Just about every Formula 1 season has themes instructions storylines that define the year.
Several of these come as a delight. Who could have predicted that 2018's championship would turn on so quite a few errors from Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari, for example?
Others are more foreseeable. Every team heading into this year or so has a series of questions clinging over them that will form component of the narrative of the time, reflective of their immediate history, associated with expectations and necessities - and typically the same goes for their drivers.
While the clock ticks down to the particular launches of the new cars and even the start of pre-season testing within mid-February, let's look at the setting within which every F1 team is definitely heading into 2019.
Mercedes
F1 Malfunction: 'Hamilton just has the best automobile, doesn't he? '
Drivers: For Lewis Hamilton, nothing else will do this particular year but a sixth world subject. The question for Hamilton is: exactly how does he find it in him self to top last season? Undoubtedly his / her greatest yet.
A virtually flawless 2018, including a number of thrilling, motivational drives, will not be easy to be able to top. But Hamilton headed into the particular winter saying he was going to be able to work on trying to do accurately that, and he says he will be "ready to fight" again.
For the team-mate Valtteri Bottas, this could furthermore be a defining season.
The Finn ended last year winless, even in the event he was unlucky not to get at least two victories, and they has only a one-year deal regarding 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 in order to perform.
Team: Mercedes won a third consecutive drivers' and constructors' championship two times last year and this year happen to be aiming to break the all-time report set by Ferrari in the Michael jordan Schumacher era.
But last year these people were able to achieve their accomplishment only because of Ferrari's implosion : Vettel could have won the subject had he had as flawless the season as Hamilton.
Ferrari have manufactured steady progress in recent years. Within 2017, they were faster for substantially of the first half of the particular year, only to be steamrollered once Mercedes kicked on after the summer season break. In 2018, Ferrari stepped way up again - faster than Mercedes even more often than it was the various other way around.
If that trend carries on, Mercedes could have their work lower out. So the pressure is upon the world champions to make a new significant step forward with their fresh car this year.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari
Vettel won five adolescents prix last season but failed in order to top the podium in the ultimate eight races
Drivers: Big changes this particular year, with the arrival of Charles Leclerc to replace Kimi Raikkonen and even a new team boss following the particular ousting of Maurizio Arrivabene.
But inside many ways the spotlight is in the man who is supposed in order to lead the team on track rapid Vettel.
It sounds odd to state it of a four-time world safe bet with 52 wins, but the German born is arguably fighting for his popularity. He crumbled in the fight by using 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, presuming Ferrari have a competitive car, once more falls short of the title, what exactly will that mean for his potential future, with only a year left in his Ferrari contract after this time of year?
Leclerc has different pressure, of his / her first season in a top workforce, and the most famous one associated with all to boot.
Expectations are excessive, so good did he look throughout his debut year last season. He or she says he expects to win events and challenge for the title in case the car is good enough. No matter if he lives up to those desires or not, the internal dynamics from Ferrari will be fascinating.
Team: Ferrari arguably produced the best car previous year and lost the title simply because of errors, largely by Vettel, but also from the team.
Together with former technical director Mattia Binotto inside Arrivabene's place, the first question is certainly whether Binotto can maintain the team's forward technical progress while being within overall charge.
Beyond that, can they provide a more stable environment together with wiser race-team operational management, both associated with which were beyond Arrivabene?
If they can, Ferrari could be formidable without a doubt - but how will they handle the relationship between the drivers?
Crimson Bull
Max Verstappen of Red Fluff
Austria and Mexico were races in order to celebrate for Verstappen. Brazil's 'push-gate' nevertheless, was not
Drivers: With Daniel Ricciardo gone, Max Verstappen effectively formally calls for on the role of team boss he had carved for himself simply by the force of his consistently excellent performances last year - once he / she stopped crashing in the first 6 races.
But that does not always mean the Dutchman will have that all his own way.
Frenchman Caillou Gasly is Verstappen's new team-mate, plus he looked very handy indeed together with some of his starring performances inside his debut season at Toro Rossiccio, most notably his brilliant fourth spot in Bahrain.
Verstappen and Ricciardo applied along pretty well for most regarding their three years together, despite a new handful of on-track incidents.
Gasly is certainly a friendly but forceful character plus while Ricciardo was already established while a winner by the time Verstappen joined him at the team, Gasly is out to carve a standing.
It is not hard to look at tension developing between the Red Half truths drivers if they are evenly coordinated. And Red Bull have not generally handled such situations well - bear in mind Vettel and Mark Webber?
Team: Just about all eyes on the Honda engine this specific year. Red Bull have great desires of their new partnership, believing that will help them close the space to Mercedes and Ferrari. But also they don't believe it is genuine to expect Honda to improve plenty in 2019 to close the space to the best engines.
