Pierre Gasly admits it make take time but has vowed to give his all against Max Verstappen at Red Bull in 2019.

The Frenchman's promotion to the senior team has an air of Daniil Kvyat's early jump from Toro Rosso in 2015 with Gasly replacing Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian's surprise Renault switch.

It is why expectations around the former GP2 champion aren't as high as they are Charles Leclerc's move to Ferrari despite the Monegasque actually being the less experienced of the pair in Formula 1.

And the 22-year-old believes next season will still be a development year for him albeit in a front-running car.

"I'm still only going to be in my second season of F1 so there are still a lot of things to learn and I still need to develop myself," Gasly told Sky Sports.

"But I know I'm quick, I need to make the best out of my skills and my qualities but also work on all the areas I can improve.

"We will see how it goes against Max. He is one of the most talented drivers at the moment, it's always good to be next to a competitive guy, and I'll give him the hardest time I can and then try to develop as much as possible as a driver. We'll see the result I get next year."

Also Read:

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• Red Bull: Immediate Gasly/Verstappen comparisons would be "unfair"

One asset potentially on Gasly's side, however, is a year with the Honda engine at Toro Rosso which Verstappen will have to adapt to during testing and the early races and if the chances come, Pierre hopes to capitalise.

"Red Bull showed at the end of the season they were fighting for victories - Max got one in Mexico and was probably going to get one in Brazil as well," he said.

"So clearly the package works and next year we also need to see how it goes with Honda. But I think it'll be really interesting and if there is a winning car I'm sure he's going to be right at the top and it will be my job to make sure I'm right there as well."

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene admits the ongoing Brexit situation could bring benefits to the Italian team but is hoping a solution is found for Formula 1.

As the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union next year, new rules on trade and migration could have a major impact on the sport with seven of the 10 teams all having bases there.

Ferrari and Toro Rosso are two exceptions with their factories in Italy while Sauber is in Switzerland and Haas have some operations in America, both countries that of course are not members of the EU.

Even so, given the huge role the UK has in F1, it's no surprise teams are keeping an eye on the political situation.

"Our motorsport division, call it 1800 people, has a large percentage of EU citizens working for the team," Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff explained.

"So, it is a factor for us, as I mentioned the EU citizens working for us, we are importing lots of goods from the EU, we have taken steps to make sure they are not stuck on the border. Overall, not a very pleasant development."

Renault has the added problem of two facilities either side of the Channel, the F1 team based at Enstone and the engine factory at Viry.

"Obviously we don't want logistics or freight to be delayed in any shape or form, as well as people," managing director Cyril Abiteboul commented.

"We've [improved] very quickly in the recent years and it's been done in particular thanks to the possibilities offered by the UK, bringing in youngsters, people are coming out from school, we don't want that to change."

Red Bull boss Christian Horner joined many Brits in admitting boredom at the whole Brexit situation and even compared Prime Minister Theresa May's predicament to F1 CEO Chase Carey.

On a serious note though, he added: "The bottom line is that people will continue to do business with the UK if we're competitive and remain good at what we do.

"Formula 1 is something that the UK has excelled at in recent years and it's no coincidence that four of the teams sitting here are based all in the UK."

As for Arrivabene, he admitted a hope that the whole Brexit scenario would end in a straightforward way.

“Of course, the situation is not ideal for F1 so I have [faith] that they will be able, the proper authority, they will be able to find a solution,” he said.

“If I’m looking at the situation from the Ferrari perspective, if everything is going in the direction that is announced at the moment, I suspect that in the near future we will find a lot of people that they’re knocking on the door of Maranello," Maurizio admitted.

“But it’s not really the best scenario, talking about the overall F1, so I hope they find a solution, not only for F1 but in general that could accommodate any kind of historical cooperation and is going to look forward for the future and think about the best development for all of us."

Renault Formula 1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul claims it's too soon to set goals for 2019 with the uncertainty over Red Bull's new partnership with Honda.

The French manufacturer achieved the goal of finishing 'best of the rest' in fourth in the Constructors' standings, however, the gap to the top three remains a concern as dos their inability to break free of the midfield pack.

Aerodynamic changes, an all-new engine and the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo could be a welcome boost, but Abiteboul wouldn't be drawn on how strong he expects Renault to be.

“It’s hard for me today to set goals for next year,” he said speaking with Auto Motor und Sport.

“It always depends a bit on the performance of the others in the sport but if the curve is up like ours, you want this trend to continue.

“We may not succeed in terms of a Constructors’ position, but we want to narrow the gap to the top."

Also Read:

• Red Bull's season could have been 'quite different' with an extra 50hp
• "Realistic" Verstappen insists Red Bull not bluffing over Honda potential
• Hulkenberg: Renault must unlock the same 'mystery' as top three teams

Naturally, the team most in Renault's sights are Red Bull, who ended a 12-year relationship after Abu Dhabi which had turned sour in recent seasons due to the lack of engine performance.

Unsurprisingly, Abiteboul couldn't help but have a dig at the Austrian energy drinks giant.

