Red Bull has described the ongoing building of their new relationship with Honda as "very positive" ahead of 2019.

The Anglo-Austrian outfit has obviously been keen to play up their new engine partnership, following their decision to drop Renault after 12 years at the end of this past season.

However, team boss Christian Horner has revealed the biggest challenge they have faced in settling down with Honda.

"Communication in any business, in particular in this sport, is a vital element," F1i.com reported the Briton as saying. "Obviously Honda is based in Japan but their UK base is just around the corner from us in Milton Keynes.

“We’ve obviously got a huge amount of discussion going on between the groups and so far it’s all been very positive."

Red Bull have been able to get a decent heads up in their relationship with Honda thanks to junior team Toro Rosso working with the manufacturer during 2018.

Indeed, motorsport boss Masashi Yamamoto claimed recently that the amount of collaboration with the Italian squad was much better than with McLaren.

"We had much better communication with the team compared to the past," he said. "As a result of that, we had a better connection between the chassis and power unit on the technical side."

Some of that also included elements of the Milton Keynes operation in conjunction with Red Bull.

"We’ve found a very healthy working environment," Horner continued. "We’ve been nurturing through the relationship with Red Bull technology, Toro Rosso and Honda, [so] we don’t go into next year completely afresh."

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The main reason for Red Bull's decision to change supplier was potential, as the upgrades Honda brought put them on a similar level to Renault with seemingly a greater capacity to improve.

Ultimately, the answer on if that calculation was right will come next year but the late season performance of the senior team does give Horner reason for optimism.

“I think after the summer break, we managed to get into a competitive position again,” he said after their level of competitiveness slipped during the main European season.

"There’s been a strong sequence of podiums there so I think we’ve made a lot of progress with the car in the second part of the year."

In fact, Max Verstappen would end 2018 with a run of five straight podiums, including a victory in Mexico.

Max Verstappen has once again taken a shot at Lewis Hamilton by claiming he has it easy with Valtteri Bottas as his Mercedes teammate.

Despite a strong start to the 2018 season, the Finn's performance would suffer after losing out on victory in the closing laps in Baku and much of his year would then be spent playing a support role to Hamilton in his bid for a fifth championship.

After becoming the first Mercedes driver since 2012 to go a whole season without a win, the pressure is now on Bottas to put up a stronger fight next year and that would certainly please Verstappen.

"Most drivers would become world champions in that car," the Red Bull driver was quoted by GPFans. "Especially if you have a teammate next to you who is not so fast. 

"If your teammate always drives so far behind, it is very easy to collect points. Of course, I had Daniel Ricciardo much closer to me. Then you really have to fight for your points."

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Mercedes has also followed much more of the Ferrari approach to racing with a lead driver and a strong 'number two' whereas Red Bull treated their drivers equally, for the most part, and that, the Dutchman believes brings a different mindset.

"There at Mercedes, it was a completely different story. Hamilton fought against Ferrari and always had to stay sharp, but sometimes I think: the lesser your teammate is, the more relaxed you can drive yourself. 

"And then you also know that the team is fully geared towards you. That only makes you faster."

Verstappen can probably look forward to that luxury himself in 2019, up against Pierre Gasly who will need some time to find his feet at Red Bull.

The 21-year-old thinks the man Gasly replaces though, Daniel Ricciardo may have some regrets about his decision to leave.

"It was fun and pleasant to have him as a teammate, it is not often that you have such a good relationship with someone. Maybe it will never happen again, indeed," he claimed.

"But miss him…? I think that Daniel is going to miss what he had here."

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff claimed it "broke his heart" to see Valtteri Bottas give up a victory to Lewis Hamilton at the Russian Grand Prix.

The Finn had dominated for much of the weekend around the Sochi circuit on which he specialises but with his teammate under pressure from championship rival Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes opted to invoke team orders to save Hamilton from attack.

