Kevin Magnussen admits he is enjoying the sense of overachievement with Haas much more than he would at the underperforming McLaren & Renault teams.

The Dane has come alive with the American squad since joining in 2017 and has certainly made more of an impression than he did at either Woking in 2014 or Enstone in 2016.

This season, his performances have helped Haas to fifth in the Constructors' Championship in just their third year and that inexperience, Magnussen believes, cost them the chance to keep on fighting Renault until the very end.

“As a team, we’re doing better and better, we’re learning as we go," he said in his Abu Dhabi preview.

“For us, we’re such a new team, performing at such a high level already, sometimes we’re a bit short of experience for the performance levels being achieved.

“We’re fighting big, experienced teams like Renault, McLaren, Williams and, as a new team, sometimes it’s hard to avoid mistakes because of a lack of experience.

“I’d rather be in an inexperienced team overperforming than in an experienced team underperforming.”

Also Read:

• Haas boss Steiner concedes defeat in Constructors' battle with Renault
• Magnussen: Haas should be proud to be fighting Renault

Magnussen's 55 points have also matched his best ever season total, achieved with McLaren in his rookie year, and he admits there is mixed feelings about it.

“I think 55 points is good for a midfield team, but I still think there was potential for more this year. That’s both a positive and a negative," Kevin claimed.

“Positive, because we’ve showed we have great potential in the team to do more, but of course, it’s always disappointing not to get everything out of it as you could.

“We’re learning as a team and next year we’ll have even more experience. We’ll have learned a lot from this year and, hopefully, we can do a bit more next year.”

Carlos Sainz is aiming to end his loan spell with Renault 'on a really bright note' at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Joining as part of the McLaren-Renault, Toro Rosso-Honda engine deals at last year's race in Austin, the Spaniard's stint with the French manufacturer has seen quite the twist in his Formula 1 career.

With a promotion to Red Bull considered the only reason for an eventual departure, instead, it's the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo next season that forced the 23-year-old to seek pastures new as he heads to McLaren.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time with Renault over the past 14 months,” Sainz said looking ahead to Yas Marina. “They say Enstone has a family feel and I felt at ease and very welcome from day one.

“To drive for a manufacturer team is a dream come true and I’m very proud to be part of the history of such an important brand in F1.

“On track, the results have been good on a whole, very consistent and that’s something I can be proud about.

“As a driver, I take with me very valuable experiences and I’m looking forward to staying part of the Renault family with McLaren next season.”

Also Read:

• Sainz has no problem with Renault over signing Ricciardo
• Sainz reveals Hamilton gave backing to his 2019 McLaren move
• Sainz confident McLaren will rebound in 2019 after hitting the 'bottom'

The second half of 2018 hasn't been quite what the team expected as a lack of engine gains has seen the more powerful customer teams of Ferrari and Mercedes keep up and move ahead.

Still, a number of strong weekends are going to see Renault finish fourth in the Constructors' Championship and Sainz wants to go out with a flourish.

“We’ll be doing our homework to ensure we’re best prepared and can hit the ground running right from Friday practice,” he commented.

“We would like a bit more performance from the car for the last race and I know the team is working hard to get back into the points there.

“Hopefully it will be a good last race for the team and I can end this spell on a really bright note."

Ferrari engineer Jock Clear admits there is as much emphasis on the Italian team to be ready for Charles Leclerc in 2019 as there is the Monegasque for his big move.

The current Sauber driver will become the youngest man to race for the Scuderia in over half a century when he takes to the grid in Melbourne next March with only a single year of Formula 1 experience under his belt.

While it might seem then the step is big for the 21-year-old, for Ferrari it also presents possible scenarios that they haven't had to deal with in a very long time.

“One of the comments that many people made was ‘is he ready?’ Well, we have to be ready as well to take this step," Clear, who is considered to be Leclerc's likely race engineer next season told Motorsport.com.

