Valtteri Bottas is hopeful a new driver line-up at his former team Williams can turn around their fortunes in 2019.

Last season, the Grove-based outfit endured their third-worst season in history in terms of points scored with just seven accumulated over the 21 races.

Confident the car issues with wrecked their 2018 have been resolved, Williams also welcomes Robert Kubica and George Russell in place of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin.

“For Robert, it will be nice to see how it goes,” Bottas, who raced for the team between 2013-2015 said. “He’s been out of racing for a while, so it will be nice to see how he compares to George Russell.

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“I think for the team, that has had a tough year – and I know how difficult it is to keep up the motivation and the good spirit when things are tough – maybe a new drivers’ line-up will bring more positivity and things to look forward.

“I’m sure they’ll be full of energy, both drivers, for the great opportunity they’re both having. Hopefully, that will help put Williams where they deserve to be and not where they are now.”

Re-establishing themselves in the midfield is Williams' main goal for 2019, meanwhile, Bottas has his own pressure to perform at Mercedes after going the entirety of last year without a victory.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes Formula 1 owners Liberty Media are going to look at restricting the appeal of 'B-teams' in the future.

In recent years, midfield outfits have been growing their relationships with the sport's manufacturers by taking on their young drivers and increasing technical co-operation beyond just engine supply.

Haas F1 has been the most prolific example with their very close ties to Ferrari upsetting their rivals who have questioned the legitimacy of their partnership because of the success they have had in a very short time.

"I think Haas has done an excellent, excellent job given their resources and how young the racing team is. You have to admire what they have done," Brown began in his comments quoted by F1i.com.

"[But] I think Liberty are going to address the ‘B-team business model’ because I think it allows the big teams to benefit from the B-team.

"The benefits are everything from technical, to political, to, we’ve seen on track activities this year that people believe were questionable. I think all three of those scenarios is not what Formula 1 is about and need to change for the health of the sport, and I believe they will.

"Liberty have that in their plan, to address B-teams and to what degree you can be a B-team."

The 'questionable' activities Brown refers is the ease with which drivers from Mercedes and Ferrari have been able to overtake their counterparts at teams which enjoy supply deals.

There was even a conspiracy after the Brazilian Grand Prix that Esteban Ocon had taken out Max Verstappen as a favour to Mercedes.

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• Racing Point explain the 'friction' midfield teams have with Haas

By following the 'B-team' model, however, the McLaren chief thinks teams like Haas are giving up on hopes of achieving success in F1.

"Our belief is a B-team will never be able to compete with the A-team and therefore, while maybe going to that business model in the very short-term could make you more competitive and be fiscally a better proposition, I think you are giving up on any hopes of racing as a championship contender," Brown noted.

"Therefore, going for B-team status would be throwing in the towel of being a championship contender.

"We think it is critical that Liberty, in the new F1 world, addresses that so all teams can have a fair and equal chance to compete for the championship on a more level playing field."

Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner admits the rule changes for 2019 are worrying him when considering the competitiveness of the team this year.

The American outfit enjoys their best ever season last year finishing fifth and had a car capable of fighting at the front of the midfield pretty much throughout.

A series of aerodynamic tweaks to the front and rear wings among other alterations could lead to a shake-up in the order, however, as has been the case in previous years.

"Everything is on schedule as it should be," Steiner said. "It is like every year, you have some stuff which is a little bit behind but it's nothing abnormal. I'm confident we'll have a good car but I don't know how good the other ones are.

"We are happy with our numbers and what we do but with the new regulations, if somebody found something we are not aware of, how can I know that? But I'm pretty confident that we are doing a good job."

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Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe doesn't think the changes designed to promote closer racing will provide too many shocks though, due to how they have been implemented.

"The teams have been quite ready and open, at least some of them, to put stuff on the table that's then been heavily constrained," he told Autosport. 

"The regulations are very restrictive. I hope it's the case for everybody else, but we're struggling to find a lot of performance out of these front wings.

"I think generally the teams are of a mindset that they want clarity, and not to have a lot of arguments when we turn up in Australia over poorly defined aspects of the regs.

"With that spirit, everybody has been quite enthusiastic to define things in more and more specific details so everybody knows what they're working with."

Ferrari will replace current team principal Maurizio Arrivabene with technical director Mattia Binotto, Italian media is reporting.

There have been claims of a feud between the pair for many months now within the Scuderia but they were strenuously denied by Arrivabene last year who suggested the intention of the "fake news" was to disrupt the team.

