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2019 Formula 1 World Championship Season Review

28.12.2019

The 2019 Formula 1 World Championship season bowed out in Abu Dhabi earlier in December. Lewis Hamilton's obliteration of the field emphasised how this year lies as the 6-time World Champion's most successful campaign to date.  

Once again history shows that another F1 constructors title go to Mercedes, coupled once again by another failed title challenge by their nearest rivals.  

Upon reflection  of the past year, it seems that much of the on-track action is rather identical to last year, and perhaps like those seasons prior to that. But this year's championship saw a myriad of highlights and lowlights that culminated into one of F1's modern era's most interesting seasons.  

Hamilton Six Pack

In 2019 was Lewis Hamilton gave a dominant display of talent and tenacity the seasoned Brit has ever produced in an F1 car. His rise continued unabated.

Since the introduction of F1’s turbo hybrid era in 2014, Mercedes has arguably always designed and produced the most assertive machine. However, the aerodynamic regulation changes ahead of the 2019 campaign caught the Mercedes team off-guard, as the W10 struggled to keep pace with Ferrari during pre-season testing.

Evident of the car’s weaknesses is the fact that Hamilton, whom has the all-time record of pole positions with 88, failed to put his car on top in qualifying from the German Grand Prix until the season finale in Abu Dhabi.  

Rather it was Hamilton’s consistency on Sundays the proved to be the difference between himself and the rest of the field. He averaged 0.122 seconds faster than his teammate across all qualifying sessions of 2019, while averaging a grid position of 2.6, the highest of all drivers.  

Eleven victories over the course of one season is beyond impressive, especially in a car that is being dragged back into the clutches of the nearest rivals race by race.  

Hamilton’s 2019 consistency was so strong that he concluded the year as the only driver to finish every race inside the points. Little seems to be in the way of Hamilton, and his incredible, unconquerable run-of-form seems set to continue.  

Verstappen Emerges As The Heir Apparent

It is hard to beat one, let alone two teammates in a single season. But to annihilate those teammates takes something only a special driver could possibly accomplish. Max Verstappen’s 2019 campaign was marred by many ‘what ifs’ as the young Dutch flyer was the centrefold of a countless highs and lows.  

But nonetheless, 2019 saw Verstappen drive at his absolute best the paddock has ever seen of him thus far. A mature approach to his aggressive driving proficiency allowed Verstappen to challenge for victories and podiums on a more frequent basis than seen in 2018. His speed is undeniably the greatest across the entire grid.

On qualifying day Verstappen averaged 0.7s faster in Q3 than his teammates of Gasly and Albon. His two victories and seven other podium finishes are evident of Verstappen’s potential should he find himself in a more competitive Red Bull for 2020.  

The Milton Keynes outfit seemingly struggled to gain a decent grip on the new aero regulations established before testing began. The RB15 lacked the mechanical grip that both Mercedes and Ferrari were unleashing.  

However, in typical Red Bull fashion the team continued to implement upgrades and in-season development to finish the year with arguably the grids most competitive car. The team outscored Ferrari by 18 points from the Russian Grand Prix to Abu Dhabi and fell 11 short of Mercedes.

Verstappen’s 2019 season was simply superb, and should he continue to learn and develop his race day performances into next year, he may be Hamilton’s most feared rival.

Bottas takes revenge on 2018 but still falls short

A winless 2018 for Valtteri Bottas was shrouded in an ever-losing inter-team war for favouritism against his teammate. But a more spiteful ‘Bottas 2.0’ appeared in Melbourne for the season’s opening race, claiming victory by over 20 seconds to teammate Hamilton in second, a minute over the Ferrari’s and claimed the fastest lap of the race on used medium tyres.  

But it was consistency that proved to be Bottas’ greatest enemy. The Finn only averaged a grid position 3.81 in qualifying, putting his Sundays too often into difficult circumstances. Two DNF’s in Germany and Brazil and more overshadowed by the fact that he was outscored by Hamilton in 15 races alone and managed merely a third of the number of wins his teammate did.

McLaren Rise and Renault Fall And Williams in Freefall

This year McLaren delivered the most competitive season since 2013. A first podium for the team complimentary of Carlos Sainz’s sublime drive from P20 to 3rd in Brazil. The team from Woking scored 145 points in 2019, 83 more than last season’s total of which they had already matched by the time of the summer break.  

A team management structure with Andreas Seidl and newly recruited James Key both help to create an atmosphere of fresh change for the struggling powerhouses of old.  

Likewise, McLaren have been rewarded with large dividends with their risky strategy to employ two new drivers to the team. But the experienced Carlos Sainz and rookie sensation Lando Norris have both delivered strong, frequent results in the points.  

The same cannot be any further from the truth for Renault. The signing of veteran race winner Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull failed to have any immediate impact.  

The Australian managed only eight points finishes in 2019, two less than teammate Nico Hulkenberg. Reliability woes become apparent as soon as the season’s second round in Bahrain with a double DNF. Power unit failures soon became more recurrent than points as Renault ended a miserable year over 54 points behind McLaren in P5.

For Williams there is little to comment on. The team’s qualifying time in Melbourne 2018 was a 1.24.9 for Sergey Sirotkin. This year saw the team manage a 1.26.0 for Robert Kubica in similar conditions. The team’s aerodynamic problems became a lesser issue once parts began running on short supply due to a myriad of accidents and indecision on development routes.  

Ferrari Grande Fallimento

The big failure. Ferrari concluded 2019 as the season’s biggest disappointment. They were the most dominant team leaving Barcelona in February after pre-season testing. But finishing over a minute behind Mercedes, at round one, was only the tip of the struggling iceberg.  

Suffering from a dogged aero package. Their incredible power unit gained the team over 0.7s in straight line performance to Mercedes, and a second over Red Bull. But Ferrari’s low and medium speed cornering pace was upwards of a full second slower than their rivals.  

Ferrari also failed to maintain a stable team environment across the season. A stubborn Leclerc who prove to be quicker than the favourited Sebastian Vettel from the onset created a very tense team atmosphere, a ticking bomb that finally detonated in Interlagos with both drivers collided.  

Similarly, the team scored 6 poles in a row from Spa to Mexico but only converted three of those into wins, with one 1-2 as strategic tumbles proved costly repeatedly. Ferrari have no one to blame but themselves for their failed title challenge of 2019. 

But at least they have Leclerc for the long term! (Report by Zane Shackleton; Photo by Mercedes)

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