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Formula 1

Red Bull 2019 Preview

Japanese power unit means origami bull, for launch at least.

First things first, I partially take back what I said on twitter. I think it’s growing on me, this one-off livery. Now, I wouldn’t mind if they ran this during the season, I think it looks quite nice in real life. Obviously Red Bull love to run a lovely looking car for a shakedown or during testing before returning to the now iconic Red Bull colours. It may be interesting to see if a new engine partners would mean some new additions to the livery, but it’s probably unlikely. Tom Bellingham of WTF1 made the point that in hindsight the Red Bull colours will become one of the F1 classics, along with the Marlboro McLaren which stayed on the car for both Honda and Peugoet engines. However saying this, there has been some merch on the Verstappen store which does look like it would match the design for the shakedown. I don’t seem to remember there being merch for last year’s digi-bull which was only for the shakedown. Maybe I’m reading more into this than I should be.

When I first saw this car, I thought it was too red but I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought it was. The origami bull is really cool, I think it’d stand out more if the only red on the engine cover was the bull. I think the chevron design nicked from Formula E sort of works, but is far more effective with the change in texture on the physical car. The car could be considered too busy for sponsors, but I feel if they were printed bigger, or at least bolder it may work better, particularly the ones near the exhaust.

Another point of interest on the car is that it appears to have lost weight! We thought the RB14 sidepods were ridiculously slim, well these are bloody ludicrous! The coke bottle that everyone seems to talk about is much tighter this year. Hopefully this means that Red Bull are still up there as a chassis and aero package. However, Honda will be the first to tell you about issues trying to make a power unit that small. I think to put it politely, it only had minor issues during 2015. Hopefully Red Bull haven’t taken it too far. A lot depends on that power unit.

Cooking on Gas-ly

Anyone looking at Red Bull would say oh yes “Verstappen’s going to have to emerge as a strong number 1 and lead this team on now Danny’s gone.” But actually I’d say Gasly is equally important to the success of the Red Bull Honda project. He’s already on close terms with Honda, the year with Toro Rosso last year and the year in Super Formula means a very strong rapport. He knows how to motivate Honda and how they work, unlike a certain Fernando Alonso.

His performances won’t start off as strong as Verstappen, but they’ll certainly close up over the course of the season. I’d actually say that Pierre has an outside chance of winning in Bahrain. That performance last year was extraordinary. Even if Red Bull start behind the curve and look like a 4/5th placed team, it’s certainly better off than where Toro Rosso were.

As for Verstappen, I reckon looking at the standings by the end of the year you’d say he dominated Gasly but he’ll be pushed all the way from after the Summer break onwards. He has to keep his tongue in check though. Arguably Honda are under more pressure than the McLaren days because this is going to be a title battle. The last thing you need is being told constantly that you’re underperforming. We know Max is volatile, hopefully he gets months of PR training by Gasly to show him how to get the best out of the Japanese company.

You’ve probably noticed a thread between all these posts is that a lot depends on Honda. A horrible Honda raises Renault to 3rd in the standings, whereas a hopeful Honda heightens expectations to above 3rd. I’m still going to say 3rd for Red Bull this year. It might well end up being a similar year to McLaren in 2018, where they learn things about their design which was flawed. Maybe it’s too draggy as well as lacking oomph. Maybe the chassis isn’t on its own in some sort legendary tier as they claim it is. Maybe it’s none of those and it’s a pure power unit issue where it’s back to square one with lack of power, or is fast but unreliable. Ferrari and Mercedes just look too fast at the moment for them to fall away from the top, at least to me. But hey, what do I know? All I know is there’s new found hope in the Red Bull team.

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Formula 1

Mercedes 2019 Preview

The Silver Arrow is actually well… silver!

I’ll own up, I overslept this morning. So much so that I actually missed the reveal of of the W10. All I can say is someone pinch me because I still must be dreaming. That 2019 Mercedes is beautiful. It’s not until Mercedes unveiled this masterpiece, that I realised how messy the 2017 and 2018 liveries were. I don’t think I would’ve said that until seeing the 2019 revision, maybe it just shows how tidy this livery is. Remember I’m no expert in graphic design, I mean have you seen my logo? But I remember when Chain Bear F1 released a livery design explainer video, he always said that design should always follow the shape of the chassis. While Merc did do this for the past two seasons, it’s only now that it has been perfected. Having one thicker, green line, rather than several thinner ones works better because the thicker line is so much stronger. The movement of grey to actual silver or chrome is also a big step up. Either that or the grey just pops more under light this year. The end result is still much better.

