Tag: 2019

The 2019 Mostly F1 Awards

Posted on by James Mackenzie

Happy New Year, one and all!

But let’s quickly focus on 2019 just once more and dish out some awards for what was a pretty eventful season.

Driver of the Year

Lewis Hamilton celebrates with a Union Jack in 2019.
Image credit: Getty Images

It is near impossible to separate Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen but, having just won a sixth title and more than half of the 2019 races, this award has to go the world champion. Both men barely put a foot wrong all year but we are yet to find out whether Verstappen can keep that level of up over the course of a title battle. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out.

Hamilton has been operating at that level for some time now and discussions have moved from whether he is the greatest of his generation to whether he is the greatest of all time. Whilst it may sometimes feel a little dull watching one man win 50% of the races, we should all be appreciative that we are witnessing greatness and the creation of a legend. It was similar during the Michael Schumacher years and many now look back on that time with much nostalgia.

Honourable Mentions: Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz

Team of the Year

Mercedes celebrate becoming the F1 Constructors' Champions of 2019.
Image credit: Mercedes

Once again, you just can’t overlook the champions. Yes, there was the utter fiasco of the German Grand Prix with Benny Hill-esque scenes as the team ran about, bumping into each other in their fancy dress outfits. But that was almost a nice reminder that this juggernaut of metronomic success was, in fact, human.

Over the past three seasons, Mercedes haven’t always had the fastest car. But their operational level is such that they still finish each year with the championship having looked a formality by the end. This is now arguably the greatest team in F1 history. Can they keep it up for another year? It seems very likely. Can they even then carry their supremacy over into the new set of regulations? You wouldn’t bet against it.

Honourable Mentions: McLaren, Red Bull

Race of the Year

Chaos at the German Grand Prix.
Image credit: AFP

The second half of the Brazilian Grand Prix was full of incident, entertainment and drama but the German Grand Prix had all of those from the first lap to the last. The only wet race of the year made up for the lack of another (and made you wonder whether Bernie was right about those sprinklers all along…) with absolute carnage from the outset.

A literal soaped-up drag strip on the outside of the final corner added to the Wacky Racers scenes and left many drivers sliding helplessly into the wall. There was the aforementioned Mercedes pit stop, Lance Stroll temporarily leading, Sebastian Vettel fighting through from last to second and a Toro Rosso on the podium for the first time in over a decade. Yeah, it was alright.

Honourable Mentions: Brazilian Grand Prix, Austrian Grand Prix, British Grand Prix

Drive of the Year

Pierre Gasly beats Lewis Hamilton to the line at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Motorsport Images

It is very hard to pick just one drive as there are so many different factors that are hard to compare – just look at all the honourable mentions below – and that’s before you even consider the Hamilton dominations which, whilst less spectacular, are just as impressive.

But I’m going for Pierre Gasly‘s second place at Interlagos. After such a tough year – both professionally and personally, with a demotion to Toro Rosso and the loss of his close friend Anthoine Hubert – Gasly’s performances towards the end of the season were highly commendable. And they were capped off by a shock podium in Brazil. Gasly had been ‘best of the rest’ throughout the weekend and thus was in position when all those around him lost their heads. He kept his and the outpouring of emotion on the radio after was genuinely moving.

Honourable Mentions: Leclerc in Bahrain, Verstappen in Austria, Vettel in Germany, Hamilton in Hungary, Sainz in Hungary, Norris in Belgium, Albon in Belgium

Blunder of the Year

Unfortunately Vettel is front and centre in both the main contenders for this award. His mistake at the Italian Grand Prix, spinning out in front of the Tifosi (whilst his teammate went on to win) and then rejoining unsafely was amateurish. But the collision between the two Ferraris in Brazil had greater ramifications.

Whilst the championships were already decided, this was acutely embarrassing for such a proud marque as Ferrari. It was easily avoidable. And yet, it seemed equally inevitable. As the sparks flew from Leclerc’s destroyed front right suspension, the tensions that had been boiling under the surface for a few races came to the fore.

Honourable Mentions: Vettel in Italy, Bottas in Germany, Grosjean in Britain

Rookie of the Year

F1's three rookies for 2019.
Image credit: James Moy

A tough one as each has done very well in varying circumstances. Alexander Albon came in with little hype but drove well at Toro Rosso and earned himself a mid-season promotion to Red Bull. In the difficult circumstances of a top drive halfway through your rookie year and a teammate the calibre of Verstappen, he has performed very respectably.

George Russell has also done all he can with a very poor Williams, thoroughly outperforming Robert Kubica and completing a 21-0 qualifying head-to-head whitewash. But then the Pole was an unknown quantity upon his return and was effectively driving with one hand. So, all things considered, Lando Norris takes the gong. He suffered some terrible luck throughout the year but was generally neck-and-neck with his more experienced teammate, Carlos Sainz. A few stellar performances – including sixth in his second ever race – clinch the deal. Plus, he’s just so damn likeable.

Wheel-to-Wheel Battle of the Year

Hamilton and Verstappen in Hungary was box office and had more at stake but the battle between Leclerc and Verstappen at Silverstone was personal. And lasted practically half the race.

Coming just one race after Verstappen controversially bumped Leclerc out of the way with a couple of laps remaining in Austria to take the win, the young Monegasque decided he was going to get his own back. He did everything in his power (and just about within the rules) to remain ahead and set the stage for what is sure to be a thrilling rivalry for many years to come.

Honourable Mentions: Hamilton vs Verstappen in Hungary, Kvyat vs Albon in Hungary, Hamilton vs Bottas in Britain, Grosjean vs Sainz vs Ricciardo vs Stroll in Singapore

Controversy of the Year

Sebastian Vettel switching the boards after the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.
Image credit: AFP

Whilst the rest of 2019 was not without controversy, there is a clear winner here. The decision to penalise Vettel in Canada for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner, which effectively handed the win to Hamilton, sent shockwaves through the sport. And the reaction to it changed the way Race Director Michael Masi has handled the regulations ever since.

I went into great depth in my race report at the time – and still feel the penalty was just about the correct decision all things considered – but it came on the back of six consecutive Mercedes victories and was a less than ideal time to hand out a penalty that resulted in another one. Ferrari hung their victory flag in Maranello nonetheless and the sport recovered with a new outlook on applying rules and some excellent races soon after.

Honourable Mentions: Verstappen not being penalised in Austria, Ferrari’s engine legality, the Ferraris clashing in Brazil, the Haas–Rich Energy debacle

Crash of the Year

There were no Fernando Alonso or Marcus Ericsson-sized crashes this year, so instead the award can go to the most bizarre crash. Daniel Ricciardo not checking his mirrors and reversing into Daniil Kvyat in Azerbaijan was just downright comical.

Honourable Mentions: Magnussen in Canada, Bottas in Austria, Albon in China

Bromance of the Year

Carlando.
Image credit: McLaren

This was very much a year for bromance. Amongst others, we had Hamilton and Vettel, Ricciardo and pretty much everyone, but the duo at McLaren really took it to another level.

Norris and Sainz were as inseparable off the track as they were on it. Hopefully it can last if McLaren continue their upward trajectory and start fighting for podiums or wins…

Honourable Mentions: Ricciardo and Verstappen, Hamilton and Vettel, Norris and Albon

Press Conference of the Year

No real competition here.

The Championship in 60 Seconds

2019 teams’ end-of-year report cards

Posted on by James Mackenzie

Mercedes

1st | Pts: 739 | Wins: 15 | Podiums: 32 | Poles: 10 | FL: 9 | Ret: 2

The Mercedes juggernaut steams on, crushing all in its path. Coming into this season, the dominance of the Silver Arrows looked under real threat…but then they set a record for consecutive one-two finishes from the start of the season and had both championships all but wrapped up by the summer break.

There was one calamitous race in Germany which, unfortunately, coincided with their celebrations for their 200th GP and 125 years of motorsport. But, aside from that, it was another pretty flawless year from Mercedes which ended with them taking a sixth consecutive championship double. That surpasses the record they previously shared with Ferrari from the Michael Schumacher era – a quite incredible achievement.

And you certainly wouldn’t bet against them making it seven next year. Ferrari and Red Bull closed up towards the end of the year, and we had some closer racers, but you get the impression Mercedes were coasting to the title and keeping their updates minimal to help them get a jump on the competition for 2020.

Grade: A

Ferrari

2ND | PTS: 504 | WINS: 3 | PODIUMS: 19 | POLES: 9 | FL: 6 | RET: 6

It was Ferrari who were supposed to be posing the aforementioned threat to Mercedes. But their apparent speed in pre-season testing was not realised come Melbourne and they only managed their first victory in the 13th race, albeit having come excruciatingly close in Bahrain, Canada and Austria.

The Scuderia went on a great run in qualifying after the summer break but were always on the back foot when it came to race pace and continued to find new and more inventive ways to shoot themselves in the foot – whether it was overcomplex team orders and strategies or drivers attempting to exert authority but instead crashing into each other.

And there is the debate as to whether clarifications over engine regulations have caught Ferrari out in some dodgy practices. Either way, they’ll need to find some speed and some stability next year to mount a sustained title challenge.

Grade: C+

Red Bull Racing Honda

3RD | PTS: 417 | WINS: 3 | PODIUMS: 9 | POLES: 2 | FL: 5 | RET: 4

Red Bull and Honda far exceeded their expectations from the first year of their partnership. Whilst they learnt a fair bit last year through Toro Rosso taking on the Honda engines, Red Bull management still expected something of a learning curve for both parties in 2019.

But Honda delivered a much-improved power unit and, after at first struggling to understand some of the aerodynamic intricacies of this year’s car, Red Bull kept Mercedes very much on their toes at a few types of circuit; high altitude still seems to do wonders for them, however.

