With just a week until the 2019 Formula One season is underway, excitement is building amongst teams and fans ahead of what is set to be a fascinating season full of battles.
Here, we take a look at five of the big themes that is set to run throughout the season from experience vs youth to new eras and much more.
Vettel vs Leclerc
(Credit: Scuderia Ferrari)
This is the ultimate experience vs youth battle that F1 fans have been waiting for as four-time World Champion, Sebastian Vettel is joined at Ferrari by rising star – Charles Leclerc.
Come end of testing only one hundredth of a second split these drivers with Vettel top, adding more intrigue as to whether Leclerc can take the fight to the German throughout the season.
Pressure therefore could ultimately be key as to who finishes the season on top, because Vettel has struggled to match his composure in title battles since joining Ferrari from Red Bull, with last season seeing a series of driver errors destroy his title bid.
Leclerc however hasn’t experienced a proper title battle since his GP3 days in 2016, but a F1 title fight brings different pressures so inexperience could be his downfall.
The Monegasque star however isn’t fazed by anything that might come his way this season, saying: “I’ve still got a lot to learn, but until now , I can say I’m satisfied.”
Leclerc’s development therefore is going to be exciting to watch as he does battle with the experience of Vettel, especially in the wet as both struggled to master those conditions last season.
Bottas Fights Back
After a winless 2018 and with his contract up at end of season, Valtteri Bottas has a massive 2019 ahead of him.
Not only does the Flying Finn need to match teammate – Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Vettel, he also faces a tough no.2 test against Leclerc who surely is bound to see Bottas as his closest competitor initially.
Testing however suggests that Bottas could be vulnerable with his three main rivals all separated by just one hundredth of a second, whereas he was a further three tenths back.
Speaking at the end of the final day of testing, Bottas described the competition as, “very, very tough this year, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Either way, this is an absolutely pivotal season for Bottas with Esteban Ocon waiting in the wings to potentially replace him next season.
New Era at Red Bull
After 12 seasons running Renault power in which they claimed four driver and constructor titles, Red Bull have made the leap to Honda to trigger a new era for the team.
This is a huge step into the unknown given Honda’s recent history of unreliability in the hybrid era, but did make progress last season with Toro Rosso.
Various teething issues masked Red Bull’s true pace in testing with Max Verstappen failing to set his fastest time on either of the two softest compounds, adding further intrigue as to where the team stand in the pecking order.
Head of Race Engineering – Guillaume Rocquelin however is confident that the team are where they need to be, saying; “We’ve had an enormously productive period of testing, and we’ve learned a great deal about the RB15 and the direction we want to go in as we head into the season.”
Red Bull therefore will be ones to watch in what looks to be a very competitive midfield in early races.
Battle of the British Rookies
This year’s rookies battle is like no other as they compromise of last year’s top three from Formula Two.
Naturally, George Russell is favourite to finish as top rookie after back-to-back titles in GP3 then F2, but he faces his biggest test yet at a struggling Williams but finished pre season just three tenths off the experienced Sergio Perez of Racing Point.
Lando Norris and British born Thai – Alexander Albon however look like they could be duelling for the top rookie prize throughout the season at McLaren and Toro Rosso respectively.
Just to highlight how tight their battle could be, Albon ended his pre season testing just two tenths ahead of Norris.
Across the season that could very well become even tighter depending on circuit characteristics and car updates playing ball, so expect those two to be fighting each other in majority of races with Russell occasionally in the mix too.
Overall, this could be a cracking rookie battle because all three have the talent but in F1, the car’s performance has a big say so expect this rookie fight to go to Abu Dhabi.
Can Williams Reverse Fortunes?
After missing the opening two days of testing and finishing slowest, Williams have it all to do throughout this season if are to avoid another forgettable season.
Throw in a huge difference of nearly nine tenths between Russell and the returning Robert Kubica, who was a second behind Racing Point’s Sergio Perez then Williams will definitely be a team to watch throughout the whole campaign.
One positive though is that they managed 567 solid laps, just 48 less than Racing Point despite latter testing every day so reliability is clearly strong and just about getting the car up to speed.
Make the required progress combined with Russell’s immense talent then perhaps Williams could well be firmly in midfield mix come summer, otherwise it will be another dire season of results.
If missed our guide to the latest driver and rule changes and want to get up to speed, click here.
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