Sarah Jones Top 10 moments of F1 2016 so far

My top 10 moments from the 2016 F1 season so far

We are just over half way through the 2016 season and what a season we have been treated to so far! The season may have sparked reasons for concerns and debate for many pundits and fans regarding for example why the Halo safety device that the FIA, team and drivers have been pushing for 2017 which has now been delayed until at least until the 2018 season. But this hasn't stopped the drivers or the fans enjoying some thrilling and exciting racing where it matters, which is on the track.

The season so far has seen the Mercedes team and its drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg dominate at the front of the grid but along the way we have seen the best young drivers make their mark and sign of intent in the sport, a few moments of controversy and surprise that have made the first half of the F1 season truly magical to watch!

10. Grosjean's F1 debut for Haas in Australia

With Romain Grosjean leaving the Lotus team (now known as Renault) for the newly established Haas F1 team run by Gene Haas for the 2016 season. Many thought that Grosjean was making a huge mistake and taking a risk that he didn't need to take.

But at Haas's debut at the Australian Grand Prix, Grosjean after a fantastic drive secured a fantastic sixth place which was a fantastic achievement for him and also taking Haas' first points in the sport, proving the doubters wrong.

Grosjean achieved the impossible and impressed everyone with not just how quickly he got to grips with driving for newest team on the grid this season, but also showing that he is very well a potential talent of the future too.

9. Vandoorne's F1 debut at the Bahrain GP

With current GP2 Champion Stoffel Vandoorne joining the McLaren-Honda team as a test and reserve driver for the 2016 alongside racing in the Super Formula series in Japan, many thought that McLaren were making a huge mistake by not taking a risk to sign Vandoorne for this season as race driver.

However with Fernando Alonso suffering after an awful crash at the Australian Grand Prix; Vandoorne stepped in for Alonso who on orders of the doctors had to rest in order to recuperate.

But at Vandoorne's debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix after a fantastic drive, he secured a fantastic tenth place which was a fantastic achievement for him and also taking McLaren's first points of the season, proving the doubters wrong.

Vandoorne achieved the impossible and impressed everyone with not just how quickly he got to grips with driving the 2016 McLaren-Honda car, but also showing that he is very well a potential talent of the future too.

8. Ferrari's ridiculous strategy calls in Australia and Canada
With many pundits and fans believing that this would be the year that Ferrari would take the fight to the Mercedes team after their performance last season and also through pre-season testing.

However, the Ferrari team haven't had the impact that they would have liked. They haven't won any races so far this season, even though this could be been possible at the Australian and Canadian GP's but due to poor strategy calls this did not happen.

At the Australian GP, the Ferrari team put Sebastian Vettel on the wrong tyres which meant that he had to stop again during the race when the Mercedes driver did not have to. Meanwhile at the Canadian GP, the same happened to Vettel yet again and he had to stop one more time compared to the Mercedes.

And this did shock many of us, left us wondering what Ferrari was thinking and also wondering what Vettel was thinking especially after showing performance and pace in these two races.

7. Charles Leclerc's F1 Debut
It was announced during the early part of the season that Haas Development and GP3 driver Charles Leclerc would take part in the Friday Practice 1 session at the British.

However, Leclerc's run in Silverstone went according to plan and he finished in eighteenth place; just ahead of Mercedes' junior driver and Renault's test driver Esteban Ocon. What a fantastic achievement at his first attempt!

6. Manor scoring their first ever points with Wehrlein in Austria

With the Manor team making their debut into the sport in 2010 under Virgin Racing, the team has always maintained that they would struggle to score their first points in Formula One. But in 2014 we saw the Marussia team finally break their duck (so to speak) and finally achieve their first ever points (and more sadly Jules Bianchi's) in the sport with a great drive at the Monaco Grand Prix.

With the Marussia team going through a turbulent time during the 2014-2015 season due to them entering and exiting administration and the tragic death of Jules Bianchi last July, the team came back rebranded as the Manor Racing team.

But at the Austrian GP this season, Mercedes junior driver Pascal Wehrlein managed after a great performance all weekend long, Wehrlein finished an incredible tenth place after Sergio Perez suffered a brake failure that saw him crash out of the race and scored one vital point for himself and the Manor team that see them currently in tenth place in the Constructors Championship.

5. Rosberg and Mercedes being penalised for radio rules breech at the British GP
There has a lot of discussion and debate within the paddock and also on social media with fans after many believed that Nico Rosberg breached the rules regarding what can be communicated on the team radio between a driver and an engineer.

Rosberg was been demoted from second to third in the classification for the British Grand Prix after the stewards found Mercedes in breach of team radio restrictions. This was due to a gearbox problem in the closing stages of the race saw Rosberg slow before the team informed him to reset a setting via his steering wheel. This was deemed to be in compliance with the regulations, but he was then told to “avoid seventh gear” for the rest of the race.

The stewards deemed the second message to be in breach of Article 27.1 of the Sporting Regulations, which states the driver must drive the car alone and unaided.

The day after the British GP, the Mercedes team has decided not to appeal the stewards' decision at the British Grand Prix that dropped Nico Rosberg from second to third place in the final results.

The team withdrew its intention to appeal yesterday evening after analysing the reasons for the penalty and accepting the interpretation of the stewards.

After the decision was announced, the team had one hour in which to lodge its intention to appeal in order to open up a 96-hour window to confirm its appeal through its national sporting authority, the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund. With Mercedes opting not to take up the second stage of the appeal process, Rosberg's ten-second penalty and the resulting demotion from second to third will stand as the final result of the 2016 British Grand Prix.