They are aiming to build on this year and, for once, produce a car capable of taking victories from the very start of the season. If they do, they could well usurp Ferrari’s position as main challenger to Mercedes.

Grade: B+

McLaren Renault

4TH | PTS: 145 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 3rd) | PODIUMS: 1 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 9

2019 has been exactly the kind of year that McLaren would have been aiming for in their task of rebuilding a once great team. After a few years of calamity and collapse, they seem to finally be getting things back on track.

They have two excellent young drivers, a much-improved atmosphere within the team and, suddenly, they have found themselves comfortably at the front of the midfield. It has been the real feel-good story of the season and they even managed their first podium in over five years at Interlagos.

Onwards and upwards for the popular, papaya team.

Grade: A-

Renault

5TH | PTS: 91 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 8

Renault totally failed in their goal of closing the gap to the ‘big three’ teams. They, in fact, fell further into the clutches of a very competitive midfield and even finished well behind a McLaren team who are using their Renault engine.

Things picked up a little in the second half of the season with some more consistent performances and the French team managed to cling on to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship. But that is still well below the lofty aims of Renault senior management.

Nico Hülkenberg’s head was the only notable one to roll so far – in favour of young Frenchman Esteban Ocon – but, if there is not significant progress made next year, you can be sure more will follow.

Grade: D

Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda

6TH | PTS: 85 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 2nD) | PODIUMS: 2 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 5

The competitiveness of the 2019 midfield has made it hard for teams to stand out but Toro Rosso took a noticeable step forward from 2018 and two unlikely driver pairings – namely, Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon/Pierre Gasly worked well.

Achieving not one but two podiums – having only experienced one before in the Faenza-based team’s long history – is another great story of 2019 and, whilst they narrowly lost out in their battle with Renault for fifth in the standings, this is a season Toro Rosso can look back on with pride.

Grade: B

Racing Point BWT Mercedes

7TH | PTS: 73 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 5

This was always likely to be something of a transitional year for Racing Point, following Lawrence Stroll’s buy-out of the team midway through 2018, so they will probably be reasonably satisfied to have remained in the main fight for the midfield spots.

Whilst they have often been ‘best of the rest’ in past years, the lack of funding, and thus development, as Force India came to an end could have seen them well off the pace this year but, after a slow start to the season, they came on strong after the summer break. Sergio Pérez‘s impressive run of points-scoring finishes moving them clear of Alfa Romeo and into the battle with Renault and Toro Rosso.

They even nearly managed their habitual unlikely podium in Germany with Lance Stroll‘s fourth place. They will now look to build on these foundations into next year and push back up the order.

Grade: C+

Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari

8TH | PTS: 57 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 4

Alfa Romeo came into the season with some impressive testing times and talk of them being dark horses with their radical design ideas; particularly around the front wing. Whilst not exactly making waves at the front, the first half of the year was pretty strong with the ageless Kimi Räikkönen picking up steady points.

Things somewhat tailed off, though and, although Antonio Giovinazzi upped his performances on the other side of the garage, the car spent most of the latter season in the lower half of the order. Still, they will probably be happy to finish ahead of Haas and this is a significant improvement on where the team was as Sauber just a couple of years ago.

Grade: C

Haas Ferrari

9TH | PTS: 28 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 1 | RET: 10

It was a strange year for the Haas team on a few fronts. On the racing side, they had some real issues – at the start of the year qualifying well but, largely due to issues with tyre temperatures, disappearing come race day and, after updates to the car actually made it worse, basically writing off the season and picking up just two points after the summer break. It also didn’t help that their drivers kept crashing into each other…

And away from the actual racing, there were the frankly bizarre dealings with their title sponsor. A company that had already raised many an eyebrow, Rich Energy then acted out a childish soap opera after just a few races, with twists and turns as to who had dumped whom in the partnership, or whether nobody had been dumped at all. Haas have a lot of work to do across the board.

Grade: D

Williams Mercedes

10TH | PTS: 1 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 10TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 4

It is a real shame to see what has become of this once mighty team. The last 15 years have had many ups and downs for Williams but this is surely their lowest ebb. It’s amazing to think that they were, arguably, the main competitor to Mercedes at the beginning of the hybrid era.

They started the season seconds off the pace – having missed a fair portion of pre-season testing – and never got themselves much closer to the pack. Williams are a proud outfit and refuse to become anything resembling a B-team but, with the way things are going, is that a sustainable stance? Will their pride come before an even bigger fall?

Grade: E-

2019 drivers’ end-of-year report cards

Posted on by James Mackenzie

Lewis Hamilton

1st | Pts: 413 | Wins: 11 | Podiums: 17 | Poles: 5 | FL: 6 | Ret: 0

The above statistics sum it up pretty well. Whilst Lewis Hamilton was unusually lacking in pole positions this year – by his usual standards at least – he dominated pretty much every other aspect of the season. He finished every single race in the points, was only off the podium in four of them and won more than half.

It’s that relentless consistency that sums up the world champion these days. Whilst still obviously incredibly quick, it is the metronomic excellence of his performances that have made this championship something of a formality, wrapped up fittingly with a ‘grand chelem’ in the final race.

And with no real changes to next season’s regulations, could we be talking about Hamilton as statistically the greatest driver ever this time next year?

Highlight: Clinching his sixth title with all his family (and Matthew McConaughey…) there.

Lowlight: Uncharacteristic mistakes from driver and team in Germany.

GRADE: A

Valtteri Bottas

2nd | Pts: 326 | Wins: 4 | Podiums: 15 | Poles: 5 | FL: 3 | Ret: 2

2019 proved to be something of a false dawn for Valtteri Bottas, or certainly ‘Bottas 2.0’ anyway. Whilst the Finn undoubtedly improved on what was a disappointing 2018, he still ultimately came up a fair way short of his world champion teammate in the end.

Of course, being Hamilton’s teammate is one of the hardest ever jobs in Formula 1 but, even in what was probably his best year so far, Bottas did not challenge Hamilton to the extent that Nico Rosberg did.

He will need to find another way to step up his level next year if he is to do so. Bottas 3.0 maybe?

Highlight: Redemption in Baku after last year’s heartbreak.

Lowlight: That costly crash at the Hockenheimring.

Grade: B

Sebastian Vettel

5th | Pts: 240 | Wins: 1 | Podiums: 9 | Poles: 2 | FL: 2 | Ret: 3

Sebastian Vettel came into this season as Ferrari number one and with aspirations of a world title challenge after the Italian team’s strong showing in winter testing. But that challenge looked thoroughly over by the summer break and he finishes the season with his number one status severely under threat, if not already gone.

Things went from bad to worse when the Ferrari drivers collided in Brazil and were both forced to retire, with most attributing the largest share of the blame to Vettel. The German has some soul-searching to do over the winter and will need to come back stronger next year to compete with his increasingly impressive teammate.

With his contract up at the end of 2020, will next season be Vettel’s last in the red of Ferrari? Could it even be his last in the sport?

Highlight: Laying to rest his Hockenheim demons with a drive from last to second place.

Lowlight: The highly controversial penalty that cost him a win in Canada.

Grade: C+

Charles Leclerc

4TH | PTS: 264 | WINS: 2 | PODIUMS: 10 | POLES: 7 | FL: 4 | RET: 3

Charles Leclerc has made quite the impression in his debut year for Ferrari. He came in hoping to be able to match the four-time world champion on the other side of the garage but has ended up beating him in pretty much every measurable way: more points, more wins, more poles and comfortably winning the qualifying head-to-head.

After a period of things not quite clicking, Leclerc changed his approach on a Saturday and promptly outqualified Vettel nine times in a row, claiming five poles and two wins during that run. The wins were both very emotional. His maiden victory coming on the tragic weekend in Spa where his friend, F2 driver Anthoine Hubert, was killed and the second in front of the Tifosi in Monza; a first win for Ferrari on home soil since 2010.

The crash at Interlagos may have cost him third in the championship but he can be very satisfied with his performances this season under the severe pressure of driving for the Scuderia in only his second year in the sport. With a bit more experience under his belt, next year could be even better.

Highlight: Making himself an instant hero for the Tifosi with a hard-fought win at Monza.

Lowlight: The victory that was snatched oh so cruelly away in the closing laps in Bahrain.

Grade: B+

Max Verstappen

3rd | PTS: 278 | WINS: 3 | PODIUMS: 9 | POLES: 2 | FL: 3 | RET: 2

Max Verstappen has competed with Hamilton for ‘driver of the year’ rights throughout the season and there is very little to separate them. Verstappen has often outperformed his Red Bull machinery and his level of performance is causing those in charge to struggle to fill the seat alongside him. The flying Dutchman crushed Pierre Gasly into a mid-season demotion to Toro Rosso and, certainly on sheer pace, his replacement hasn’t managed to get much closer.

We did see a couple of glimpses of ‘the old Verstappen’ in a first corner crash at Spa and some impetuosity during the qualifying debacle in Mexico. But, overall, he appears to have reached a new level of maturity whilst holding onto his raw speed.

He can be very proud of three wins this year. If Red Bull can keep up the momentum they have ended the year with, he could take even more next season.

Highlight: All three wins were showstoppers but the Austria comeback was particularly impressive.

Lowlight: Throwing away pole in Mexico by not slowing for yellow flags and then crashing early in the race.

Grade: A

Alexander Albon

8th | PTS: 92 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4th) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

What a journey Alexander Albon has been on. A little over a year ago, he thought his F1 dream was over and was preparing to join the Nissan e.dams teams in Formula E. But when Daniel Ricciardo announced he was leaving Red Bull, and Gasly was brought in to replace him, Albon was urgently parachuted into a Toro Rosso drive for 2019.

