F1 in 2016 - The Highs and The Lows Quiz

Answer: 34

Keke Rosberg became the first Finn to win the F1 world drivers' championship when he triumphed in 1982 - 34 years before his son Nico followed in his tyre tracks and three years before Nico was even born. Although they were only the second father-son combination to both become F1 world champions, they did set some record firsts, such as the first father and son to both win the Monaco Grand Prix (in 1983 and 2013 respectively). The first father and son champions were Graham Hill (1962 and 1968) and Damon Hill (1996).

Nico Rosberg's first world title came at the end of his 11th season in the sport and after two consecutive years of watching his teammate Lewis Hamilton crowned world champion. Fortunately for him, his Mercedes team remained dominant for a third season and the greater reliability of Rosberg's particular Mercedes and his impressive consistency throughout the year finally resulted in him coming out on top. He claimed the title with a second-place finish at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, after winning a total of nine races to Hamilton's ten. His first title also proved to be his final one as he announced his retirement from the sport less than a week later.

Answer: Lewis Hamilton

The basic premise of the new 'elimination style' qualifying was that a few minutes after the start of each section of the qualifying session, a 'countdown' clock would start ticking and the slowest driver when the clock reached zero would be eliminated, with the clock then being reset and the process repeated. It was introduced following a somewhat dubious claim that qualifying needed to be made more exciting but turned out to be difficult to follow and excessively complicated. The fact it hadn't been properly tested didn't help and the expected tension of drivers battling to avoid elimination never really materialised as more often than not they were just sitting in the pits watching the timer count down because of a lack of time, tyres or fuel to complete a lap.

After the first race in Australia, team bosses were unanimous in declaring the new system a disaster and promised to revert to the previous system for the next race. However, F1 shot itself in the foot again when the bureaucratic decision-making process failed to implement their and the fans' wishes. The system duly reappeared in Bahrain, was equally unsuccessful and unpopular and finally dropped. Lewis Hamilton had taken pole position on both occasions but failed to convert either of them into victory.

In total, Lewis Hamilton took 12 of the 21 pole positions on offer during the 2016 season and secured the FIA Pole Trophy for the second year in a row. Nico Rosberg took eight poles and Daniel Ricciardo's sole pole at Monaco was the only one claimed by a non-Mercedes driver.

Answer: Spanish Grand Prix

Max Verstappen was 18 years and 228 days old when he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix and became the first driver to win on his debut with the Red Bull team. The result provided a speedy justification of the controversial decision by Red Bull's senior management to promote Verstappen from their junior team Toro Rosso after just four races of the season. However, he had started the race from fourth place on the grid, one slot behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and effectively inherited the victory thanks to the two Mercedes drivers crashing out of the race at the first corner and the poor pit stop strategy Red Bull devised for Ricciardo.

The victory meant that Verstappen broke Sebastian Vettel's record for youngest F1 race winner, which had stood since Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at the age of 21 years and 73 days. Since the race was also the teenager's first podium finish and the first time he had led a grand prix, he also set new records for the youngest driver to achieve both of those milestones (again breaking Vettel's records in the process).

Answer: false

Although Russian driver Daniil Kvyat's season (and F1 career) took a significant step backwards with his demotion to Red Bull's junior team, Toro Rosso, after his home race, it didn't go quite as badly for him as not scoring any points at all. In his 17 races for Toro Rosso in 2016 he finished in the points on three occasions (including his first time out for the team in Spain), which netted him the grand total of four points. By contrast, in the first four races of the season with Red Bull he scored 21 points and stood on the podium at the Chinese Grand Prix.

To add insult to injury, Kvyat's replacement - Max Verstappen - set a new F1 record for the youngest driver to win an F1 race when he won on his debut in Kvyat's former car at the Spanish Grand Prix. Kvyat's only (probably minor) consolation was that he was able to set the fastest lap of the race - the first time both he or Toro Rosso had achieved that honour. However, Kvyat's reputation suffered further during the season as he was consistently outperformed by his Toro Rosso teammate, Carlos Sainz.

Answer: 5th place at the Bahrain Grand Prix

The Haas team, founded by the American NASCAR team owner Gene Haas, competed in their first F1 race at the Australian Grand Prix. Their lead driver Romain Grosjean brought the car home in sixth place - the best result for a brand new team on their debut since Toyota finished sixth in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. They then went one place better at the second race of the season in Bahrain where Grosjean was one of only six cars to complete the race distance without being lapped. However, they couldn't keep up their strong start for the rest of the season - a seventh place in Austria, eighth place in Russia and tenth place at their home race in the USA were their only other points-scoring finishes of the year and all were brought home by Grosjean. His teammate, Esteban Gutierrez, finished 11th and pointless on five separate occasions and was consequently dropped by the team at the end of the season.

Haas's total haul of 29 points in 2016 was an amazing result in the context of the lack of success for new teams in F1 in the earlier part of the decade. Of the three new teams who had their debut in 2010, none scored a single point in their first three seasons, at which point the first of them (HRT) folded and withdrew from the sport. The other two - Lotus/Caterham and Virgin/Marussia/Manor - went through various owners but collapsed in 2014 and 2016 respectively, with only the latter having ever managed a points-scoring result.

Answer: Stoffel Vandoorne

Alonso's dramatic moment in the 2016 Australian Grand Prix occurred on lap 16 when he ran into the back of the Haas car driven by Esteban Gutierrez. His McLaren speared off up into the air, hit the left-hand barriers, entered the gravel trap and barrel-rolled a few times before coming to rest in an almost unrecognisable heap up against the far barrier. Thankfully Alonso was able to crawl out of the wreckage and limp away, to the obvious relief of the unfortunate Gutierrez who had a considerably less painful journey to the same gravel trap.

