2015 Season

Driver changes

The grid is reshaped by a cascade of moves. Sebastian Vettel left Red Bull Racing — his team for six years — to join Scuderia Ferrari on a multi-year deal, replacing Fernando Alonso. Alonso departed Ferrari to return to McLaren, the team he last raced for in 2007, taking the seat vacated by Kevin Magnussen. Alonso suffered a concussion in a pre-season testing crash at Barcelona, however, and will miss the opening round in Australia; Magnussen returns for that race as his substitute.

To fill Vettel’s vacated Red Bull seat, Daniil Kvyat is promoted from Toro Rosso. His departure, combined with the decision not to renew Jean-Éric Vergne’s contract, prompts a complete line-up change at the junior team. Replacing both are 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 champion Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen, who finished third in the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Verstappen becomes the youngest driver to make a Formula One début at 17 years and 164 days.

At Sauber, Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil are released, replaced by former Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson and GP2 driver Felipe Nasr. Manor Marussia sign Will Stevens for his first full season and Roberto Merhi on a short-term deal. Jules Bianchi, who has been in a coma since his crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, cannot race.

Lewis Hamilton, the defending champion, announces he will not exercise his option to race with the number 1, retaining his career number 44. It is the first season since 1994 — when Alain Prost retired after his fourth title — that no number 1 car appears on the grid.

Team changes

McLaren end their 20-year partnership with Mercedes-Benz in favour of a return to works Honda power. Honda had previously supplied McLaren from 1988 to 1992, then competed as a constructor until 2008; this marks their first return to Formula One since 2009.

Lotus end their longstanding relationship with Renault and switch to Mercedes engines, concluding a 20-year connection between Renault and the Enstone-based operation, which had raced as Benetton, then Renault, before becoming Lotus in 2012.

Caterham F1, which entered administration during 2014, ultimately folds and its assets are auctioned. Marussia narrowly avoids liquidation: new investment is secured in February 2015 and the team re-enters as Manor Marussia, running a modified 2014-specification Ferrari-powered chassis that meets updated safety and dimensional standards.

Calendar

The 2015 season comprises 19 races. The most significant addition is the return of the Mexican Grand Prix, held for the first time since 1992 at the substantially reconfigured Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

The German Grand Prix is cancelled after a venue agreement cannot be reached between the Nürburgring and the Hockenheimring — Germany is absent from the Formula One calendar for the first time since 1960. The Korean Grand Prix, despite appearing on the provisional calendar, is also abandoned.

To ensure races do not begin with less than four hours of daylight remaining, start times for five Grands Prix — Australia, Malaysia, China, Japan, and Russia — are moved one hour earlier compared to 2014.

Regulation changes

The number of power units permitted per driver is reduced from five to four per season. When a grid penalty for component changes cannot be applied in full, the remainder is now converted to an in-race time penalty rather than carried over to the following event. A new ten-second stop-and-go penalty applies for unsafe releases from the pit lane.

Nose designs are revised following the backlash over the extreme “finger” shapes of 2014. Noses must taper to a point at a fixed linear rate and be symmetrical about the car’s centreline, banning the most dramatic designs seen in the previous season.

The minimum car weight rises by 10 kg to 702 kg, addressing concerns that the previous limit forced taller drivers to cut weight unhealthily. Titanium skid blocks on the underside of the car are made mandatory, producing sparks when the floor contacts the track surface. The Virtual Safety Car procedure, trialled at the end of 2014, is formally introduced: when double-waved yellows are needed but a full safety car is not warranted, drivers must reduce to a designated speed shown on their steering wheel.

From the Belgian Grand Prix onward, radio communication from engineers to drivers regarding race start settings — including torque map recommendations — is banned. Drivers may also no longer change their helmet design in-season.

Pre-season testing

Testing is held at Jerez and at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Mercedes confirm their pace from 2014 while Williams appear quick and reliable, and Ferrari show a notable step forward. Red Bull, running their car in black-and-white camouflage, complete only the second-fewest laps at Jerez, struggling with Renault engine reliability. McLaren-Honda complete 380 laps across both tests — almost half the total of the next-lowest team, Force India — before Fernando Alonso crashes during the second Barcelona session and is hospitalised with concussion, ruling him out of Melbourne.