He gave a good account of himself in the first half of the year, generally matching his more experienced teammate, Daniil Kvyat, despite never having driven a Formula 1 car before pre-season testing. And then, suddenly, he was presented with a race-winning seat when Red Bull decided to give him a chance after Gasly’s demotion. He started promisingly with a great comeback drive in Spa but has not quite been able to keep up with Verstappen in a straight fight thus far.

Still, he did enough to retain the seat for 2020 and time will tell what he can do with a proper winter’s preparations.

Highlight: Impressing on his Red Bull debut and even passing Ricciardo around the outside during his comeback.

Lowlight: Being denied a first podium by an overambitious move from Hamilton on the penultimate lap in Brazil.

Grade: B-

Carlos Sainz

6TH | PTS: 96 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 3rd) | PODIUMS: 1 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 4

Carlos Sainz re-announced himself as a star of the future – if not present – this year. After never quite getting to grips with the Renault, his star had seemed to be fading but, having stepped into the racing boots of his compatriot and idol Fernando Alonso, he has flourished as McLaren team leader.

One solid, understated, rarely filmed performance followed another, Sainz making the position of ‘best of the rest’ his own and was properly rewarded with an unlikely podium in the chaos of Brazil. He then claimed sixth in the drivers’ standings thanks to a great pass on the last lap of the last race. A fitting way to cap off his year.

Whilst obviously two drivers shared the second Red Bull seat, breaking into the top three teams’ usual lock-out of the top six positions is some achievement. He is one smooth operator.

Highlight: A first ever podium in Brazil and (eventually) celebrating it with the entire team.

Lowlight: Forgetting how few prisoners Verstappen takes in Bahrain and costing himself dearly.

Grade: A-

Lando Norris

11TH | PTS: 49 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 6

Lando Norris had more than his share of bad luck in his first F1 season but, nonetheless, he has made a name for himself. He got into Q3 in his first ever qualifying session and finished sixth in the next race. Whilst thoroughly outscored by Sainz, the gap in their points tallies isn’t totally representative due to the high number of issues outside the young Brit’s control. Numerous mechanical failures, poorly timed safety cars and botched pit stops have all blighted him.

But he has remained positive throughout and even made memes out of most of his misfortune. Norris is a breath of fresh air in the sport and has marked himself out as the joker of the paddock. He can be serious when needed, though, and shouldn’t be underestimated. He certainly has the speed, as shown by clinching the qualifying head-to-head with his teammate 11-10 at the final race of the season.

Highlight: Sixth place in only his second ever race.

Lowlight: A gut-wrenching mechanical failure on the last lap when running fifth in Spa.

Grade: B+

Daniel Ricciardo

9TH | PTS: 54 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 5

For the most part he has put on a brave and predictably smiley face…but this year must have been tough for Daniel Ricciardo. Renault splashed the cash and were aiming to close the gap to the big three but, in fact, dropped further back into the midfield and Ricciardo has been left fighting to scrape into the points at most races. He certainly enjoys that scrap and the intense racing that comes with it but, surely, he will be evaluating his options if Renault don’t make significant progress next year.

After a period of acclimatisation to his new surroundings, he stamped his authority over teammate Nico Hülkenberg and, by the end of the season, was comfortably ahead. Next year he will have a new challenge in the form of the incoming Esteban Ocon. He will once again be the elder statesman of the team with a feisty young upstart challenging him. Isn’t that what he was aiming to leave behind?

Highlight: Fourth place in Italy was Renault’s highest finish since the start of 2011.

Lowlight: Another mechanical failure in Germany costing him the chance of an upset.

Grade: B

Nico Hülkenberg

14TH | PTs: 37 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 5TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 3

Whatever or whoever cursed Nico Hülkenberg, did so very thoroughly. This year’s German GP looked like being his best chance of a long overdue podium but yet again it wasn’t to be, as he slid agonisingly into the barriers whilst very much in contention. And that may have been his last chance, it turns out.

Renault have decided to replace him with Ocon and, after deciding a pay cut to drive for Haas wasn’t worth it, he is suddenly out of the sport. Will he be back? Potentially. There will be a lot of change in 2021 and his reputation as an experienced head and reliable source of points remains intact, despite losing out to Ricciardo this year. Maybe at Alfa Romeo if Kimi Räikkönen finally decides to call it a day next year?

Highlight: A strong fifth place at Monza.

Lowlight: That crash in Germany costing another chance at a podium.

Grade: C

Daniil Kvyat

13TH | PTS: 37 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 3RD) | PODIUMS: 1 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 3

Daniil Kvyat had some good moments this year – particularly the podium in Germany, obviously – but has returned somewhat to his previous grumpy persona and torpedo-ish ways since missing out on the Red Bull drive when Gasly was demoted. He seemed to be glad just to be back in the sport early in the year but that has evaporated and back-to-back penalties for late, desperate lunges in Mexico and the US (and his reaction towards those justified penalties) revealed the frustrations boiling under the surface.

He was also beaten too often by a rookie in the first half of the year and what was initially a crushed man in the second half of the year. He keeps his drive for next year (potentially competing under a neutral flag) but you get the feeling it may be his last one in the Red Bull system.

Highlight: An unlikely podium on the same weekend that his first child was born.

Lowlight: Missing out on a Red Bull seat again; another dip in his Red Bull rollercoaster.

Grade: C+

Pierre Gasly

7th | PTS: 95 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 2nd) | PODIUMS: 1 | POLES: 0 | FL: 2 | RET: 3

One could describe Pierre Gasly’s 2019 season as a rollercoaster but, if so, it was basically a big dipper with just the one drop at the start before being returned to the station. So, it’s an overused cliché from football rather than F1 that best sums up his year: it was very much a tale of two halves. He never got to grips with the Red Bull and, under the pressure of Verstappen’s relentless performances, started to fall apart. A demotion after just 12 races seems harsh but was ultimately not that much of a shock to the paddock.

To compound an already tough weekend in Belgium – his first since being demoted – Gasly lost a very close friend in Hubert and his performance in that race is a great credit to him. In fact, once back in the more familiar surroundings of Toro Rosso, the Frenchman showed what he is capable of on a consistent basis. And that culminated in a fully-deserved second place in Brazil, the release of emotion after the crossing the line palpable.

Highlight: That incredible podium at Interlagos and the Ayrton Senna-esque radio message that followed.

Lowlight: Finishing a lap down on his teammate in Hungary spelt the end of his time at Red Bull.

Grade: (D-)+(B+)=C

Sergio Pérez

10TH | PTS: 52 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

After a pretty disappointing first half of the season, Sergio Pérez had a ridiculously consistent second half. He went into the summer break with just 13 points – most of which came in Azerbaijan – but since coming back from his ‘holidays’ scored points in every race bar a mechanical retirement in Singapore. It was often, as ever, his expertise when it comes to preserving tyre life that proved crucial.

That consistency saw him climb into the top half of the standings and, in the end, crush his teammate in the way many were expecting. Racing Point made decent progress with their car after a step back at the start of the year – most likely due to the transition from Force India – and Pérez is staying with the team next year for a sixth season.

Whilst he continues to prove himself an ever-reliable set of hands, will he ever get another shot in a top team?

Highlight: Qualifying fifth and then holding on to sixth in Azerbaijan.

Lowlight: A clumsy spin in the German rain ending his chances in his type of Grand Prix.

Grade: B

Lance Stroll

15TH | PTS: 21 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 3

In stark contrast to his teammate, Lance Stroll barely picked up another point after the summer break, with just a 10th place in Spa and a ninth in Japan – the latter only coming courtesy of Renault’s double disqualification. Truthfully, even his 21-point tally is somewhat flattering, given 12 of them came from Racing Point’s successful gamble to switch to dry tyres in Germany which left the Canadian temporarily leading the race.

Stroll has held up his reputation for starting races very well but much of that is down to his awful qualifying record. He finished 18-3 down against Pérez and had the worst average grid position of anyone other than the Williams drivers. He will have to do more than this to shake off that ‘pay driver looked after by Daddy’ reputation.

Highlight: Suddenly, incredibly finding himself leading a Grand Prix in Germany.

Lowlight: Most qualifying sessions.

Grade: D+

Kimi Räikkönen

12TH | PTS: 43 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

Kimi Räikkönen started the season very well with talk of rejuvenation and Indian summers as he consistently racked up points and spent some of the first half of the season as ‘best of the rest’. But, as Alfa Romeo went off the boil after the summer break, so did Räikkönen to some extent, scoring points just once.

He also went from having his teammate comfortably covered to suddenly being pretty evenly-matched and often qualifying behind him. But Kimi doesn’t seem to care, as ever. He’s just enjoying racing still…even at 40. Who’d have thought that possibly the most apathetic driver ever will next year take the record for the most races in F1 history? He must love it really.

Highlight: Bwoah, who knows? It was all okay.

Lowlight: See above.

Grade: B-

Antonio Giovinazzi

17TH | PTS: 14 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 5TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

In the first half of the year, it looked like Antonio Giovinazzi was potentially not up to scratch as he failed to score points whilst teammate was racking up a fair haul. But the Italian got stronger as the year progressed and did enough to convince Alfa Romeo to keep him on for another season.

Unfortunately for him, as his performances increased, his team’s dwindled and, whilst he was often matching or beating Räikkönen, he wasn’t earning points. A freak fifth place in Brazil accounts for nearly 75% of his points tally. He will have to push on and find another level in 2020 to prove to Ferrari that he is worthy of their young driver slot in the junior Alfa Romeo team. After all, he’s not particularly young at 26.

Highlight: An unlikely fifth place at Interlagos.

Lowlight: Crashing out of a points-paying position on the last lap at Spa.

Grade: C-

Romain Grosjean

18TH | PTS: 8 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 7

It has been another error-strewn season for Romain Grosjean. From repeated clashes with his teammate to spinning at the pit exit during a practice session, these are incidents that a driver of his experience shouldn’t be making; certainly not with this frequency.

