It's almost time for Formula 1's 2019 season to kick into life. Motorsport Week looks ahead to pre-season testing, and the start of a new campaign.
The winter break is creeping towards its conclusion. Formula 1 slipped into its hibernation at the end of November but behind the scenes the 10 teams have been burning the midnight oil, pushing the boundaries and putting the finishing touches on the cars which will carry their respective 2019 hopes. Their ambitions will vary – titles, wins, podiums, points; glory or merely a return to respectability – but the nerves will be the same when the green light comes on at the end of the pit lane in Barcelona on Monday morning. There will then be just eight days of testing, interrupted by a four-day pause – where the work and tweaks will never stop – after which there will be only a week before the paddock ready their boarding passes for the long journey to Australia’s season-opener. Melbourne is well and truly peering over the horizon.
Formula 1 chiefs are still ruminating over the proposed 2021 regulations – with the level of overhaul appearing slimmer with each passing month that the can gets kicked down the road – but tweaks have been made for 2019. The front wing has been simplified, with standardised endplates and revised dimensions (up from 1800mm to 2000mm, moved forwards 2500mm), with the ambition of directing the air to the underbody of the car. The removal of upper flaps on the front wing should also mean that there is more ‘inwash’ than ‘outwash’ in terms of aerodynamic philosophy, changing the nature of the air flow. It is hoped that the ‘dirty air’ will therefore be reduced by around 20 per cent, facilitating drivers in remaining closer to each other. Bargeboards have also been lowered by 150mm and brought forwards by 100mm, while the DRS opening has been increased from 65mm to 85mm, as part of an overall taller and wider wing, in a bid to make it more effective when activated. That higher wing profile will also mean the rooster tail wake coming off the car in front is higher, giving it greater scope to disperse before it affects the pursuing car. Elsewhere there has been an increase in car weight while for the first time there will be a mandatory minimum driver + seat weight (set at 80kg), ensuring that the taller drivers are not unfairly penalised due to their height. Fuel allocation has also been increased from 105kg to 110kg.
But while there have been technical changes the greatest intrigue, as ever, is the human element, and in 2019 there have been switches and swaps galore to set up a tantalising array of storylines up and down the 20-strong grid.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton are both out in search of their respective sixth World Championships, with the Briton edging closer to Michael Schumacher’s tally of titles and Grand Prix wins, a total that once seemed impregnable. Such has been the mercurial nature of both Hamilton’s displays and Mercedes’ operation that the tallies could be equalled, or eclipsed, by the end of 2020. Not that either party will allow any such thought to enter their minds. Hamilton will again by joined by Valtteri Bottas, the pressure on whom has increased after a 2018 campaign that promised much but delivered little, wrecked by early misfortune, team instructions and a batch of late-season middling performances. The Hamilton/Bottas dynamic has taken the Briton and Mercedes to a new level but the presence of highly-touted Esteban Ocon in the wings – twiddling his thumbs on the simulator after losing his race seat – will not go unnoticed by the Finn.
The high plateau on which Hamilton/Mercedes operated was bad news for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari, as both driver and team cracked for a second successive season. Goodwill is in short supply towards Vettel, whose occasionally outstanding performances were contrasted by a sequence of errors that undid Maranello’s realistic title prospects. He still has two years left on his lucrative contract but will face an intriguing internal battle in the form of new team-mate Charles Leclerc, who steps up to the Scuderia off the back of a stellar rookie campaign with Sauber. Leclerc has the speed and the attitude to be a successful fixture at Ferrari for the next decade and being paired with Vettel will be a test for both. It is surely now or never for Vettel’s dream of emulating Michael Schumacher as a Ferrari champion. The squad also has a new face in the Team Principal hotseat after replacing Maurizio Arrivabene with Mattia Binotto, widely praised for turning around the engine department before his work with the technical organisation. Can he translate that into success at the highest level?
Red Bull Racing is the only other team in the hybrid era to have triumphed at a Grand Prix – and for 2019 it embarks on a new relationship with Honda, having severed its 12-year Renault association. Red Bull has pinned much of its deficiencies since 2014 on Renault’s engine deficit (and the French manufacturer has struggled to match its opponents, although perhaps not to the extent of Milton Keynes’ protestations) but now the mantle rests on Honda. It is not overly hyperbolic to outline that the future participation of Red Bull and Honda in Formula 1 is dependent on the partnership flourishing. Formula 1 will be healthier if a third team and engine supplier can regularly battle for wins and the title, while if Honda cannot succeed at this team – and at this level – then it is difficult to envisage the company green-lighting the budget forever. Along with the name of the engine supplier on the car, the name above the garage door has also changed. Pierre Gasly joins Max Verstappen in the driver line-up and if the stars align will be well-primed to end France’s 23-year wait for a Grand Prix win – last achieved by Olivier Panis when Pierre was but a mere few months old. Gasly is also out to forge a strong reputation, after an impressive first full season, and horns could certainly be locked. Gasly has been drafted into Red Bull in place of Daniel Ricciardo, which brings us nicely on to Renault.
Renault is entering year four of its comeback and for the first time has a de facto A-list race-winning driver in its line-up. Renault has made gains in each season since it took over the almost-defunct Lotus operation at the end of 2015 and has invested both financially and resources-wise at its Enstone (chassis) and Viry-Chatillon (engine) bases, albeit not to the extent of the front-runners. It leaves Renault in a peculiar twilight zone. It does not want to hugely expand in anticipation of potential post-2021 budget caps but nor will it want to tread water until the next regulatory cycle, particularly with Ricciardo on board. Last season it spearheaded the midfield group, edging Force India’s combined points tally, and eventually moving clear of Haas. This year the challenge must be to firmly leave that pack behind. It must be in a position to threaten for podiums and worry the established winners. If it is still being referred to as ostensibly a midfield operation then something is amiss.