At the same time, Arrivabene himself was linked with a role at Serie A side Juventus and rumours of Binotto's exit had also been ongoing.

It is thought the decision to oust the team boss, who arrived in 2014, has been taken by president John Elkann and is linked to a number of management failings at Ferrari which hampered the team's bid to win the world championship.

A reluctance to follow Mercedes and directly back Sebastian Vettel led to incidents with teammate Kimi Raikkonen at Hockenheim and Monza, two races considered turning points in the battle against Lewis Hamilton.

Strategy errors also continued notably in Singapore to pit Vettel early and in qualifying at Suzuka where the drivers were sent out on intermediates when conditions were still relatively dry.

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Binotto meanwhile has been widely praised for Ferrari's recent resurgence, having taken advantage of the new rules in 2017 to close the gap to Mercedes and even moved ahead in the engine stakes with an innovative ERS layout.

A veteran of the team dating back to 1995, he is thought to be the best man to lead the Italian team forward into a new era, as Charles Leclerc steps up alongside Vettel, and finally bring championship success back to Maranello, something they haven't achieved since 2008.

Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn admits the slow progress of talks regarding 2021 regulations has left him feeling "impatient".

After promising a sweeping overhaul of the sport in two years time, new owners Liberty Media are finding that implementing that wish is much easier said than done against F1's main power players.

Efforts to change the power units have been watered down and attempts to introduce a budget cap are also facing opposition but the former team boss is still happy with what is being discussed.

“I am satisfied with the direction. I am not satisfied with the pace," Brawn told Motorsport.com.

“It’s been a big challenge to move things on, but I know what's going on and I can see what's happening and I know that if we hadn’t started this process, it certainly wouldn’t have got to where we’ve got to today.

“Of course, I'm impatient for more to happen. But it is a necessity to keep the teams involved, to find solutions with them, to work with the FIA and find solutions. So I think it's going in the right direction."

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• Brawn has proposed a key change to practice to spice up F1 races
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Warnings are growing for some, however, that time is beginning to run out to make some changes for 2021 and the possibility of a delay has also been mentioned.

Even so, in a political environment where self-service is very much the order of the day, Brawn does think this is a key moment for F1.

“I think it is the first time Formula 1 has taken this approach and is looking at how we improve the sport in many areas," he continued.

"We’re only two years into this journey, but I am optimistic that we're going to see in the next few years the benefits of the work we are doing.”

Triple Formula 1 champion Niki Lauda has been re-admitted into intensive care in Vienna after suffering from a flu virus.

The Austrian, who currently sits as Mercedes non-executive chairman, had been recovering well from a lung transplant last summer and was hoping to start walking unaided as he bids to return to the F1 paddock in Australia.

However, this is a setback to those plans with doctors at the AKH hospital confirming Lauda's diagnosis to Austria's OE24 news outlet.

“There was an influenza case in his family, and he is treated to an intensive care unit with us,” spokeswoman Karin Fehringer said.

The decision to admit Lauda is precautionary with his immune system still weak from the operation in 2018 and it is hoped he will be discharged next week.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff is hoping the possibility of matching previous records set by Ferrari will keep attracting fans to Formula 1.

In 2019, the German manufacturer has the chance to equal the Scuderia's run of six straight Constructors' titles between 1999-2004, while Lewis Hamilton can move within one of Michael Schumacher's record of seven world championships.

A normal consequence of one team's ongoing success, however, is fans tend to lose interest, preferring the unexpected as opposed to more of the same.

"I think it is in the nature of the fan that you cheer for the underdog," Wolff told Reuters. "Serial winners lose a little bit of appeal.

"What we are trying to do is to approach our sport and our participation with modesty and humility, not take anything for granted. We should never ever have a feeling of entitlement of winning.

"You can, to a certain degree and if you stay true to these values continue to grow your fan following and continue to have the fans cheering for you although you have won a few times in a row," the Austrian believes.

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With the continued challenge from Ferrari and a potentially renewed threat from Red Bull coming for 2019, however, the Mercedes chief knows fans will be split.

"You will have two groups; the ones that are cheering for our competitors, hoping that Mercedes is not going to achieve [more success]," he said.

"Then you will have a large group also that's going to say 'well, this is pretty exciting, is Mercedes going to be able to top Ferrari's record? is Lewis Hamilton going to be able to match Michael Schumacher's record?'.

