While the 2016 Formula One season was largely dominated by Mercedes, the midfield battle was the healthiest it has been in years.
Teams achieved new heights and drivers made names for themselves in amongst the scramble for valuable points and recognition.
After Abu Dhabi, the eight teams that often ‘make up the numbers’ were split into three groups on the Constructors’ table but that’s not to say the fight between all of them was not as strong as ever. Let’s take a look.
Williams and Force India led the midfield charge, often taking the four places between seventh and 10th. They were also the only teams outside of the big three to score podium results during the season.
For Force India, 2016 marked their most successful year in the sport. A major upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix elevated the team from a slow start and made them strong contenders at all circuits.
Sergio Perez produced his best year to date, even surpassing his 2012 year at Sauber, with consistent performances, including two podiums in Monaco and Baku.
16 points results in the 18 races from Russia highlighted what a strong year it was for Checo and proved crucial in Force India coming out on top in their battle for fourth.
13 points finishes in 16 races meant it was another strong year for his teammate Nico Hulkenberg too, even if the German, who is now heading to Renault, couldn’t quite match Perez.
Certainly, their success over Williams was greatly deserved as the Grove team failed to match expectations.
A lack of development really hampered them as old weaknesses remained and, particularly on the higher downforce tracks, they really struggled.
For Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, maximising performance from the car proved difficult and often left the team vulnerable to attack from teams behind.
Those were usually Toro Rosso, McLaren and Haas who lacked the consistency to regularly break into the top 10 even if they had the pace.
That assessment isn’t so true for Carlos Sainz, however, as the Spaniard finally saw the shadow of Max Verstappen move on and flourished at Toro Rosso.
Eight top 10’s in the first 11 races meant he was sitting in 10th in the Drivers’ championship over the summer break. It would be the car’s year-old Ferrari power unit that would prevent Sainz from pushing on in the second half of the year, however, as he only managed two more points results from the German GP.
A lack of backup from his teammate Daniil Kvyat also restricted Toro Rosso’s midfield challenge as they were overhauled by McLaren in the battle for sixth.
For McLaren, it was another developmental year. Progress is being made but the speed of it is far from what the team and fans had hoped.
By the end of the season, Fernando Alonso often dragged his MP4-31 into the top 10 but up against the Mercedes power of Williams and Force India staying there was harder.
There is still much work to be done to reach the final goal of title contenders but at least this year made the light at the end of the tunnel a decent amount brighter.
We covered Haas’ debut season in another of our ’16 stories of F1 ’16’ but on the whole, their first year can be described as highly commendable.
The midfield battle, in particular, is fierce over a full season and it was dealing with the usual issues and development that come up as the races tick by that the American team struggled with after their impressive start.
They will learn and adapt and could be a team to watch with more experience in 2017.
Finally, the backmarkers consisted of Renault, Sauber and Manor. While they have that tag, it doesn’t mean their years were meaningless. All three scored points making it the first season all teams scored at least one point since 2009.
Sauber and Manor both lack the resources and therefore, the ability to develop their cars as quickly as those ahead of them. The Manor had its strength on power circuits, often moving up the pecking order, while Sauber probably struggled the most of all the teams but got their break in the deluge in Brazil.
For Renault, it was operational problems that blighted their first year back. A late decision to purchase the remains of Lotus (of which there wasn’t much) and then having a barely developed chassis meant they were never on a good footing.
As the year progressed, however, and those issues were gradually sorted, performances did start to improve and now with a full winter to design, develop and prepare, the French manufacturer should make huge progress in 2017.
What was most impressive about the midfield battle over the season was the competitiveness. While the pecking order remained pretty similar, the gap that covered the whole group in qualifying was often less than a second-and-a-half.
Some often criticise the current state of F1 for lacking competition but in reality, they often aren’t looking in the right places.
The sport was building back towards the time when two-and-a-half seconds would cover the entire grid and it’s one of the small gripes I have with the new rules coming in for next year.
It’s possible the new more aero-dependent cars could spread the grid out once more. But hopefully a close midfield battle will be retained, with the majority of teams regularly battling for points, and hopefully the gap from first to last will not be as big as it was from 2010.
It is often said if you took out Mercedes or Red Bull during their period of dominance, F1 would be a very different spectacle and that’s true. But the midfield is usually where all the action is at and in 2016, it didn’t disappoint.
