The Mexican Grand Prix returned to the calendar for the first time since 1992, held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The German Grand Prix was cancelled after neither the Nürburgring nor the Hockenheimring could agree to host the event, leaving Germany off the Formula One calendar for the first time since 1960. The Grand Prix of America and the Indian Grand Prix were also absent.
McLaren ended their 20-year partnership with Mercedes-Benz, returning to a full-works Honda supply. Honda had previously supplied McLaren from 1988 to 1992 and had been absent from Formula One since 2008. Lotus ended its 20-year involvement with Renault as an engine supplier, switching to Mercedes. Both Caterham F1 and Marussia went into administration at the end of 2014. Marussia re-entered as Manor Marussia after new investment was secured in February 2015. Caterham folded entirely and its assets were auctioned.
Sebastian Vettel left Red Bull Racing after six years, joining Ferrari in place of Fernando Alonso. Alonso returned to McLaren, replacing Kevin Magnussen. Following a pre-season testing accident, Alonso withdrew from the Australian Grand Prix and Magnussen deputised. Daniil Kvyat was promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull to fill Vettel's seat. Toro Rosso replaced Kvyat and Jean-Éric Vergne with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen — the latter becoming the youngest Formula One debutant at 17 years, 164 days. Sauber replaced Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil with former Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson and GP2 driver Felipe Nasr. Manor Marussia fielded Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi; American GP2 driver Alexander Rossi replaced Merhi from the Singapore Grand Prix for five of the final seven rounds. Jules Bianchi was in a coma at the season's start from injuries sustained at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix and died during the season.
Power unit allocation was reduced from five to four per driver per season. New power unit manufacturers were permitted one additional unit in their first season; Honda was the only affected manufacturer. Engine development was restricted to half the level permitted in 2014.
Nose designs were required to taper to a point at a fixed linear rate, outlawing the dramatic "finger" shapes of 2014. Minimum car weight was raised to 702 kg. The front-and-rear interconnected suspension (FRIC) ban was formalised. Anti-intrusion panels were extended to the rim of the cockpit alongside the driver's head. Titanium skid blocks became mandatory, producing sparks as the underbody touched the track.
A new ten-second penalty was introduced alongside the existing five-second stop penalty. A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) procedure was introduced, obliging all drivers to match a prescribed speed when double yellow flags were shown without requiring the physical safety car. Radio communications giving drivers race-start instructions (torque map settings etc.) were banned from the Belgian Grand Prix onward. Drivers were prohibited from changing helmet designs during the season.
Mercedes won the opening round in Australia with a one-two finish, more than 30 seconds clear of Vettel in third. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo finished a lap down in sixth; team principal Christian Horner stated the Renault Energy F1-2015 was 100 horsepower down on the Mercedes PU106B Hybrid. Honda detuned its power units for the opening races to prioritise reliability; Jenson Button finished McLaren's first race last among classified finishers, two laps down.
Manor Marussia arrived in Australia with a car that had passed crash tests but completed no testing; their computers had been wiped during administration proceedings. The team could not start in Australia but raced from Malaysia onward.
Ferrari proved more competitive than in 2014. Vettel won in Malaysia and was within three points of the championship lead after that result. Kimi Räikkönen described the SF15-T as "much better" than the 2014 car; he secured his first podium since rejoining Ferrari with a second in Bahrain.
Rosberg won in Spain and Monaco, cutting Hamilton's lead to ten points by mid-season. The Monaco result followed a Mercedes strategy error that pitted Hamilton — who held a 19-second lead — under a Virtual Safety Car period with 14 laps remaining; Rosberg and Vettel, who did not pit, passed him at the pit exit. The VSC was used for the first time in Formula One history during that race. Jenson Button scored McLaren's first points of the season in Monaco with eighth place.
Mercedes responded with first-and-second finishes in Canada, Austria, and Britain, extending their lead to 160 points over Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa gave Williams podiums in Canada and Austria respectively. Vettel won in Hungary but fell out of the points in Belgium after a tyre failure on the penultimate lap. Hamilton clinched the FIA Pole Trophy with his tenth pole position of the season in Belgium.
Vettel won in Singapore, closing to within eight points of Rosberg in second. Alexander Rossi made his Formula One début at Singapore for Manor Marussia. Hamilton won in Japan after passing Rosberg on the opening corner; Rosberg retired on lap seven in Russia. Hamilton then won the United States Grand Prix, with Rosberg and Vettel second and third, securing his third Drivers' Championship. Rosberg won the final three races in Mexico, Brazil, and Abu Dhabi, reclaiming second in the championship from Vettel.
Lewis Hamilton won the Drivers' Championship, the FIA Pole Trophy (11 pole positions), and the DHL Fastest Lap Award. Ferrari won the inaugural DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award, posting the fastest pit stop at seven of the first eighteen races. Max Verstappen received three post-season awards: Rookie of the Year, Personality of the Year, and Action of the Year for his overtake on Felipe Nasr through Blanchimont at the Belgian Grand Prix. Both Hamilton and Mercedes collected their championship trophies at a gala in Paris on 4 December 2015.
Sauber faced a legal challenge from former Caterham driver Giedo van der Garde, who claimed the team had reneged on a June 2014 contract. The Supreme Court of Victoria found in van der Garde's favour, though he later agreed not to race in Australia; the parties settled for an undisclosed sum. Lotus faced financial difficulties throughout the season: Pirelli withheld tyres for Friday practice in Hungary over unpaid debts. Before the Belgian Grand Prix, former Lotus reserve driver Charles Pic filed suit alleging breach of contract. Belgian authorities moved to impound Lotus assets for four days following the race before the team was allowed to leave with its equipment.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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