We recently travelled to Barcelona for the first week of testing ahead of the 2019 Formula 1 season. Here’s our best photos of the new 2019 challengers, starting with the top three teams: Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
All photos © Andrew Balfour / motorsportguides.com
Mercedes
Five consecutive World Championships. Mercedes have dominated the turbo-hybrid era, but Ferrari is on the rise. The consensus from pre-season testing is that Mercedes doesn’t yet have the fastest car, but you wouldn’t bet against them. Lewis Hamilton is now a five-time World Champion and will be doing everything in his power to make it number six in 2019.
Can Mercedes win a sixth straight title in 2019? Leave a comment below.
Ferrari
The Scuderia had the car to beat for much of last year, but strategic – and driver – errors cost them important wins, and thus the Championships. This prompted changes at Maranello. Maurizio Arrivabene is out as Team Principal, replaced by Mattia Binotto. On the driving front, the young Monaco sensation Charles Leclerc has been promoted to a race seat after just one season in Formula 1 while Sebastian Vettel enters his fifth year at Ferrari still seeking that elusive fifth World Championship. The early signs are positive – the new SF90 has shown promising speed and reliability in pre-season testing.
What do you think about Ferrari’s chances in 2019? Let us know in the comments.
Red Bull
Red Bull may have won four races last year, but still has work to do to bridge the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari – and fight once again for the World Championship. The team is banking on a switch from Renault to Honda power to make this happen. Max Verstappen is still only 21 years old, but is maturing fast as a driver. He’s joined this year by Pierre Gasly, who impressed in his debut season with Toro Rosso this year but is already on notice with Helmut Marko after two crashes during pre-season testing.
