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By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted July 9, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
The FIA have released race schedules for the 2016 Formula One world championship and the 2015/2016 Formula E world championship along with numerous immediate rule changes concerning both series. The calendars and rule changes were drawn up at a meeting of the World Motorsports Council in Mexico that took place this week.
Key changes to the Formula One calendar include the return of the German Grand Prix after it’s absence this year along with the debut of the Baku Street Circuit in Azerbaijan. The race in Baku will take place in-between the Austrian and German Grand Prix; with the Red Bull Round now taking place just after the British Grand Prix instead of just before.
Further changes comprise of the movement of the Malaysian and Russian Grand Prix. Malaysia now moves to it’s old spot near the end of the season, with Russia becoming the 4th round after Bahrain and before Spain. Finally the start of the season has been confirmed to take place on April 3rd in Australia, with the second round in China taking place just a week after in Shanghai.
Several changes to Formula One regulations have also been implemented with immediate effect, which include “the simplification of the power unit penalties, ensuring that the most a driver can be penalized is to be demoted to the rear of the grid – this will eliminate penalties during the race for these infractions” and that new power unit manufactures “will receive an extra power unit for each driver to use throughout Grands Prix for the season, bringing the total to five – one more than the existing power unit suppliers. This will be applied retrospectively to Honda.” These both resolve heavily criticized problems of late by drivers, teams, pundits and fans.
The FIA simultaneously revealed the calendar for the second season of the Formula E championship. The calendar largely remains the same except for the disappearance of the Monaco ePrix (which will alternate year-on-year with the Historic Monaco Grand Prix event), and the exciting addition of the Paris ePrix in France. There remains a spot vacant on the calendar in March that has yet to be filled.
Additionally, the FIA announced a few changes to the new super-license qualifications; starting with the introduction of the E-license; now required for a driver to race in Formula E. This consists of basic safety training regarding electric power.
In terms of the Formula One super-license changes, the series included on the points system have been enlarged, with the points altered to better demonstrate the strength of the season. This includes the Formula E championship, with the champion now able to gain a super-license should an opportunity in Formula One present itself. Finally, once earning a license, a driver will keep the license for up to 3 years even if they don’t take part in a race (for instance if they are a test driver).
Both newly announced schedules can be found in full below.
2016 Formula One world championship calendar:
Round |
Date |
Location |
1 |
April 3rd |
Australia |
2 |
April 10th |
China |
3 |
April 24th |
Bahrain |
4 |
May 1st |
Sochi |
5 |
May 15th |
Spain |
6 |
May 29th |
Monaco |
7 |
June 12th |
Canada |
8 |
June 26th |
UK |
9 |
July 3rd |
Austria |
10 |
July 17th |
Baku |
11 |
July 31st |
Germany |
12 |
August 7th |
Hungary |
13 |
August 28th |
Belgium |
14 |
September 4th |
Italy |
15 |
September 18th |
Singapore |
16 |
September 25th |
Malaysia |
17 |
October 9th |
Japan |
18 |
October 23rd |
USA |
19 |
October 30th |
Mexico |
20 |
November 13th |
Brazil |
21 |
November 27th |
Abu Dhabi |
2015/2016 Formula E world championship calendar:
Round |
Date |
Country |
ePrix |
1 |
17th October 2015 |
China |
Beijing |
2 |
7th November 2015 |
Malaysia |
Putrajaya |
3 |
19th December 2015 |
Uruguay* |
Punta del Este* |
4 |
6th February 2016 |
Argentina* |
Buenos Aires* |
5 |
19th March 2016 |
TBD |
TBD |
6 |
2nd April 2016 |
USA |
Long Beach |
7 |
23rd April 2016 |
France |
Paris |
8 |
21st May 2016 |
Germany |
Berlin |
9 |
4th June 2016 |
Russia |
Moscow |
10 & 11 |
TBD |
United Kingdom |
London |
*Uruguay and Argentine rounds subject to FIA circuit homologation
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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