2016 F1 Powerboat World Championship Explained

The 2016 UIM F1 H2O World Championship was the 33rd season of Formula 1 Powerboat racing. The season consisted of seven races, beginning in Dubai, UAE on 4 March 2016, and ending in Sharjah, UAE on 16 December 2016, although initial plans indicated a ten race calendar.[1] [2]

Philippe Chiappe, driving for the CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team, entered the season as defending double world champion and successfully retained his title to become only the third driver in the sport's history to win three back-to-back drivers' championships.[3] In addition, Chiappe's CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team clinched their first teams' championship. Both the BRM Pole Position Trophy and Fast Lap Trophy were also won by Chiappe.

Teams and drivers

TeamHullEngineRace driversRoundsReserve driver
CTIC F1 Shenzhen China TeamMooreMercury 2.5 V61 Philippe ChiappeAll Peter Morin
2 Xiong ZiweiAll
Victory TeamVictory
Moore[4]
Mercury 2.5 V63 Nadir Bin Hendi[5] All
4 Shaun TorrenteAll
Team Abu DhabiDACMercury 2.5 V65 Thani Al QamziAll
6 Alex CarellaAll
7 Rashed Al Qamzi[6] 7
F1 Atlantic TeamDAC
Moore
Mercury 2.5 V69 Christophe LarigotAll
Moore10 Duarte BenaventeAll
Mad-Croc BaBa RacingBaBaMercury 2.5 V611 Sami Seliö[7] All Wynand de Jager
12 Filip RomsAll
Team SwedenMolgaardMercury 2.5 V614 Jonas AnderssonAll
15 Jesper ForssAll
EMIC Racing TeamDACMercury 2.5 V617 Grant Trask[8] 6–7
BaBa50 Marit StrømøyAll
DAC
Dragon[9]
51 Mike Szymura[10] All
BaBa80 Ivan Brigada2
Blaze Performance TeamDACMercury 2.5 V623 Bartek MarszalekAll Dietmar Kaiser[11]
Blaze24 Francesco CantandoAll
Emirates Racing TeamBaBaMercury 2.5 V627 Ahmed Al Hameli[12] 2–7 Scott Gillman
DAC28 Erik StarkAll
BaBa29 Ivan Brigada[13] 1
Maverick RacingMooreMercury 2.5 V673 Cédric Deguisne2–3
Source:[14]
Key
Regular boat/driver
Boat ineligible for team points

Team and driver changes

There was a considerable amount of continuity from 2015 into the 2016 season as far as team and driver line-ups were concerned. Following the upheaval the previous year, the driver pairings at CTIC China, Victory Team,[5] Team Abu Dhabi, Mad-Croc[7] and Team Sweden were all unchanged. At the F1 Atlantic Team, Youssef Al Rubayan had retired, and was replaced by former Team EMIC driver Christophe Larigot to partner regular driver Duarte Benavente. To replace Larigot, Team EMIC hired promising rookie Mike Szymura.[11] [10] The German was already a three-time F4-S champion and would drive a Jonathan Jones-built Dragon boat from the second round onwards.[9] Francesco Cantando's team retained himself and Bartek Marszalek as drivers, but lost their Motorglass sponsorship, thus reverting their name to Blaze Performance Team in deference to Cantando's self-built Blaze boats. Bernd Enzenhofer did not return for the team. At Emirates Racing, Ivan Brigada stood in for Ahmed Al Hameli at the opening round in Dubai,[13] though Al Hameli returned for France,[12] partnering Erik Stark for the rest of the year. Brigada meanwhile made a further appearance, this time for Team EMIC at Évian-les-Bains in a third boat. Cédric Deguisne's Maverick Racing team participated in the European rounds of the championship for a second year, while there were additional entries at the final two rounds. Grant Trask brought the Trask name back to Formula 1 powerboats when he drove a third boat for Team EMIC at both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah,[8] while Rashed Al Qamzi, cousin to Thani Al Qamzi, was rewarded for winning the F4-S title with a one-off drive in Sharjah in a third boat for Team Abu Dhabi.[6] Away from driver changes, another legend of the sport made a return to team activities as Renato Molinari joined the Emirates Team as Team Principal alongside Scott Gillman.[15]

