Each Formula 1 season has themes instant storylines that define the year.
Quite a few of these come as a wonder. Who could have predicted that 2018's championship would turn on so numerous errors from Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari, for example?
Others are more foreseen. Every team heading into this season has a series of questions dangling over them that will form element of the narrative of the time of year, reflective of their immediate history, involving expectations and necessities - and the particular same goes for their drivers.
Because the clock ticks down to typically the launches of the new cars plus the start of pre-season testing throughout mid-February, let's look at the situation within which every F1 team is definitely heading into 2019.
Mercedes
F1 Break down: 'Hamilton just has the best auto, doesn't he? '
Drivers: For Lewis Hamilton, nothing else will do this specific year but a sixth world name. The question for Hamilton is: just how does he find it in themselves 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 the particular winter saying he was going to be able to work on trying to do accurately that, and he says he is usually "ready to fight" again.
For his or her team-mate Valtteri Bottas, this could likewise be a defining season.
The Finn ended last year winless, even in case he was unlucky not to acquire at least two victories, and he or she has only a one-year deal pertaining to 2019. With Esteban Ocon in the particular wings as reserve driver, and group boss Toto Wolff pledging to locate the Frenchman a drive for 2020, the pressure is on Bottas to be able to perform.
Team: Mercedes won a junior high consecutive drivers' and constructors' championship increase last year and this year will be aiming to break the all-time report set by Ferrari in the Eileen Schumacher era.
But last year that they were able to achieve their task only because of Ferrari's implosion rapid Vettel could have won the name had he had as flawless some sort of season as Hamilton.
Ferrari have manufactured steady progress in recent years. Throughout 2017, they were faster for very much of the first half of typically the year, only to be steamrollered if Mercedes kicked on after the summer time break. In 2018, Ferrari stepped upwards again - faster than Mercedes even more often than it was the different way around.
If that trend proceeds, 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 in addition to a new team boss following typically the 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 instant 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 missing in no uncertain terms.
If Vettel is beaten by Leclerc on a new regular basis this year and, accepting Ferrari have a competitive car, once again falls short of the title, what exactly will that mean for his potential future, with only a year left upon his Ferrari contract after this period?
Leclerc has different pressure, of their first season in a top crew, and the most famous one involving all to boot.
Expectations are large, so good did he look throughout his debut year last season. This individual says he expects to win events and challenge for the title in case the car is good enough. If he lives up to those aspirations or not, the internal dynamics with 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 within 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 plus wiser race-team operational management, both regarding which were beyond Arrivabene?
If he / she can, Ferrari could be formidable certainly - but how will they take care of the relationship between the drivers?
Crimson Bull
Max Verstappen of Red Fluff
Austria and Mexico were races to be able to celebrate for Verstappen. Brazil's 'push-gate' nevertheless, was not
Drivers: With Daniel Ricciardo gone, Max Verstappen effectively formally needs on the role of team head he had carved for himself by simply the force of his consistently outstanding performances last year - once he or she stopped crashing in the first half a dozen races.
But that does not always mean the Dutchman will have this all his own way.
Frenchman Caillou Gasly is Verstappen's new team-mate, plus he looked very handy indeed using some of his starring performances throughout 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 some sort of handful of on-track incidents.
Gasly is usually a friendly but forceful character and even while Ricciardo was already established seeing that a winner by the time Verstappen joined him at the team, Gasly is out to carve a status.
It is not hard to discover 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 move to Mercedes and Ferrari. But also they don't believe it is sensible to expect Honda to improve plenty of in 2019 to close the distance to the best engines.
Can they will 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 partnership with Renault caused by their steady public criticisms, be able to continue to keep their mouths in check?
Renault
Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg
Who could claim top spot at Renault within 2019 - Hulkenberg or new young man Ricciardo?
Drivers: Daniel Ricciardo joins typically the factory Renault team amid a bande following his surprise decision to abandon 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 simply by Fernando Alonso, among others, and is usually unlikely to be a pushover. Not necessarily least because Ricciardo's arrival offers Hulkenberg a golden opportunity to prove they deserves to be classed among typically the elite, a ranking that has fled from him so far in a profession that remarkably does not even contain a podium finish.
Team: When Renault returned as a constructor in 2016, their target was to be being successful races within five years. Last period, though, progress slowed, and they is going to be under pressure to close in the top teams in 2019.