That Renault and Haas developed an at-times prickly relationship in 2018 was demonstrative of the manner in which Formula 1’s newest team rose up the order. It enters its fourth year as one of only two teams with an unchanged driver line-up in the form of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, and another season’s worth of experience will make it a stronger and more rounded team, having allowed several chances to slip through its fingers last season. Haas’ car will again be designed by Dallara and it continues the relationship with Ferrari that attracted the attention of rivals last year – though, noticeable, those voices were louder from those whose performance was lower…
While Haas has remained stable, for McLaren it’s another new era. That was supposed to come in 2018, when it re-emerged from the doldrums after severing its ties with Honda. That was the plan – only it did not work out so sweetly. Direct comparisons with fellow Renault-powered teams alerted McLaren to its own deep-rooted deficiencies, leading to a revision of its organisation and shake-up of its technical department. James Key will arrive at some stage, as will Andrea Seidl, whose task will be to lead the Formula 1 team, reporting to Zak Brown. Seidl will find a team with a revised driver line-up in the shape of ex-Renault/Toro Rosso racer Carlos Sainz Jr. and Formula 2 runner-up Lando Norris, the 19-year-old the youngest full-time McLaren racer in history. With Fernando Alonso having had enough, they have big shoes to fill. McLaren’s MCL33 was fundamentally flawed and the team will be desperate to avoid such a repeat with the MCL34, and it can barely afford another year with such ignominious showings.
The Force India name has gone and in, perhaps temporarily, comes Racing Point. Owner Lawrence Stroll has lofty long-term goals for the team, which now enters a tricky phase in its existence (we are, after all, in throwaway terms recognising it as the same team that has existed since 1991, even if legally it is a new mid-2018 entrant). Force India made its name by being efficient, maximising its resources, and avoiding being led down incorrect paths. Can it maintain such an approach now that it is flushed with greater backing? Entrusted with taking the team into its new era is midfield stalwart and occasional plucky podium finisher Sergio Perez and son-of-team-owner Lance Stroll, who joins after two years with Williams. Can Stroll challenge the established and formidable Perez? And how will the team dynamics develop when there is such a clear and obvious (and financially-flushed) family connection between driver and owner?
Sauber’s rise was one of the feel-good stories of 2018 as, freed from the shackles of worrying financial constraints and a year-old engine, it returned to respectability. Now the task is for the Frederic Vasseur-led outfit to build on that platform – the boss having originally regarded 2018 as a transition year – and make the next step. It aims to do so with a refreshed line-up of 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen and full-time Ferrari-affiliated rookie Antonio Giovinazzi, and a rebranded identity in the form of Alfa Romeo. Raikkonen’s return completes an unexpected career full circle but Raikkonen is not merely at Alfa Romeo to make up the numbers and his presence will galvanise a team that has lost a star asset in Leclerc. Raikkonen’s precise feedback and pure passion for racing will be of huge benefit, not to mention his marketability, while he also presents a useful benchmark for Giovinazzi, whose potential remains something of an unknown.
Toro Rosso was last year effectively a test bed for Honda, as the Japanese firm developed its power unit, and this season should benefit from a closer alliance with Red Bull, with both teams now in bed with the Japanese manufacturer. Toro Rosso, though, will still be the guinea pigs. Out has gone the promoted Gasly and the axed Brendon Hartley and in their places are returnee Daniil Kvyat and ex-junior-come-good Alexander Albon. Both are low-profile diligent characters capable of a quick turn of pace, whose career paths mean you’d have got long odds on this being Toro Rosso’s 2019 line-up. Kvyat was sacked from Red Bull late in 2017 and revitalised his career with a development role at Ferrari, with his greater maturity prompting Helmut Marko to gamble on the Russian’s services for a third time. Albon, meanwhile, spent a single unsatisfactory year on Red Bull’s junior scheme in 2012 but kick-started his prospects with a strong GP3 campaign in 2016, finishing runner-up to Leclerc, and last year emerged as a F2 title contender, making a mockery of the budget shortfall that meant he started on a round-by-round contract.
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Hopeless backmarkers no longer exist in Formula 1 and that means a hundred-million-dollar operation has to finish at the rear of the field. Last season that was Williams as it endured a terrible campaign with its flawed FW41, prompting an overhaul of technical management and an analysis of where it went wrong. For this year it has promoted Robert Kubica to a race seat, with the Pole’s return to the grid understandably set to be one of the season’s most-tracked stories, while his healthy sponsorship package from his homeland also assisted his cause. Kubica will be partnered by Mercedes-backed George Russell, whose back-to-back titles in GP3 and Formula 2 cemented a growing reputation, having impressed Williams with his off-track conduct in commencing negotiations. It would be a major surprise if Williams was able to lift itself back into the midfield considering its dire 2018. It is already on the backfoot after confirming that its FW42 will not be ready until Tuesday.
As for testing – that begins at Spanish Grand Prix venue Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Monday and will last for two blocks of four days, concluding on March 1. The circuit will be open from 09:00 to 18:00, with a one-hour break for lunch at 13:00, on each of the eight days of running, though action will be suspended in the event of breakdowns, accidents or freak weather (as happened in 2018, when unseasonably snowy weather all but wrecked one day). Each team is permitted just one car, meaning drivers will typically share duties 50-50, either receiving four whole days or eight half days, or a combination thereof. Motorsport Week will be present throughout the test to gather the latest news, views and insight so be sure to stay tuned to our coverage of a busy period for Formula 1.
