Just about every Formula 1 season has themes instructions storylines that define the year.
A few of these come as a delight. Who could have predicted that 2018's championship would turn on so a lot of errors from Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari, for example?
Others are more expected. Every team heading into this calendar year has a series of questions suspending over them that will form aspect of the narrative of the period, reflective of their immediate history, associated with expectations and necessities - and typically the same goes for their drivers.
Since the clock ticks down to typically the launches of the new cars in addition to the start of pre-season testing within mid-February, let's look at the circumstance within which every F1 team is certainly heading into 2019.
Mercedes
F1 Malfunction: 'Hamilton just has the best vehicle, doesn't he? '
Drivers: For Lewis Hamilton, nothing else will do this specific year but a sixth world name. The question for Hamilton is: precisely how does he find it in themself to top last season? Undoubtedly his or her greatest yet.
A virtually flawless 2018, including a number of thrilling, educational drives, will not be easy to be able to top. But Hamilton headed into typically the winter saying he was going in order to work on trying to do precisely that, and he says he can be "ready to fight" again.
For their team-mate Valtteri Bottas, this could in addition be a defining season.
The Finn ended last year winless, even if perhaps he was unlucky not to consider at least two victories, and he / she has only a one-year deal intended for 2019. With Esteban Ocon in typically the wings as reserve driver, and staff boss Toto Wolff pledging to get the Frenchman a drive for 2020, the pressure is on Bottas to be able to perform.
Team: Mercedes won a 5th consecutive drivers' and constructors' championship increase last year and this year are usually aiming to break the all-time document set by Ferrari in the Jordan Schumacher era.
But last year they will were able to achieve their task only because of Ferrari's implosion rapid Vettel could have won the name had he had as flawless a new season as Hamilton.
Ferrari have produced steady progress in recent years. Inside 2017, they were faster for very much of the first half of the particular year, only to be steamrollered whenever Mercedes kicked on after the summer months break. In 2018, Ferrari stepped upward again - faster than Mercedes considerably more often than it was the some other way around.
If that trend remains, Mercedes could have their work reduce out. So the pressure is about the world champions to make some sort of significant step forward with their brand-new car this year.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari
Vettel won five adolescents prix last season but failed to be able to top the podium in the last eight races
Drivers: Big changes this kind of year, with the arrival of Charles Leclerc to replace Kimi Raikkonen plus a new team boss following typically the ousting of Maurizio Arrivabene.
But within many ways the spotlight is about the man who is supposed to be able to lead the team on track : Vettel.
It sounds odd to claim it of a four-time world champ with 52 wins, but the Spanish is arguably fighting for his status. He crumbled in the fight having Hamilton last year. And in Leclerc he faces the threat of the talented rising star, much as they did with Daniel Ricciardo at Crimson Bull in 2014, when Vettel misplaced in no uncertain terms.
If Vettel is beaten by Leclerc on some sort of regular basis this year and, supposing Ferrari have a competitive car, once more falls short of the title, just what will that mean for his prospect, with only a year left upon his Ferrari contract after this period?
Leclerc has different pressure, of the first season in a top group, and the most famous one regarding all to boot.
Expectations are great, so good did he look within his debut year last season. They says he expects to win competitions and challenge for the title in the event that the car is good enough. No matter whether he lives up to those goals or not, the internal dynamics on Ferrari will be fascinating.
Team: Ferrari arguably produced the best car previous year and lost the title just because of errors, largely by Vettel, but also from the team.
Having former technical director Mattia Binotto throughout Arrivabene's place, the first question is usually whether Binotto can maintain the team's forward technical progress while being inside overall charge.
Beyond that, can he / she provide a more stable environment in addition to wiser race-team operational management, both regarding which were beyond Arrivabene?
If he / she can, Ferrari could be formidable certainly - but how will they deal with the relationship between the drivers?
Purple Bull
Max Verstappen of Red Half truths
Austria and Mexico were races in order to celebrate for Verstappen. Brazil's 'push-gate' even so, was not
Drivers: With Daniel Ricciardo gone, Max Verstappen effectively formally requires on the role of team head he had carved for himself by simply the force of his consistently excellent performances last year - once he or she stopped crashing in the first half a dozen races.
But that does not automatically mean the Dutchman will have this all his own way.
Frenchman Calcul Gasly is Verstappen's new team-mate, and even he looked very handy indeed along with some of his starring performances inside his debut season at Toro Rossiccio, most notably his brilliant fourth spot in Bahrain.
Verstappen and Ricciardo smeared along pretty well for most associated with their three years together, despite a new handful of on-track incidents.
Gasly can be a friendly but forceful character together with while Ricciardo was already established because a winner by the time Verstappen joined him at the team, Gasly is out to carve a popularity.
It is not hard to find tension developing between the Red Fluff drivers if they are evenly matched up. And Red Bull have not often handled such situations well - bear in mind Vettel and Mark Webber?