I haven’t even gotten to the fade on the engine cover yet. Personally, it’s much more effective from far away. But I still don’t know what to think about it up close, is it possible only to see the fade from afar? I don’t know, I can still be persuaded. Let me know what you think. At the current moment, the numbers are only white, not the usual red and blue for Lewis and Valtteri respectively. I hope this is only for the shakedown runs, this is the nearest F1 has gotten to personalised numbering.

When F1 first unveiled the new driver number system for 2014, I thought it would lead to MotoGP style development where the number became the drivers’ brand. I’m still very disappointed this hasn’t taken off, particularly in light of Liberty’s plan to make the drivers seem more like heroes and bringing them to the forefront. I seriously hope that this develops in the world of Formula 1 soon. I don’t think it would distract from MotoGP either, we’ve already heard that drivers’ won’t adopt Vale’s 46 because they think it’s sacred, and rightly so. When most of the premier class have their numbers above 30, and the top riders have numbers in the 90s, it’s clear to see that we wouldn’t distract from Marc Marquez or Jorge Lorenzo.

Anyway, back to Merc. Can we all just appreciate they didn’t reveal that camo livery today? Firstly because we wouldn’t have seen this sheer perfection on the W10, but also because let’s be honest, it was quite frankly hideous. I hope we get to understand why they teased 2019 this way, but right now the feeling of sheer relief is just too much to care about anything else.

Valtteri, it’s Esteban

Christ, did I really stoop that low just to use that God awful meme? Apparently Lewis wouldn’t re-sign unless Valtteri was his team mate, I hope this wasn’t true. No offence to Valtteri, but part of the pull of Formula 1 is seeing the best drivers battling the best cars. The difference between the Ferrari and Mercedes should’ve lent itself to a four-way title battle. If Charles Leclerc can keep performing like he has in his new team then I can’t help but feel it will be Mercedes’ Achilles’ heel. It saddens me that arguably the best driver of his generation didn’t fancy testing himself against a Danny Ric for example. I hope edgy beard Bottas, means we get an edgy driver Bottas. He was unlucky in the first half of the season, granted, but he was nowhere near the pace in the second half, Russia aside. There are thoughts that Bottas won’t make the end of the season, and who can blame them when you have Ocon in reserve. I hope Bottas ups his pace and can mount a serious title challenge this year, but it’s going to take a hell of amount of work.

Lewis will do what he’s always done. He’ll have a shaky first 5-10 rounds, sounding really unmotivated on the radio, then dupe me into thinking he’s had enough and will retire at the end of the season to concentrate on his music or his collection with Tommy Hilfiger. I can guarantee I will write something similar to this by China. I honestly thought he was gone at the end of last year, instead he put in a perfect summer and second half of the season to take a comfortable 5th title. If he’s under more pressure this year goodness knows he’ll do, but I know he’ll be fast.

If gap continues to close at the top like it has done the past couple of years then I’m going to be bold and say they’ll finish second in the constructors’. However I’d probably back Lewis for the drivers’. Hopefully it’s more than a two way battle this year, and with Leclerc in the scarlet car I’d say we have a strong chance of that being the case. We may end up with a feisty Bottas too, so it’ll be close at the top, but I have a feeling that experience and a tendency not to bottle may just prevail.

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Formula 1

Renault 2019 Preview

Like a banana left out too long, the banana car seems to be getting blacker by the minute.

C’est ici, aujourd’hui Renault révélé leur 2019 voiture. En Anglais? It’s here, today Renault revealed their 2019 car, the R.S.19. First impressions are as you’d expect really, deja vu. They didn’t need to change it, so why bother changing what worked so well last time out? An old Top Gear quote comes to mind when thinking about the livery for this year, “you can’t improve on perfection.” Jeremy speaking about the frankly hideous Hammerhead Eagle iThrust there. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to compare the two because you can’t. Hats off to whoever thought of the idea of a car that was yellow when looking head on, but black from side on. It’s the ultimate appeasement really.