“We had to execute this awful team order,” the Austrian maintained. “It was Valtteri’s race to win and in order to collect the right points for Lewis, we switched the order.

“It was something that nobody likes, you could see the faces clearly not happy about the situation and also myself, it was something that goes against all our racing principles and ‘may the best guy win’.”

The order came from chief strategist James Vowles with Bottas allowing Lewis through at the end of the back straight on the same lap.

“When Valtteri moved aside, it broke my heart and I felt for him because I felt really terrible about it,” Wolff continued.

“But this sport can be cruel sometimes and this was one of those moments. In that instance, we had such a tough fight with Ferrari that there was no way we would leave points on the table.”

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Bottas did ask in vain if the order would be reversed in the closing laps and the unease of it all was clear post-race with muted celebrations.

Despite his disappointment, however, Valtteri conceded he would willingly move aside again.

“It was tough to accept, but at that point – with those circumstances, with the points and everything. I’m a team player, I took one for the team and I’d take one for the team tomorrow,” he commented.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has responded to claims the team was interested in hiring Ferrari technical chief Mattia Binotto.

Binotto is largely credited for the Scuderia's improvement in performance since the start of 2017 after replacing James Allison, who now works for the German manufacturer.

Reports in Italy, however, have often pointed to a rift between him and team boss Maurizio Arrivabene, which have been denied, and suggestions the Italian was looking elsewhere.

"No, we have not offered a contract to Binotto," Wolff told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I can say that he is an excellent engineer, but under the leadership of James Allison, we have a first-rate technical team and therefore we are not looking for anyone else."

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It was thought there could be a possible gap left by another former Ferrari man Aldo Costa, who will step into a consultancy role after stepping down as engineering director.

"Aldo is not just a colleague, but also a friend, he will not leave Mercedes," added the Austrian.

"Our team has a dynamic structure, we have to develop and provide young people with opportunities and responsibilities.

"What I like is that no one leaves our team unsatisfied, I can assure you."

Racing Point F1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer has revealed some of the challenges he faced during the squad's difficult 2018 season.

Despite a very strong past two seasons, finishing fourth in the Constructors' Championship both times, the financial problems of former owner Vijay Mallya began to bite hard, leaving the then-Force India outfit struggling from the very start.

"We didn't start this season with the car we wanted to because we didn't have the funding to produce the parts," Szafnauer revealed in Formula 1's Beyond the Grid podcast.

"So we started the season with the car we produced for winter testing, which is never your best car. We couldn't change it until well into the season and the performances showed.

"We didn't score many points and the finances didn't look as though they were getting any better."

Though there were rumours of a potential takeover, no deal was done until the risk of insolvency caused Sergio Perez to file for administration over unpaid bills in an effort to save Force India from collapse in late July.

"For me personally, [it was] probably the most stressful year," Szafnauer admitted. "The stress mainly came from the uncertainty of what was going to happen with the team because of its financial status.

"Once the administration button was pressed by Sergio, the uncertainty grew but fortunately only for a couple of weeks.

"The role that I played was to keep the workforce together because you don't buy this place for its building or its land or its facilities," he explained.

"We lost nobody. Not a single soul. It was a big deal and difficult to do because usually the best people who are known to other teams will have had offers, and they did have offers from the likes of McLaren, Williams and Renault and some others.

"But we managed to do it, everybody stayed together, and in the end, the consortium led by Lawrence Stroll which was the successful bidder got the team they were looking to buy."

With new ownership now in place, the future is now looking bright for a team which has become known for punching above its weight because of the productivity of their staff.

But with new money doesn't always come immediate progress and while some modernisation of the infrastructure is needed, Szafnauer is keen to preserve their successful formula.

"We mustn't take our eye off the ball, which is building, designing, producing and developing a competitive racing car," he said.

"I've seen it so many times where teams have decided to either build a new wind tunnel or a new factory or new facilities, and the performance of the car has suffered.

"So we've got to be very careful that if we do embark - and we will embark on improving our facilities and infrastructure - that the car doesn't suffer."

