Opinion

What is the first characteristic that springs to mind when you think of a Formula 1 car? Is it fast? Is it nimble? Is it loud? Pretty? Brutal? Any of these would be common answers, but ‘heavy’, ‘chunky’, ‘clunky’ or ‘fat’ probably would not be. Even now, as the weight of F1 cars has increased over time – steadily or rapidly depending on the era – it would not be the first thing most would associate with the 20 cars that race around 22 tracks around the world.

Motorsport evolves and adapts. It, like this giant floating rock in which we all live and breathe on, is a living thing. It’s something that grows and changes with time and has done over more than 120 years.

After securing his sixth world championship crown, it is impossible to argue that Lewis Hamilton does not deserve to be regarded among Formula 1’s greatest. From the moment he began his grand prix career in 2007 – which featured daring passes from the off – it seemed likely that he would be a man who could secure many titles.

As now-six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has continued to obliterate the record books, it is becoming more and more difficult to exclude him from the ‘greatest ever’ conversations.

The 2019 Formula 1 season has featured intrigue from the off. Many driver changes, brought on predominantly following Daniel Ricciardo’s shock switch to Renault, has added an extra bit of spice to this year’s story. One team, in particular, has had a dynamic that has been fascinating to watch, with starlet Charles Leclerc replacing the compliant Kimi Raikkonen to partner four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. It hasn’t transcended into all-out war, yet, but the ebb and flow of the intra-team rivalry has major narrative in itself.

Qualifying is one of those aspects of grand prix racing that has been tinkered with countless times ever since the first major tweaks were introduced in the 1990s to make it more interesting for television viewers. What we have now is almost unquestionably the best format in history, which can provide shocks right up until the finish. However, Formula 1 bosses want to toy with the idea of scrapping qualifying as we know it altogether and replacing it with qualifying races.

The 2019 Formula 1 season has marked the arrival of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as potential megastars for the future. Five-time champion and the greatest of his era Lewis Hamilton has relished this – and we witnessed a glimpse of something in Hungary that reflects when Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso were the youngsters taking it to Michael Schumacher a decade and a half ago. However, there is a young talent in amongst his own stable – a Verstappen-beater in fact – who should also be within this changing of the guard.

12 races into a Formula 1 season that has morphed into a true slow-burner, and against pre-season expectations it is Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes who both seem nailed on for their sixth drivers’ and constructors’ championships respectively. Ferrari’s challenge never materialised despite early promise, while Max Verstappen and Red Bull-Honda are emerging as legitimate threats to snatch the championship from Hamilton. Elsewhere, new stars have come into the fore, rookies have massively impressed, and some team-mate battles have become totally one-sided. Which drivers can go into the summer break on a high, and who has some serious work to do in the second half of 2019?

12 races into what is shaping up to be a thrilling battle among the lower teams in Formula 1 in 2019 and some will be massively disappointed with how things have panned out so far. Some team-mate battles have turned out to be more intriguing than initially thought, while others have been totally one-sided. Focus on the teams at the top will be for another day, but here are all the facts and opinion on the lower six teams in the standings.

It appears difficult to pinpoint any one thing from the Formula 1 German Grand Prix last weekend that stands out from the rest in terms of its significance. Max Verstappen’s overdue wet-weather victory, an unwell Lewis Hamilton making not one – but two – major errors in an important race for Mercedes as it celebrated 125 years in motorsport, Valtteri …