Team: Many eyes on the Honda engine this particular year. Red Bull have great expectations of their new partnership, believing that will help them close the hole to Mercedes and Ferrari. But possibly they don't believe it is reasonable to expect Honda to improve more than enough in 2019 to close the difference to the best engines.
Can that they make enough progress to enable Purple Bull's chassis to do the sleep and make it a three-way combat at the front?
And if development is less than expected, will Purple Bull, fresh from a fractious romance with Renault caused by their constant public criticisms, be able to retain their mouths in check?
Renault
Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg
Who can claim top spot at Renault throughout 2019 - Hulkenberg or new guy Ricciardo?
Drivers: Daniel Ricciardo joins the particular factory Renault team amid a parade following his surprise decision to depart Red Bull.
Renault hope that typically the recruitment of the Australian seven-time victorious one can help them move to some other level as they seek to near on the big three.
But very first of all Ricciardo has to create himself as team leader, which can not necessarily be an easy activity with Nico Hulkenberg as his team-mate.
The German is highly rated by simply Fernando Alonso, among others, and is certainly unlikely to be a pushover. Not really least because Ricciardo's arrival offers Hulkenberg a golden opportunity to prove this individual deserves to be classed among the particular elite, a ranking that has steered clear of him so far in a job that remarkably does not even include ë¬´ì‚¬ê³ ì•ˆì „ë†€ì´í„° things like a podium finish.
Team: When Renault returned as a constructor in 2016, their target was to be succeeding races within five years. Last period, though, progress slowed, and they can be under pressure to close about the top teams in 2019.
This kind of means improving both car - which will was at least a second down the similarly powered Red Bull previous year - and engine, where Renault were in danger of falling in order to fourth out of four in the particular pecking order by the end associated with last season.
Insiders say progress provides been made on the engine, although that Renault's realistic hope is to be able to halve the gap between their power-unit and those of Mercedes and Ferrari.
That would be something - although it's still not enough for a new team whose pretensions of being subject contenders by 2021 are in hazard of collapsing.
Haas
Romain Grosjean
Typically the sight of Grosjean's Haas being winched onto a recovery truck is with any luck , a thing of the past
Individuals: A third season together for Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, both involving whom have challenges ahead.
Grosjean came up very close to his career heading down the toilet after a collection of errors in the first 50 percent of last year, only to saving himself with some starring performances after on. Can the Franco-Swiss ever locate a way to access his ideal stuff - which is of a new very high quality - on a new more consistent basis?
Magnussen was total the more convincing and consistent, although although he produced some very robust performances last year, the impression can be that when Grosjean gets it all of hooked up, the Dane can't rather live with him.
Team: Last year or so was the best yet for this kind of small team that continues to lead to resentment from rivals through the distance of their relationship with Ferrari.
Haas say other teams could follow go well with, in buying everything but aerodynamic floors and chassis from a bigger workforce, but the likes of Williams together with McLaren say that's missing the level; F1 is not meant to come to be like that. That debate is definitely not going away any time soon.
By using the caveats that situation creates, Haas have done an impressive job hence far in F1. But they may have done better in 2018 together with they know it.
Their fundamental target for 2019 is to maintain his or her competitive position - often best involving the rest on pace last time - and cut out the dissimilarity and mistakes to deliver their probable more often.
McLaren
Lando Norris regarding McLaren
Lando Norris has already acquired a taste of life in the particular McLaren after taking part in different practice sessions in 2018
Drivers: Two-time world champion Alonso has gone. In addition to without him… what? The shadow associated with the brilliant Spaniard will hang large over McLaren in 2018, as these people start what they hope will become the first season of a start again programme that will return them in order to competitiveness by midway through the up coming decade.
Alonso has been replaced by simply Carlos Sainz. He is a new driver of considerable pace and potential nonetheless who has had a tendency to be able to be a bit up and lower so far in his career. And even alongside him is British rookie Lando Norris, whose clearly abundant talent features created great expectations.
The battle in between the two of them is very anticipated but a lot depends upon the car.
Team: McLaren might possess spent 2013-17 in denial about exactly how far they had fallen, but when it became clear last year, that they have certainly not hesitated in undertaking something about it.
Three senior results are out, four new ones own been appointed - although new technological director James Key and new F1 managing director Andreas Seidl do not necessarily yet have start dates.
At the particular start of a rebuilding process, the particular key this year is to present evidence they have improved. Last year or so, they had the second-worst car to get much of the season and simply Alonso's genius saved their blushes in addition to secured a higher-than-deserved championship position.
Folks both inside and outside McLaren may be looking for signs of improvement from the lowest ebb in all their once-illustrious history.
Racing Point
Lance Go Instagram
Stroll wrote on Instagram: "This is the beginning of an amazingly exciting journey in my Formula a single career. I am excited to take hold of this new opportunity"
Drivers: Lance Stroll's switch from Williams to the previous Force India team, which is right now owned by his father, the Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, sets up an individual of the most interesting dynamics involving the new season.
