Renault advisor Alain Prost tips Daniel Ricciardo to provide a boost in performance at the team in 2019.

The Australian has taken the big gamble on the long-term potential of the French manufacturer, which has made its way up from the back of the grid in 2016 to finishing fourth in last year's Constructors' Championship.

Given his five years of experience with a top team at Red Bull, Prost believes that can bring benefits to Renault that it hasn't had previously.

"We are very happy with the drivers we had in 2018, that's the first thing we must say," the four-time Formula 1 champion told Motorsport.com. "We were very pleased with Carlos [Sainz].

"But for sure Daniel will give, not another motivation because we don't need that, but he's going to be quite a big help to make the team even better.

"He's going to give us some information, he's going to make the team in another dimension."

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The issue is how Renault will take the next step to somehow close the gap between the midfield and the top three teams, with their fellow works teams Mercedes and Ferrari particularly challenging.

"You cannot be on an upwards line like this, there's always some steps," Prost continued, noting their progress in the midfield.

"Maybe we were a little bit disappointed by some races, for sure, but the good thing is that the team was able to get back to it. That's the answer I would say.

"It's really difficult to make one more step to where they are. One thing that is difficult to accept sometimes is that especially Ferrari and Mercedes made a big improvement with the engine.

"So we had to move, and we're really moving for 2019," he concluded.

The upcoming partnership between Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez is a positive one for the Canadian, says the promoter of the Montreal Grand Prix.

Expectations are higher around the 20-year-old ahead of the 2019 season as he prepares to drive for Racing Point, a team that has fought at the front of the midfield for several years now under their former guise as Force India.

Certainly, it means the former European Formula 3 champion has a stronger chance to show off his skills than he did last year at a struggling Williams outfit.

"It's good news. It seems like a competitive team," promoter Francois Dumontier told Le Journal de Montreal of Stroll's move.

"It was a very difficult season at Williams. I find that a shame because it is a world champion team that often fought for the title, but F1 works by cycle.

"I am also very happy about the acquisition by Lawrence. When you look at the shareholding of the team, you can almost say it's a Canadian team."

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As for Stroll's new teammate Perez, Dumontier believes the eight-time podium sitter will provide a much better partner to help Lance develop.

"Perez is a good driver to compare with. He is fast and on track is difficult to overtake. He has done good things in the past," he noted.

"I think for Lance it will be a nice comparison, as was Felipe Massa in his first season. Although Massa was there to be the mentor, Lance could compare with someone who won races and he did well.

"He finished 12th in the championship with points and a podium [in 2017], and people did not expect that," the GP chief ended.

Mick Schumacher has no issue taking his time to reach Formula 1 as usually, it is a "mistake" for those who rush, says Nicolas Todt.

The son of FIA president Jean is a highly respected figure in motorsport and has managed some notable drivers during his career as well as being a co-owner of the very successful ART Grand Prix junior team.

Naturally, his father's connection to Mick's father Michael Schumacher means he is taking a vested interest in the 19-year-old's rise and Todt believes he is making all the right decisions on his path to F1.

"Mick does not say now or never [to reaching F1]. He knows he still has a lot to learn and he is young," he told Speed Week.

"The goal is not to sit in a Grand Prix racer as soon as possible. The goal must be to get to Formula 1 and stay there."

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After winning European F3 last year, some were wondering if Schumacher might consider the immediate jump to F1, instead, he has continued up the ladder to F2 with Prema for 2019.

"I think it is very important to get well prepared for Grand Prix racing," Todt continued. "You have to prove in the junior classes that you can regularly win or even dominate. Then it's time for the next step.

"Most drivers rush everything, and that later turns out to be a mistake."

Todt then used the example of his highest profile client Charles Leclerc, who won GP3 and F2 before stepping up with Sauber in F1 and impressing so much he will drive for Ferrari this year.

"We were very cautious with Charles in his development," he explained. "Maybe we could have done F1 a year earlier, but we did not want to rush things.

"Some feel crowded, they think they might miss the train. But with Charles, we wanted to make sure he was ready for it."

Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn has decried the current plight of McLaren & Williams but acknowledges the sport shows "no mercy".

The two teams sit second and third behind Ferrari in the list for most Constructors' Championships, however, for much of 2018 they were racing each other towards the back of the grid.

Both have long winless spells dating back to 2012 and Brawn admits having two teams of their stature struggling so much isn't good for F1.

"They are great teams with a great history, but unfortunately F1 is not a great respecter of histories. It only respects what's going on track," he said.

"We as Formula 1 very much want those teams to get back into a competitive position because they're great teams and great brands but F1 has no mercy.

"If you're not doing a first-class job, it's demonstrated every Sunday or every other Sunday. They have the capacity to get back into a competitive place, but it's a tough job."