“It is a brave step that Ferrari has made, and we’re all pleased about the fact that we’re willing to make that step, but we have to be ready to give him the opportunity and support him in the right way.

“Hopefully he’ll go on to great things. I think the relationship with Seb [Vettel] will be important.

“We need to manage that very positively and make sure the team as a whole grows, not just on Charles’s side and not just on Seb’s side.”

Also Read:

• Gasly sees emergence of new talent as a 'good thing' for F1
• Hamilton claims he must raise his game against Verstappen & Leclerc
• Vettel wants himself & Leclerc to work 'in the interests' of Ferrari in 2019

There is great anticipation over what Leclerc, another key member of F1's new generation of drivers, can do against the established names and champions and Clear does think his association with Ferrari can help.

“We’ve known Charles for a while now,” he noted. “We’ve had a relationship with him over a few years, from his days in the Academy so he’s not an unknown entity for us, we’re not going into this completely blind.

“Clearly in his first year in F1 he’s showed some great potential, he’s had some great races, so I think everybody is excited about the prospect.

“Everybody knows what kind of pressure he will come under, that racing at the very sharp end is going to be a very different prospect for him, but that’s a challenge for us as well.”

Charles Leclerc believes the current performance of the Sauber car is a good omen for 2019 given development ended several months ago.

The Monegasque has four top 10 finishes to his name in the past six races, two of which have seen him comfortably run 'best of the rest' in seventh including last time out in Brazil.

Certainly, it is a testament to the incredible turnaround at the Swiss team this season, who sit just a point short of matching their same points total this year and the previous four combined, and is admittedly even surprising those at Hinwil.

“I don’t think we expected to have such a good end of the season, [with] the end of the development programme for this year’s car so early,” Leclerc was quoted by PlanetF1.

“So it’s definitely looking good for them for next year, because they’ve had quite a bit of time to develop the car.”

The 21-year-old won't be there to see just how much progress Sauber make as he is heading to Ferrari but with Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi there is no doubting, they are a team to watch.

Also Read:

• Ericsson wants credit along with Leclerc for Sauber's 2018 turnaround

As for this weekend's finale in Abu Dhabi, there is a little bit of stick and twist at play in the Constructors' Championship with a six-point gap to Force India in seventh and a nine-point lead over Toro Rosso in ninth.

“We’re obviously not going to take stupid risks to gain one position if they [Toro Rosso] are behind,” Leclerc admitted. “That’s for sure going to change a little bit our approach.

“But the goal remains the same, to do the best job possible every week, and to obviously keep them behind.

“We will change a little bit in some situations.”

Fernando Alonso has included a return to Formula 1 as an option for 2020 as he prepares for his final race with McLaren at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Spaniard was asked about his future while competing at the Shanghai 6 Hours in the WEC this past weekend, one of two series he's already committed to racing in next year along with a return to the Indianapolis 500.

Having admitted his current passion for F1 isn't high, however, the double world champion will see how he feels following a quieter year.

“There’s going to be a couple more challenges than the Indy 500,” he told Chinese news agency Xinhua.

“I feel I need to recharge my batteries a bit next year, but in 2020, of course it can be a possibility to have a full season in IndyCar, a full season back in F1, or a full season in another series.”

Also Read:

• Perez: Alonso's plight 'shows how bad F1 is'
• Alonso hints at more 2019 announcement after Indy

Alonso's main target in 2019 though is completing the Triple Crown with the Indy 500, the only hurdle left following his Le Mans 24 Hours win earlier this year.

And the 37-year-old does think he'll have a much better chance than he did in 2017.

“That experience is going to be key, because I now know the race, and I know the event,” he said.

“It’s a long two weeks, and though the qualifying and race format seem easy to people who have done it for years, everything was new for me, so I think that experience will be a huge help.”

Daniel Ricciardo will not follow Fernando Alonso as a top driver unable to race in a competitive car, David Coulthard has predicted.