It’s not officially been said but is thought that when Renault returned to F1 back in 2016 they wanted a black livery with yellow highlights, hence they sort of launched with that scheme. It was only really backlash from us fans that forced them into rocking up at Melbourne with a reversed scheme. Since then they’ve adopted this 50:50 livery which slowly becomes darker season by season. To be honest I’m surprised that the Enstone team has kept a similar livery from last year, taking my head out the clouds for a minute it would seem logical that we should’ve had more black this year. Then again, it probably speaks volumes about the astuteness of the R.S.19, and if the car is as clever as its livery suggests then Red Bull should be looking over their shoulder.

I still think my favourite contemporary Renault livery is the 2010 car. Don’t ask why, for me the reasons are intangible to me, but that’s probably nostalgia more than anything. F1 was my world back then, but I’d like to hope that I’ve since ditched the rose-tinted specs, or at least partially done so. You could even argue the R30 is almost the reverse scheme to the R.S.18 and 19.

At the time of writing this, shamefully several hours past the reveal, I’ve just noticed that the physical car is ever so slightly different to the one shown in the video and the studio pictures. Hopefully the physical car is the one they actually use because I was going to critique it for needing more yellow on the front side, but the physical car seems to address this? Someone probably knows about this more than me. Even then it’s just little things that I’d ask for, probably it’s just me being pernickety but maybe some yellow on the sidepod entry so the car does appear to be fully yellow from the front? Definitely take the yellow off the inside of the rear wing, for me it doesn’t look right. In fact, they should’ve just done the exact same livery as last year, after all you can’t improve on perfection.

My last point can be applied to all the teams. Why not incorporate the halo into your livery design? I think it’s easiest to give an example to on the Renault. From the birds’ eye view there are the yellow streaks that flow from the drivers’ shoulders to the engine cover. Why not have a yellow halo and follow the lines in a similar vein to what we have, but following where the halo attaches itself to the chassis behind the driver? Apologies if you’ve been a little sick in your mouth at the thought of this, I mean it looks and sounds nice in my head but hey that’s the thought of one bloke spewing stuff at a computer screen and hoping it sticks.

I thought the Hulk was green?

Big year for Renault lies ahead, and if it goes as successfully as they think it can be, this year has to be as big for Nico Hülkenberg. He needs that podium which has been a long time coming. Reassurance would be an understatement, not just him, but for us. We always felt that he deserved a race win and a shot in a ‘big team’. Pole in his debut year at Interlagos, whilst almost taking a win there in similar conditions two years later shows you why. He’s always had his height, thus weight against him, but this year that’s going to change, with rules now helping the taller drivers. If Red Bull and Honda get off to a shaky start, Renault will no doubt have the 3rd fastest car, which is prime podium territory, as Red Bull showed early last year. Nico has to prove that he has been wrongly overlooked for a seat at the top. Especially considering who he’s up against this year.

Daniel Ricciardo has form of turning a team from one that belongs to one driver, to one that belongs to him. Nico has been at Enstone since 2017 and has been dominant against his team mates there, mind you Jolyon Palmer was there for 1 and a half seasons. If Ricciardo puts on a 2014-esque display then Nico is going to be in big trouble. I doubt he’ll be around long, especially with Esteban Ocon waiting in the wings, who was very nearly signed to replace Carlos Sainz Jr for this year.

Equally you could say it’s a big year for Ricciardo too, as he was beginning to fall out of favour to Verstappen at Red Bull. If Daniel doesn’t grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, at Renault and fails to live up to expectations, we would quite clearly know why he fell out of favour. However, Australians do seem not to be the flavour of the month, or decade, at Red Bull, so there may be more reasons than just his pace for this.

Ricciardo really needs to maintain his top tier driver status in F1. I really hope his heart is in it, he dodged a question from Abiteboul asking him about the level of risk in his move like an in form politician. He seems to have gotten away with it because of his cheeky smile, but if this was Alonso speaking about the McLaren Honda project, no doubt there’d be essays about his responses which could be regarded as similar to the one Danny Ric gave today. Just food for thought, but the current trajectory of the Renault team is exciting that’s for sure, and he has already publicly given his thoughts about being cut off from Mercedes and Ferrari so it’s hardly breaking news.