This shocked many fans who believe that the rules regarding team radio were unnecessary and completely uncalled for and that while respecting the rules generally, issues that can impact on the driver and his safety need to be communicated.

4. Verstappen's first win at Barcelona

Even though by everybody's standards Max Verstappen has impressed a lot of people in the sport with his performances so far this season, not many people thought firstly he could battle Daniel Ricciardo (he has been more of a match for him personally) but also that Verstappen would win a Grand Prix this season.

But Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix with the Mercedes' drivers taking each other at the first lap, grabbed the opportunity and put himself in a position to take full advantage of the situation and claim his first win in Formula One magnificently and there is no doubt that this will be one of the most popular wins this season with the fans.

3. Hamilton V Rosberg in Spain

We saw at Spain just how dominant the Mercedes car and its drivers can be but what we did also see during the race is just how the partnership of Hamilton and Rosberg is not only thrilling and compelling to watch but also how things can get heated as well.

While battling each other for the lead, it was clear to see just how much competition there is between Hamilton and Rosberg. Hamilton was in pole position but was overtaken by Rosberg at the start, and when the British driver tried to regain the lead, he appeared to be blocked by his teammate and both cars touched going into Turn 4, spinning across the track and into the runoff area.

Both cars came to a stop in the gravel and could not continue. Hamilton, yet to lead after Turn 1 this season, was visibly upset and threw his steering wheel from the car. This then lead to both drivers having to explain themselves to the Mercedes team and potentially throwing away a 1-2 finish while many fans were either in shock and disbelief about what happened or expected this to happen again and who was to blame for the incident that will be talked about long after this season is over.

2. Rules changes by the FIA
This season we have seen the FIA having many rules changes that I've actually lost count. At the start of the season, the FIA announced that Qualifying at the Australian GP would be changed.

The three qualifying periods would remain still, with Q1 to run for 16 minutes, with the slowest car eliminated after seven minutes, and then every 90 seconds thereafter until 15 remain to head into Q2.

The second period is to run for 15 minutes, and will follow the same process as Q1, with the first driver to be eliminated after six minutes until eight remain. For the 14-minute Q3, the first driver will be knocked out after five minutes, with the session continuing until only the man on pole is left standing.

After the Australian GP, many fans took to social media (myself included) to express their dislike and disbelief for the new system and asking for the old one to be called back. It was only at the Chinese GP that the FIA got approval from the teams to switch back to the old system of Qualifying.

You think it ends there right? Oh no it doesn't. Add to the cauldron the debate surrounding the team radio rules that saw Rosberg being demoted to third at the British GP (see point 5), the FIA further clamping down on the rules heading into the next race in Hungary and to top it all off, Jenson Button in Hungary received a penalty for asking for his team's assistance when suffering from a brake problem.

This season as seen the FIA make some unnecessary and appalling decisions that many fans hated with a passion that were made to bring out more of a “show” in Formula One that in turn hindered it and made it in the public eye to be a sport that has in my opinion divorced itself from its roots and lost the spark of what it was, what it can be and what it needs to be and it has to regain that as soon as possible.

1. Daniil Kvyat being demoted back to the Toro Rosso team for the rest of the season
The moment that truly did shake Formula One, the teams, drivers and the fans this season so far was the news that Daniil Kvyat would be driving for the Toro Rosso team at the Spanish GP while Max Verstappen would be demoted to take his place at Red Bull Racing.

Red Bull took this decision due to the fact that Kvyat (who is more than talented to be at Red Bull when things go according to plan) wasn't performing as well as expected and felt that Verstappen who was performing amazingly well against Carlos Sainz Jr at Toro Rosso (Sainz Jr is more than talented and a match for Verstappen by the way!).

Many were wondering why Red Bull took this decision and I have to say while I understand why they did so; your heart went out to Kvyat who after this decision was made had to deal with the media constantly asking him why this happened, how did he find out and then Verstappen winning at his debut race with the Red Bull team in Spain.

At this stage of the season, Verstappen has taken to his new team like a duck to water whereas Kvyat has had to readjust back to life at Toro Rosso and has the most appalling bad luck that has seen struggle to get pace and performance out of the car.

Alongside this, many fans and people in the paddock are now worried about Kvyat's health after he had an incredibly hard race at the German GP and his demeanour in a post-race interview with Sky Sports F1. While I do understand why Red Bull made this shocking and maybe unfair decision towards Kvyat, it still shocked me because Kvyat is more than talented enough to be at Red Bull, he has shown he has the potential when everything goes well in a race weekend for him and personally, I can't imagine how he must be feeling.

But while my heart goes out to Kvyat, he needs to use the summer break to try and regain the spark that got him into Red Bull and Toro Rosso in the first place and show everyone who doubts his ability or talent to be in F1. But I wouldn't blame him if he left the sport for a new challenge at the end of the year for a series such as WEC but if that was happen (trust me I don't want him to go), I'd love for him to leave the sport with the justice he deserves on the track

What was your favourite or most shocking moment of what so far this season? It was extremely hard to choose from a season that has far so far produced some amazing races, decisions and changes that has kept fans glued to their screens and also looking for the latest news on the sport as well.

But with only a few weeks until the second half of the 2016 Formula One season resumes from its summer break at the next race at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit; will we see more on track battles, controversies, surprises and shocks in store ahead? Bring on the second half of the season!

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa