Formula One 2019: Season Preview

The 2019 F1 season is just around the corner. Our scribe takes a look at how things are shaping up prior to the start of the first race in Australia.

Petrolheads around the planet are gearing up for what is sure to be yet another cracking season of F1 action. There’s already been a host of changes ahead of the start of the season, and we take a look at the driver changes, rule changes as well as provide you with the full season schedule below.

Betting

To Win Drivers’ Championship Outright

• Lewis Hamilton 72/100
• Sebastian Vettel 33/10
• Max Verstappen 9/2
• Charles LeClerc 9/1
• Valtteri Bottas 14/1
• Pierre Gasly 28/1
• Daniel Ricciardo 66/1
• Nico Hulkenberg 150/1
• Carlos Sainz 200/1

• Mercedes 61/100
• Ferrari 11/4
• Red Bull 7/2
• Force India/Racing Point 200/1

Schedule Changes
There aren’t any venue changes for this season with further Grand Prix only set to be added in 2020.

In total, there are 21 races set to take place in 2019 with the first happening in Melbourne, Australia on the 17th of March and the final race of the year taking place in Abu Dhabi on 24th of November.

The circuit will span four different continents with four races taking place in the Americas, 21 races in Europe, one in Australia and five in Asia.

It’s a big year for F1 as well with the 1000th race in the sport’s history set to take place out in China.

Season Schedule
Pre-Season Testing

Test 1
18-21 February
Spain
Test 2
26 February – 1 March
Spain

Round 1
Australian Grand Prix
17 March


Round 2
Bahrain Grand Prix
31 March

Round 3
Chinese Grand Prix
14 April


Round 4
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
28 April

Round 9 
Austrian Grand Prix
30 June
Round 10
British Grand Prix
14 July

Round 11
German Grand Prix
28 July


Round 12
Hungarian Grand Prix
4 August

Round 15
Singapore Grand Prix
22 September

Round 16
Russian Grand Prix
29 September
Round 17
Japanese Grand Prix
13 October

Round 18
Mexican Grand Prix
27 October

Round 19
American Grand Prix
3 November
Round 20
Brazilian Grand Prix
17 November


Round 21
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
24 November


Driver Changes
There’s been a massive amount of movement between the teams this year with the two most high-profile changes seeing Daniel Ricciardo over from Red Bull to Renault and Kimi Raikkonen swopping the red of Ferrari for the ambitious Sauber team.

With Ricciardo gone, Red Bull have filled the gap with impressive young gun Pierre Gastly. Ferrari have also opted to replace their veteran with a young rookie as Charles Leclerc takes over from Raikkonen.

There are also a few returns for drivers who found themselves in the wilderness with Danil Kvyat coming back in to favour at Toro Rosso and Robert Kubica set to return to the sport after almost a decade on the sidelines as the Polish veteran has got a drive with Williams.

Team Line-Ups

*Denotes Change of Team
**Denotes Debut Season
***Denotes Return to F1

Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton
Valtteri Bottas


Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel
*Charles LeClerc


Red Bull
Max Verstappen
*Pierre Gastly


Renault
*Daniel Ricciardo
Nico Hulkenberg


Haas
Romain Grosjean
Kevin Magnussen

McLaren
*Carlos Sainz
**Lando Norris

Racing Point
Sergio Perez
*Lance Stroll

Sauber
*Kimi Raikkonen
**Antonio Giovinazzi

Toro Rosso
**Alexander Albon
***Daniil Kvyat

Williams
**George Russell
***Robert Kubica

Rule Changes


Chequered Flag Goes Electric
A bit of an odd one but the bigwigs at the FIA are set to do away with the chequered flag and replace it with a light panel similar to the one used at the start of the race. This could be in response to what transpired at the Candian Grand Prix last year where the flag was waved a lap too early.

Pit Crews Get Added Responsibilities
The teams will now be responsible for ensuring the cars meet all the safety requirements before they take to a track. This was previously done by an independent FIA inspector. We could well see a lot of fines dished out due to this rule change.

Safety Car Restarts Get Rejig
All Safety Car restarts will now have conformity when it comes to drivers overtaking when the safety car pits.