Celebrating the current F1 stars and searching for new ones

Lewis Hamilton won the 2019 Formula 1 World Championship pretty comfortably, but there were plenty of interesting storylines, dramatic races and fine performances. We delve into all of them – and some of the more problematic elements of the season – in this week’s bumper review, which kicks off on page 17. As has become tradition, we pick out our top 10 F1 drivers of the year (p28), a list that has some striking differences to the top 10 provided by the team bosses (p35), and Autosport readers… Jake Boxall-legge and Giorgio Piola take a look at the technical developments of 2019 (p36) and Scott Mitchell explains how Charles Leclerc became number one at Ferrari (p42). We also cover Honda’s first campaign with Red Bull, the rise of the British rookies, Mclaren’s recovery and Robert Kubica’s comeback, while Edd Straw’s list of the five best drives of 2019 (p68) could start a nice debate. Many of the F1 stars turned out for the Autosport Awards at Grosvenor House last Sunday and some of them walked away with prizes voted for by you. Turn to page 82 to find out who won what – and which other famous names attended the glamorous event. One of the biggest winners of the night was Johnathan Hoggard (above), who scooped £200,000 and a Red Bull F1 test drive (among other prizes) by winning the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award (p98). Hoggard joins an impressive list of winners, which includes 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button and current F1 drivers Lando Norris and George Russell. Next week is our special Christmas double issue, so look out for our top 50 drivers of the year, Autosport’s plan to save the World Rally Championship, the best club rivalries of 2019 and much more.