 finish 2004 Ferrari (M.Schumacher – Barrichello)

Most emphatic win 1993 1’23.199 (A.Senna-D.Hill)

Closest winning margin 2002 0.294 (Barrichello – M.Schumacher)

Rain-affected races 5 - 1993 – 1995 – 1999 – 2000 – 2007

Safety Car-affected races 5 - 1999 – 2006 – 2007 – 2010 – 2012

Red Flag (and result declared) races 0

2-hour rule shortened races 0

Fastest race 2001 67 laps @1:29’ 42.724 (Nurburgring)

Slowest race 2007 60 laps @ 2:06’ 26.358 (Nurburgring

Most pole positions (driver) 3 Michael Schumacher 1994 – 2001 – 2004 and Sebastian Vettel 2010 – 2011 – 2012

Most pole positions (constructor) 6 Williams 1993 – 1995 – 1996 – 1997 – 2002 – 2005

What Happened last race in Valencia?

Fernando Alonso won  for Ferrari his home race at Valencia Starting  11^th on the grid, after a series of overtakes and Sebastian Vettel's, who strated from pole, retirement.

Lewis Hamilton was set to finish second after Romain Grosjean have retired from the race, but crashed out with three laps remaining.

Hamilton was pitched into the barriers after a tussle with Williams's Pastor Maldonado, handing second to Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen.

The frantic action promoted Mercedes's Michael Schumacher to third place - the first and last podium since his comeback in 2010 - and Red Bull's Mark Webber to fourth from 19th on the grid.

2012 Race Classification

Did you know?

✪ Lewis Hamilton having scored his 45th F1 win in Canada is now just 6 wins from equalling Alain Prost’s second-best of all-time 51 wins

✪ Hamilton has set 35 of his 53 pole positions to date on Pirelli tyres. It is 4 more than any other driver in the history of F1 (Vettel next-best 31)

✪ Hamilton is just 15 pole positions from equalling Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68 F1 GP pole positions. Since he has been at Mercedes he has taken pole 27 times already. That is over 40% of all races he’s started for the team (27/ 64 = 42.2%)

✪ Hamilton has started 94 Grand Prix from the front row. It is exactly twice the number of front row starts by Nico Rosberg (47)

✪ In the 64 events to date that Hamilton and Rosberg have been Mercedes teammates they have locked-out the front row of the starting grid 34 times (53%)

✪ Hamilton has won (45) 25.9% of all GP he’s started (174) and is in the top 10 drivers races to win ratio of all-time. This is how he compares:- 1. Fangio 47.0%, 2. Ascari 40.6%, 3. Clark 34.7%, 4. M.Schumacher 29.7%, 5. Ja.Stewart 27.2% 6. Hamilton 25.9% 7= Prost 25.6% 7= Vettel 25.6% (42/ 164), 9. Senna 25.5%, 10. Moss 24.2%

✪ Hamilton has now led 88 F1 GP, 2 more than Ayrton Senna. Only Michael Schumacher has led more (142)

✪ Rosberg has won 18 GP. Nobody has won more GP and not won the driver’s title at some point in their F1 career

✪ Rosberg in Baku can beat Niki Lauda’s 24 pole positions

✪ Sebastian Vettel now shares the all-time F1 points record total of 1,974 points with Hamilton

✪ Max Verstappen is 1 point away from reaching 100 F1 points. The fastest three to 100 is: 1.Hamilton (15 GP), 2. Alberto Ascari (18 GP) and 3. Juan-Manuel Fangio (22 GP). I think if MV does it in Baku (27th GP) he’ll be =5th with Nino Farina to 100 (Jacques Villeneuve 4th on 24 GP)

✪ With Felipe Massa’s retirement in Canada no driver has finished in the points in all 2016 Grand Prix to date

CONSTRUCTORS’

✪ Mercedes won its 51st F1 World Championship race victory in Canada. To date Mercedes has won just over one-third of all the F1 GP it has has competed in (51 wins/ 134 races = 38.1%). Mercedes is now equal with Red Bull’s F1 career total of 51 wins