It later transpired that Alonso had suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung as a result of the incident and was therefore unfit to race in the Bahrain Grand Prix (he had previously missed the 2015 Australian Grand Prix after an accident in pre-season testing). His spot was taken by the young Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who duly finished 10th on his grand prix debut and out-qualified his former world champion teammate Jenson Button in the process. It came as little surprise when, later in the season, Vandoorne was announced as Button's replacement for 2017.

The incorrect options all made their F1 race debuts in 2016; Pascal Wehrlein and Jolyon Palmer debuted at the Australian Grand Prix for Manor and Renault respectively and Esteban Ocon started his F1 career at the Belgian Grand Prix with Manor. The other rookie driver to compete during the 2016 season was Rio Haryanto, who drove for Manor for the first 12 races but was then replaced by Ocon.

Answer: Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez finished third at two street circuit races in 2016 - the famous Monaco Grand Prix and the new European Grand Prix held around the streets of Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. These two results alone contributed 30 points to his final season total of 101 - the first time he had managed to break the 100 point barrier despite having previously driven for McLaren. He had 14 other points scoring finishes, including a streak of 10 in a row from the German Grand Prix in July to the season-ending race at Abu Dhabi in November. Perez's Force India team also claimed fourth place in the constructors' championship for the first time in 2016 thanks to both his contribution and the 72 points notched up by his teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

Valtteri Bottas scored one third-place podium finish for Williams in 2016 and ended up with a total of 85 points, one place behind Perez in the drivers' championship. Nico Hulkenberg's best result of the year was a fourth-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix, while Carlos Sainz finished sixth on three occasions for Toro Rosso.

Answer: Pascal Wehrlein

It was Pascal Wehrlein - who was also an official test driver for the reigning champions Mercedes in 2016 - who recorded Manor's first and only points finish of the season in Austria. It was a particularly impressive weekend for Wehrlein as he qualified the Manor in 12th place on the grid (having been 10th fastest in the first part of the qualifying session) and finished the race ahead of both Renaults, both Saubers, the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez and his teammate Rio Haryanto. He had also survived a nervy moment at the start of the race when he accidentally pulled up in the wrong grid slot and was forced to reverse back to his own one just seconds before the start lights came on.

For most of the season it looked like Wehrlein's single point would be enough for Manor to claim 10th place in the constructors' championship and the millions of dollars in prize money that came with it. However, Felipe Nasr's excellent result for Sauber in the penultimate race of the season dashed their hopes and ultimately resulted in Manor's collapse. Following the final race of the season, Manor were put into administration and eventually wound up; the lost prize money was specifically noted as a key factor in the demise of the team that had been racing in F1 under various guises since 2010.

In an interesting twist of fate, following the end of the 2016 season Pascal Wehrlein signed to race for Sauber in 2017. Rio Haryanto and Esteban Ocon shared the second Manor in 2016, while Will Stevens competed for the team in 2015 (and also failed to score any points).

Answer: McLaren

In 2015, McLaren scored only 27 points, their worst points total since 1980 (excluding 2007 when they were stripped of all of their points as a result of the 'Spygate' scandal). Therefore it didn't require much improvement in performance to result in a much better haul of 72 points in 2016. However, for a team that had previously won multiple constructors' and drivers' world championship titles, 72 points still represented a pretty bad season overall. The team's dramatic slide down to ninth in the constructors' championship in 2015 coincided with their switch from Mercedes to Honda power, when the Japanese car giant suffered a painful return to F1 with an engine that lacked both power and reliability compared to those produced by their more established rivals. Engine improvements introduced in 2016 resulted in a more respectable sixth place finish.

McLaren's best results in 2016 were the two fifth-place finishes claimed by Fernando Alonso at the Monaco and US Grands Prix. His teammate Jenson Button's best result was sixth place in Austria.

Ferrari, Sauber and Williams all dropped places in the constructors' championship compared with 2015. Ferrari fell one place from second to third, Sauber dropped two places from eighth to tenth and Williams also lost two places, going from third to fifth.

Answer: Engine failure with 16 laps to go

A season that included 10 F1 victories, 17 podium finishes, 380 points, just two retirements and second place in the world championship wouldn't normally be considered a 'low point' in a driver's career, but in Lewis Hamilton's case the loss of his championship title to Nico Rosberg meant it couldn't really be considered a 'high point' either. The fact that he retired from just two races - one accident and one mechanical failure - disguised the impact that a lack of engine reliability had on his season. He suffered multiple engine problems and failures in various practice and qualifying sessions in the early part of the season, which affected his race results and led to penalties later in the season when he exceeded his engine allowance.

The key turning point in the championship occurred at the Malaysian Grand Prix when Hamilton's engine let him down again and exploded in a dramatic and fiery fashion while he was comfortably leading the race. The loss of the 25 points for that victory turned a potential five point lead in the championship into an actual 23 point deficit - a gap he was unable to overcome despite winning the last four races of the season.

It was Rosberg that collided with Vettel at the first corner of the first lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix and the first lap collision between Hamilton and Rosberg occurred at the Spanish Grand Prix. Neither Hamilton or Rosberg suffered a last lap gearbox failure during 2016, but Rosberg did have significant trouble with his gearbox during the final laps of the British Grand Prix.