Stroll Sr can be very ambitious for his son, and even ran into friction at Williams upon occasions as a result. One instance being when he demanded a fresh front wing was taken off Sergey Sirotkin's car in Hungary last year or so and given to Lance when Go walking had damaged his. The team turned down, which led to a sizeable debate.
Now Stroll owns a team, this individual can do what he likes in case any such similar situation arises.
Go Jr was outpaced by Felipe Mucchio in his debut season at Williams, and was out-qualified more often when compared to the way not by rookie Sirotkin last yr. How will he compare with Sergio Perez, an established and formidable motorist, whose quality is known?
If Perez is consistently quicker, how will Walk Sr react? And if there is certainly any attempt to favour the friends and family connection, what will be the reaction from Perez - a determined personality not afraid to speak his head?
These are fascinating questions heading straight into the team's first full season inside its new guise.
Team: Had this not been for their mid-season tips reset after financial collapse, Force The indian subcontinent would have finished fourth for the particular third consecutive season last year.
Right now under new ownership and better financed than for some time - conceivably ever - the team have dreams of moving up the grid.
That is not going to happen overnight, yet it will be worth watching what exactly happens now the grid's best pound-for-pound team is finally married to reasonable resources.
Having said that, rich since Stroll is, his bank balance will be no match for those of typically the massive global corporations his team would likely have to beat to move ahead. So the challenge could be retaining expectations grounded in reality.
Alfa Romeo Racing
Kimi Raikkonen poses for Sauber before his first race in F1 at the Australian Grand Prix inside 2001
In 2001, a young person named Kimi Raikkonen prepared for his or her first Formula 1 race for Sauber in Australia. If Kimi could replicate this pose in Melbourne in Drive...
Drivers: All change, with veteran Kimi Raikkonen, 40 this year, rejoining the particular team where his F1 career started out, although they have just changed their very own name from Sauber to Alfa Romeo Racing.
Alfa Romeo were Sauber's name sponsor in 2018.
Partnered by First-rate Ferrari protege Antonio Giovinazzi, Raikkonen can do the usual - consistent, dependable performances without setting the world in fire.
The pressure is all about Giovinazzi, who looked set for the stellar career when he chased Gasly all the way to the Mixture 2 title in 2016, despite getting in his rookie year, but that developed a reputation for crashing throughout a handful of appearances for Sauber in 2017.
Team: Sauber made big strides in 2018, starting the time of year as the slowest team, ending that competing for best of the relaxation.
The team benefited from decent information for the first time in decades, but it's also true that many of the impressive performances came out of Leclerc.
Can the team keep upwards the momentum now the Monegasque offers left for Ferrari?
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat
Kvyat said he "never presented up hope" of racing again inspite of being dropped twice by Red Half truths
Drivers: Russian Daniil Kvyat returns to get a second chance at F1. He or she has been re-employed just over some sort of year after being dumped by Crimson Bull, largely because their conveyor seatbelt of young talent had a opening in it.
Quick but inconsistent, Kvyat will be a decent yardstick to get promising rookie Alexander Albon, who had been born in Britain but races within a Thai passport, and is very rated.
Team: Toro Rosso lost specialized director James Key at a vital time last summer when he had been poached by McLaren.
In theory of which might hurt them. In practice, they will are quietly confident and are striving for fifth place in the shining. But they always say that.
Because the second Red Bull team throughout a year when the factory clothing takes on Honda engines, they happen to be likely to continue the role regarding guinea pigs they fulfilled as typically the Japanese company tested developments last season.
Williams
Archive: Kubica's remarkable return to be able to Formula 1
Drivers: One of the particular most tantalising partnerships of the time of year pitches Robert Kubica, returning after the eight-year absence following his life-changing move crash in 2011, against British first year George Russell.
Kubica's comeback is a new real feel-good story - the Rod, after a brutal rehabilitation period, eventually getting a chance to continue the career that had looked destined to get the very top. But questions remains to be as to the level at which will he will he perform, with just partial use of his right arm rest.
Russell, a Mercedes young driver, is definitely one of the most promising little ones in years.
In the perceptions video game, how will it play? If Kubica beats Russell, will Russell's reputation come to be damaged or will people think Kubica has returned close to or with his previous level? If Russell is better than Kubica, will it be seen while inevitable, given the Pole's "limitations", because he describes his physical issues, or perhaps a great achievement? The same queries apply if they are closely coordinated.
Team: Williams hit rock bottom throughout 2018, finishing last in the constructors' championship. The car wasn't great, in order to say the least, but an uninspiring driver line-up hardly helped.
They pray to have addressed the driver concern, but what of the car? Not like McLaren, there have been no evident major changes in the team instant other than the departure of efficiency director Rob Smedley, who is probable to pop up elsewhere by summer season time.
Williams really need to present signs of progress, if they are usually to allay concerns about their prospect.