The popularity of the Moore hulls which were being campaigned so successfully by Philippe Chiappe was in evidence in 2016 as the manufacturer made a surprise switch from CTIC China to officially support Victory Team midway through the year.[4] Victory had attempted to compete with their own hull, based closely on the Moore design,[16] but with results not forthcoming, were able to convince the French boat builder to switch sides. The decision paid off, with Shaun Torrente taking Victory's first F1 win at the final race of the year in a Moore hull. Thus Chiappe's 2016 title win was the first since Jay Price's championship in 2009 where the team was not the primary supported outfit of the hull manufacturer - DAC in the case of Price who were officially supporting Guido Cappellini.

Season calendar

A ten-race preliminary calendar for the 2016 championship was revealed in a press release on the sport's official website in January.[1] Amongst regular fixtures Abu Dhabi and Sharjah were two new races, with the championship scheduled to make its first appearances in Dubai and Croatia.[17] Races in France and Portugal returned after their re-introduction in 2015, although the Portuguese race switched venues from Porto back to its traditional location Portimão.[18] China returned to having two races on the calendar, an arrangement last seen in 2010 when three races from the country featured. An additional two rounds, expected to be in Asia, were left vacant by the announcement to be confirmed at a later date. Speculation linked one of these vacant slots to a proposed race in Phuket, Thailand,[19] which had provisionally held a slot on the 2015 calendar before the round was cancelled midway through the year. A race in Macau was also under negotiation to fill the other calendar slot.[20] Ultimately however, neither the Thai nor Macau race materialised, while the Croatian event was also cancelled, leaving the calendar at seven confirmed races for the year.

RoundRace titleDateCircuit locationRace winnerHull/engine
1 1st Grand Prix of Dubai4 MarchDubai Philippe ChiappeMoore/Mercury
2 20th Grand Prix of France17 JulyÉvian-les-Bains Alex CarellaDAC/Mercury
3 15th Grand Prix of Portugal31 JulyPortimão Philippe ChiappeMoore/Mercury
4 20th Grand Prix of China4 SeptemberHarbin[21] Sami SeliöBaBa/Mercury
5 21st Grand Prix of China3 OctoberLiuzhou Ahmed Al HameliBaBa/Mercury
6 24th Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi9 DecemberAbu Dhabi Jonas AnderssonMolgaard/Mercury
7 17th Grand Prix of Sharjah16 DecemberSharjah Shaun TorrenteMoore/Mercury

Results and standings

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers. A maximum of two boats per team were eligible for points in the teams' championship.

Position 1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  10th 
Points2015129754321

Drivers standings

PosDriverDUB
FRA
POR
CHN
CHN
ABU
SHA
Points
1 Philippe Chiappe1Ret1322297
2 Shaun Torrente333444183
3 Sami SeliöDNSRet2135366
4 Jonas Andersson4Ret4271466
5 Alex Carella215RetRet3Ret54
6 Filip Roms9213Ret107726
7 Erik StarkRetRet655Ret526
8 Ahmed Al Hameli89Ret1RetRet25
9 Duarte Benavente678788825
10 Marit StrømøyRet6116Ret6917
11 Cedric Deguisne4129
12 Xiong Ziwei5Ret14911RetRet9
13 Thani Al QamziRetRet7DSQ6RetRet9
14 Christophe Larigot12515111210Ret8
15 Bartek Marszalek10DNS108Ret9Ret7
16 Grant Trask1265
17 Ivan Brigada7Ret4
18 Mike Szymura1310Ret10913Ret4
19 Francesco Cantando8Ret17RetRet11Ret3
20 Nadir Bin Hendi11916DNS1414103
21 Jesper ForssRetDNS18Ret13RetRet0
Rashed Al QamziRet0

Teams standings

Only boats with results eligible for points counting towards the teams' championship are shown here.

PosTeamBoat
No.
DUB
FRA
POR
CHN
CHN
ABU
SHA
Points
1 CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team11Ret13222106
25Ret14911RetRet
2 Mad-Croc BaBa Racing11DNSRet2135392
129213Ret1077
3 Victory Team311916DNS14141086
43334441
4 Team Sweden144Ret4271466
15RetDNS18Ret13RetRet
5 Team Abu Dhabi5RetRet7DSQ6RetRet63
6215RetRet3Ret
6 Emirates Racing Team2789Ret1RetRet55
28RetRet655Ret5
297
7 F1 Atlantic Team912515111210Ret33
106787888
8 EMIC Racing Team50Ret6116Ret6921
511310Ret10913Ret
9 Blaze Performance Team2310DNS108Ret9Ret10
248Ret17RetRet11Ret
10 Maverick Racing734129

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Dubai to Open 2016 Season. F1H2O. 25 January 2016. 25 January 2016.
  2. News: Dubai to host F1h2O season opener. David Sewell. Raceboat International. 25 January 2016. 25 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160202102735/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/dubai-to-host-f1h20-season-opener/. 2 February 2016. dead. dmy-all.
  3. News: Torrente Wins in Sharjah - Chiappe Crowned World Champion. F1H2O. 16 December 2016. 21 December 2016.
  4. News: Victory Team Opts for Moore of the Same!. F1H2O. 15 July 2016. 17 July 2016.
  5. News: Victory Team Begins an Historic 'new Era' in Dubai!. F1H2O. 19 February 2016. 21 February 2016.
  6. News: Rashed Al Qamzi Makes F1H2O Debut in Sharjah. F1H2O. 14 December 2016. 21 December 2016.
  7. News: Selio Ready and Set to Fight for Title. F1H2O. 17 February 2016. 21 February 2016.
  8. News: Trask Family Returns to F1H2O Joining EMIC Racing Team in Abu Dhabi!. F1H2O. 28 November 2016. 21 December 2016.
  9. News: Szymura Enjoys First Experience of the Jones Dragon. F1H2O. 23 June 2016. 17 July 2016.
  10. News: F4-S Trophy Champion Mike Szymura Steps Up Into F1H2O to Join Team EMIC. F1H2O. 10 February 2016. 12 February 2016.
  11. News: Germans join UIM World F1h2o fleet. David Sewell. Raceboat International. 10 February 2016. 10 February 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160229031418/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/germans-join-uim-world-f1h2o-fleet/. 2016-02-29. dead.
  12. News: Ahmed Al Hameli Returns to Emirate Racing. David Sewell. Raceboat International. 7 July 2016. 17 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160825181823/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/ahmed-al-hameli-returns-emirate-racing/. 25 August 2016. dead. dmy-all.
  13. News: UIM F1 H2O replaces Class 1 in Dubai. David Sewell. Raceboat International. 2 March 2016. 3 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160307211150/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/uim-f1-h20-replaces-class-1-in-dubai/. 2016-03-07. dead.
  14. News: Exciting 18 Strong Driver Line Up for Grand Prix of Dubai. F1H2O. 12 February 2016. 12 February 2016.
  15. News: "Hall-Of-Fame Legend" Renato Molinari Joins Emirates Racing Team!. F1H2O. 18 November 2016. 21 December 2016.
  16. News: Spot the difference. David Sewell. Raceboat International. 10 December 2015. 21 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075321/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/spot-the-difference/. 4 March 2016. dead. dmy-all.
  17. News: Attractive Water Formula 1 World Championship Coming to Croatia in June. Danni Matijaca. Total Croatia News. 27 January 2016. 3 February 2016.
  18. News: F1H2O WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO PORTIMAO. F1H2O. 11 April 2016. 11 April 2016.
  19. News: UIM F1H2o heading to Phuket in Thailand this November?. David Sewell. Raceboat International. 27 February 2016. 3 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160307211153/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/uim-f1h2o-heading-to-phuket-in-thailand-this-november/. 7 March 2016. dead. dmy-all.
  20. News: F1 dos barcos quer vir a Macau e negociações já começaram. Sergio Fonseca. Hoje Macau. 25 February 2016. 3 March 2016.
  21. News: Preparations Underway As Harbin Gets Green Light to Host Round Four. F1H2O. 27 May 2016. 17 July 2016.