Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer claims Lance Stroll has already proven himself to be as fast as Esteban Ocon during his brief time.

The Canadian made the move from Williams to the squad bought by his father Lawrence Stroll this past summer, donning the pink overalls for the first time in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi last month.

While there has been much frustration over the circumstances surrounding Stroll's move, with Ocon off the Formula 1 grid next year and now Mercedes reserve driver, the Racing Point chief insists he has the talent.

"Lance absolutely loved his time in the car, said the car can do the things he wants a car to do which is good, we were duly impressed with Lance," Szafnauer told F1's Beyond the Grid podcast.

"We were already impressed with him when he ran in the simulator. He was on the pace very quickly, up to Esteban's level in the simulator.

"We were just hoping the pace that he showed in the simulator would translate onto the race track and it did. He was very quick on track too."

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Despite the strong first impression, Szafnauer does admit Stroll has a lot of areas for improvement.

"So we've got some good potential there in Lance, we'll work with him to hopefully teach him some things we know about how to drive the tyre, how to preserve it and how to make it go quick and last over the stints and we'll do that with him, help him qualify better too," he explained.

"But he brings some great skills, he's quick, he usually does a great job at the start and over the first lap, he usually makes up places, so we look forward to working with him."

Robert Kubica believes Williams' dismal 2018 season wasn't helped by the team seemingly ignoring early concerns by the drivers.

The Grove-based outfit endured the third-worst campaign in their 40-year history points-wise, scoring just seven across the 21 races.

An attempted change in philosophy regarding car design resulted in multiple flaws which left Williams at the back of the grid but the scale of the problems appeared to be a genuine shock to those in the team.

“We really thought we had a good car according to data from the simulator and the various departments,” Kubica told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. 

“Maybe they should have listened to the drivers and reacted faster.

“I don’t build the car but sometimes the driver becomes aware of a problem earlier than the best engineer in the world," he explained.

“At the beginning of the season we still had correlation problems. In the end, these deviations between tools and reality led to the misjudgment with the car.

“Nevertheless, we made good progress in the second half of the season, especially in the simulator.”

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Williams' year was largely a case of just waiting for it to end as their lack of competitiveness compared to even the other midfield teams meant there was little to be salvaged.

“We improved the car, but in the course of the development work we also discovered some other weak spots that had nothing to do with the lap times,” Kubica continued.

“From our position, it was really difficult to close the gap. The others also continued to develop.

“Sauber were behind us at the start of the season but they had an incredible pace of development, eventually making it into the midfield.”

Now the Polish driver will step up from a reserve driver role to race for Williams in 2019 and he is relatively confident the situation will be much better.

“It was a difficult season for Williams, but also an important one. We have understood the mistakes and now have to learn from them and not repeat them," he stated.

“We need to lay down the development for 2019 so that it does not happen again.”

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has revealed the race during the 2018 Formula 1 season where he "felt the momentum' swing in his team's favour.

The German manufacturer made it five consecutive double championship successes this year with Lewis Hamilton securing a fifth world championship, tieing with another Mercedes legend in Juan Manuel Fangio.

It came after a fierce battle with Ferrari for the first half of the season with actually saw the Scuderia leading at the summer break after inflicting what Wolff considered the most painful loss of the year at Silverstone.

“The very difficult one was losing the British Grand Prix. As you can imagine, it’s Lewis’ home Grand Prix and our team is based in Brackley," he said at the FIA gala this past weekend.

“Losing on a track where we’ve always performed well was very difficult but we collected all the energy within the organisation and came back strong.”

The weather intervened in Germany and Hungary to give Hamilton two unexpected wins but it was a key victory two races later than really put Mercedes in control.

“For me, the turning point was Monza because we were able to win in Italy, and from then on we had a few Grands Prix where we were extremely strong," Wolff stated.

“We were extremely strong in Singapore which was not our favourite track in the past, and we were able to just have a really good car and Lewis had an unbelievable lap to qualify on pole.

“This is where I felt the momentum go in our direction.”

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While much of the attention was on Hamilton, teammate Valtteri Bottas was making different headlines, eventually ending 2018 as the first Mercedes driver since 2012 to not win a race over a full season.

Wolff, however, insists the Finn played as big a role as anyone in the team's success.

"We wouldn't have won the Drivers' Championship and the Constructors' Championship without Valtteri," he said.

"Valtteri, even with his bad luck, did never allow the spirit and the mindset to drop within the organisation. He was always capable to maintain the high spirits.