He certainly still has a flash of speed on his day and the fact that he was proven right with regards to his idea to revert to the Australia-spec Haas car is probably what kept him in a seat for next year. Grosjean performed more consistently towards the end of the year but the Haas performance had fallen off a cliff and he didn’t pick up a single point after the summer break.

Highlight: Having his suspicions that the car had actually become worse proven right.

Lowlight: Immediately spinning into the barriers at the pit exit during Practice 1 in Britain.

Grade: D

Kevin Magnussen

16TH | PTS: 20 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 1 | RET: 3

Earlier in the year, Kevin Magnussen was generally qualifying very well but then suffering from Haas’s non-existent race pace and coming out of the weekend without much to show for his efforts. And, again, as the Haas car fell down the pecking order through the season, his qualifying performances were barely getting him out of Q1.

He was also, obviously, on the other end of those inter-team collisions with Grosjean, though, which didn’t help. The fault has generally laid somewhere between 50/50 and Magnussen and he continues to not make many friends out on the track. Not that he seems to care. His outright speed is currently keeping him in an F1 seat but, at some point, surely he’ll have to ask himself if there isn’t another way when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing. Particularly with your teammate.

Highlight: Starting the season with a strong sixth-place finish in Australia.

Lowlight: The collision with Grosjean at Silverstone taking out both cars.

Grade: C+

Robert Kubica

19TH | PTS: 1 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 10TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

Robert Kubica’s return was not quite the fairy-tale story that many had hoped for. The Williams has, of course, been a long way off the pace but Kubica has also been a fair way off the pace of his rookie teammate. There had been rumours regarding whether the drivers had equal machinery but, even after swapping chassis, it would appear that the Pole sadly just didn’t have the pace and that was backed up by an eventual qualifying 21-0 whitewash.

He did at least claim the unlikeliest of points in Germany to have something to show for what was nonetheless an incredible comeback, almost a decade after a near-fatal injury. We must not forget the man was basically driving with one hand.

Highlight: A points-finish in Germany in a car that seemed unlikely ever to achieve one.

Lowlight: Consistently driving round in last place, being lapped two or three times.

Grade: D (But A for Effort)

George Russell

20TH | PTS: 0 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 11TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

George Russell finished the season as the only driver without a point but that is far from the story of his impressive debut season thus. Whilst Kubica is an unknown quantity since his return, Russell frankly destroyed him. 21-0 in qualifying and 17-4 on Sunday. And beating your teammate is about all you can do in a car so off the pace as this year’s Williams.

Russell very nearly dragged the car miraculously into Q2 when the playing field was levelled a little in Hungary and even set a lap record whilst testing the Mercedes earlier in the year. Last year’s F2 champion would appear to have a very bright future ahead of him.

Highlight: That Hungarian qualifying lap. 16th in this Williams is stunning.

Lowlight: Missing out on a point in Germany.

Grade: B+

2019 teams’ mid-season report cards

Posted on by James Mackenzie

And, just to get us all through the last few days, here is a quick report card for the teams.

Mercedes

1ST | PTS: 438 | WINS: 10 | PODIUMS: 19 | POLES: 8 | FL: 4 | RET: 1

The Mercedes juggernaut steams on, crushing all in its path. Coming into this season, the dominance of the Silver Arrows looked under real threat…but then they set a record for consecutive one-two finishes from the start of the season and have entered the summer break with a commanding 150-point lead.

There was one calamitous race in Germany which unfortunately coincided with their celebrations for their 200th GP and 125 years of motorsport. But, nonetheless, they look like they’re heading for a sixth consecutive championship double which will suprass the record they currently share with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher era.

Grade: A

Ferrari

2ND | PTS: 288 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 2ND) | PODIUMS: 11 | POLES: 3 | FL: 3 | RET: 2

It was Ferrari who were supposed to be posing the aforementioned threat to Mercedes. But their apparent speed in pre-season testing was not realised come Melbourne and they are still yet to manage a victory, despite coming excruciatingly close in Bahrain, Canada and Austria.

They have shown flashes of speed, particularly at high-speed tracks thanks to the car’s straight-line speed, but their previous strength in slow corners has entirely disappeared. Operational issues and strategic errors also continue to blight the Scuderia and they are now under threat from Red Bull for second in the Constructors’ Championship.

Grade: C

Red Bull Racing Honda

3RD | PTS: 244 | WINS: 2 | PODIUMS: 5 | POLES: 1 | FL: 5 | RET: 2

Red Bull and Honda have far exceeded their expectations from the first year of their partnership. Whilst they learnt a fair bit last year through Toro Rosso taking on the Honda engines, Red Bull management still expected something of a learning curve for both parties.

But Honda have delivered a much-improved power unit and, after at first struggling to understand some of the aerodynamic intricacies of this year’s car, Red Bull are now keeping Mercedes very much on their toes at all types of circuit. The future looks very promising.

Grade: A-

Renault

6TH | PTS: 39 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 7

It has been something of a disastrous season for Renault so far. They have totally failed in their goal of closing the gap to the ‘big three’ teams and have, in fact, fallen further into the clutches of a very competitive midfield. They are even behind a McLaren team who are using their Renault engine.

Things will need to dramatically pick up in the second half of the season or heads will likely roll at the end of the year.

Grade: D

Haas Ferrari

9TH | PTS: 26 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 7

It has been a strange year for the Haas team on a few fronts. On the racing side, they have been very inconsistent; they usually qualify well but, largely due to issues with tyre temperatures, then disappear come race day and now find themselves ninth of 10 teams in the standings. It also hasn’t helped that their drivers keep crashing into each other…

And away from the actual racing, there have been the frankly bizarre dealings with their title sponsor. A company that had already raised many an eyebrow, Rich Energy then acted out a childish soap opera after just a few races, with twists and turns as to who had dumped whom in the partnership, or whether nobody had been dumped at all. It was all very strange and their position even now isn’t clear. Haas have a lot of work to do across the board.

Grade: D

McLaren Renault

4TH | PTS: 82 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 5TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 6

2019 has been exactly the kind of year that McLaren would have been aiming for in their task of rebuilding a once great team. After a few years of calamity and collapse, they seem to finally be getting things back on track.

They have two excellent young drivers, a much-improved atmosphere within the team and, suddenly, they have found themselves comfortably at the front of the midfield. Onwards and upwards for the popular, papaya team.

Grade: B+

Racing Point BWT Mercedes

8TH | PTS: 31 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

This was always likely to be something of a transitional year for Racing Point, following Lawrence Stroll’s buy-out of the team midway through 2018, so they will probably be reasonably satisfied to still be in the main fight for the midfield spots.

Whilst they have often been ‘best of the rest’ in past years, the lack of funding, and thus development, as Force India came to an end could have seen them well off the pace this year but they have remained respectable. And they even nearly managed their habitual unlikely podium in Germany with Lance Stroll’s fourth place. They will now aim to build on these foundations into next year and push back up the order.

Grade: C

Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari

7TH | PTS: 32 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

The 2019 season has been consistent if underwhelming for Alfa Romeo. They came into the season with some impressive testing times and talk of them being dark horses with their radical design ideas; particularly around the front wing.

But it has generally been a story of a Kimi Räikkönen revival picking them up a few solid points at most races, whilst former Ferrari academy driver Antonio Giovinazzi has only picked up the one. Nothing much more to report but still a significant improvement on where the team was as Sauber just a couple of years ago.

Grade: C

Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda

5TH | PTS: 43 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 3RD) | PODIUMS: 1 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 3

The competitiveness of the 2019 midfield has made it hard for teams to stand out but Toro Rosso have definitely improved since last season and an unlikely driver line-up seems to have worked out very well; arguably too well as Alexander Albon now departs to the senior Red Bull team.

A first podium in over a decade is the obvious highlight and, whilst that accounts for a large percentage of their points haul, their position of fifth in the standings does not flatter to deceive.

Grade: B-

Williams Mercedes

10TH | PTS: 1 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 10TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 0

It is a real shame to see what has become of this once mighty team. The last 15 years have had many ups and downs for Williams but this is surely their lowest point. It’s amazing to think that they were, arguably, the main competitor to Mercedes at the beginning of the hybrid era.

They started this season seconds off the pace – after having missed a fair portion of pre-season testing – and have been at the back ever since. Being the only team with no retirements is commendable, and an update in Hungary seemed to have made something of a difference, but there is still a long way to go.

Grade: E

2019 drivers’ mid-season report cards

Posted on by James Mackenzie

We’re (just over) halfway through the season, so it seems a good time to recap the year and see how everyone has done.

Lewis Hamilton

1st | Pts: 250 | Wins: 8 | Podiums: 10 | Poles: 4 | FL: 2 | Ret: 0

Lewis Hamilton just keeps on winning. Eight of the first twelve races have ended in that familiar combination of the British and German national anthems. That takes him up to 81 Grand Prix victories and suddenly he is just 10 shy of what had, until recently, seemed an unassailable record.

Valtteri Bottas has been closer to him in qualifying this year but Hamilton has generally been setting the car up for races and perhaps that is why he now has a commanding championship lead of 62 points. He is well on his way to a sixth world championship. All that denies him an A+ was that rare off day whilst ill in Hockenheim.

Highlight: Holding on with ancient tyres for an emotional win in Monaco.

Lowlight: Uncharacteristic mistakes from driver and team in Germany.

Grade: A

Valtteri Bottas

2nd | Pts: 188 | Wins: 2 | Podiums: 9 | Poles: 4 | FL: 2 | Ret: 1

Bottas came back from the winter break with a new beard and a steely determination. That brought about the notion of ‘Bottas 2.0’ and the Finn backed it up with a comfortable victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. A few more strong performances followed and he was keeping his world champion teammate honest but, since Monaco, things have started to slip away from him.

