Formula 1 Uses a lot of tires

Over 70,300 Pirelli F1 tires used in 2015

A little under a month after the 2015 season ended at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Formula 1 posted a roundup of the season in numbers on its website. From these numbers two conclusions can be drawn; F1 uses a lot of tires and Mercedes and its drivers utterly dominated the season.

Including both testing and Grand Prix weekends, the F1 grid used 17,580 sets of tires, totaling 70,320. Of all the figures F1 released, this one is the hardest to wrap your head around. It perfectly captures the massive scale of the series.

F1's statistics also quantify Mercedes' complete dominance of the 2015 season. With Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the wheel, Mercedes claimed 16 victories in 19 races, but more staggeringly, 12 one-two finishes. That record-setting figure is one more one-two finish than the 11 Mercedes had in 2014.

Mercedes will make a mockery of F1 in 2016 the same way it did in 2014 and 2015. They have the strongest power unit and in Aldo Costa they have the best lead engineer. His cars are never beaten.

Only once in 2015 did Mercedes not take pole position in a Grand Prix, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel taking top qualifying spot at the Singapore Grand Prix. It's doubtful that Hamilton is too upset about that race since he set a personal record of 11 poles this year.

Hamilton also led more than half of the laps of the 2015 season, with 587 led laps out of 1,149 laps total. Nico Rosberg, with 349 laps led, and Sebastian Vettel, with 176, were the only other drivers with triple-digit led laps. Following Vettel was Felipe Massa, with just 19 laps led.

All in all, Mercedes took home 703 constructor's championship points, a new record.

2015 saw 509 total overtaking moves and just 56 lead changes over the whole season. Pastor Maldonado holds the record for the highest top speed of the season, with 227.67 mph (366.4 km/h).

While Mercedes' dominance of 2015 is impressive, especially when put in numbers, it would be nice to see another constructor rise as a true challenger in 2016. Ferrari looks like it could stage a comeback and Ron Dennis is confident in McLaren's future too. Road & Track