Where Renault finish in the standings this year strongly depends on the strength of Red Bull Honda. 3rd has to be the aim this year, but I think a stronger 4th position would be taken by the team. They have to hope that the power duo of Mercedes and Ferrari have been somewhat culled by 2019 rules and regs. Renault need to be convincingly closer to the top at each weekend if they are to prove their title credentials for 2021 as set out by their own master plan. It’s about time we had a shake up at the top and Renault are certainly favourites to do this.

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Formula 1

Williams 2019 Preview

The long overdue departure from Martini liveries has finally come, but does a revitalised look help to revitalise form?

Cheers son’s crying nice one. You had the chance to rock(it?) our worlds, instead you left us with good but not Carling. There’s hope with this livery, that’s for sure, I just think it’s just a halfway house. It’s neither a white livery with hints of blue nor a blue livery with hints of white. That baby blue looks really nice, I hope Williams adopt this for seasons to come. The car from the front view actually looks decent. It’s just those awful fades between blue and white around the sidepod that really get on my nerves. Who is the person that thought putting black or navy on a blue background would make sponsors pop to the audience who will generally see this car at speeds in excess of 150mph? The concept for a good livery is there, it just doesn’t feel developed enough to me.

However, thinking of amendments to the livery, there are simple and clear directions Williams can take their designs in the future. Either they paint the entire car baby blue, using flashes of white for the sponsors, and they’d have a unique shade of blue and a simple yet effective design, or they can remove the black from this year’s car and have a much nicer aesthetic around the engine cover and rear wing, maybe even sharpen the fades too. Ironically enough, that halfway house is where I’d rank it out of the liveries we’ve had so far. Better than Haas, worse than Toro Rosso.

I really hope it looks nice on track, I feel like a right connoisseur reviewing these liveries, just criticising for criticising’s sake, and that’s not what this blog is about. I’d really like to write about stuff bigging up teams, and I feel like those who’ve got new partners or are operating under new guises have the perfect chance to be bold. It’s what I said for Haas, be bold, don’t miss your chance. That’s why it’s disappointing when you’re looking forward to a clean design and colour scheme, especially from Williams who more often than not do this. Williams was one of the teams I was hyped to see this Winter, because it probably was going to be a return to red like the Winfield liveries, or that deep blue from post BMW Williams in the noughties. This new baby blue is actually a brilliant departure from that, but the execution is a little underwhelming.

I said on twitter (cheeky plug) that this livery was refreshing. The Martini livery had so many opportunities and for the team to only use one design was a big shame, and ended up like last week’s loaf of bread, left to one side and gone all stale. The branding for the garage and hospitality was better actually. There was this ribbon motif where the Martini stripes were more free flowing. I would’ve loved to see this given a go on the car, it would be an ode to Stewart GP for sure, but change would’ve been welcomed with open arms and a nice cup of tea by us folks online. Even another stripe on the car somewhere, or using the Martini colours as a scheme in itself without the white. Ok maybe that last one was going a bit far, but the point stands – Williams you should’ve changed changed it up you eejits!

Two rants in two days, I need to get out more.

Poles Apart

Back in ye olden days when the year was 2010, there was a young boy who would keep an eye out for a certain yellow car, which had his favourite livery adorned on it. There was a particular man who this young boy used to love watch pilot this yellow car. His name? Robert Kubica. The little boy’s name? He was me! :p

I probably supported him more because the Renault looked nice that year but looking back in retrospect, I really begin to see that I loved the driver too. He was always bloody fast and had a wickedly dry sense of humour. You’ll want to check out the response to being asked if he remembered his crash in Canada 2007, for those who aren’t aware.

I really hope Robert can find that pace that was so electric. He would be world champion if not for his horrific crash in 2011. One piece of commentary that has always been stuck in my mind was from Martin Brundle at the end of the 2011 Australian GP. Vitaly Petrov drove his Lotus-Renault to a third place finish which was seriously impressive at the time. It was during the cool down lap where Brundle asked “Where would Robert Kubica have finished if he was in that car?” Possibly winning. It wouldn’t have made that much of a difference; that Lotus-Renault was a dog of a car if my memory serves me correct.

If Robert is as fast now as he was then, Russell has his work cut out. He is one hot prospect that’s for sure, but we’ve said the same of Stoffel Vandoorne. Russell’s made it to Formula 1, now he has to work hard and show why he’s highly regarded by Mercedes and journalists alike. It is thought that Kubica will struggle around the tight circuits like Melbourne and Monaco because of his defect. These are rounds early on that George has to take convincingly if he wants to show he is Britain’s next hope.