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Efforts are being undertaken at both teams to recover from their slumps and F1 owners Liberty Media hope to offer them some optimism with new financial regulations in 2021 aimed at kerbing the influence of manufacturers.

Brawn, however, sees another factor as maybe more important to those teams improving.

"Mercedes still have the same people that I found there in 2007 (when it was Honda) and that is more than 10 years of stability," he noted.

"That's so important. Williams and McLaren, they went through changes and it always takes a while for those things to settle down."

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Nico Rosberg has identified the one area he believes Lewis Hamilton still doesn't compete in compared to Sebastian Vettel.

The German continues to keep an eye on Formula 1, two years after retiring as world champion in 2016 and has offered some insight as a pundit on TV.

He has also shared his views on the rivalry that has developed between Hamilton & Vettel over the past couple of seasons and while it has been the Briton that has been victorious on both occasions, Rosberg thinks his former teammate still has one flaw.

"Vettel is superior in terms of dedication to work, he works closely with the engineers," he told Italy's Autosprint. "It is a devotion that Hamilton does not have."

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Interestingly, while that may have been true during Nico's time at Mercedes, Lewis has worked hard on forming a greater relationship with his team, though it still likely isn't to the level of Seb and the Scuderia.

And certainly, it hasn't stopped the 34-year-old from achieving success but Rosberg does see similarities between Vettel's failings in 2018 and his own.

"I do not know exactly what happened to him but this is sport, and sometimes it seems everything is going in the right direction, then you just need one mistake to bring you down, you lose confidence and everything goes wrong," he explained.

"The same thing happened to me against Hamilton in 2015.

"With Lewis, I needed to change my attitude, I decided that I had to be the one to lead the game. Lewis always tends to impose his rules but I took control so as not to allow him to find the motivation and I won."

Mercedes likely wouldn't have grown into the Formula 1 force they are today without Michael Schumacher's pressure to invest, says manager Sabine Kehm.

The German legend was drafted in to help the manufacturer upon their return as a works team in 2010 and his work over the three seasons that followed is largely credited for laying the groundwork for the domination that has followed since 2014.

Talking on F1's Beyond the Grid podcast Kehm revealed just how big an impact Schumacher had, suggesting the initial level of commitment Mercedes were showing was worrying at first.

"Very quickly it became very clear that it would not turn out the way that he had hoped for because, in the first year, the resources were not really there and it was clear that they would not be given as well," she explained.

"So that was obviously a little bit disappointing but then at some point, it was [decided] 'we have to cope with it and have to go on' and I think Michael fought a lot to convince the right people to really give more money into it and really make it a big team again.

"He really made it very clear that if you want to do it you have to do it really full throttle."

In those initial years, Mercedes often found themselves on the fringes of the action, unable to regularly challenge Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren but still producing solid points most weekends.

"They were kind of operating a little bit like a middle team and not really as a top team," Kehm continued.

"I think the way that Michael kind of addressed this to some people helped them to really see that it makes no sense to do it like this."

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2012, however, started to see things improve with single lap pace particularly strong, allowing Schumacher to memorably claim pole in Monaco but fall back due to a penalty.

"Already in his last year, you could see that the things were coming and coming and it was quite obvious also to him that if he had stayed another year, that would already be a much better year for him as well," his manager concluded.

Indeed, Lewis Hamilton would step up to replace Schumacher in 2013 and it was then Mercedes began hitting the higher notes with both he and Nico Rosberg winning that year.

Then, when the engine regulations changed the following year, the rest, as they say, is history.

McLaren has announced the arrival of the former head of Porsche's WEC program, Andreas Seidl as managing director of the Formula 1 team.

It's the latest step in CEO Zak Brown's five-year plan to bring success back to the Woking-based outfit as their winless streak prepares to enter its seventh year in 2019.

While his most recent foray was in endurance racing, Seidl is no stranger to the F1 paddock having worked with BMW for 10 years, including three years as the head of trackside operations during their stint as a works team.

"We are delighted that Andreas is joining McLaren to lead our F1 technical and operational programme," Brown commented. "This is a significant appointment for us on two fronts.

"First, it is another important step in our F1 performance recovery plan and long-term commitment to F1.

"Second, concentrated senior leadership on our F1 programme is an integral part of the long-term strategy of McLaren Racing to expand into other forms of global motorsport over time.

"Andreas is a highly capable leader with a track record of success in everything he has been involved with, and I look forward to working with him."

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Seidl understandably expressed his pride in being chosen for the new role and vowed to do all he can to move McLaren back towards the front.

"This is an enormous privilege and challenge, which I am ready for and committed to," he declared. "To have an opportunity to contribute to the McLaren legacy is extremely special and inspiring.

