2019 Formula 1 Review: Best of the Rest

With Formula 1 on holiday (well away from the racetrack in any event) as teams chase the double challenge of building readying their 2020 challengers at the same time as preparing for new rules a year later), it is time to reflect on the season past.  

There are three tiers of Formula 1 these days — the grandee trio of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, which we cover separately, and the rest, which comprises these midfield and tail-enders.

McLaren: Occasional Midfield Magic

There were three strong midfield contenders in 2019 headed by McLaren, which emerged fourth in the maker’s title and a significant best of the rest. The once F1 giants ended up in a comfortable no-man’s land between the Big Three and the rest following.  

Carlos Sainz left no doubt about who the senior driver in the team is, ending sixth in the driver’s chase as he finished 17 of the 21 races in the season, thirteen of them in the points. One of those being the Young Spaniard’s maiden ‘podium’ in that inherited third in Brazil.

Rookie teammate Lando Norris impressed to miss out on a maiden F1 season top ten by just a couple of points — his eight scoring results offset by a four race retirement rate. More importantly, McLaren elevated itself from the doldrums of among its worst seasons in 2018 to become a regular front runner.

Now it remains to be seen if that upward path merged with a 2020 switch back to Mercedes power is enough to return Woking’s multiple world championship winning team out of the F1 endangered list and back to winning ways...

Renault: A shadow of its former self

The Enstone outfit is another a once illustrious team now deep in the shadow of its former F1 self, scratching home to a close fifth in the maker’s stakes. In a difficult season highlighted more by smoky failed Renault bits, exclusions, penalties and a few accidents, the Regie surely proved a rude awakening for Daniel Ricciardo, who found himself fighting for points rather than the podiums he missed for the first time in a few years.  

Still, the Honey Badger scrounged a third more points than exiting teammate Hulkenberg, who never had the privilege of a podium in his long F1 career.  

Toro Rosso: Victims of meddling  

The defacto Red Bull junior team ended sixth, but was it once again victim to principal Red Bull and Marko’s meddling? Had either Alexander Albon or Pierre Gasly staid put through their season rather than being made to flit between teams, would Renault have beaten them?  

Gasly of course brought a brilliant second in Brazil, where Albon also starred, but that's all part of the good old Red Bull driver whirlpool. Through all of that Daniil Kvyat, another man who understands those shenanigans, delivered a solid season including the future Alpha Tauri’s other ’19 podium third in Germany.

Racing Point: A year to forget

Seventh in the constructor’s race, Racing Point’s effervescent Sergio Perez finished every race, either in or just out of the paying positions as he scored almost three championship points for team boss Stroll’s son Lance’s one.  

Apparently set to now become Aston Martin in the continued search of Lance’s silver bullet, this team copped flak from F1’s former multiple championship-winning tech boss that it did not make the effort to do any better than it did.

Alfa Romeo: A disappointing season

The 'Ferrari junior' team, but it needed a little more than its cars finishing all but two races as Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi still could still not extract the veteran team from the 2019 F1 bottom three.  

Highlighted by a fourth and fifth for those two in Brazil and Kimi scoring points in nine races, one has to wonder how FCA’s merger with results-oriented PSA will affect the future of this under performing F1 team…?  

Haas: A dog of a car

Perhaps the most confusing lot on the grid, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel still have a lot to learn about inner team conflict from Haas-Ferrari’s driver line-up.  

Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were either fighting each other or agreeing that they were fighting a dog of a car in a season highlighted by its on-track nonsense as much as it was by all that off it.  

Perhaps Haas' biggest success was team boss Steiner becoming a social media sensation, but one has to wonder how both Haas drivers continue following their 2019 tribulations.

Williams: As bad as it gets

At the bottom of the list we find the once almost invincible Williams team. Somehow, this disorganised operation once again dodged F1 extinction, but after scoring just one point in 2019, it remains to be seen how long the pit stop world champions can struggle on at this rate.  

Robert Kubica somehow beat George Russell to that lucky point, surprising considering that Russell out-qualified him 100% through the season, so experience certainly must have some F1 merit. Russel going quickest for Mercedes in post-season testing, however proved exactly where the Williams problems really lie...  

So there you have it, Formula 1 2019 is done and dusted and there remains but one chance for anyone to beat Mercedes in the final year of the sport’s current era.  

Unlikely as it seems, whether one of the rest can pull off some sort of a miracle to join Ferrari and Red Bull in pursuit, remains to be seen, as much as whether Merc’s main rivals can get it all together well enough to pull it off themselves. Bring it on. (Report by Michele Lupini; Photo by Red Bull)