It’s difficult to read this battle, but I have no doubt that Russell’s every move will be scrutinised A) because he’ll have the British press eyeing him as the next Lewis and B) because he’s going up against a race winning rookie in Robert Kubica. Robert’s been away for so long we don’t know how he’s going to perfom, so the best benchmark is always the team mate in this case George. I really hope that both can succeed, but it’s a dog eat dog world in F1.

Williams are also difficult read as a package this year. We could possibly see a 2014 style season where despite recent struggles, they’ve produce a quick package capable of major points, possibly pushing Renault, Haas, McLaren, Racing Point for the increasingly coveted 4th place. It’s also equally possible that we see their struggles continue, which if they are down a development hole will happen. They’re so hard to read I’m actually going to refrain from predictions for this team, because no doubt I’ll look like a right eejit.

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Formula 1

Toro Rosso Preview 2019

Shock! It’s blue and red and has red bull all over it. Toro Rosso just unveiled its 2019 the challenger the STR14.

If you were eagerly waiting eyes peeled for the first look at the STR14 hoping for revolution you must obviously be mistaken. I don’t think the livery could be classed as evolution either, sponsors aside it’s the same livery on a 2019 model. That being said, the Faenza based team has produced one of my favourite schemes on the grid since 2017 with the addition of the metallic-looking paint. It’s worked two-fold; it distinguishes itself from its big sister of Red Bull Racing and refreshes a livery that had pretty much been constant for 11 seasons. So while we gave Williams stick for unrelenting on the Martini livery, you could argue this change had been a long time coming. Contrary to Williams, Toro Rosso liveries are never going to change dramatically. As long as Dietrich Mateschitz deems Formula 1 to be a profitable and worthwhile commitment, both of his teams will match his drink, and rightly so. I guess more of the reason Williams were critiqued was because they took on an iconic motorsport partner which has been part of some classic liveries, but more on that in their preview.

Hopefully this is matched with Red Bull, but even having a similar livery on a 2019 car has tidied it up dramatically, especially the front wing where it’s now a cleanly written Red Bull. Even the barge board which is lower and longer, a 2019 regulation, looks nicer which can now be more readily picked up on a more visible livery compared to the Haas. In terms of this livery if there was a little more red, perhaps on the barge board, I may prefer it, but this is my somewhat limited and dull imagination we’re talking about here. This Toro Rosso livery is nice but I just hope it doesn’t get stale. Leave it 5 seasons of similar design, then move on – that graphic designer really is going to steal a living! Usually livery design is moderated by title sponsors which is why they usually don’t stagnate, but this won’t happen to the Red Bull teams, which can be alarming. That being said, I don’t know where they should go next, maybe to the Red Bull Cola colours, like on Youtuber Aarava’s old MyDriver series where the Toro Rossos became a turquoise colour.

Return of the Torpedo

He’s back! Helmut Marko’s personal marmite from Russia returns for hopefully another full season of racing. Daniil Kvyat has been the Red Bull driver programme Polyfilla (google it) for a couple of seasons now. The poor man can’t catch a break. I really hope he can string together a season when hopefully under less pressure. I certainly don’t think he’s on that elite tier of drivers but he certainly has the pace for F1 and it would certainly be a shame for him to be put aside for Dan Ticktum who seems next in line at Red Bull.

I always try to be as impartial as possible but Ticktum definitely isn’t ready for Formula 1, certainly at the moment and maybe never. He seems to be similar in pace to Mick Schumacher on his day, but his attitude is years off Formula 1. He actually makes Verstappen seem docile! For someone who’s stayed professional despite demotion after demotion, it would be a damn shame for Kvyat to be forced out soon as another youngster gets enough license points.

I’ve not followed Alex Albon that closely but I know he was certainly up there with Norris and Russell in last year’s F2, so he certainly deserves a shot in F1. I think this rivalry might well go under the radar. Both drivers may not have long to show who’s number 1 and it should be closely fought as you could even argue Kvyat is a rookie of sorts. Kvyat may settle quicker but as Albon grows in experience and confidence he should be close on pace to the Russian. Just a quick side note – he represents Thailand, not British Born Thailand, so can the British media stop referring to him as such? Thanks.

