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.
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. 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 Team Hull Engine Race drivers Rounds Reserve driver CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team Moore Mercury 2.5 V6 1 Philippe Chiappe All Peter Morin 2 Xiong Ziwei All Victory Team VictoryMoore Mercury 2.5 V6 3 Nadir Bin Hendi All 4 Shaun Torrente All Team Abu Dhabi DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 5 Thani Al Qamzi All 6 Alex Carella All 7 Rashed Al Qamzi 7 F1 Atlantic Team DACMoore Mercury 2.5 V6 9 Christophe Larigot All Moore 10 Duarte Benavente All Mad-Croc BaBa Racing BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 11 Sami Seliö All Wynand de Jager 12 Filip Roms All Team Sweden Molgaard Mercury 2.5 V6 14 Jonas Andersson All 15 Jesper Forss All EMIC Racing Team DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 17 Grant Trask 6–7 BaBa 50 Marit Strømøy All DACDragon 51 Mike Szymura All BaBa 80 Ivan Brigada 2 Blaze Performance Team DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 23 Bartek Marszalek All Dietmar Kaiser Blaze 24 Francesco Cantando All Emirates Racing Team BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 27 Ahmed Al Hameli 2–7 Scott Gillman DAC 28 Erik Stark All BaBa 29 Ivan Brigada 1 Maverick Racing Moore Mercury 2.5 V6 73 Cédric Deguisne 2–3 Source: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, Team Abu Dhabi, Mad-Croc 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. The German was already a three-time F4-S champion and would drive a Jonathan Jones-built Dragon boat from the second round onwards. 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, though Al Hameli returned for France, 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, 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. 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.
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. Victory had attempted to compete with their own hull, based closely on the Moore design, 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. Amongst regular fixtures Abu Dhabi and Sharjah were two new races, with the championship scheduled to make its first appearances in Dubai and Croatia. 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. 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, 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. 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. Round Race title Date Circuit location Race winner Hull/engine 1 1st Grand Prix of Dubai 4 March Dubai Philippe Chiappe Moore/Mercury 2 20th Grand Prix of France 17 July Évian-les-Bains Alex Carella DAC/Mercury 3 15th Grand Prix of Portugal 31 July Portimão Philippe Chiappe Moore/Mercury 4 20th Grand Prix of China 4 September Harbin Sami Seliö BaBa/Mercury 5 21st Grand Prix of China 3 October Liuzhou Ahmed Al Hameli BaBa/Mercury 6 24th Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 9 December Abu Dhabi Jonas Andersson Molgaard/Mercury 7 17th Grand Prix of Sharjah 16 December Sharjah Shaun Torrente Moore/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 Points 20 15 12 9 7 5 4 3 2 1
Drivers standings Pos Driver DUB FRA POR CHN CHN ABU SHA Points 1 Philippe Chiappe 1 Ret 1 3 2 2 2 97 2 Shaun Torrente 3 3 3 4 4 4 1 83 3 Sami Seliö DNS Ret 2 1 3 5 3 66 4 Jonas Andersson 4 Ret 4 2 7 1 4 66 5 Alex Carella 2 1 5 Ret Ret 3 Ret 54 6 Filip Roms 9 2 13 Ret 10 7 7 26 7 Erik Stark Ret Ret 6 5 5 Ret 5 26 8 Ahmed Al Hameli 8 9 Ret 1 Ret Ret 25 9 Duarte Benavente 6 7 8 7 8 8 8 25 10 Marit Strømøy Ret 6 11 6 Ret 6 9 17 11 Cedric Deguisne 4 12 9 12 Xiong Ziwei 5 Ret 14 9 11 Ret Ret 9 13 Thani Al Qamzi Ret Ret 7 DSQ 6 Ret Ret 9 14 Christophe Larigot 12 5 15 11 12 10 Ret 8 15 Bartek Marszalek 10 DNS 10 8 Ret 9 Ret 7 16 Grant Trask 12 6 5 17 Ivan Brigada 7 Ret 4 18 Mike Szymura 13 10 Ret 10 9 13 Ret 4 19 Francesco Cantando 8 Ret 17 Ret Ret 11 Ret 3 20 Nadir Bin Hendi 11 9 16 DNS 14 14 10 3 21 Jesper Forss Ret DNS 18 Ret 13 Ret Ret 0 Rashed Al Qamzi Ret 0
Teams standings Only boats with results eligible for points counting towards the teams' championship are shown here. Pos Team BoatNo. DUB FRA POR CHN CHN ABU SHA Points 1 CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team 1 1 Ret 1 3 2 2 2 106 2 5 Ret 14 9 11 Ret Ret 2 Mad-Croc BaBa Racing 11 DNS Ret 2 1 3 5 3 92 12 9 2 13 Ret 10 7 7 3 Victory Team 3 11 9 16 DNS 14 14 10 86 4 3 3 3 4 4 4 1 4 Team Sweden 14 4 Ret 4 2 7 1 4 66 15 Ret DNS 18 Ret 13 Ret Ret 5 Team Abu Dhabi 5 Ret Ret 7 DSQ 6 Ret Ret 63 6 2 1 5 Ret Ret 3 Ret 6 Emirates Racing Team 27 8 9 Ret 1 Ret Ret 55 28 Ret Ret 6 5 5 Ret 5 29 7 7 F1 Atlantic Team 9 12 5 15 11 12 10 Ret 33 10 6 7 8 7 8 8 8 8 EMIC Racing Team 50 Ret 6 11 6 Ret 6 9 21 51 13 10 Ret 10 9 13 Ret 9 Blaze Performance Team 23 10 DNS 10 8 Ret 9 Ret 10 24 8 Ret 17 Ret Ret 11 Ret 10 Maverick Racing 73 4 12 9
References
External links
The official website of the Union Internationale Motonautique