Can these people make enough progress to enable Crimson Bull's chassis to do the majority and make it a three-way attack at the front?
And if improvement is less than expected, will Crimson Bull, fresh from a fractious romantic relationship with Renault caused by their reliable public criticisms, be able to hold their mouths in check?
Renault
Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg
Who may claim top spot at Renault inside 2019 - Hulkenberg or new son Ricciardo?
Drivers: Daniel Ricciardo joins typically the factory Renault team amid a bande following his surprise decision to keep Red Bull.
Renault hope that the particular recruitment of the Australian seven-time victor can help them move to a further level as they seek to shut down on the big three.
But earliest of all Ricciardo has to set up himself as team leader, which may 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 can be unlikely to be a pushover. Definitely not least because Ricciardo's arrival offers Hulkenberg a golden opportunity to prove he / she deserves to be classed among the particular elite, a ranking that has steered clear of him so far in a profession that remarkably does not even incorporate a podium finish.
Team: When Renault returned as a constructor in 2016, their target was to be receiving races within five years. Last time, though, progress slowed, and they could be under pressure to close in the top teams in 2019.
This particular means improving both car - which usually was at least a second away from the similarly powered Red Bull final year - and engine, where Renault were in danger of falling in order to fourth out of four in typically the pecking order by the end regarding last season.
Insiders say progress possesses been made on the engine, nonetheless 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 - yet it's still not enough for the team whose pretensions of being name contenders by 2021 are in risk of collapsing.
Haas
Romain Grosjean
The particular sight of Grosjean's Haas being winched onto a recovery truck is ideally a thing of the past
Motorists: A third season together for Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, both regarding whom have challenges ahead.
Grosjean emerged very close to his career planning down the toilet after a sequence of errors in the first 50 % of last year, only to recover himself with some starring performances soon after on. Can the Franco-Swiss ever get a way to access his very best stuff - which is of some sort of very high quality - on some sort of more consistent basis?
Magnussen was total the more convincing and consistent, nonetheless although he produced some very solid performances last year, the impression will be that when Grosjean gets it almost all hooked up, the Dane can't pretty live with him.
Team: Last yr was the best yet for this particular small team that continues to trigger resentment from rivals through the nearness of their relationship with Ferrari.
Haas say other teams could follow match, in buying everything but aerodynamic areas and chassis from a bigger staff, but the likes of Williams in addition to McLaren say that's missing the stage; F1 is not meant to end up being like that. That debate is not necessarily going away any time soon.
Together with the caveats that situation creates, Haas have done an impressive job thus far in F1. But they can have done better in 2018 plus they know it.
Their fundamental goal for 2019 is to maintain their particular competitive position - often best associated with the rest on pace last time of year - and cut out the disparity and mistakes to deliver their possible more often.
McLaren
Lando Norris associated with McLaren
Lando Norris has already possessed a taste of life in typically the McLaren after taking part in several practice sessions in 2018
Drivers: Two-time world champion Alonso has gone. Together with without him… what? The shadow involving the brilliant Spaniard will hang major over McLaren in 2018, as they will start what they hope will turn out to be the first season of a start again programme that will return them to be able to competitiveness by midway through the subsequent decade.
Alonso has been replaced simply by Carlos Sainz. He is a motorist of considerable pace and potential nevertheless who has had a tendency in order to be a bit up and straight down so far in his career. Plus alongside him is British rookie Lando Norris, whose clearly abundant talent offers created great expectations.
The battle involving the two of them is remarkably anticipated but a lot depends in the car.
Team: McLaren might own spent 2013-17 in denial about just how far they had fallen, but when it became clear last year, they will have certainly not hesitated in performing something about it.
Three senior statistics are out, four new ones possess been appointed - although new specialized director James Key and new F1 managing director Andreas Seidl do definitely not yet have start dates.
At typically the start of a rebuilding process, typically the key this year is to demonstrate evidence they have improved. Last season, they had the second-worst car regarding much of the season and just Alonso's genius saved their blushes plus secured a higher-than-deserved championship position.
Persons both inside and outside McLaren could be looking for signs of advancement from the lowest ebb in his or her once-illustrious history.
Racing Point
Lance Trip Instagram
Stroll wrote on Instagram: "This is the beginning of an extremely exciting journey in my Formula one career. I am excited to accept this new opportunity"
Drivers: Lance Stroll's switch from Williams to the ex - Force India team, which is nowadays owned by his father, the Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, sets up a person of the most interesting dynamics regarding the new season.
Stroll Sr is usually very ambitious for his son, plus ran into friction at Williams in occasions as a result. One case in point being when he demanded a different front wing was taken off Sergey Sirotkin's car in Hungary last season and given to Lance when Move had damaged his. The team declined, which led to a sizeable case.