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Formula 1

Haas Preview 2019

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really loved the Haas liveries. Other than 2016, their debut challenger, I’ve just felt they’ve been lacklustre. The monochrome tones akin to late Dennis era McLaren have, for me at least, felt like a missed opportunity, and this year’s car is no exception.

Yes, the addition of the now infamous Rich Energy brand always meant that we were most likely going to get a dark car, but for me this felt like a chance for Haas to create one classic livery. Considering it’s a title sponsor, there is little gold on the car. I mean I wasn’t expecting the Techeetah Formula E livery plastered onto a Formula 1 car but saying that it might’ve worked better in my opinion! You could argue they needed to distinguish themselves from the ‘John Player Special’ cars of old, or more recently the now defunct lotus team. But the way they’ve worked it just seems underwhelming, leading me back to the missed opportunity idea. Considering it was marketed as a ‘new era’ they had the chance to be bold and stride into 2019 with one of the cleanest liveries, instead they’ve just tiptoed into the new year.

Perhaps I’m being overly critical, the actual in person pictures of the car do look more pleasant. If you were to put some more gold on the gold, particularly around the halo and rear of the car, I think I’d be less scathing of the car – and it’s much better than the hideous 2017 car. Hopefully it looks as nice as the new driver romper suits (which are very tidy may I add) whilst on track, but ultimately I think it’s just too dark.

Moving on, it should be a really interesting year to follow Haas. Where do they lie in the pecking order in terms of being a Ferrari team? The new Alfa Romeo deal could signal that Haas have become the new Ferrari ‘C’ team, particularly if Alfa continue their trajectory from the end of 2018. Close attention needs be paid to the performance of the VF-19, it is widely reported that Haas have the smallest F1 operation in terms of staff, and are not exactly made of money, but this new title sponsor might change that. Haas have had previous form of being fast out of the box but not being able to keep this form consistent throughout the season, which could suggest they struggle to develop the car or have no funds to do so. 2018 bucked this trend and they pushed the factory outfit of Renault all the way but ultimately just fell short of 4th place. So for me it’ll be interesting to see if 2018 was the year they turned a corner, figuratively speaking, or whether they can now keep up a season long challenge. Of course, the added funds from Rich Energy should help them to do this, although this finance is dubious to say the least considering I’ve yet to see British energy drink Rich Energy on the shelves in Great Britain. Hmmmm.

Ro Gro vs. K-Mag

Are we seriously talking about silly season already?!

Romain Grosjean managed to pull off a Lazarus-style resurrection of his season in 2018. His second half of the season is what kept him in Formula 1. 2019 I feel could be the year he has to stake his claim to be a solid F1 driver… again. In my opinion he has used all his 9 lives, and it feels like Haas are slowly becoming Magnussen’s team. Magnussen has been much more consistent but occasionally lacked the supreme pace of Grosjean, but that’s what you need in the midfield, regular points as it’s unlikely that you’re going to beat the top 6 drivers on pure pace.

Should Grosjean suffer defeat to the hands to Magnussen, I think now Wehrlein has cut his links to Mercedes and is now a Ferrari sim driver I think he’d be a great fit for the team.

For F1’s benefit we need a strong Haas this year. As F1’s newest team they are the benchmark for how progress can be made, especially to outside teams looking to join. They may choose to follow the controversial Haas model or may be a manufacture outfit, but it shows if the infrastructure is there you can consistently make gains on your rivals year on year. I guess it’s dependant on 2021 regulations for now if we are to expect new teams any time soon.

You’ve probably noticed I’ve not spoken about the developments between the VF-18 and VF-19, and that’s because I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea where to start. I’m simply not clever enough to talk about this, so I’ll continue to talk superficially and predict the season ahead for each car launch to come. Another reason for this is that Haas described it as a livery launch, and the stock-looking 2019 front wing further proves this. Technical boffins like Craig Scarborough may notice differences between the two packages but this will be more obvious when the car rolls out in Barcelona in just over a week’s time, just like for the other teams.

All in all I predict that it’ll be another close midfield battle and Haas will certainly be at the top of this group, but a stronger Renault and perhaps resurgent McLaren (big maybe there) will be difficult opposition so I reckon 5th-6th for Haas in 2019. But hopefully their rear wing sponsor isn’t a sign that Haas are past their peak.

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