✪ Mercedes beat Red Bull’s 58 F1 poles positions in Canada

✪ 92.2% of all Mercedes’s wins to date have come from front row starts (47/ 51)

✪ Mercedes has now led over 3,000 F1 Grand Prix race laps (3,045). Top is Ferrari with 13,920 race laps led to date

✪ Mercedes in Canada beat Tyrrell’s 66 F1 Grand Prix on the podium (legally the two teams are the same, sharing the official company no)

✪ Ferrari and Williams remain the only teams to have scored points in all 7 Grand Prix held so far this season

✪ Red Bull has won 2 of the last 3 Grand Prix of Europe

✪ Williams has won 3 Grand Prix of Europe’s but has not featured on the podium since 2005 (2nd), 7 GP of E ago

✪ Williams has not scored back-to-back podiums in any Grand Prix since Valtteri Bottas finished the 2014 Austrian, British and German Grand Prix in the top 3

✪ McLaren has recorded the most non-finishes of any of the teams so far this season. Their 4 DNF’s to date is 1 more than anybody else (Ferrari, STR, Haas, Renault and Sauber each have recorded 3 DNF’s in 2016 to date)

✪ Pirelli scored its 150th F1 podium in Canada (Goodyear 358, Bridgestone 168, Pirelli 150)

GRAND PRIX of EUROPE

✪ The Baku circuit is the 6th different venue to host the Grand Prix of Europe while Azerbaijan is the 4th different country to play host

✪ Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Mercedes have yet to win a Grand Prix of Europe. Rosberg has yet to take even a podium in this event

✪ The 2012 Grand Prix of Europe is notable for being the race at which Michael Schumacher scored his record 155th and final F1 podium

2002 European Grand Prix, Nurburgring, Germany. 23rd June 2002 - Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari F2002, wins ahead of Michael Schumacher.

World Drivers' Championship standings

World Constructors' Championship standings

Drivers penalty points:

The Spanish Grand Prix is a Formula One race currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating its centenary in 2013.

The race had modest beginnings as a production car race. Interrupted by the First World War, the race waited a decade for its second running before becoming a staple of the European calendar. It was promoted to the European Championship in 1935 before the Spanish Civil War brought an end to racing. The race was successfully revived in 1967 and has been a regular part of the Formula One World Championship since 1968 at a variety of venues.

Spanish Grand Prix, Fifth round of the 2016 Formula 1 season

Circuit Name: Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya

Race Laps: 66

Circuit Length: 4.655 km (2.892 mi)

Race Length: 307.104 km (190.825 mi)

Number of corners: 16 (9 Right, 7 Left)

DRS Zone: Two Zones (Zone 1 between turns 9 and 10, Zone 2 Start/Finish Line Between Turn 16 and 1)

Circuit Direction: Clockwise

Pole Position 2015: Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.681

Pirelli used compounds

Pirelli will bring the following three compounds to the fifth round of the 2016 Formula One season in Spain, to be held (13 – 15 May) on The Barcelona Circuit

P Zero Orange hard: Seen for the first time this year, but no driver has chosen more than one set.

P Zero White medium: A versatile tyre that is a good compromise between performance and durability.
P Zero Yellow soft: More than a second faster than the White medium in Barcelona, but unlikely to last for long.

The tires that Pirelli has said must be used at some point in the race:
One set of P Zero Orange hard
One set of P Zero White medium
Each driver must have both these sets available for the race, and must use at least one of them.

The tires assigned for Q3 in qualifying:
One set of P Zero Yellow soft.

HOW IT WAS A YEAR AGO:

Winner: Rosberg (two stops: started on medium, medium again on lap 15, hard on lap 44).

Best-placed alternative strategy: Hamilton, second with three stops (just the penultimate stint on the hard tyre).

Most drivers: A mixture of two and three stop strategies, with most teams adopting a flexible approach.

