Formula 1: Competitiveness of 2019 season hinges on Charles Leclerc and Honda

The overall competitiveness of the 2019 Formula 1 season will hinge on the level of performance of Charles Leclerc and that of Honda.

The championship battle of the 2018 Formula 1 season, just like the championship battle of the 2017 season, has come down to two drivers: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton and Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. This is poised to be the case again next season once again, although there are ways that this may be preventable.

If this is indeed the case again next season, the overall competitiveness in the sport will suffer. In head-to-head battles, it is clear that Hamilton has the advantage over Vettel. He demonstrated this last season even in races during which Vettel had the faster car, and he has demonstrated it multiple times this season even though Ferrari seem to have overtaken Mercedes on more tracks than not as far as outright pace is concerned.

The level of competitiveness in Formula 1 next season will hinge on two things: the level of performance of Charles Leclerc and that of Honda. If neither one is high, expect Hamilton to cruise to his sixth career championship, fifth in six seasons and third in a row.

Leclerc is currently in his rookie season in Formula 1 driving for Alfa Romeo Sauber. However, he is set to replace 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen as Vettel’s teammate at Ferrari next season.

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Given the fact that Raikkonen has been Ferrari’s number two driver ever since he returned to the team in the 2014 season as well as the fact that he has not won a race since he drove for Lotus in the 2013 season, it would be easy to write off Leclerc as being the number two driver for the team as well.

However, this might not necessarily be the case. Raikkonen is doing exactly what Ferrari want him to do, so if they wanted to continue with a clear number one driver and a clear number two driver, they would have had no reason not to resign him. Instead, they opted to sign Leclerc.

This means that Leclerc will likely compete for victories early and often next season, and depending on how he stacks up with Vettel and Hamilton, he could make the championship battle a whole lot more interesting than it has been in each of the last two seasons.

Honda, meanwhile, are set to replace Renault as the engine supplier for Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. The Milton Keynes-based team are set to end their 12-year partnership with the French manufacturer after this season following numerous reliability issues with their engines in each of the last two seasons.

While Honda did not fare well during their three-year stint with McLaren from the 2015 season through the 2017 season, that relationship was undeniably toxic pretty much from the start. Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team, have used Honda engines this season for the first time, and they have shown solid pace and reliability.

An increase in power and reliability could be just what Red Bull Racing need to get back on the level or at least much closer to the level of Mercedes and Ferrari to compete for the constructor championship and to have their drivers compete for the driver championship.

If Red Bull Racing can improve following their switch from Renault engines to Honda engines next season, expect Max Verstappen to win several races. Also, with Pierre Gasly, who currently drives for Toro Rosso, set to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing next season, he is set to enter the 2019 season with a year of driving a Honda-powered Formula 1 car under his belt, which could also play to his advantage as he attempts to secure his first career victories in Formula 1 next year.

If Leclerc, Verstappen and Gasly all compete for race wins on a regular basis next season, it will be much harder for Hamilton to cruise to yet another championship, and it will certainly be much harder for the championship battle to come down between just Hamilton and Vettel once again.

How competitive will the 2019 Formula 1 season be? Will Charles Leclerc be a championship contender? Will the switch from Renault engines to Honda engines be what it takes to make Red Bull Racing a constructor championship contender and to make the team’s two drivers championship contenders?