“Let’s wait and see what happens with Red Bull and Honda, Red Bull never tire of telling how good Honda is compared to us," he said.

“May I state that Toro Rosso is still behind us?” 

While it was true the junior team finished a distant ninth in the Constructors' standings, it was the late season development of Honda which has gotten hopes so high at Milton Keynes.

So it will be interesting to see if the Frenchman is made to eat those words this time next year.

Max Verstappen believes the likely rivalry that will emerge with Charles Leclerc could eventually reach the same level as Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

There's no doubting that the pair of 21-year-old's are the future of Formula 1 when the current top two call time on their careers, of course providing Red Bull and Ferrari remain competitive.

The first chapters between the Dutchman and the Monegasque are likely to be written next year too when Leclerc makes his move up to the Scuderia, and Verstappen has no doubts he will be competitive right away.

"Whether Leclerc has a chance at the world title depends on his car and the equipment," Max reportedly told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "If it's good enough, he certainly has a chance.

"Age is not very important, if you have a good car you can always fight for it. If I had a competitive car in my first year, I would have been able to compete directly for the championship."

Also Read:

• Verstappen hints at 'Plan B' if Red Bull/Honda partnership fails
• Leclerc can be the 'incentive' Vettel needs to improve in 2019
• Hamilton claims he must raise his game against Verstappen & Leclerc

Looking forward, while names like Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, George Russell, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz to name a few will look to make their mark, Verstappen does think it'll be he and Charles that lead the way.

"I imagine we will be like Hamilton and Vettel in the future because at some point the old generation will disappear," he stated.

George Russell says he wants to work alongside Robert Kubica in an effort to push Williams as high up the order as possible in 2019.

The Formula 2 champion and the Pole face a tough task in the rebuilding of the British team that finished bottom of the Constructors' Championship this season with the third-lowest points total in their history.

While undoubtedly the 20-year-old will want to impress after making the jump up to F1, he admits there would be little point in doing anything but forging a strong partnership with Kubica.

“My outright main target is to push Williams to progress back up the field and get them back to where they belong,” he told Sky Sports.

“Neither myself nor Robert are interested in fighting each other for 19th and 20th on the grid, so our primary focus is to work together on the team to push us forward.

“Then when the results start coming in we can start thinking about each other.”

Also Read:

• Russell hails 'good feeling' with Williams after first test
• Williams: 'No one in the team' has doubts over Kubica
• Williams struggling to find 'good' replacements for departing staff

Russell, a member of Mercedes' young driver program, was also asked how he's adapting to life at Williams in time for next year.

“Just spending time with the team,” he said. “I’ve gone from working with 30 people in Formula 2 to 750 at Williams so just getting to know everybody, going round all the different departments and just building myself into this team.”

Michael Schumacher's decision to retire from Formula 1 in 2006 left Ferrari "rudderless", former race engineer Rob Smedley claims.

The Briton got to see first hand the impact the German legend had on the Scuderia during the latter years of their domination in the early 2000s, initially as a test engineer before becoming the voice in Felipe Massa's ear as his race engineer.

Last month, Smedley revealed he would be taking time away from the sport to spend time with his family, having since left Maranello to join Williams in 2014, but looking back on his career he was asked if things changed at Ferrari without Schumacher at the helm.

"Totally. He was still involved in the team and there were thoughts at some point as to how involved he was going to be - he never wanted to do that and I think that was a shrewd move by Michael," he was quoted by GPFans.com.

"But he still had involvement in the team. It's always never going to be the same when he's not driving, when he's not giving you that day to day in testing and racing, that feedback of where we are, what needs improving, the areas we need to work and 'don't worry about that and worry about this instead'.

"So the dynamic completely changed and it's fair to say we all probably became a little bit rudderless without him."

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Smedley also offered an insight into what it was like to work with Schumacher and how he valued the hard hours done by everyone within Ferrari.

"My time at Ferrari that crossed with Michael, I was on the other car, so often we wouldn't see him until two days after the race," he explained.

"But he might've been at a race and completely dominated it and the first thing he did was come to the test team and go around every engineer, shake their hand and thank them and talk about stuff we'd done at the test.

"He was just a great guy to work with and I think once you've got leadership with people like that, it was kind of like the dream there between him Jean [Todt] and Ross [Brawn] and it was never going to fail to be honest. It was just so good."

Racing Point will not be the permanent new name of the Force India team in 2019, team boss Otmar Szafnauer has confirmed.

Last week, following their confirmation of Lance Stroll, the FIA issued the full entry list for next season which saw the 10-year name of the Silverstone-based team dropped with only the new entry name included.

Fans weren't too impressed with the prospect, however, and now their American boss has reassured that Racing Point F1 won't be the long-term choice.

“It is just a placeholder to indicate future change which will take place and be announced before the 2019 season,” Szafnauer told Autosport without giving any indication of what the new name might be.

Also Read:

• Perez admits Ocon relationship was 'never great' at Force India
• Force India rue costly races after failure to beat McLaren in Constructors' standings

Elsewhere, Sergio Perez has downplayed fears he may not be fairly treated by a team run by Lawrence Stroll with his son Lance in the opposite garage.

“I don’t think so,” he told RaceFans. “It’s in the interest of everyone including the team owners that this team is a successful team, that the investment they’ve done is successful.

“So for that, we need both cars as strong as possible. We both have to work very hard, we have to work together to bring the teams as [far] forward as possible.

“So its’ in the interests of everyone. We are a team now and we just have to work like that.”

Sergey Sirotkin admits the disappointment of losing his Williams seat to Robert Kubica wasn't helped by the seeming certainty he would be retained for 2019.

In the final weeks of this past season, speculation increased that the Pole was on course to be promoted into a race seat for next year and just before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, that was confirmed.

It was a bitter blow for the Russian who had finally got his big Formula 1 chance but ended up at the back of the grid as the Grove-based team endured a miserable 2018.

“I was strongly hoping for [a second season] and it looked like it was the case," he told Motorsport.com.

“It looked quite obvious it would be the case for quite a while but it’s F1, it’s a difficult world. To get success there are also many, many different parameters which unfortunately most of the time aren’t up to the performance of the driver or whatever.”

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• Williams: Kubica decision about 'choosing the best driver for us'

The 'parameter' in this case was funding as Sirotkin's backers SMP Racing withdrew their support from Williams because of their poor performance while Kubica brought in new funds from Polish oil firm PKN Orlen.

“We had a few meetings, I could understand that discussions are not going the way we want them to be," Sirotkin said.

“Obviously SMP Racing wanted to be professional and didn’t want to accept those things, it was a strong sign for me that’s it not going to happen.

“But I always hoped that probably something would change, a moment or whatever. It didn’t happen.”

Lewis Hamilton is expecting another head-to-head battle with Sebastian Vettel in 2019 for what would be the third straight year.

Mercedes and Ferrari have been a step above the rest the past two seasons and it has been the consistency of the Briton and the Brackley-based squad that has seen him win out on both occasions.

New faces, notably Charles Leclerc, new regulations and a new engine could impact the battle at the front, however, Hamilton doesn't think it will be enough to change the status quo.

“I would imagine it’s going to be Sebastian,” he told Formula1.com predicting his main championship challenger.

Also Read:

• Verstappen & Leclerc will be F1's new Hamilton & Vettel
• Bottas rejects idea of seeking Rosberg advice on beating Hamilton
• Vettel admits he and Ferrari have room for improvement in 2019

The 33-year-old also thinks teammate Valtteri Bottas will bounce back from a torrid 2018 and put up a stronger fight but explained why he has doubts over Red Bull's chances.

“They’ve got to obviously improve on their reliability, which has been a big downfall for them this year," he said.

“So there are lots of areas [to work on], but I really wish them all the best – and we are down for the competition that’s for sure.”

Hamilton has continually admitted a desire for more battles with Max Verstappen and admits he is hoping the Anglo-Austrian outfit with Honda can close the gap.

“They’ve been very strong at the end of the year, they’ve got a new engine next year," he pointed out. "Will it be able to compete with ours? I hope so because that would be epic if Red Bull could really start to mingle with us a bit more, weekend in, weekend out."

While Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches is "trying" to secure the future of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, he admits eyes are on a more ambitious project.

Next year sees the final race at the iconic Northamptonshire circuit under the current contract, this after the BRDC activated a release clause citing the rising costs in a deal that would have lasted until 2026.

Asked for an update on the status of negotiations, Bratches insists Liberty Media do want to reach an agreement but are struggling with compromises.

“We are very hopeful [of securing the future],” he told Sky Sports.

“There has not been a lot of change in terms of the last time we spoke. We are having discussions and conversations around the business terms and both genuinely trying to get a deal done.

“Silverstone, it speaks for itself," he added. "It’s an extraordinary brand. It’s the home of the first Grand Prix."

Also Read:

• Silverstone 'the only place' that can host the British GP
• F1 weekends could be shortened & "unattractive" races dropped, says CEO Carey
• Liberty want to 'preserve' classic F1 races but warn they're not 'immutable'

The circuit's managing director Stuart Pringle did have a warning though for F1's owners, making these comments in front of CEO Chase Carey at the BRDC awards on Monday.

"We got ourselves into a pickle because we had a business that was solely financed by the Grand Prix," he said.

"So we had to diversify, and we’re doing that. We’re going to build a hotel, we’ve got Silverstone Experience opening and we have some additional short-stay luxury accommodation. Aston Martin are now tenants on-site.

"Things are very much heading in the right direction and it gives us the confidence to say Lord knows we want to keep the Grand Prix, but not at any price.

"We’re going to have a broader, more diverse business that can survive without it. But we’d much rather have one with it."

Concluding his earlier comments to Sky, however, Bratches insists that history won't be enough by itself to keep the British race at Silverstone and that London is still a potential alternative.

“We are having conversations with the mayor’s office and conversations with cities around the world,” he said.

“Certainly if there was an opportunity in London for us to race in the great streets here this would be an ideal circumstance – both for London and for Formula 1 fans around the world.”