"You see drivers when they lose the ability to win the championship the whole thing goes really down the drain. It becomes negative, it becomes dysfunctional. Valtteri until the very end kept us in a positive place."

Sebastian Vettel admits it is still to be discovered if he'll enjoy the same "harmony" with Charles Leclerc as his teammate at Ferrari.

The promotion of the Monegasque to the Scuderia is expected to be one of the big stories in 2019 after an impressive rookie year with Sauber.

It is wondered though if, with a point to prove, Leclerc could perhaps disrupt the current setup within Ferrari that sees Vettel as the lead driver.

“I do not know that yet,” the German was quoted by PlanetF1 on his expected relationship with the 21-year-old.

“The harmony between me and Kimi [Raikkonen] meant that there were not unnecessary politics.

“We have always left each other the necessary space and thus not give the team unnecessary worries.”

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Vettel, who was the victim of a similar situation at Red Bull in 2014 when Daniel Ricciardo made his name at Sebastian's expense, does admit the focus of himself and Leclerc will be the same.

“Everyone is different, and how Charles and I will tick together will become apparent," he noted. “But he is a well-bred boy and Ferrari is a huge chance for him.

“The basic law will not change this time either: everyone wants to beat each other.”

McLaren's current goal is to finish as Formula 1's top midfield team, according to their new driver Carlos Sainz.

The British outfit finished sixth in the 2018 Constructors' standings, but after struggled to develop their MCL33 chassis during the year, ended the season fighting with Williams at the back of the grid.

CEO Zak Brown has revealed a flaw in the aerodynamic design was discovered during the summer and will be addressed in next year's car but Sainz admits expectations remain limited.

"It depends on what you call competitive," the Spaniard said. “If you call competitive fighting for a world championship, I think as F1 is today it’s very early even for podiums.

“But if a competitive car means trying to lead the middle zone [midfield], I think that is the goal that McLaren has set.

“It doesn’t mean we will do it next year, but it is a goal and I think it is realistic. I will try not to be far away from that,” he added.

There are claims by some that McLaren will look to do that by essentially copying aspects of Red Bull's car, with chief designer Peter Prodromou formerly a partner with Adrian Newey at the Milton Keynes-based squad.

“I think it’s very straightforward to say that the team is copying a chassis,” Sainz responded.

“I’m sure there are ideas from all the teams that McLaren has looked at, but that happens in Formula 1 and in all the categories that I have raced in.”

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Another key component to their overall package will be the performance of the Renault engine, with McLaren now the only team as a customer to the French manufacturer.

“I am convinced that Renault gives the same weapons to McLaren that they give for their own cars," Sainz commented.

“I’m not worried for next year that we will not have good equipment.”

Formula 1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn admits he is disappointed Fernando Alonso didn't fulfil the potential he had in the sport.

Though a double world champion, his Ferrari years were spent in the shadow of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, while his move to McLaren in 2015 was a total failure.

Ultimately, it led to Alonso calling time on his F1 career at the end of this past season and looking back, Brawn concedes the 37-year-old will be considered as an underachiever.

“I think Fernando has not earned as much as his talent deserved,” he told Formula1.com.

“He never seemed to be on the right team at the right time. But he always stood his ground and assumed his responsibilities."

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Brawn is sure that Alonso will leave a great legacy in the sport, however, and pointed to Abu Dhabi as an example of the impact he had during his career.

“We will miss him, especially his teammates and rivals,” he added.

“Everyone, especially the best ones, knows how important it is to have a worthy opponent in front of them.

“That’s what led Hamilton and Vettel to do a kind of honour guard in Abu Dhabi after finishing the race.

“The battles between Fernando and the other two champions were frequent, but there respect and emotion surpassed everything.”

Sebastian Vettel has admitted the impact of Sergio Marchionne's sudden death in July was a "big loss" to Ferrari.

The former chairman was largely credited for the work he had done along with Maurizio Arrivabene to revive the Scuderia as a major force in Formula 1, taking the fight to Mercedes since the start of 2017.

However, following an illness, Marchionne would die from complications post shoulder surgery and just days after being replaced by new chairman John Elkann and CEO Louis Camilleri.

“The passing of our chairman, Mr Marchionne obviously had an impact and was tough,” Vettel admitted.

“I think it’s up to us to look into every single detail and make sure we come out as a stronger group, enabling us to build a stronger package for next year and for the future.”

Ferrari had been leading both championships until that point but a combination of errors by both team and driver and the improvement of Mercedes after the summer break saw the German manufacturer romp to a fifth consecutive Drivers' and Constructors' success.

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Vettel went on, explaining how the Italian team had tried to continue business as usual following Marchionne's passing.

