Gary Anderson: How F1's 'privateers' really fared in 2019

Some people will be upset by me calling Formula 1's other six teams 'privateers', but most don't have the budgets, the head count or the works status to challenge the big teams. McLaren is probably the only one that we can look to straddle that divide, but in 2019 it was firmly in the 'privateer championship'.

Considering I've grouped Renault into the works teams, realistically ninth place on any given weekend should be a 'win' for these outfits. In reality, seventh was given Renault's pace, so that's what I'm using as the maximum. So for a given weekend, 10 points plus one for fastest lap is the maximum the midfielders could score.

How the 2019 F1 midfield stacks up

Measuring the outright pace of each 'privateer' team this season (%)

McLaren

After fours years in the doldrums and quite a few internal changes, McLaren came out fighting this year. This was the McLaren we want to see - a happy team with happy drivers that get on well and understand the team is rebuilding. The team must keep this momentum up going into 2020.

The hope next year is it can take a step closer to the big teams. With a new technical director and team principal in James Key and Andreas Seidl respectively, McLaren certainly has the strength and experience in the key (no pun intended) roles so it will be down to them to implement the required direction the team needs to take and to make sure it is achieved.

If you consider their difference in experience, the two drivers are very well matched. So this bodes well for the future of a re-building team. Consistency in this area is critical and by being just that little bit different in age their expectations will also be slightly different. Carlos Sainz Jr wants and needs success in the next couple of years, whereas Lando Norris knows he can invest a couple of years extra before he needs to shine at his brightest.

Season performance average: 101.613%
Best grid: 5th (x3)
Best race finish: 3rd (x1)
Points 2019: 145 (63%) Points 2018: 62 (29%)
Podiums: 1
Fastest laps: 0

The marked improvement over last year came about because McLaren chose not to make excuses anymore. McLaren took control of its own destiny and stepped up.

Over the season, the four-race blocks are very consistent. With the magnitude of the gap to the works teams, I would have liked to have seen this close down just that little bit more than it did, but McLaren accepted it must make changes to its concept to unlock more potential.

McLaren's development

Measuring how the team performed at each stage of the season (%)

The intra-team battle shows Sainz having the upper hand, but I have been impressed by Norris and especially his commitment to qualifying. Race results always have that bit of luck attached to them, especially if you are in that midfield battle, but qualifying is about wringing the car's neck and Norris is not shy about doing that.

School report

McLaren must do more of what it has done between 2018 and '19 and believe in the structure created. By keeping its feet firmly on the ground and building on the processes and systems in preparation for 2021's major rule changes - when it also switches to the Mercedes engine - this will give McLaren no hiding place. By keeping up the momentum and motivation, for '21 it might just bridge the gap to the big teams.

Haas

A season that promised much after pre-season testing basically fell flat on its face. More important than its overall results - a distant ninth in the constructors' championship - Haas showed it never really understood the reasons for its slump. To find its feet, it stepped back with developments and showed that a year has passed without its data base improving.

Someone of great standing once said 'you should go to bed every night knowing that little bit more than you did when you woke up'. In Haas's case that hasn't happened, so planning a direction for 2020 will be no easy task. It will be made even more difficult by the sponsorship and prize money drop.

Season performance average: 102.107%
Best grid: 5th (x1)
Best race finish: 6th (x1)
Points 2019: 28 (12%) Points 2018: 93 (44%)
Podiums: 0
Fastest laps: 1

Haas started the season that little bit better than it ended 2018, but it went downhill from there. Ultimate performance wasn't the problem; it was race performance as a draggy car that struggled to keep the tyres in the window usually went backwards. I'm not saying it's easy and other teams suffer the same problems, but normally over a season you come upon a set-up that might just take away a little of your ultimate pace but be more consistent at race pace. The car struggled particularly to deliver the expected rear downforce in lower-speed corners despite working better in faster ones.

Haas's development

Measuring how the team performed at each stage of the season (%)

For the drivers, it was a desperate season. Magnussen controlled this just that little bit better but as we know Grosjean wears his heart on his sleeve. At least this year they did eventually stop driving into each other.

School report

School report Haas must try harder in all areas, but more importantly must react to situations with more commitment. Not every development will pay dividends but from most of them you will learn something. Standing still in F1 is not an option.

Toro Rosso

Using as much technology as possible from Red Bull is now starting to pay off. And with both Red Bull teams using the Honda power unit, there's the chance to cross reference simple things like energy deployment as well.

Toro Rosso has rightly been used as a test bed for Honda's updates as well as Red Bull's drivers. Team principal Franz Tost understands that the team is there to service the mothership, but the close relationship produced Toro Rosso's best season since 2008 - when it also finished sixth in the constructors' championship and won at Monza with Sebastian Vettel.

Season performance average: 102.148%
Best grid: 6th (x1)
Best race finish: 2nd (x1)
Points 2019: 85 (38%) Points 2018: 33 (16%)
Podiums: 2
Fastest laps: 0

Toro Rosso started the season stronger than it finished 2018, which is all you can ask from the design of a new car. But the one thing I have always questioned about Toro Rosso is its inconsistency. This season was better but still there were a few bumps in the road that need levelling out.