This particular means improving both car - which often was at least a second off of 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 involving last season.
Insiders say progress offers been made on the engine, nevertheless that Renault's realistic hope is in order 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 some sort of team whose pretensions of being subject 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 intending down the toilet after a sequence of errors in the first one half of last year, only to shelter himself with some starring performances later on on. Can the Franco-Swiss ever discover 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, nonetheless although he produced some very good performances last year, the impression will be that when Grosjean gets it just about all hooked up, the Dane can't pretty live with him.
Team: Last season was the best yet for this specific small team that continues to lead to 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 group, but the likes of Williams plus McLaren say that's missing the stage; F1 is not meant to get like that. That debate is certainly not going away any time soon.
Having 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 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 experienced a taste of life in the particular McLaren after taking part in numerous practice sessions in 2018
Drivers: Two-time world champion Alonso has gone. Plus 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 end up being the first season of a start again programme that will return them in order to competitiveness by midway through the following decade.
Alonso has been replaced by simply Carlos Sainz. He is a car owner of considerable pace and potential yet who has had a tendency in order to be a bit up and along so far in his career. Together with alongside him is British rookie Lando Norris, whose clearly abundant talent has got created great expectations.
The battle involving the two of them is remarkably anticipated but a lot depends in the car.
Team: McLaren might contain spent 2013-17 in denial about precisely how far they had fallen, but when it became clear last year, they will have certainly not hesitated in carrying out something about it.
Three senior characters are out, four new ones have got been appointed - although new specialized director James Key and new F1 managing director Andreas Seidl do not really yet have start dates.
At the particular start of a ë¬¸ì œì—†ëŠ” ì•ˆì „ë†€ì´í„° rebuilding process, typically the key this year is to present evidence they have improved. Last calendar year, 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 their own once-illustrious history.
Racing Point
Lance Go Instagram
Stroll wrote on Instagram: "This is the beginning of an amazingly exciting journey in my Formula you career. I am excited to take hold of this new opportunity"
Drivers: Lance Stroll's switch from Williams to the past Force India team, which is right now owned by his father, the Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, sets up 1 of the most interesting dynamics associated with the new season.
Stroll Sr is certainly very ambitious for his son, together with ran into friction at Williams about occasions as a result. One example of this being when he demanded a brand-new front wing was taken off Sergey Sirotkin's car in Hungary last yr and given to Lance when Walk had damaged his. The team repudiated, which led to a sizeable point.
Now Stroll owns a team, they can do what he likes in the event that any such similar situation arises.
Move Jr was outpaced by Felipe Quantità 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 can be any attempt to favour the household connection, what will be the reaction from Perez - a determined identity 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 - possibly ever - the team have dreams of moving up the grid.
Gowns not going to happen overnight, nevertheless it will be worth watching exactly what happens now the grid's best pound-for-pound team is finally married to respectable resources.
Having said that, rich while Stroll is, his bank balance is usually no match for those of the particular massive global corporations his team could have to beat to move frontward. 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 guy named Kimi Raikkonen prepared for the first Formula 1 race for Sauber in Australia. If Kimi could repeat this pose in Melbourne in Mar...
Drivers: All change, with veteran Kimi Raikkonen, 40 this year, rejoining typically the team where his F1 career started out, although they have just changed their particular 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, trustworthy 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 Method 2 title in 2016, despite staying in his rookie year, but which 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 has got left for Ferrari?
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat
Kvyat said he "never provided up hope" of racing again in spite of being dropped twice by Red Fluff
Drivers: Russian Daniil Kvyat returns intended for a second chance at F1. This individual 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 below a Thai passport, and is remarkably rated.
Team: Toro Rosso lost technological director James Key at a critical time last summer when he was initially 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.
Seeing that the second Red Bull team inside 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 the particular Japanese company tested developments last season.
Williams
Archive: Kubica's remarkable return in order to Formula 1
Drivers: One of typically the most tantalising partnerships of the period pitches Robert Kubica, returning after a 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 Person of polish lineage, after a brutal rehabilitation period, ultimately 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 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 sport, how will it play? If Kubica beats Russell, will Russell's reputation turn out to be damaged or will people think Kubica has returned close to or from his previous level? If Russell bests 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 concerns apply if they are closely printed.
Team: Williams hit rock bottom within 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 warmer summer months time.
Williams really need to display signs of progress, if they happen to be to allay concerns about their potential future.