“The day-to-day business continued, I think people knew what was their job and knew what to do, but surely it wasn’t easy for us,” he claimed.

“I think we tried to continue in the best mental matter we could and tried to do our job. I think that’s probably what he would have liked to see.

“He was giving us always a lot of pressure, but also there to help us and guide us.

“It was a big loss, but I think as a team we tried to respond and just to continue, respecting him and his legacy.”

Max Verstappen believes Lewis Hamilton has it "a lot easier" to be successful in Formula 1 given the performance and support he has from Mercedes.

The Dutchman is establishing himself as possibly the biggest threat to the Briton's current run of championship victories after a very strong final two-thirds of 2018 saw him claim 10 podiums, including two wins from Canada.

Now his Red Bull team need just the final component to mount a serious title bid, a competitive engine against Mercedes and Ferrari which they hope will come from Honda after ditching long-time supplier Renault.

“The engine for next year is a completely new one,” Verstappen claimed “It has been on the test bench for a while but it’s a bit of a wait.

“I think the prospects are good compared to what we had until now. It is definitely a lot better.”

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Should that come to fruition, then the 21-year-old thinks he can take the fight to Hamilton, who he claims has always had the right tools to be competitive.

“It is not about being ready or not ready. You just have to have the right material,” he told Holland's Ziggo Sport.

“Lewis was ready in his first year already, just because he had a really good car, but now he also has less pressure.

“He has a very good car and his teammate [Valtteri Bottas] is not there anyway.

"When the whole team is all about you, it’s a lot easier and the better your car is, the easier it is again.”

It is having that lead driver role which Verstappen is referring to that he also will enjoy in 2019, as Red Bull are expected to back him over Pierre Gasly following the departure of Daniel Ricciardo.

Sir Jackie Stewart believes the arrival of fresh faces has "rejuvenated" the sport, particularly Max Verstappen.

The next few years are predicted to see a changing of the guard in F1 as veterans like Fernando Alonso retire and Kimi Raikkonen makes way for 21-year-old Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.

Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, George Russell and Pierre Gasly are just a few more names tipped to lead the sport into the next decade and for the Scot, it is all positive.

“We need young drivers, we need new blood,” Stewart was quoted by PlanetF1.

“And they’re out there. Suddenly, a Verstappen arrives and blows the place apart and that’s rejuvenating, in a way, for Formula 1, that he’s come in and done so well so quickly."

The triple world champion does have one concern looking forward, however.

“Red Bull had [a lot to do with Verstappen's rise], by bringing him on through the formative classes of the sport, but it’s tougher today than it’s ever been for a young driver to come along, to find the resources."

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Stewart does have a solution though...

“If more multinational corporations were to take an interest [in F1], because everybody drives a car, whether it’s a Fiat or a Ferrari," he said.

“They’re all driving cars, so some of the commercial enterprises of the world should see that and use motorsport because it’s infectious, and bring young drivers along and hopefully bring them to the highest levels [of motorsport].”

Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari fell short of challenging Mercedes at "too many races" during 2018, hampering his championship chances.

While the Scuderia once again pushed their Anglo-German rivals throughout the season, even having the quicker car for a time, there were still occasions when the Mercedes was untouchable.

Spain, France and Singapore to Sochi were notable times when Lewis Hamilton dominated and for Vettel, ensuring such periods don't happen again in 2019 are the key to fighting for the title.

"Better performance, I think it is very simple," he told Autosport at the FIA gala about where improvements are needed.

"We had our races where we were very close and very competitive, and overall our car this year has been more of an all-around car which worked on all tracks. 

"We had our highlights and I think most of them we used, but then we had too many races where we were not quite there. Sometimes [it was] by a tenth or two but sometimes a bit more, where we were left with not much to do over a weekend.

"That is something we must fix and try to control better going into next year."

Also Read:

• Hamilton expecting another title fight with Vettel in 2019
• Vettel would have been 2018 F1 champion with more Ferrari support
• Ferrari boss Arrivabene: The 'real Vettel' was back in final races of 2018

Looking back on the year, however, Vettel enjoyed a number of moments picking out two wins for recognition.

"I would say Bahrain [as a season highlight] because initially, I didn't like it, but now I really love it," he explained.

"I loved the trophy after the race. It was a tight battle [with Valtteri Bottas] after the last laps so it was good to hang onto the lead until the end. 

"Then I think the other one that has to be mentioned is Canada, especially as it was 40 years after Gilles [Villeneuve] with Ferrari [won]. It was a very emotional day."