"McLaren has the vision, leadership and experience but, most importantly, the people to return to the front, and that will be my absolute focus and mission.

"I can’t wait to join the team and begin working with my colleagues at McLaren, our partners at Renault and, of course, Carlos [Sainz] and Lando [Norris]."

Esteban Ocon believes his former team, now named Racing Point, can close the gap to the top three teams in the upcoming season.

The Frenchman played a key role in helping what was Force India finish fourth in the Constructors' standings in 2017 and the Silverstone-based outfit would have finished fifth in 2018 had their points not been wiped in that championship after their summer takeover.

Those achievements are remarkable considering the lack of resources the team and now, with Lawrence Stroll's fortune backing them up, Ocon only sees an upward trend going forward.

"It is a massive gap to fill but they will make a step forward, that's for sure," the 22-year-old Mercedes junior told Autosport.

"Resources have always been the issue, and there will be less of this issue next year. I believe they will be strong contenders."

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The disappointment for Ocon is he won't be there to take advantage, with his seat given to Lance Stroll who moves across from Williams, however, the productivity and motivation of what was then Force India will never leave Esteban.

"I was very impressed, as I was in 2017, just [by] the professionalism of this team and the motivation they have for results," he explained. "That's probably the biggest thing.

"One example, they flew back from Mexico and arrived at like 2am in the UK and the following morning I was there, at 8am, plus the jet lag, and we were working on the sim.

"Everyone was destroyed, I was as well, but we were already working. That's why we're so competitive on-track, even when we don't have the resources.

"Probably with the resources it's going to be a lot easier for them."

Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe has heaped praise on the relationship between the team and Robert Kubica ahead of his Formula 1 return.

The Pole has been with the British outfit for over a year now, having tested for a race seat at the end of 2017 but was given a reserve and development driver role instead.

When Sergey Sirotkin's backers pulled out after last season, Kubica was finally given an opportunity for this season, admittedly for financial reasons but also because of the quality of the work he has done with Williams.

"It’s really been terrific to have him working with us already, and he’s a great team member," Lowe claimed to RACER.

"Everybody loves Robert — in the office, in the garage… I remember when he first turned up the mechanics saying ‘Yeah, that’s a proper driver!’

"He’s just one of the old-school guys who knows how it works, and that brings a certain element to what we do.

"I think this will be a fantastic [driver] combination with the rookie George [Russell] on the other side," the Briton concluded.

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Even so, there does remain uncertainty over just how competitive Kubica and Williams will be after 2018 was dogged by a flawed car design leaving the team bottom of the Constructors' Championship.

"Where it will go with performance, I think even Robert would say we don’t know," Lowe conceded.

"He’s very determined and a remarkable character to make this return. I think we all know why, and it’s admirable for that.

"We’re all looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but we don’t really know and that’s part of the interest and the excitement, particularly from the Polish!

"He hasn’t even been driving and they’ve been some of the most committed fans across in the grandstand with flags in the rain and everything, and he’s not even driving!

"Every race there are groups of Polish, I meet them all and they want autographs and everything."

Ferrari's new team boss Mattia Binotto is under immediate pressure to bring championship success back to Maranello, says the head of Italian motorsport.

After speculation had rumbled on of an internal feud between the pair, the Scuderia took the decision to part ways with Maurizio Arrivabene last week and promote Binotto from his role as technical director.

It's a move that has been welcomed by everyone with connections to the team and ACI president Angelo Sticchi Damiani believes it also means the time for excuses at Ferrari has passed.

"The message is clear, there can no longer be misunderstandings," he told Corriere dello Sport. "The results can no longer be questioned because of communication issues between those responsible.

"The appointment of Binotto and above all the fusion of the two most important roles within the team is a sensational development that means one thing: you have to win the two world championships right away," added the boss of Italy's governing body for motorsport.

"Expectations for 2019 are enormous and it is important that a point of equilibrium has been found."

Considering what he thought the breaking point had been, Sticchi Damiani added: "The shareholders clearly considered the risk of a third season with stumbles and missed opportunities unacceptable.

"It was also due to the fans, who have never abandoned Ferrari in moments of defeat or long waits."

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Indeed, it has now been more than 10 years since the scarlet reds have tasted title success with the 2008 Constructors' Championship the last to their name.

And, in addition to Binotto's promotion, the ACI president sees Charles Leclerc's arrival as a much-needed wake up call for Sebastian Vettel.

"Sebastian will not have welcomed the arrival of a young, fast and already very mature driver, but I am convinced that it can only help him and push him to give his best," he said.

"There is a need for new incentives after the incredible fragility demonstrated last season while racing in a kind of comfort zone with his friend [Kimi] Raikkonen at his side.

"Getting out of it can only do him good," Sticchi Damiani concluded.