PAUL HEMBERY, PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR:

“Spain always provides a very big test for the tyres due to the high energy loads that the circuit generates, and this year that will especially be the case with most teams having favoured the softer compounds in their selections. Of course they will be able to rely on the data accumulated during pre-season testing, but at this time of year we expect conditions to be much warmer. As a result we should see high wear and degradation leading to several pit stops, which of course opens up a very large number of strategic variables for the grand prix.”

WHAT’S NEW?

After the grand prix there will be a two-day in season test, which most teams will attend.

The 2017 tyre development programme is underway, with Jean-Eric Vergne testing a modified 2014 Ferrari at Mugello last week.

The GP2 Series and GP3 Series gets underway this weekend, with a strong field in each and some new tyres for GP3, which has an entirely new car for 2016.

Drivers / Teams compound choices

Australian Grand Prix Winners (By year)

Multiple Winners (Drivers)

Multiple Winners (Constructors)

Numbers and Facts

Most wins (driver) 6 - Michael Schumacher 1995 – 1996 – 2001 – 2002 –2003 – 2004

Most wins (constructor) 12 Ferrari 1954 – 74 – 81 – 90 – 96 – 2001 – 02 – 03 – 04 – 07 – 08 – 13

Wins from pole position 25 Recent 2015

Lowest grid for past winner 11 Jochen Mass – 1975

Most recent 1-2 finish 2015 Mercedes (Nico Rosberg- Lewis Hamilton)

Most emphatic win (here) 2 laps 1969 – Jackie Stewart-Bruce McLaren (Montjuic Park)

Closest winning margin 0.014S, 1986 – Ayrton Senna-Nigel Mansell (Jerez)

Rain-affected races 3, 1972 – 1992 – 1996

Safety Car-affected races 4, 2003 – 2005 – 2008 – 2009

Red Flag (and result declared) races 1, 1975

Fastest race 2006 66 laps @1hr 26m 21.759s

Slowest race (here) 1954 80 laps@ 3hr 13m 52.1s (Pedrables)

Most pole positions (driver) 7 Michael Schumacher 1994 – 1995 – 2000 – 2001 – 2002 – 2003 – 2004

Most pole positions (constructor) 13 Ferrari 1951 – 68 – 71 – 72 – 74 – 75 – 2000 – 01 – 02 – 03 – 04 – 07 – 08

What Happened last race here?

Nico Rosberg took his first victory of the 2015 season as the Mercedes Formula 1 team secured a commanding one-two.

The German led away from pole and remained unthreatened for the duration of the race, with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton second 17.5 seconds adrift and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel 27.7s further back in third at the finish.

Hamilton lost a place to Vettel at the start and after struggling to find a way past, Mercedes called him in to try the undercut.

But a problem fitting the left-rear tyre lost Hamilton three seconds so when Vettel pitted the next lap, he easily came out in front of him.

Hamilton did a three-stop strategy. In contrast, Vettel stayed out to suggest he was on a two-stopper. When the German pitted with 26 laps to go, he rejoined behind Hamilton, who was pushing hard to try to build a gap to enable him to pit and rejoin ahead of Vettel.

And it worked out, with Hamilton exiting the pits after his third stop, and on fresher medium tyres, well clear of Vettel.

Valtteri Bottas finished fourth for Williams, ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and the other Williams of Felipe Massa.

Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Sunday 10 May 2015. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, Tony Ross, Race Engineer, Mercedes AMG, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG and Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari on the podium.

2015 Race Classification

Did you know?

DRIVERS

✪ Lewis Hamilton will be looking for his 44th F1 career win aboard of course car ♯44.