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Certainly, the Racing Point F1 chief knows the team must keep improving in the face of tough competition next year.

“2019, I think, will be very competitive again in the midfield,” Szafnauer noted. “We saw Haas were much more competitive this year. Renault too finished fourth in the championship.

"Toro Rosso I believe will be sharing a lot with Red Bull next year, including the engine – [and] Honda will be getting better. So the midfield fight is going to be intense.

"We hope that we can be in that fight and be successful being the top of the midfield, so that would be fourth.”

Renault does want to win again in Formula 1 but won't spend huge amounts of money to achieve it, F1 chief Cyril Abiteboul has stated.

The French manufacturer has been in rebuild mode after buying the remains of the former Lotus team at the end of 2015 yet, despite their rapid progress through the midfield, continues to lag far behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

An overhaul in the regulations set for 2021 under a new Concorde Agreement has been seen as the big opportunity for Renault, with the company unwilling to put the same investment in as those top three teams.

"I don’t want to be moaning about the situation because when we joined F1 we knew the situation," Abiteboul told RACER.

"What’s quite remarkable is the arms race and the relentless spend in order to win — which I fully respect and I think it has afforded a great racing season this year, so we just need to see how we can emulate at some point.

"At some point, there will be a different deal on money distribution. At some point, there will have to be a limitation of spend because in our opinion it’s just not sustainable and I believe, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this is a shared feeling from everyone."

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Talks between teams and owners Liberty Media continue to shape that future with a $150m budget cap among the suggestions, but it is facing pushback from the likes of Mercedes who have built their operations over many years.

Renault though maintains it is merely a matter of when not if those changes come.

"If the plan is delayed by one year then it’s delayed by one year but I think what matters is the principle that we must be in a position to win races at a reasonable cost, given the value of Formula 1," Abiteboul stated.

"This is the equation that we want… returning to reality in the next few months."

Max Verstappen's growing status within Red Bull was "probably" a factor in Daniel Ricciardo's decision to leave, team boss Christian Horner admits.

The Australian surprised many at the start of the summer break when he put in his notice at the Milton Keynes-based outfit and announced a move to Renault for 2019.

It was such a shock because barely a few days earlier, speculation was Ricciardo had agreed a deal in principle to stay on for another year before changing his mind upon leaving Hungary.

"We looked at it and I think we did everything that we possibly could to retain him," Horner told Autosport in reflection.

"I think he just genuinely wanted to take on a new challenge. He actually said this, he did the classic break-up: 'It's not you, it's me!'"

Even so, amid a tough season which had started so well with two wins in the first six races, it didn't stop speculation that Verstappen's continued improvement and Red Bull's commitment to the Dutchman was playing of Ricciardo's mind.

"I think he was also probably concerned about his value with the evolution of Max," Horner accepted. "I think it's been a difficult season for Daniel. He's had to cope with Max's continued evolution.

"While issues have happened to both drivers, they've tended to happen to Daniel on a Sunday rather than Max and yet 12 months ago Max was having that bad luck."

Also Read:

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By the end of the year, Verstappen had dominated Ricciardo in the Drivers' standings beating him by 79 points with a total of 11 podiums to Daniel's two.

Horner was keen to stress, however, the situation has remained equal between the two.

"There is zero favouritism in the way that we operate the team, from one driver to the other," he insisted. "Daniel will tell you that very openly.

"The number one driver in this team is the driver who is ahead on the track. That's the simple rule."

McLaren CEO Zak Brown does think his position is secure as long as shareholders see progress being made in the coming years.

The American chief claims to have set out a five-year plan to turn around the British team's fortunes which began with the exit of racing director Eric Boullier back in the summer.

However, with results continuing to slip he knows the pressure is as much on him to deliver success back to the historic Formula 1 outfit.

“I think from a time standpoint, clearly we need to show progress. The shareholders are extremely committed,” he said.