Hamilton slowly but surely eked out a championship lead and then, just as Mercedes are deciding who gets the second seat next year, Bottas has had a couple of shockers. He crashed out in Germany when he had an excellent chance to gain points on Hamilton and then had a clumsy start at the Hungarian Grand Prix which left him having to recover from last place. And suddenly he is far closer to third than first in the standings. Will he be far lower in the standings at a different team next year?

Highlight: Redemption in Baku after last year’s heartbreak.

Lowlight: That costly crash at the Hockenheimring.

Grade: B

Sebastian Vettel

4th | Pts: 156 | Wins: 0 (Best: 2nd) | Podiums: 6 | Poles: 1 | FL: 1 | Ret: 0

Sebastian Vettel has had a tough year. A string of issues have plagued him all the way back to that fateful rainy day in Hockenheim last year and this season started similarly. With errors whilst under pressure, most notably in Bahrain and Canada, leaving people questioning whether he has cracked, if he is thinking of retirement, etc. A new, young, hungry, and most importantly fast, teammate is testing his resolve too.

He has managed to enter the summer break on a more positive note, however, with strong podiums in Germany and Hungary. And it’s worth remembering he has generally been ahead of Charles Leclerc in the standings all year too. He will need to end a run of being outqualified by the young Monegasque soon though.

Highlight: Laying to rest his Hockenheim demons with a drive from last to second place.

Lowlight: The highly controversial penalty that cost him a win in Canada.

Grade: C+

Charles Leclerc

5TH | PTS: 132 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 2ND) | PODIUMS: 5 | POLES: 2 | FL: 2 | RET: 2

The start of Leclerc’s Ferrari career has been something of a rollercoaster ride but, so far, the downs have been far more excruciating than the ups have been euphoric. A win in only his second race for Ferrari was cruelly taken away by a mechanical error in the final few laps. A strategy error meant he was knocked out of Q1 at his home race and then crashed as he tried too hard to force overtakes on race day. And then Max Verstappen rudely barged his way through to snatch another victory away in Austria.

But he has shown some real speed and, since changing his approach after the Canadian GP, has outqualified Vettel five times in a row. He just needs to iron out the mistakes which, whilst understandable from someone in only their second season of F1, you can’t be making at the front of the grid.

Highlight: A fantastic duel with Verstappen at Silverstone and a podium at the end of it.

Lowlight: Either win that was snatched away but Bahrain was probably the more agonising.

Grade: B-

Max Verstappen

3rd | PTS: 181 | WINS: 2 | PODIUMS: 5 | POLES: 1 | FL: 3 | RET: 0

Arguably the star of 2019 so far, Verstappen is having a fantasic year. He has picked up where he left off last year in terms of performance and seems to be relishing his new role as de facto team leader. Dramatic wins in Austria and Germany, along with impressive consistency, have seen him close in on Bottas and he is now in an unlikely battle for second in the championship.

This has led to debate over whether he is the best driver in the sport right now. I think that is a little premature. He is in excellent form at the moment but we have to see him over the course of a high-pressure title battle at the very top before he can seriously be compared to Hamilton and potentially argued as the best. Nonetheless, he will be getting the only A+ in this report.

Highlight: Both wins were showstoppers but the Austria comeback was paricularly impressive.

Lowlight: Being punted out by Vettel at Silverstone.

Grade: A+

Pierre Gasly

6th | PTS: 63 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4th) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 2 | RET: 2

Whilst I have been writing up this report card, the news has broken that Pierre Gasly has been demoted. And sadly, it has not come up as much of a surprise (despite Red Bull’s repeated assurances that he would see out the season with them). Being promoted to Red Bull in only your second full season and coming up against an in-form Verstappen is an unenviable task. But it has to be said that Gasly has been embarrassingly off the pace.

Consistently a second per lap slower than this teammate in qualifying and races; even being lapped by him in Austria and Hungary. He showed potential last year so where has it gone? Maybe it’s just a lack of confidence that has spiralled out of control. This demotion is unlikely to help with that if so…

Highlight: Silverstone looked like it might have been a breakthrough and resulted in 4th.

Lowlight: But it wasn’t. And at the next race he drove into the back of a Toro Rosso to boot.

Grade: D-

Daniel Ricciardo

11TH | PTS: 22 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 4

Ever since breaking his front wing a few metres into the first race of the year, Daniel Ricciardo’s move to Renault has proven to be pretty frustrating. The team have not only failed in their goal of closing the gap to the top three teams but have, in fact, dropped behind McLaren and are now battling for fifth. The Aussie has experienced similar engine blow-ups as he did with Red Bull’s Renault engine last season and it is thoroughly testing his ever-cheery persona.

He does, at least, seem to have improved his understanding of the car – having struggled initially to adapt – and is now regularly outpacing his teammate. But surely the Honey Badger is currently questioning his move somewhat.

Highlight: Qualifying fourth in Canada, Renault’s highest grid position since 2010.

Lowlight: Another mechanical failure in Germany costing him the chance of an upset.

Grade: C+

Nico Hülkenberg

14TH | PTs: 17 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 3

What or whoever cursed Nico Hülkenberg, did so very thoroughly. This year’s German GP looked like being his best chance of a long overdue podium but yet again it wasn’t to be, as he slid agonisingly into the barriers whilst very much in contention.

His reputation is in some danger too. After a strong start to the year, he now seems to be a little slower than Ricciardo most weekends. This, combined with a lack of the consistency he has generally been renowned for, has meant that rather than being a name mentioned in regards to available front-running seats, he is now fighting to hold on to his Renault seat. A few eye-catching performances straight after the summer break certainly wouldn’t go amiss.

Highlight: A strong run to seventh in the first race of the year.

Lowlight: That crash in Germany costing another chance at a podium.

Grade: C

Romain Grosjean

17TH | PTS: 8 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 6

It has been another error-strewn season for Romain Grosjean. From repeated clashes with his teammate to spinning at the pit exit during a practice session, these are incidents that a driver of his experience shouldn’t be making; certainly not with this frequency.

He certainly still has a flash of speed on his day and the fact that he was proven right with regards to his idea to revert back to the Australia-spec Haas car helps his cause. But there were questions over his seat last year and surely Guenther Steiner will be assessing his options again.

Highlight: Having his suspicions that the car had actually become worse proven right.

Lowlight: Immediately spinning into the barriers at the pit exit during Practice 1 in Britain.

Grade: D

Kevin Magnussen

13TH | PTS: 18 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

This year, Kevin Magnussen has generally been qualifying very well but then suffering from Haas’s non-existent race pace and coming out of the weekend without much to show for his efforts.

He has also, obviously, been on the other end of those inter-team collisions with Grosjean, though, which haven’t helped. The fault has generally laid somewhere between 50/50 and Magnussen and he continues to not make many friends out on the track. Not that he seems to care. His outright speed is currently keeping him in an F1 seat but, at some point, surely he’ll have to ask himself if there isn’t another way when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing. Particularly with your teammate.

Highlight: Starting the season with a strong sixth-place finish in Australia.

Lowlight: The collision with Grosjean at Silverstone taking out both cars.

Grade: C

Carlos Sainz

7TH | PTS: 58 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 5TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

Could this be the year that Carlos Sainz truly shows what he is made of? After a year of not getting to grips with the Renault car, many people seemed to have forgotten that Sainz was pretty evenly-matched with Verstappen during their respective rookie years. But this year, he is revelling in his new role as team leader at McLaren and heads into the summer break as ‘best of the rest’.

After an overeager move around Verstappen in Bahrain cost him a haul of points, Sainz has gone on an impressively consistent run and finished the first half of the season with consecutive fifth-place finishes. He will need to address qualifying, however, where his rookie teammate has generally had the edge.

Highlight: The fifth place in Hungary that had him singing ‘Smooth Operator’.

Lowlight: Forgetting how few prisoners Verstappen takes in Bahrain and costing himself dearly.

Grade: A-

Lando Norris

10TH | PTS: 24 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 4

Lando Norris has had more than his share of bad luck in the first 12 races of his F1 career but, nonetheless, he has made quite the impression. He got into Q3 in his first ever qualifying session – something not achieved in a McLaren since Fernando Alonso in Monaco last year. He then finished sixth in the next race. An 8-4 lead in qualifying over his more experienced teammate is also particularly impressive.

The significant points deficit to Sainz is fairly unrepresentative. Whilst the Spaniard has been excellent, the youngster in the sister car has lost many points through no fault of his own; two mechanical failures, a poorly-timed safety car and a slow pit stop, all coming whilst he was running between sixth and eighth. But he has remained positive and even made memes out of most of his misfortune. The teenager from Somerset is a breath of fresh air in the sport and appears to have the speed to indicate that he’ll be around for some time.

Highlight: Sixth place in only his second ever race.

Lowlight: Getting unlucky with a safety car at his home GP when on for a good result.

Grade: B+

Sergio Pérez

16TH | PTS: 13 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

Normally, by this point of the season, Sergio Pérez would have managed to grab himself an unlikely podium somewhere. But this year, the car appears to have taken a step back and he hasn’t had that bit of luck he often manages to find – indeed, he was the first to spin out in Germany and his teammate nearly grabbed a podium.

After a reasonably promising start to the season, Pérez hasn’t scored a point since Azerbaijan back in April, generally finishing every race just outside the points in 11th or 12th. An update in Germany seems to have improved the Racing Point so the Mexican will hope to score some points and get back ahead of his less experienced teammate in the championship.

Highlight: Qualifying fifth and then holding on to sixth in Azerbaijan.

Lowlight: A clumsy spin in the German rain ending his chances in his type of Grand Prix.

Grade: C-

Lance Stroll

12TH | PTS: 18 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 4TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

Lance Stroll may be the higher Racing Point driver in the championship but he owes that to an inspired (and slightly lucky, obviously) strategy gamble in Germany. It left him briefly leading the race, having been running near the back of the field previously. He couldn’t quite hold on for a podium but fourth place tripled his points tally.

Stroll has held up his reputation for starting races very well but much of that is down to his awful qualifying record. He is 12-0 down against Pérez and has only managed to get out of Q1 on one occasion. That is something he will really have to improve upon to be taken more seriously in the paddock.

Highlight: Suddenly, incredibly finding himself leading a Grand Prix in Germany.

Lowlight: Staring down the barrel of a qualifying whitewash at the start of the summer break.

Grade: C-

Kimi Räikkönen

8TH | PTS: 31 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 7TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 0

Is Kimi Räikkönen back to his best again, free from the spotlight at Ferrari and back to just enjoying racing? Or have Alfa Romeo built a great car and Antonio Giovinazzi just isn’t up to it? It’s hard to say what Räikkönen’s renaissance is down to but he is driving very well and with fantastic consistency.

His recent years at Ferrari weren’t a total failure but he rarely hooked up a qualifying lap and was normally a bit shy of the frontrunners. This year, about to turn 40, he has been comfortably ahead of Giovinazzi in qualifying and the races, picking up steady points and finds himself only a couple of positions lower in the championship than he often was in a Ferrari. There’s life in the old dog yet.

Highlight: Bwoah, who knows? It was all okay.

Lowlight: See above.

Grade: B+

Antonio Giovinazzi

18TH | PTS: 1 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 10TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

It has all just been very underwhelming from Giovinazzi, sadly. He has now managed his first point in the sport, at least, but generally it’s all been races spent thoroughly in no man’s land. Honestly, it’s difficult to even make up two short paragraphs regarding his season thus far. So, I won’t.

Highlight: A first point in Austria.

Lowlight: Having eighth in Germany taken away after a 30-second post-race penalty.

Grade: D

Daniil Kvyat

9TH | PTS: 27 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 3RD) | PODIUMS: 1 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 2

The torpedo has returned. And in style, with Toro Rosso’s first podium in over a decade at the German GP. The rest of the year so far has been pretty solid, although he has been bested by his rookie teammate more often than he would probably like.

He’ll also likely be frustrated to be passed up for the Red Bull seat – we will see when we return from the summer break. But he appears to just be enjoying being back in F1 after a rollercoaster few years.

Highlight: An unlikely podium on the same weekend that his first child was born.

Lowlight: Missing out on a Red Bull seat again; another dip in his Red Bull rollercoaster.

Grade: B-

Alexander Albon

15TH | PTS: 16 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 6TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 1

It has been a convincing start to Alexander Albon’s career, having come into the sport without much hype and off the back of only third in last year’s F2 championship. But, suddenly, he is about to be thrust very much into the spotlight with a move to Red Bull to partner Max Verstappen…only 12 races into said career.

It’s a hell of an ask. He has seemed pretty unflappable thus far, however, consistently scoring points and showing good wheel-to-wheel ability in a four-corner side-by-side battle with Kvyat in Hungary. Time will tell if this move is too soon for him.

Highlight: A strong eighth place in his first Monaco GP.

Lowlight: Perhaps not being the Toro Rosso on the podium in Germany – he had the chance.

Grade: B-

Robert Kubica

19TH | PTS: 1 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 10TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 0

Robert Kubica’s return has not been quite the fairy-tale story that many had hoped for. The Williams has been, of course, a long way off the rest of the pace but generally Kubica has also been a fair way off the pace of his teammate. There have been rumours regarding whether the drivers have equal machinery but, after swapping chassis, it would appear the Pole sadly just doesn’t have the pace.

He did at least claim the unlikeliest of points in Germany to have something to show for what is nonetheless an incredible comeback, nearly a decade after a near-fatal injury. We must not forget the man is basically driving with one hand.

Highlight: A points-finish in Germany in a car that seemed unlikely ever to achieve one.

Lowlight: Consistently driving round in last place, being lapped two or three times.

Grade: D+

George Russell

20TH | PTS: 0 | WINS: 0 (BEST: 11TH) | PODIUMS: 0 | POLES: 0 | FL: 0 | RET: 0

George Russell is now the only driver without a point but that is far from the story of his impressive debut season thus far. Whilst Kubica is an unknown quantity since his return, Russell has frankly destroyed him. 12-0 in qualifying and 10-2 on Sunday. And beating your teammate is about all you can do in a car so off the pace as this year’s Williams.

The car did get an update in Hungary and Russell very nearly dragged the car miraculously into Q2. Last year’s F2 champion would appear to have a very bright future ahead of him.

Highlight: That Hungarian qualifying lap. 16th in this Williams is stunning.

Lowlight: Missing out on a point in Germany.

Grade: A-

Predictions that I’ll probably regret making

Posted on by James Mackenzie

As I said, I had planned to do this post on Thursday but delayed it after the news about Charlie Whiting. But with only two practice sessions gone (and Ferrari potentially keeping their true pace under wraps), I think making some F1 2019 predictions for the entire season is still probably fair game… No? Well, I’m doing it anyway.

World Drivers’ Championship Top 5

1st: Sebastian Vettel

I just have a gut feeling that Ferrari are finally going to pull it together this year and that Vettel’s experience in the end will be enough to see him to the title. The Ferrari has been behaving very nicely in pre-season and we know from his Red Bull years what he can do if he’s in a car he likes, leading from the front.

2nd: Lewis Hamilton

Whilst I believe Ferrari will have the better car this year, I also believe that Hamilton is the better driver and that he’ll push Vettel all the way. He won’t be in a hurry to give up the mantle of being the most successful active driver (at least in terms of championships) and he overcame the odds in, arguably, a slightly slower car last season. But it may end up too big a challenge to conquer this year.

3rd: Charles Leclerc

I can see Leclerc surprising people early on and matching Vettel’s pace; potentially leading the championship after a few races (à la Hamilton in ’07). But ultimately I think a bit of inconsistency will creep in and he’ll slip back as it gets to the sharp end of the season. We saw those rookie mistakes in the shape of a few spins last year – not that that couldn’t also be said of Vettel – and I think the unbridled passion of the tifosi weighs on even the strongest of shoulders. Leclerc has remained realistic about this season and finding his feet so, whilst he may not come out on top this year, I expect great things from the young Monegasque.

4th: Max Verstappen

As I have said previously, I think Red Bull will be there or thereabouts this season – snatching the odd win and getting on the podium a fair bit. They’re unlikely to be in a position to challenge for titles in the first year of their partnership with Honda, but I think Verstappen will continue to channel his speed into more consistent results and less crashes this year. And end the season with a repeat of last year’s respectable 4th place.

5th: Valtteri Bottas

It’s very much make or break this year for Bottas. ‘Valtteri, this is James’ became one of the most overused memes of last season and that is how the F1 world now sees him – as the ‘wingman’ he so didn’t want to be. Ironically, his disapproval of the term is what made a headline out of it and caused it to stick. But sadly, excellent new facial hair or not, you just can’t see him posing much more of a challenge to Hamilton this year. It can’t be easy going up against an all-time great but after three years in his shadow, and with the highly-rated Mercedes protégé Esteban Ocon waiting in the wings, will it be the Finn’s final year in a Silver Arrow? I think so.

World Constructors’ Championship Top 5

1st: Scuderia Ferrari

As stated above, I think the Scuderia will finally get it right this season and come out with their first Constructors’ Championship in over a decade. After a lot of pain and a fair few near misses during that decade, it would be a poetic result and a fitting tribute to their former chairman, Sergio Marchione, who died last year.

2nd: Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport

Mercedes equalled Ferrari’s record of five consecutive double World Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship titles last year and they would love to make that record their own. But it appears that the team they are trying to prise that record from have produced the best car and the toughest challenge that the German team have faced since they began their domination of the sport in 2014. They’ll push them all the way but maybe six in a row will be just too big of an ask.

3rd: Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

Come 2021, with a couple more years’ experience and integration for Honda and new regulations for Adrian Newey to get his teeth into, I think Red Bull could well end up the team to beat again if they play their cards right. But for now I don’t see them challenging the top two on a regular basis and probably having a few more retirements than them as well. Obviously no one looks close to challenging them for third though.

4th: Renault F1 Team

The midfield pack is already widely-accepted as very, very tight this year. But if I have to pick someone to finish best of the rest then I’m going for Renault. They probably have the best driver line-up of the group and clear long-term aims of making the top three into a top four, towards which they have been making steady progress in the last couple of years. And being a works team never hurts.

5th: Alfa Romeo Racing

I struggled to decide between Alfa and Haas for fifth place. Both the effective Ferrari B-teams have shown some good form and put forward a good case for being in the top five. Haas produced what some believe to be the second-quickest fuel-corrected run in pre-season testing. But I fancy the Italian team to edge it over the whole season, based mostly on the impressive progress they made through 2018 with their new funding.

Best-Placed Rookie

Lando Norris

I may have gone with Antonio Giovinazzi but he doesn’t count as a rookie, having competed in two races at the start of 2017. So of the three true rookies – Britons, Lando Norris and George Russell, and British-born but racing under a Thai flag, Alexander Albon – my choice would be Norris. Sadly, it looks a lot like Russell’s Williams will be struggling with the 107% rule and, whilst their two teams look finely balanced, Albon has looked a little shaky in testing. Norris also beat him in F2 last year.

Most Exciting Race of the Year

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Aside from the bizarre aesthetics of Baku itself, as the cars flash between backdrops of castles, Renaissance architecture and new, futuristic towers, the last two races have been absolute corkers. 2017 had Vettel deliberately driving into Hamilton under the safety car and Bottas passing Stroll on the line for 2nd place. Then fast-forward 12 months and we had that Red Bull crash and Bottas this time picking up a puncture whilst leading with a few laps to go. The Azerbaijan GP just seems to have a knack for unpredictability and drama, so it’s where my bet for the race of the year goes.

Craziest Driver Move of Silly Season

Fernando Alonso to Red Bull

If this prediction comes true, then I will quite rightly gloat for the entirety of 2020. Let’s say that… Gasly gets trounced by Verstappen. Helmut Marko refuses to re-promote Kvyat to the big team and Albon hasn’t shone. The Red Bull junior programme has run a little dry. Alonso has won the Indy 500 at his second attempt and, with the Triple Crown under his belt, is now interested in F1 again. Christian Horner picks up the phone…

Will Nico Hülkenberg Finally Get a Podium?

NO

Let’s act like we know what’s going on in testing, pt. 2

Posted on by James Mackenzie

In this post I will, for the most part, stick with my modus operandi of not granting the 2019 F1 testing times too much significance. But it’s no fun to entirely ignore them so let’s allow ourselves to read a little into them, especially when it comes to the headline news of the front-runners.

Let me pose some questions.

So, Were Mercedes aCTUALLY Sandbagging Then?

The Mercedes cars did finally unleash a bit of speed but they left it until the final hour of the final day of testing. Ferrari had already packed up, after Sebastian Vettel was left stationary at turn two with an electrical failure an hour or so earlier. That quick run on the softest tyres left him just 0.003 seconds shy of Vettel’s test-topping time of 1:16.221 which, even by Formula 1 standards, is very close. Fuel-and-tyre-corrected lists have put the Ferrari around half a second ahead but I’m not totally convinced; the apparent differences between the tyre compounds always appear to be overestimated in my experience. And will the Silver Arrows still have their infamous ‘party mode’ once it comes to the serious business?

The Mercedes and Ferrari at F1 2019 testing.
The two teams have gone in noticeably different directions with their aero philosophies

From on-board footage, the Ferrari looks by far the easier of the two to drive – very balanced; equally happy in different corner types – and has done so since the first day of testing. An impressive feat with new regulations and a brand new car. My gut feeling is that Ferrari have the edge currently. Lewis Hamilton is unmatched when it comes to throwing a car round Albert Park on a Saturday, so he could well pull yet another pole out of nowhere, but I think by race day the red cars will be on top. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that Mercedes’ Achilles’ heel in recent years has been dealing with the dirty air when following another car. If the regulation changes have done their job, they may now be able to put up more of a fight when not in the lead. The rest of the season will be a story of who wins the development war and whether Ferrari can solves the operational issues that have plagued their last two championship campaigns. Of course, Helmut Marko would have you believe it will be Red Bull bringing the fight to Ferrari…which leads me nicely to my next point…

Where do Red Bull Stack Up?

Dr. Marko says a lot of things. And you get the impression a lot of them are just to stir things up – he’s quite similar to the ex-Godfather Bernie Ecclestone in that way. He has made a lot of ambitious claims of Red Bull’s impending success in the recent past which have not really come to fruition. But in fairness, this time round, the RB15 is looking pretty promising. It is a little harder to compare them with the other two of the ‘big three’ as they did not do any qualifying runs, but their long-run pace has been looking pretty good. Unfortunately, Pierre Gasly put paid to one of those on Thursday with a fairly hefty trip into the barriers. And it wasn’t his only one either. The young Frenchman will need to iron out those mistakes if he is to truly challenge Max Verstappen on the other side of the garage. He may be a year older than his teammate, but he has far less experience in the sport and the consensus seems to be that Verstappen has now added much-needed maturity to his undeniable speed.

Image credit: Getty Images

If my hand was forced, I would say I can see Red Bull matching up roughly where they did last season – nicking the odd win whilst also having some off days and a fair few retirements. Whilst their relationship with Honda has certainly started smoothly, Red Bull cars tend to ask a lot of their power units and I can see a few teething issues appearing once everything gets turned up to 11. Nonetheless, I think the Honda deal is a good move in the long-term and could see Red Bull as genuine championship contenders again given time.

How Close is the Midfield Battle?

Very. In a word. Renault, Haas, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Alfa Romeo all appear to be within a couple of tenths of each other, whilst Racing Point were openly running a very basic car for these tests, with many new parts coming for either Melbourne or the first of the European races – the return to Barcelona in May. With all the variables, I don’t think there is a lot of point in dissecting such similar times to try and figure out who is looking the favourite for 4th place. Just rest assured that the ‘Formula 1.5‘ championship, as it has been christened, looks like being even more closely fought than last season. And it seems they have all closed the gap to the front-runners a little, so we may see the odd podium position being stolen more often.

Image credit: Motorsport Images

That just leaves Williams, who are as off the pace as expected after their late arrival. The car has, commendably, not suffered any obvious issues and the team have amassed a fair amount of laps. But Robert Kubica admitted that he had not done a run longer than 15 laps so we will have to see how they deal with a full race distance in two weeks time. It is a real shame to see Williams just making up the numbers.

And Finally, How Quick Are the Cars in General?

This year’s regulation changes were expected to result in a drop in performance and a rise in lap times. But that hasn’t really happened. Whilst some of the lap time can be accounted for by, amongst other factors, more favourable conditions than at last year’s test, the headline time ended up just shy of a second quicker than last year’s. It would appear, as ever, that the brainboxes behind the scenes have found ways around the rules to exploit loopholes and make the air go in exactly the directions around the car they so choose. And they certainly have the potential to go much faster at this stage of development.

Overall, this season has the makings of a fantastic one. Let’s hope that’s still the case come Abu Dhabi in around 9 months time.

Let’s act like we know what’s going on in testing, pt. 1

Posted on by James Mackenzie

Every F1 publication will at this point deliver the usual caveat of pre-season testing times being unreliable, misleading and generally useless for forming opinions…and then proceed to do so anyway. In this post, I will attempt to stick to things that we can hopefully establish from this first week of 2019 F1 testing.

(And then maybe make some wild, sweeping statements and predictions at the end if I feel like it.)

McLaren’s Reliability Has Improved

I think that is fair to say. McLaren have spent the pre-season tests of the last few years in varying levels of crisis. Infamously so with Honda, completing only 425 laps in 2017 and 380 in 2015 whilst generally blowing up every time they left the garage. Fernando Alonso covered almost as many miles on foot as he did in the MP4-30. And then even with Renault last year things weren’t much better. A wheel fell off after literally 6 laps… Whilst things had then started to look more promising to the outside world, the team knew that their times were flattering to deceive and that their lofty aims of returning to the podium were not to be realised. And that maybe it hadn’t been Honda’s fault all along…

Lando Norris at 2019 F1 testing.
Image credit: DPA Picture Alliance

But this year things have been going far more smoothly. They have been quietly getting on with things – under the radar, running through programs without the need to chuck on the softest tyres and jump up higher in the timings than is representative – and have finished the week without any major dramas, solidly in the midfield when it comes to laps completed.

The team abandoned development on last year’s car early on in order to focus on this year’s and thus have far more stable foundations to build from than some of the other teams. The paddock has apparently been impressed by some of their aero ideas. Zak Brown has realistic aims of a ‘step forward’ and it’s looking like that may well have been achieved.

Alfa Romeo Have Improved Massively Since Last Year

Whilst the steady improvement of the Alfa Romeo Sauber was clear to see through last season, the difference between this and last year’s testing times is quite something.

They are very nearly five seconds better off. In cars that were supposed to be around a couple of seconds slower after these regulation changes, remember? Admittedly, the track had been resurfaced last year and conditions were far colder, hence the improvement from all teams, but the Alfa has clearly taken the biggest step. Having been scraping together pennies just a couple of years ago, the team now has enough of a budget to make one-off Valentine’s Day liveries and hire a former world champion. It will be interesting to see where they can push on to from here.

I get the impression Ferrari have somewhat shunned Haas as their little sister team in favour of Alfa Romeo and you wonder if that might have a similar adverse effect on the American team as it is a positive one on the Italians. Haas were the surprise package of 2018 and many in the paddock were suspicious of their relationship with Ferrari. But with those at Maranello now less reliant on them, will they revert to the also-rans that joined the sport in 2016?

Teams Have Gone In Different Directions With the New Front Wings

The main aim of the new regulations was to aid cars in following each other closely and to help produce better wheel-to-wheel racing. But also to potentially mix up the pack a bit. And whilst the effectiveness of the former is certainly still up for debate, the latter appears to have worked. The teams have gone with visibly different approaches.

The Mercedes front wing is the only to have its endplates angled inwards. They and Ferrari have gone in highly different directions, which is often the case, and time will tell which of them has got it right. For the moment, with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo performing very well at the first test, it is looking more likely to be their philosophy that is the way to go. If that is the case, then will Mercedes (and some of the others) concede defeat and attempt to fit a Ferrari-style wing to their car? History has often proven that just whacking on someone else’s car part isn’t very effective…

Williams Are Somewhat in Trouble

This once legendary team are struggling. They were reduced to a day and a half of shakedown drives as they tried to get to know their new car. Whilst British rookie George Russell appeared excited just to be part of it all, Robert Kubica, who has been there and done it with established teams in the past, appeared visibly frustrated already. And that coming from a man who has finally achieved his incredible goal of returning to the sport after suffering life-changing injuries eight years ago. There are rumours circulating of unrest within the team and questions being asked of Paddy Lowe – the man brought in from all-conquering Mercedes to restore the plucky British team to their once-obligatory place near the front of the grid.

I will say that the times laid down by Russell and Kubica were really not bad considering how far behind the others they started this week. I hope there is more to come from the car as it would be a real waste of a promising, young Brit (and reigning F2 champion) and a walking fairy-tale to be circulating at the back of the field, slowing down for blue flags all year.