✪ Hamilton has set 33 of his 51 pole positions to date on Pirelli tyres. It is 2 more than any other driver in the history of F1 (Vettel next-best 31)

✪ Hamilton is now just 17 pole positions from equalling Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68 F1 GP pole positions. Since he has

been at Mercedes he has taken pole 25 times already. That is over 40% of all races he’s started for the team (25/ 61 = 41.0%)

✪ Hamilton has won (43) 25.1% of all GP he’s started (171) and is in the top 10 drivers races to win ratio of all-time. This is how he compares:-

1. Fangio 47.0%, 2. Ascari 40.6%, 3. Clark 34.7%, 4. M.Schumacher 29.7%, 5. Ja.Stewart 27.2% 6. Vettel 26.1% (42/ 161), 7.Prost 25.6%
2. Senna 25.5%, 9. Hamilton 25.1%, 10. Moss 24.2%

✪ Hamilton has led just 1 race lap so far in 2016 (0.4%). Last year he led 587 of 1,149 race laps (51%). After 4 GP in ‘15 he’d led 168 laps (74%)

✪ If Hamilton leads in Spain he will then have led 87 F1 GP, 1 more than his idol Ayrton Senna. Only Michael Schumacher has led more (116)

✪ Just 5 points separates Hamilton from Sebastian Vettel at the top of the all-time F1 points table (1924 – 1929)

✪ Hamilton equalled Niki Lauda’s 171 GP starts in Russia. Nico Rosberg meanwhile in Russia equalled Lauda’s 24 pole positions

✪ Rosberg has won the past 7 GP. It represents his best run ever in his whole motor racing career to date

✪ An 8th win in a row for Rosberg in Spain will beat the best run achieved by Michael Schumacher (Europe 2004 to Hungary 2004 inclusive). It

would also mean that then only Sebastian Vettel and Alberto Ascari will have won more Grand Prix in a row (9) than Rosberg

✪ Rosberg’s has now won 18 GP. Nobody has won more GP and not won the driver’s title at some point in their F1 career

✪ Rosberg (45 F1 podiums) has exactly half the number of F1 podiums of Hamilton (90)

✪ Vettel in Russia equalled Ayrton Senna’s 161 GP starts. In Spain he is scheduled to beat it

✪ Vettel in 161 GP to date has won 42 while Senna managed to win 41 GP in his 161 starts

CONSTRUCTORS’

✪ Mercedes aiming for an 11th pole in a row. Mercedes’ best-ever run of poles is 23 (Great Britain 2014 to Italy 2015 inclusive), and is beaten

only by Williams’s run of 24 poles in 1992 – 93

✪ Mercedes’s next pole position will be its 50th on Pirelli tyres (currently: Mercedes-1st [49], Red Bull Racing-2nd [37}, Ferrari-3rd (21])

✪ Mercedes won its 49th F1 World Championship race victory in Russia. To date Mercedes has won just over one-third of all the F1 GP it has

has competed in (49 wins/ 131 races = 37.4%).

✪ Mercedes can beat Red Bull Racing’s 57 F1 pole positions with pole in Spain

✪ Mercedes is now just 1 win behind Red Bull’s F1 career total of 50

✪ A win on Sunday would be Mercedes’s 11th in a row and would equal the all-time record set by McLaren in 1988 (Brazil to Belgium inclusive)

✪ Mercedes has now finished in points for the last 62 GP in a row. It is the 3rd-best run of all-time. The most is 81 by Ferrari then McLaren on 64

✪ Mercedes and Ferrari have been represented on all 4 race podiums so far this season

SPANISH GRAND PRIX

✪ Ferrari has been stuck on 13 Spanish Grand Prix pole positions since 2008

✪ Ferrari has won 1 more Spanish GP (12) than the combined number of Spanish GP wins of Mercedes (2), Red Bull (2) and Williams (7)

✪ 2016 is the 30th anniversary of one of the closest finishes in F1 history. Just 0.014 separated winner Ayrton Senna’s Lotus from the Williams of

runner-up Nigel Mansell after 72 laps at Jerez (0.01? – 1971 Italian GP, 0.011 stage-managed finish to 2002 US GP)

✪ The top 4 on the starting grid last year finished the race in the same order they had started it which was 1 better than the year before when

the top 3 on the starting grid finished 1-2-3 and in the same order in the race (so, last 2 years 1-2-3 on grid finished race in same order, 1-2-3)

✪ Nobody in the history of F1 has scored more World Championship points in Spain than Fernando Alonso 120 (MSC-118, VET-92, HAM-79)

World Drivers' Championship standings

World Constructors' Championship standings

Drivers penalty points: