Formula 1

About the season

At the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton and Rosberg collided as Hamilton tried to reclaim the lead from his teammate - both Mercedes retired, and 18-year-old Max Verstappen, freshly promoted to Red Bull, won on his debut for the team to become F1's youngest ever race winner. Rosberg won all of the final four races of the season and edged Hamilton by just five points to claim the only world title of his career. Barely five days after winning the championship, Rosberg announced his immediate retirement at the FIA prize-giving gala in Paris, citing time with his family and wanting to stop at his peak. The retirement stunned Formula 1: Rosberg became the first world champion in the sport's history to walk away immediately after winning the title. Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Drivers' Championship with 385 points (Mercedes), 5 points ahead of the runner-up. Mercedes won the Constructors' Championship with 765 points, 297 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 21 completed races this season, there were 84 retirements. 4 different drivers won a race this season. Lewis Hamilton took the most race wins, 10 in total. Rosberg won the season-opening race, the Australian Grand Prix. The most dominant win of the season came at the Chinese Grand Prix, with a margin of 37.8 seconds. The season's biggest upset win came from Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix, starting from grid position 4. The Monaco Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 7 drivers failing to finish. Hamilton made the biggest gain of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix, from grid position 21 to finishing 3 (up 18 places). The closest finish of the season came at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.439 seconds. Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the season.