2016 Australian Grand Prix

Entrants

The race marks the competitive début of the Haas F1 Team and its VF-16, as well as Renault’s return as a fully manufacturer-supported constructor after four years. Jolyon Palmer makes his race début for Renault. Rio Haryanto makes his début for Manor, becoming the first Indonesian driver in Formula One.

Tyres

Pirelli brings three compounds for the first time under the new regulations: super-soft, soft and medium. Every driver receives two prescribed sets for the race — one of which must be used — and an additional set for Q3; the remaining ten sets are chosen freely from the three compounds. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have made different allocation choices, with Rosberg selecting an extra set of mediums rather than softs.

Practice

Three sessions are held: two 90-minute sessions on Friday and one 60-minute session on Saturday morning. Rain before the first session left the track wet and slippery; drivers went out on intermediates before conditions improved enough for slick tyres. Hamilton set the fastest time overall at 1:29.725. Max Verstappen flat-spotted his tyres after spinning at turn six, while Valtteri Bottas and Rio Haryanto both went through the gravel. Near the end of the session, rain returned and caught out Räikkönen and Ricciardo, whose Red Bull was left stuck in a gravel trap at turn twelve.

A second rain shower rendered FP2 wet throughout, limiting all running to intermediate tyres. Hamilton was again fastest (1:38.841). Rosberg crashed at turn seven thirty minutes in, damaging a new-specification front wing the team had deliberately kept out of FP1 to protect it; he was told to stop on track, ending his session early. Rosberg apologised for the incident. The two Sauber cars and Verstappen’s Toro Rosso did not leave the garage.

Saturday’s final session ran in dry conditions. Hamilton topped again at 1:25.624, less than two-tenths ahead of Rosberg, with Vettel third. A major incident opened the session: Rio Haryanto and Romain Grosjean collided in the pit lane, damaging both cars. Haas replaced Grosjean’s floor; Haryanto received a three-place grid penalty and two penalty points for the incident.

Qualifying

The race introduces the new elimination-style qualifying format, in which the slowest driver at a given point is eliminated every ninety seconds once the countdown starts. The format has drawn immediate criticism from teams, drivers and commentators before qualifying has even begun.