With the 2019 Formula 1 season set to begin this weekend, here we shall preview the top 3 teams from last season - Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.
Mercedes
How did they fare in 2018?
They won a fifth consecutive double, winning both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship, although they faced their toughest challenge to retain the crown. Arguably Ferrari (Mercedes’ closest challengers) had a superior car to Mercedes, but a combination of good in-season development, superb performances from lead driver Lewis Hamilton meant Mercedes retained their constructors’ title whilst Hamilton went on to win his 5th Formula 1 World Championship, thanks to a total of 11 race wins (all from Hamilton) and 13 pole positions across 2018.
Driver line-up: any changes?
The saying goes: if it ain’t broke, why fix it? It applies for Mercedes, who elected to retain both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas on the back of their successful 2018 – with Haas being the only other team to do so. However, Bottas must improve in 2019 in order to retain his place at the team, given that in 2018 he finished 5th in the World Championship, behind both Ferrari drivers as well as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
How they’ve fared in testing
Even if it is probably in reality quite close, many believe that Mercedes go into the season slightly behind Ferrari in the pecking order. However, Hamilton’s fastest time during testing was just 0.003s slower than Vettel, meaning the team has every chance of battling for the title yet again. As a test, Mercedes were overall satisfied with their work and have made good progress with their car. The one reliability issue they suffered was on day 1 of the second test, when an oil pressure problem meant the team missed most of the afternoon running, otherwise it was a relatively smooth test for the team. Despite that, the team did the most laps in total across testing, a remarkable 1,126 laps, so they will have plenty of data to analyse from in order to improve the car for the opening race in Melbourne. Also, no prizes are won in testing either.
Expectations for 2019
The slogan of Mercedes goes ‘The best or nothing’. This clearly highlights how the team will solely aim for one thing: that of winning both the World Championship and Constructors’ Championship for an unprecedented sixth successive year, which would be a record, and one can be certain the team will not have lost any motivation to win, and underestimating the Silver Arrows’ potential would be ill-advised. However, the evidence from testing clearly indicates they will face an even tougher challenge than last season to retain their crown, most notably Ferrari and it would be foolish to discount Red Bull at this stage.
Ferrari
How did they fare in 2018?
Ferrari arguably possessed the strongest car during 2018, at least for a large part of the season – or if not quite the best car, it was certainly at a par with Mercedes. However, a combination of strategic and driver errors, most notably from lead driver Sebastian Vettel, meant they ultimately lost out again to champions Mercedes. They ended 2018 with 6 wins, 5 from Vettel and one from team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, and took a total of 6 pole positions, finishing runners-up behind eventual champions Mercedes.
Driver line-up: any changes?
After a combined total of 8 seasons’ service spread across two spells, Raikkonen has left Ferrari and been replaced by Ferrari Driver Academy member and young star Charles Leclerc (who drove for Sauber F1 team last season), making the Monegasque driver the second-youngest driver in history to drive for Ferrari. There has also been a change within the management, as Mattia Binotto is the new team principal in place of Maurizio Arrivabene.
How they’ve fared in testing
It’s been a bit of an up and down test for the team. Pace wise they’ve been looking strong, with their driver Sebastian Vettel setting the fastest time of testing – a 1:16.221s, and Charles Leclerc’s fastest was just 0.01s slower. In terms of long run pace, the team looked to have very consistent pace and looked to be slightly ahead of Mercedes. The downside, however, was that this week they had several reliability problems. On day 2 (out of 4 days this week), Vettel had a crash due to what the team described as a “wheel rim” failure – which meant they missed a whole afternoon of running. On day 3, Leclerc stopped out on track with an exhaust problem, whilst on the final day Sebastian Vettel also stopped on track with an electrical issue which meant their track time was cut short by 2 and a half hours. However, it’s worth noting that the team did accumulate (over 8 days) a total of 997 laps, with only world champions Mercedes accumulating more.
Expectations for 2019
Ferrari had a very strong car during the 2018 season, and arguably should have won both championships, but made too many mistakes. On the evidence of testing it looks like they have the car to challenge in 2019 as well. If they reduce the mistakes and manage their drivers properly, then there’s every chance for the team to obtain their first constructors’ championship since 2008 and crown their first World Champion since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
Red Bull
How did they fare in 2018?
They started the season slightly behind Ferrari and Mercedes in the pecking order, though they improved very well across the season and ended up with a car very capable of challenging the top 2 teams. Max Verstappen also improved his performance remarkably during the season, and the team scored a total of 4 wins across 2018 (Verstappen 2 and Ricciardo 2) whilst Ricciardo claimed 2 pole positions for the team, and the team finished 3rd in the constructors’ championship.
Driver line-up: any changes?
In the summer break Ricciardo caused a shock in the Formula 1 paddock when he announced he was leaving Red Bull to join Renault, when it was widely expected he would renew his Red Bull contract. Therefore, it could be argued Red Bull’s hand was forced in the issue, and the team have replaced Ricciardo with Frenchman Pierre Gasly after promoting him from Toro Rosso.
How they’ve fared in testing
It must be said that it was a mixed bag for the team. Pierre Gasly suffered 2 crashes which cost the team quite a bit, particularly the second crash – it meant that their afternoon running on day 3 (of the second test) was cut short by over 2 hours, and on the final day Max Verstappen only did a total of 27 laps as there was a gearbox issue which was said to be related to the crash.
However, the team had a decent test, although they probably did not show their ultimate pace in comparison to the other teams. On long run pace, they seemed to be relatively close to the top 2 teams – Mercedes and Ferrari. The Honda engine also ran very reliably for them, which is a positive and despite the troubles from the incidents of Gasly, the team managed a total of 833 laps across the 8 days of testing (it was the third fewest of the teams, mind), which is more than they’ve ever managed in the hybrid era.
Expectations for 2019
The team have changed engine supplier since last season, switching from Renault power to Honda. An engine change brings about its challenges, though so far, the team have coped very well. They probably might start off the season slightly behind Mercedes and Ferrari, but the team always develop the car very well during the season – they do have a big asset in Adrian Newey for that, and may believe that a title challenge is possible, even if quite difficult. Guillaume Rocquelin (often known as ‘Rocky’) said that the car works very well, and that the team had a very productive test despite the incidents, and was happy with the car’s balance, as well as the reliability of engine partner Honda.