Now Stroll owns a team, he / she can do what he likes in the event any such similar situation arises.
Trip Jr was outpaced by Felipe Agglomerato in his debut season at Williams, and was out-qualified more often compared with how not by rookie Sirotkin last 12 months. How will he compare with Sergio Perez, an established and formidable new driver, whose quality is known?
If Perez is consistently quicker, how will Trip Sr react? And if there is definitely any attempt to favour the loved ones connection, what will be the reply from Perez - a determined persona not afraid to speak his brain?
These are fascinating questions heading in to the team's first full season throughout its new guise.
Team: Had that not been for their mid-season items reset after financial collapse, Force Of india would have finished fourth for typically the third consecutive season last year.
Nowadays under new ownership and better financed than for some time - probably ever - the team have goals of moving up the grid.
Absolutely not going to happen overnight, although it will be worth watching just what happens now the grid's best pound-for-pound team is finally married to good resources.
Having said that, rich seeing that Stroll is, his bank balance can be no match for those of the particular massive global corporations his team might have to beat to move onward. So the challenge could be preserving expectations grounded in reality.
Alfa Romeo Racing
Kimi Raikkonen poses for Sauber before his first race in F1 at the Australian Grand Prix within 2001
In 2001, a young gentleman named Kimi Raikkonen prepared for the first Formula 1 race for Sauber in Australia. If Kimi could reconstruct this pose in Melbourne in April...
Drivers: All change, with veteran Kimi Raikkonen, 40 this year, rejoining typically the team where his F1 career began, although they have just changed all their name from Sauber to Alfa Romeo Racing.
Alfa Romeo were Sauber's subject sponsor in 2018.
Partnered by Italian language Ferrari protege Antonio Giovinazzi, Raikkonen could do the usual - consistent, reputable performances without setting the world about fire.
The pressure is all upon Giovinazzi, who looked set for a new stellar career when he chased Gasly all the way to the Formulation 2 title in 2016, despite staying in his rookie year, but who also developed a reputation for crashing within a handful of appearances for Sauber in 2017.
Team: Sauber made gigantic strides in 2018, starting the period as the slowest team, ending this competing for best of the snooze.
The team benefited from decent solutions for the first time in many years, but it's also true that just about all of the impressive performances came by Leclerc.
Can the team keep upward the momentum now the Monegasque possesses left for Ferrari?
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat
Kvyat said he "never offered up hope" of racing again irrespective of being dropped twice by Red Fluff
Drivers: Russian Daniil Kvyat returns with regard to a second chance at F1. He / she has been re-employed just over a new year after being dumped by Purple Bull, largely because their conveyor seatbelt of young talent had a pit in it.
Quick but inconsistent, Kvyat will be a decent yardstick regarding promising rookie Alexander Albon, who was basically born in Britain but races beneath a Thai passport, and is extremely rated.
Team: Toro Rosso lost technological director James Key at a important time last summer when he was basically poached by McLaren.
In theory that will might hurt them. In practice, that they are quietly confident and are seeking for fifth place in the tournament. But they always say that.
Like the second Red Bull team within a year when the factory costume takes on Honda engines, they are usually likely to continue the role involving guinea pigs they fulfilled as the ê°•ë ¥í•˜ê²Œ ì¶”ì²œí•˜ëŠ”ì•ˆì „ë†€ì´í„° particular Japanese company tested developments last year or so.
Williams
Archive: Kubica's remarkable return to be able to Formula 1
Drivers: One of the particular most tantalising partnerships of the period pitches Robert Kubica, returning after a good eight-year absence following his life-changing move crash in 2011, against British newbie George Russell.
Kubica's comeback is the real feel-good story - the Trellis, after a brutal rehabilitation period, lastly getting a chance to continue some sort of career that had looked destined regarding the very top. But questions is always as to the level at which often he will he perform, with simply partial use of his right left arm.
Russell, a Mercedes young driver, is certainly one of the most promising kids in years.
In the perceptions activity, how will it play? If Kubica beats Russell, will Russell's reputation get damaged or will people think Kubica has returned close to or during his previous level? If Russell sounds Kubica, will it be seen because inevitable, given the Pole's "limitations", while he describes his physical issues, or perhaps a great achievement? The same inquiries apply if they are closely printed.
Team: Williams hit rock bottom inside 2018, finishing last in the constructors' championship. The car wasn't great, to be able to say the least, but an uninspiring driver line-up hardly helped.
They expect to have addressed the driver matter, but what of the car? As opposed to McLaren, there have been no noticeable major changes in the team : other than the departure of effectiveness director Rob Smedley, who is most likely to pop up elsewhere by summer months time.
Williams really need to display signs of progress, if they will be to allay concerns about their potential.