And Finally, a couple of Wild Predictions

Because, why not?

  • The Alonso Curse to take full effect and McLaren to dominate the championship, wrapping up both titles by Hungary.
  • Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly to get into a full-blown fistfight that gets Gasly demoted back to Toro Rosso and Daniil Kvyat reinstated to Red Bull, who then proceeds to wipe the floor with Max and reduce Helmut Marko to a quivering mess.

See you for week two!

Launch season continues to kind of kick off

Posted on by James Mackenzie

And on we go with the 2019 car launches!

Alfa Romeo don’t officially unveil their latest effort until the first test tomorrow but have had an on-track shakedown (in a rather fetching Valentine’s Day livery) so that will do for now. Plus, they probably revealed more of their hand with the parts on the car than any other team, and there will be enough to write about during testing as is, so let’s see off the launch season posts with what we have.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

Red Bull have teased us in the past with a dramatic livery reveal which would turn out to be only for testing. And it was to be no different this year. The online F1 world drew a collective intake of breath at the latest camouflage number, which features some nice origami elements presumably in honour of their new deal with Honda. But Red Bull admitted it was just a one-off again and that was that. Maybe the Honda deal will result in a little white being added to the regular brand colours this season, though, at least.

On the more technical side of things, whilst certainly keeping things under wraps – onlookers noticed differences between the car on track and the one in the reveal photos already – the rear end is as tightly packaged as predicted. Even more so than last year’s. You just hope the Honda power unit deals with that better than it did with McLaren’s…

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team

Well. Lots of people seem to disagree but personally I actually quite like this livery. The (royal…I think?) blue combining with the pink gives me some warm, fuzzy, nostalgia for the old Brabham BT60B that Damon Hill drove just before they went bust. And I’m glad that they have stuck with BWT and therefore the pink as more colour on the grid is always welcome. The name and logo on the other hand are pretty shocking. If you have to go to a comments section to figure out the dot after ‘Racing’ is a ‘Point’ something’s gone wrong in the marketing department.

A lot of the aero seems to be just glorified 2018 or basic regulation-meeting parts. It wouldn’t make sense for them to ship everything over the Atlantic for the Canadian launch anyhow so, as with most, we’ll see what they really have to offer in Barcelona. The little team that has perennially punched above its weight, now with financial backing? Could be one to keep an eye on.

McLaren F1 Team

Zak Brown has done a lot for McLaren. You can see that sheerly by the long number of sponsors on the black area of the sidepod. The car certainly looks the part too. It is comfortably the best McLaren livery since the chrome ones circa-2010 at least; the papaya orange and ‘vega’ blue now nicely balanced and with some interesting triangular pixelation at the join.

But more importantly, will it perform on track? The design, even at this point, does seem to live up to their radical promises with some pretty aggressive aero, particularly around the bargeboard. They seem to have gone towards the Mercedes school of thinking in some areas – certainly the nose and front wing cape – and Ferrari in others. Clearly, a lot of effort has gone in and, whilst at first some maybe enjoyed McLaren’s struggles, I think the majority would now like to see this once great team fighting back nearer the sharp end of the grid.

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow

Turns out this year’s Ferrari is red. Blimey. But then actually, some photos have shown it looking a bit orange. It is matte as that apparently saves a few grams on paint and they are pushing the envelope in every possible department. And the Marlb…sorry…Mission Winnow logos are now black, or maybe grey…it’s hard to tell. Either way, they’re not white and that may be a ploy to help Ferrari not be sued by the whole of Australia.

As for as the car itself, I feel like a lot of the pieces you can currently see on the Alfa will end up on the Ferrari if they are a success. The official render shows very little in the way of new design parts so Ferrari are, as they have often done, keeping their cards closest to their chest of all.

Alfa Romeo Racing

So, the Sauber name officially leaves the sport after a quarter of a century. A real shame as the Swiss team have proved to be one of the great survivors. Of course, the team is fundamentally the same as last year but it’s the little things – the tradition of cars being named after Peter Sauber’s wife seems somewhat unlikely to remain. We will also see what livery they have cooked up tomorrow. It will likely remain predominantly white and red. Some green would be nice, though…and it is on both the national flag and the Alfa badge after all.

The car has already been run on track, however. And it is mad. As mentioned above, Alfa Romeo appear to be acting as the guinea pigs for Ferrari; this year’s car having been designed by former Ferrari designer Simone Resta with ‘as little caution as possible’. And we can see some of their experiments already. Front wing flaps that appear unconnected to the endplate, an airbox and nose that both resemble Darth Vader’s helmet and nothing in the way of a shark fin. Watch this space through testing.

That’s it then. Testing starts tomorrow morning and we can all really get our teeth stuck into reading between the lines as to who’s nailed it, who’s blown it and who will make up the midfield, anonymously running in 11th most of the year. And then find out we were all wrong anyway once the season actually starts.

See you all bright and early!

Launch season kicks off! (Kind of…)

Posted on by James Mackenzie

So, here we go. The new season is getting tantalisingly ever closer and half the teams have now broken cover!

Except they kinda haven’t…

The launches of Haas and Williams only ever claimed to be livery launches but the others will be giving as little away as possible too. The giant, new front wings are hard to miss but beyond that, teams will be showing the world exactly the angles of the car they desire, to ensure they hide any clever loopholes or strokes of genius they’ll later be introducing. So, there’s not a huge amount to garner from these launches…but I’ll give it a quick go at summarising and at least talk about how pretty (or not, or familiar) the new liveries are.

 Rich Energy HAAS F1 Team

Haas began proceedings with the online stream of their livery launch. Their new title sponsorship with Rich Energy (a supposed energy drink that seemingly nobody has ever found a can of in real life) brought about a new colour scheme for the American team.

Whilst a not particularly subtle nod to the legendary JPS Lotus, it’s still a pretty nice black and gold number. But personally I’d have preferred a bit more of the gold and you wonder whether it may end up just looking like a less bright Renault. It has also now come to light that Rich Energy are being sued by ATB Sales – a British company that owns Whyte Bikes and their undeniably almost identical logo – so we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for both the company and the livery…

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda

Then came Toro Rosso with an actual car! But they decided a new car and a new livery would be a bit too much so basically Ctrl-C-Ctrl-V’d last year’s livery. In fairness, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ definitely applies here. Since morphing to the lighter shade of blue at the start of 2017, the Toro Rosso has been one of the best-looking cars on the grid. Certainly combined with James Key’s design expertise, which has made them all very neat and well-packaged.

This is their first venture without Key since his move to McLaren but they appear to have followed the same design philosophy. The team confirmed he will not be directly replaced, mostly thanks to an even closer technical alliance with Red Bull now that they are sharing Honda engines. The rear packaging in particular appears to be bordering on size zero and will apparently be a carbon copy of that of their big brother.

ROKiT Williams Racing

There was some excitement around what livery Williams would adopt having lost Martini, and their iconic livery, at the end of 2018. The team actually bothered to rent somewhere out for their launch, which is something of a rarity these days, but the response to the new livery was…mixed, shall we say?

Less kind reviews compared it to a tube of toothpaste, a generic livery from a computer game without any official licences or a dodgy attempt at using that spray can on MS Paint. Following the classy Martini livery, whether we were all tired of it or not, was always likely to be tricky but they could probably have done better. Especially with Claire Williams stating they spent such a long time on the livery. The exposed carbon parts are quite a nice touch though. And hey, the last car looked nice but was a truck when it came to the track. If this one is an improvement on that front, I’m sure they won’t really care what people on the internet think of its appearance.

Renault F1 Team

Renault followed suit with both the Haas ‘you get a livery but not the actual car’ approach and the Toro Rosso ‘it looks pretty, let’s keep it as it is’ one. There is a little more yellow than on last year’s RS18 and it arguably accentuates the shape of the car better but that’s about it really.

The profile shots show a noticeably higher rake. Very much the Red Bull approach of recent years, who have arguably had the best chassis on the grid, so you wonder if Mr. Ricciardo knows something that we don’t… Maybe he’s pulled a Lewis-to-Mercedes and we’ll be talking about the first Australian champion since 1980 in a couple of years. Or maybe it’s just high rake. Time will tell.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

Amazing what a difference a halo can make, huh? Last year’s championship-winning machine was far from an eyesore, but the big, black halo lumped on top certainly was. For whatever reason, Mercedes appeared to put less effort into incorporating the halo than the rest of the grid. Maybe they were too busy focusing on being unbeatable. Either way, this year they have addressed that with some silver paint and it makes a surprisingly big difference. Along with the usual striking splashes of Petronas aquamarine, there is the nice touch of a flock of Mercedes stars towards the back. This is a beautiful car. A true Silver Arrow.

According to James Allison, they have “worked hard on the suspension and aerodynamic characteristics to deliver a car that will be much kinder to its tyres”. That has probably been their Achilles’ heel in the last couple of years so if they succeed, it will be hard work for the rest of the field.

As much as they will undoubtedly be expanded upon in the coming weeks, it’s interesting to see the varying base approaches the teams have adopted for the new front wing regulations. And we are yet to see the supposedly ‘radical’ designs McLaren and Alfa Romeo have in store. I’m an armchair aerodynamicist at best but the main change is that these new front wings will struggle to create ‘outwash’, where air is directed outside the wheels. As has been stated by many a technical director in the past, the front wing is the first part of the car to hit the air and thus is very important. So. we could yet find that someone has had their own brilliant Brawn-double-diffuser moment come Melbourne.

Mostly, these launches have made me long for the days of the massively over the top ones of the late 90s and early 00s. Popstars, lasers, more popstars, celebrities, an Airbus… They had it all. But there are still five to go…and the Spice Girls have reunited… Pretty sure there’s someone in the paddock with a connection there…