“We’re hiring, so they’re investing in the racing team, and I think anyone who invests wants to see a return and progress.

“There’s not a specific timetable in that X has to be achieved by Y date," Brown noted. “I think what they want to see as we all want to see is us moving forward, but there’s no specific timeline on that.”

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Also putting his faith in McLaren going forward is Carlos Sainz, who joins from Renault for the 2019 season.

And while flaws with the chassis design proved the main problem this year, the Spaniard actually thinks more needs to come from his former team, who are also the Woking squads engine supplier.

“I need Renault next year, for them to think about the engine and really make a step,” Sainz admitted. "If not, Mercedes and Ferrari, even Honda, they’re going to keep evolving and creating this gap which is very difficult to cut back.

“It’s difficult to say, but I really hope this situation starts getting a bit better and we have a closer field.”

George Russell can make the same impact on Formula 1 in 2019 as Charles Leclerc did this year, Williams claim.

The British driver joins the grid having repeated the same feat as the Monegasque having won both GP3 and F2 at his first attempt.

Leclerc went on to impress in his rookie year with Sauber, earning himself an immediate promotion to Ferrari for next season alongside Sebastian Vettel, and now Russell has the pressure of trying to make a similar mark with Williams.

“George is one of the best prospective talents I think for Formula 1 that’s around at the moment," technical director Paddy Lowe told Racer.

"We’ve seen Charles this year come through from winning F2, and I’m hoping we’ll see a similar star class capability coming from George."

Lowe's prediction though does come with a call for "patience", perhaps in an attempt to temper hopes of immediate results.

"What I have seen over the years is different drivers take a different amount of time to get to grips with F1," he said. "Some are slower and some are quicker

"It doesn’t actually indicate where they will arrive once they settle down, so we’re not going into next season with any particular expectations for George.

"[But] in the long term we think he’s going to be one of the leading drivers of the sport," Lowe stated.

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The British engineer will also be well placed to evaluate Russell as he followed Lewis Hamilton's career with McLaren between 2007-2012 and Mercedes until the end of 2016.

“I was fortunate enough to work with Lewis in his first season, coming in as a rookie, so I know some of the challenges around that," he commented.

"It will be very interesting to see how it goes with George."

Esteban Ocon believes he achieved the goal set out by Mercedes for his 2018 season, improving his pace in qualifying.

The Frenchman would beat Force India teammate Sergio Perez 16-5 over the course of the year with an average gap of almost half a second between them.

A number of retirements would see him finish 13 points behind the Mexican in the Drivers' Championship but Ocon saw this year as just another step in his development.

“It is my target to win the championship and we will see how the future evolves, but I guess Mercedes wanted to see that their driver could perform well in qualifying,” he said.

“In any kind of racing it’s important to start ahead and when we have aero like this it’s very hard to pass.

“It’s a big help and I’m pretty happy with my improvement. I think qualifying I have improved the most, how to build up the weekend.

“That’s where I’ve been the strongest this year, I’ve qualified sixth, seventh, eighth many times this season. That’s good, and I’m pretty pleased with that.”

Also Read:

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The big drawback now, however, is Ocon faces a year on the sidelines as a reserve at Mercedes as his seat was given to Lance Stroll as part of the takeover which has now the Silverstone-based squad renamed to Racing Point F1.

Even so, the 22-year-old does think his progress until now has been notable.

“I find it more than tiny, how I’ve improved in qualifying,” he claimed. “The race pace, I had a pretty solid base from the beginning when I was racing in F1, but I’ve learned in F1 if you don’t start where the car deserves to be it’s difficult to catch back up in the races.

“I can also compare to my teammate. I think he’s pretty experienced, he’s also improving over the years but less than a rookie.

“Compared to him I think I’m a lot stronger than last year.”

Next year Ocon will have to concentrate on test and simulator duties to hone his skills with speculation he is being lined up to replace Valtteri Bottas in 2020.