Race day... The day we have all been waiting for but it is still a long, gruelling 35 days away! But never fear, the launch dates are now out and drawing ever closer! Starting with Haas who have teased us all week long with pictures suggesting a whole new colour scheme of gold and black. And here it is...
Toro Rosso and Williams have chosen the same day to unveil their 2019 car, 11th February. Toro Rosso shocked everyone last year with a whole new livery change from the previous years of the classic slightly dulled down version of its sister team, Red Bull, to a whole new distinguishable electric blue livery. But with both Red Bull and Toro Rosso being powered by the Honda engines, with the two be more closely linked in management as well as livery? Both teams have released sneak peak photos this week, both of which have elements of white, which is rarely seen on either Red Bull cars.
Williams Racing are also releasing their car on the 11th. But what will be their new livery? After the departure of their title sponsor Martini last season, will Williams revert back to the heritage colours of dark blue? Martini have sponsored Williams for 5 years now and have usually always stuck to the classic livery of the Williams white base with the Martini blue and red stripes.
Renault will be launching their 2019 car the day after on the 12th February. In what presumably will still be the classic yellow Renault, after driver photos of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo were released last week showing them in yellow Renault attire. However, the Renault's have gradually got less yellow throughout its recent return in 2016. With the new driver pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, will they be regular podium sitters, or will they just pick up the pieces when the top teams drop out?
February 13th will be a busy day for Formula One with three car launches, two of them being top teams, Red Bull, Mercedes and Racing Point. Racing Point, previously known as Force India, have new owners one of them being Lawrence Stroll. Will this effect the cars livery? The answer is probably no, with the sponsors still being the same and with the Austrian water technology company, BWT, being a prominent sponsor the car will presumably still sport the unique pink colour.
Mercedes are also unveiling their 2019 car the same day. The team have been teasing fans with pictures of a very different livery. However, many suspect this to be a camouflage livery for the pre-season testing, which has been done many times before such as Red Bull's 2015 black and white camouflage livery. So will the 2019 Championship winners retain their classic 'Silver Arrows' look? Can Valtteri Bottas genuinely be a championship contender till the end? Bottas was very close in 2018 and actually only needed four points to have finished in third rather than fifth in the Championship. Sadly this would've occurred, if he would have won in either Azerbaijan or Russia, but we all know how that went, team orders and tire failures...
Red Bull is the other team unveiling on the 13th, having teased fans all week long with driver photos and helmet releases, an obvious change to the livery is an element of white. Could this be a change enforced by Honda engines? When Honda raced in Formula 1 previously, the cars were all predominantly white... But maybe we shouldn't be looking too deeply into this, as Red Bull never really change their livery, the most they usually do is change the shades of red and blue...
McLaren have chosen the day of love, Valentine's Day, 14th February as their launch date. The papaya coloured team announced this with a poem:
"Some cars are red, others are blue. On Valentine's Day, we'll reveal ours to you."
Will the iconic team stick to the papaya orange or will they head off on a tangent? From the invitations to their launch, we can presume the Woking based team will be sticking to the bright orange colour. With a whole new driver line up of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, can McLaren bring the team back to the glory days?
Ferrari have opted to release their 2019 car on the 15th February. But will they be staying with the iconic 'Ferrari Red', recent rumours suggest otherwise. Some reports are stating a more matted, deeper red... But will the iconic team really go against their history and roots for a deeper red? If their history is anything to go by, the answer is 'no'.
Alfa Romeo Racing, previously Sauber, are the last team to unveil their car. This will take place in the Barcelona pit lane on the first day of pre-season testing, 18th February. With a whole new team name and a whole new driver line up of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, will the team take a whole new approach to their livery, or will they revert to the historic red and white livery, previously used by Alfa Romeo in 1979 and 1981?
LAUNCH DATES:
February 11: Toro Rosso and Williams
February 12: Renault
February 13: Racing Point, Mercedes and Red Bull
February 14: McLaren
February 15: Ferrari
February 18: Alfa Romeo Racing; first pre-season test begins
February 26 - March 1: Second pre-season test
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