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Although there were only a few newcomers in the 2016 season, their initial race results were mixed. Here is a brief overview of their performances during their Formula 1 debuts.
A first season can be as much about learning the ropes as it is about chasing podium finishes, and this year's opening round proved just that. Renault's return to motorsport, with its iconic yellow livery, caused a sensation, but the French team had set itself a more modest goal: simply to cross the finish line. Rookie Jolyon Palmer, son of former Tyrrell driver David Palmer, embodied this pragmatic ambition. After outqualifying his teammate Kevin Magnussen, the Brit avoided the chaos of the first lap that saw Magnussen return to the pits with a flat tire and drove his Renault to 11th place, just outside the points but exactly as team boss Frédéric Vasseur had hoped.
On the other side of the grid, the two newcomers from Manor were busy racking up miles. Germany's Pascal Wehrlein and Indonesia's Rio Haryanto were given cars that weren't particularly fast, but the experience was invaluable. Haryanto's weekend was ruined early on when he collided with Romain Grosjean's Haas as the Frenchman was leaving the pit lane during the third free practice session. The incident, widely blamed on the team's pit lane exit, earned the 23-year-old a grid penalty that forced him to start at the back of the field. A technical problem then ended his race almost immediately after the start. Wehrlein, meanwhile, managed to stay with the front runners, finishing alongside Felipe Nasr's Sauber and Jenson Button's McLaren, but still at the back of the field. For a team hoping to cause a surprise after fitting its cars with Mercedes engines, the result was modest but not without merit. However, it was the newcomers from Haas who made the headlines. In a debut that echoed Toyota's surprise entry in 2002, Romain Grosjean scored the team's first ever points in his very first Grand Prix, marking a historic start for a brand new team in Formula 1.