"It's another interesting angle of the F1 narrative. We are very motivated by having equalled the Ferrari all-time record of five consecutive double championships and there's a sixth one that is there."

Honda is in the midst of solving two significant issues currently hampering the development of their 2019 engine, according to a report.

The Japanese manufacturer has made strong progress with their unit over the past 12 months, with those gains attracting Red Bull to follow junior team Toro Rosso into a partnership.

However, it appears two problems that have impacted Honda before have returned as they prepare for what is their most important season since returning to Formula 1.

Germany's Autobild believes a disagreement is ongoing between the Honda engineers and consultants AVL, a previous partner of Ferrari, perhaps highlighting issues with communication that have been touted before.

Also, it is understood the latest specification engine is unable to run at maximum performance on the dyno because of vibrations from the Internal Combustion Engine, the same issue with hampered Honda throughout 2017 with McLaren.

"For this issue, we are taking appropriate measures," Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said, with former Mercedes engine boss Mario Illien thought to have been drafted in.

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This comes despite Red Bull consistently hyping up their new partnership ahead of the 2019 season but F1 motorsport director Ross Brawn had a warning for the team from his own experience with Honda as team boss until 2008.

"The secret to success with Honda is sort of connecting the engineers to the Formula 1 challenge," he explained to Autosport.

"When I arrived at Honda, the engineers were a little bit remote from the reality of what was needed. My job was to connect the engineers and make sure they were working on the right things and they had the priorities, the information, the real picture about what was happening.

"When I arrived there was a view that their engine was one of the best but because I was familiar with the Ferrari, it was clear it wasn't one of the best."

Brawn does think Red Bull are the right team to deal with Honda, however, and also believe the Milton Keynes outfit will remain competitive at the front.

"Red Bull will be very good at making sure Honda have that clarity of what should be focused on," he continued. "Red Bull is a terrific racing company and they do great cars. It's a special opportunity for Honda to succeed.

"I expect Red Bull to continue winning races. Whether there is enough there yet, in the first year of the partnership, to win the championship, I don't know.

"It would be pretty special if they did, but I think next season will be the first of a new partnership that is going to bring world championships."

Sauber could offer a glimpse at their 2019 car with a shakedown at the Fiorano test track next month, according to reports.

Dates are slowing being set for teams to launch their new cars with Renault and McLaren recently confirming unveilings planned for the 12th and 14th of February respectively.

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Though the first test begins in Barcelona on February 18th, some outfits will take advantage of the 'filming day' regulations, permitting 100km of running which would be used as a private test to gain an initial understanding of their latest creations.

Sauber is thought to be one team doing just that with February 14th suggested as the date the Swiss outfit will give the C38 its first outing.

It is not yet known, however, if Kimi Raikkonen or Antonio Giovinazzi would conduct the shakedown at the test track of engine partner Ferrari.

Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe has revealed a key change Ross Brawn has proposed to spice up Formula 1 races.

The F1 motorsport director is currently tasked with developing new cars which will allow for closer racing in 2021 but also changes to the format are being considered to create more unpredictability.

Last year's United States Grand Prix appeared to offer a solution when a wet Friday left teams largely in the dark over tyre wear and resulted in a more eventful race with the top three drivers all using different strategies.

And Brawn has thought of a way to try and repeat that scenario at every race.

"Ross has talked about this, that you can't test any tyres on Friday, you have just a base tyre that's just to let you work with the car and learn the circuit. A few things like that," Lowe told Autosport.

"Then everything is thrown in as a lucky dip for you for the race. I think it's great."

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Right now teams can test all three compounds and often do complete a mix of long and short runs on the tyres they expect to perform best.

That means, as the former Mercedes boss explains, the element of guesswork is much less.

"The cars are completely reliable and they're completely optimised in terms of set-up, deployment around tyres or whatever, that means that the results you get are massively more predictable to the point," Lowe said.

"The major variable is the driver and mistakes he might make but even there, drivers nowadays are completely fit, so they don't even get tired like they used to, and they are well trained, coached. They don't make many mistakes, so we need to throw stuff in that stops the optimisation.

"If you want to make [the races] more valuable, you've got to prevent the optimisation and allow for effectively more disturbance, more noise, which will come from external factors, that we couldn't optimise around," he continued.

"The other alternative you get rid of the engineers by cost cap or reduce the operational staff level here [at the track]. I am not trying to just make a lot of engineers redundant, they can do other things.

"I think Ross has realised [that optimisation is causing predictable races], that's his own observation, and he has a project around that."