At the end of the 2018 season, the Formula One organizers pointed to this - with a countdown that can be seen again and again on TV: In Abu Dhabi, the 997th Grand Prix of History had arrived, the race in China in April 2019 will be the 1000th of history. The anniversary will be one of the highlights of the upcoming season, with some new features.
The changes in the driver's market are especially big. While Mercedes continues to rely on world champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, set the pursuers Ferrari and Red Bull on each a new driver. While Sebastian Vettel is challenged again with the up and coming Charles Leclerc, Red Bull focuses on Mercedes and Hamilton with Max Verstappen on a top driver, who should drive as clear number one for the world title.
Four teams swap the entire driver pair, there are also three Formula 1 debutants - the first three of the Formula 2 Championship 2018th Last time, there was the 2009 with Nico Hulkenberg, Vitaly Petrov and Lucas di Grassi, in the long run could prevail in the formula 1 only Hülkenberg. Now the newcomers George Russell, Lando Norris and Alexander Albon, who have made the rise partly thanks to their good relationships.
Twelve new drivers in Formula 1
Mercedes: The series world champion relies on constancy. Lewis Hamilton (l.) Is again the top favorite in the coming season, also because he is threatened by Valtteri Bottas no danger. The Finn was the only driver of the three top teams to win a race in the past season.
Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel (l.) Drove alongside Kimi Raikkonen for four years. This constellation worked well because the Finn had no ambitions for the status as the number one and the two drivers maintained a friendly relationship. A world title did not jump out but not out. Raikkonen now drives for Sauber and Vettel gets Charles Leclerc with a new, hungry teammate. The 21-year-old won 39 World Cup points for Sauber in his debut season and wants to race for Ferrari for victories.
Red Bull: The team wants to intervene after the good results at the end of the past season in the fight for the World Cup. It puts Red Bull after three years with an equal driver pairing and the departure of Daniel Ricciardo to another strategy. Max Verstappen (l.) Is the clear number one, the coming from the sister team Toro Rosso Pierre Gasly will get the 21-year-old safely under control.
Renault: In the third year in the ambitious racing team from France Nico Hülkenberg (l.) For the first time as a clear number one rider in a season. He had a clear grip on Jolyon Palmer in 2017 and Carlos Sainz also scored less points than the German last season. Now Renault has committed Daniel Ricciardo to send a clear signal to attack the top three teams. However, the Australian stagnated last time, with Red Bull in 2018 he was in the shadow of Max Verstappen.
Haas: Together with Mercedes, the Americans are the only team that does not change the driver pairing in 2019. At the beginning of last season it even looked like Haas could reach with Romain Grosjean (left) and Kevin Magnussen the fourth place in the Constructors' Championship. Because Grosjean but only in the ninth race in the points drove, it was only enough for fifth place behind Renault. Magnussen and Grosjean are repeatedly criticized for their risky driving style, but the team saw no reason for change.
McLaren: After the departure of Fernando Alonso, the traditional racing stable relies on a completely new duo. The 24-year-old Carlos Sainz (r.) Takes the role of the veteran after four Formula 1 years at Toro Rosso and Renault. McLaren also brought with Lando Norris a promising talent that knows how to convince in different junior series for years. In 2018, he stood as runner-up in Formula 2 but in the shadow of George Russell (Williams).
Force India: Official confirmation is pending , but Lance Stroll (r.) Is testing for Force India this week in Abu Dhabi. Since the takeover of the financially troubled racing team by his father Lawrence, it was an open secret that Stroll Williams will leave for Force India. The constant remains Sergio Pérez , the Mexican goes into his sixth season at Force India. If there is no political preference for Stroll in the background, Pérez will surely dominate his teammate.
Sauber: The staggering team in the past can look back on a successful year in 2018, Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson scored a total of 48 championship points. Nevertheless, the driver pairing is exchanged, which is due to the cooperation with engine supplier Ferrari. Leclerc joins the Italians, in return comes veteran Kimi Raikkonen (r.) And brings Antonio Giovinazzi with. Ericsson becomes a test driver. It will be hard to repeat the point yield.
Toro Rosso: With Alexander Albon (l.) And the third place finisher of the Formula 2 season 2018 has made the leap into Formula 1. How meaningful this change is, will have to show. Albon goes with a Thai license - an important point for his commitment: Red Bull has Thai co-owners who are said to have advertised the change in owner Dietrich Mateschitz. At his side: Daniil Kvyat , who returns to Toro Rosso after a year as a test driver with Ferrari.
Williams: The decline of the traditional racing team continues, 2018 brought the team seven championship points. Two new drivers make sense, but both George Russell (r.) And Robert Kubica have made it to Williams not only for sporting reasons. F2 champions Russell is backed by Mercedes and Kubica casts doubt on his fitness aside for the well-publicized comeback story.
In terms of aerodynamics, there will also be changes in 2019. However, the owners of Liberty Media continue to struggle because of existing contracts to bring about a major change. The engine regulations remain untouched, and so Mercedes is again a top favorite. Ferrari and Red Bull are once again hoping for title chances.
New are the wider front wings, which will grow by 20 centimeters to two meters. In conjunction with a technical simplification of the wings of the abrasion of racing cars should be reduced. According to an aerodynamics working group of Formula 1 management, this could improve a fundamental problem of the past few years by up to 30 percent: the overtaking maneuvers.
"It only costs more money"
The teams doubt this presentation. "After our simulations, nothing changes," says Red Bull Motorsport Director Helmut Marko. "It's just as difficult to overtake, it just costs more money." Because even if the individual wings in the production are cheaper - from an estimated 45,000 to 25,000 euros each: The rising development costs to eat up again. Because the air flow over the wings also influences the rest of the car's aerodynamics, so that in the area of side boxes and diffuser complete new developments are needed. What Marko also fears: "These wide wings will break immediately at the slightest enemy contact."
For the tires you want to make it easier, especially for the fans. In 2019 there are still three names: hard, medium, soft. Although in practice there are still seven different blends behind, but the softest one on each weekend is soft, the hardest the hardest and the middle one the medium.
Manufacturer Pirelli also wants to change the design of the tires something. The tread is reduced by 0.4 millimeters to reduce the risk of overheating. This was already practiced in the past season in the races in Spain, France and England - and proved to be an advantage for Mercedes. In addition, the differences between the individual blends should be larger in order to allow more strategic diversity and to ensure more exciting races.