Toro Rosso's development

Measuring how the team performed at each stage of the season (%)

The team took the replacement of Alex Albon with Pierre Gasly in its stride, with all three drivers delivering strong results at times.

School report

Toro Rosso must build on its close relationship with Red Bull. But combined with the power of the big team it makes it more of a big operation. So, work together as closely as the regulations allow and, with the current drivers, there's no reason why we couldn't see a 1-2-3-4 one day! That would be something special in the modern era.

Alfa Romeo

This was a big new venture for the team that used to be called Sauber. But those who funded the Alfa investment will have expected more.

In Kimi Raikkonen, it had a known quantity and he was happy to get out of the politics of Ferrari. We know he likes to drive a car fast but if you are going to lead a team you need to put more into that and I suspect that's where the team struggled. Raikkonen is not a driver you see working with the engineers late into the evening.

Alfa ideally needs a lead driver committed to working more closely with it to get the most out of the package.

Season performance average: 102.188%
Best grid: 5th (x1)
Best race finish: 4th (x1)
Points 2019: 57 (25%) Points 2018: 43 (23%)
Podiums: 0
Fastest laps: 0

The season got away from Alfa Romeo and I feel the team went into most weekends without a clear idea of how it would perform. Before you can improve, you must stabilise and understand where you are at currently.

Alfa Romeo's development

Measuring how the team performed at each stage of the season (%)

The driver battle was a bit one-sided. Raikkonen with his experience was always going to be the driver the team focused on, while Antonio Giovinazzi struggled for a lot of the season to get a decent result under his belt. A new driver needs this before he can build his confidence, but he has a second chance next year.

School report

Alfa Romeo is one of those strange teams. It is what it is and what the team seems to want to be. If the drive to progress is there then it must start putting some more expertise in place. The team has a first-class facility but seem from the outside to not be making best use of it.

Racing Point

After the team was taken over by Lawrence Stroll and funding ceased to be an issue I think all involved believed this year would have been a lot better. But it always takes time to fill the void that has been left by a few years of underinvestment.

The upgrades didn't always achieve what was expected of them and when that happens you lose a lot of time researching your research to see if you can find out why. When this happens, you are not moving forward.

Those in the team will need to work differently now they have a solid foundation. They have always been good at living hand to mouth but now they are able to plan ahead and design and research to suit that. But that will take a change in company philosophy, and perhaps this once small team doesn't yet have the structure to be a big one.

Season performance average: 102.305%
Best grid: 5th (x1)
Best race finish: 4th (x1)
Points 2019: 73 (31%) Points 2018: 52 (25%)
Podiums: 0
Fastest laps: 0

Racing Point was more up and down than when it's at its best. Racing Point used to go to races and fight for best of the rest but too often this year the battle has been to escape Q1. On most occasions, it was fighting to hang on to the tail end of the top 10.

Racing Point's development

Measuring how the team performed at each stage of the season (%)

Looking at the drivers, Sergio Perez with his experience and ability to manage tyres almost always came out on top. But I believe Lance Stroll is better than we have seen so far. He's attacking on first laps of races but just needs to qualify better. He may be the son of the team owner but needs to perform and Saturday is the area where he can transform his results.

School report

The team must not get carried away with its new owner's enthusiasm and keep doing what it has done so well for years - socking it to the big boys by thinking on its feet. Racing Point must be allowed to build for the future as it will take a minimum of five years to get the team built up, and the baby must not be thrown out with the bath water.

Williams

After a dismal 2018, everyone at Williams was looking forward to the 2019 season - but the only way was not up. The car was late for testing, had a few things on it the FIA was not happy with, and only had itself to race against most of the time.

Paddy Lowe was chief technical officer overseeing the 2018 and '19 cars and was the first to go. But it's never just simply the fault of one person, it's more of a problem that has been rearing its ugly head over quite a few years and one day the bad overtakes the good and you go backwards.

Change needed to happen to identify and rectify these problems, but bringing back Patrick Head is not the answer and it must move with the times. Taking this approach on the driver front would be like replacing Robert Kubica with Alan Jones!

Season performance average: 104.301%
Best grid: 14th (x2)
Best race finish: 10th (x1)
Points 2019: 1 (0.05%) Points 2018: 7 (3%)
Podiums: 0
Fastest laps: 0

There were a few glimmers of hope as the season progressed, but an average performance nearly 2% behind anyone else is poor. I would have hoped during the season that more progress would have been made, even if it just halved that deficit to the rest.

Williams's development

Measuring how the team performed at each stage of the season (%)

On the driver front, both kept their heads down and just did the best with what they had. Kubica near the end of the season got a little more vocal, but I think that was just from frustration knowing that after his rallying accident he has had his last chance in F1. George Russell, who I rate very highly, was always positive and to no one's real surprise was comfortably the superior driver.

School report

Williams has to start again as 2020 is going to be tough, but '21 even harder. It's not just about having bits on the car, it's about optimising them and making sure that your aero platform works consistently to give the drivers good feedback from the car, which will allow the development direction to be defined and give them confidence. Russell could be right up there with Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris etc so perhaps on the design and engineering front also get some young blood in there and invest time in them.