The jury is still out on the Australian's decision to take what many consider a backwards step by leaving Red Bull to join Renault for 2019, particularly given the problems he has endured both performance-wise and mechanically this season.

However, the Scot, formerly a Red Bull driver, does see the potential in the French manufacturer's project to make strides up the grid.

"It's a works team and they really invest, the fact that they've signed Daniel proves that," said the pundit for British broadcaster Channel 4.

"That was no bargain and it's a sign of what Renault's intentions are. People write them off but something could happen."

Also Read:

• Ricciardo hoping his bad luck will "dissolve" after 2018
• Webber fears Renault move could add to Ricciardo's frustration with F1
• 'Only Daniel' Ricciardo knows of any regrets over Renault move

Coulthard also believes simply having a driver like Ricciardo in their team can help enhance their progress up the grid, as he put the 29-year-old in illustrious company.

"If you're producing a movie, the key to success is picking the right actor for the right part," he began.

"Here, you have Lewis Hamilton as the superstar, Max [Verstappen] with his attacking driving style and Sebastian Vettel with his German winning mentality. Ricciardo belongs in that bracket."

The key difference is, three of those drivers will be in cars capable of winning in 2019, one likely will not...

"The fact that in years past someone like Fernando Alonso hasn't been able to be the protagonist in a non-competitive car is bad for the sport, but it'll be better for Daniel at Renault," Coulthard believes.

Liberty commercial chief Sean Bratches has reaffirmed a desire to take Formula 1 back to Holland, capitalising on the popularity of Max Verstappen.

It's far from a new story with efforts to host the first race since 1985 known to have been underway for a while, however, following the recent news of Vietnam's inclusion in 2020, it is another example of the owners' ambition.

Holland has been named along with the Asian country as one of three possible new destinations in two years time, with the street race in Miami pushed back in the wake of local opposition.

“We are very interested in racing in Holland,” Bratches told Reuters.

“We are having productive conversations there and I am cautiously optimistic we can do something to surprise and delight fans in that territory and take advantage of the Max factor.”

The 21-year-old has reinvigorated his homeland's passion for F1 and around the world with most circuits now seeing grandstand sections filled with orange.

Also Read:

• Zandvoort reportedly offered 2020 Dutch GP, Assen respond

A key question, however, is where would the sport go in Holland with Zandvoort the historic home but Assen considered a more suitable facility... or maybe not.

“I think there’s great potential there [at Zandvoort],” FIA race director Charlie Whiting said following a recent inspection.

“A few things need to be changed, and there’s a great willingness to change, but I think it’s rather too early to be talking about that. They’re coming back to us with some proposals.

“We’ll see purely from a circuit point of view, nothing to do with the commercial elements of it, but from a circuit safety point of view, I think it [a race] could be done," he added.

“There would be a nice long straight good enough to use DRS well, and you’d maintain the historic elements of the circuit as well. I think it would be a very nice circuit.”

European Formula 3 is the highest category of open-wheel racing to currently race at Zandvoort and the 2014 champion Esteban Ocon shared his view on the possibility.

 “I don’t know about the outside of the track but it’s a very cool track, very cool layout," he said. “It would be awesome to race there in F1, mega-quick.

“I don’t think it is the latest generation [of circuit]. I don’t mind, I’m happy to race there if we go but it’s down to the FIA to decide if it’s possible or not.”

2019 Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly believes the rise of new talent into Formula 1 is a "good thing" for the sport going forward.

Next season will see multiple changes at both ends of the grid with Gasly and Charles Leclerc bringing new faces to the front as the Monegasque heads to Ferrari replacing Kimi Raikkonen.

The only exception is Esteban Ocon, who is set for a year on the sidelines, but together the trio is expected to shake things up in the coming years and will do so after a long history together.

"I think honestly we had a pretty good generation with Charles [Leclerc], Esteban [Ocon] because we raced together since 2005," Gasly was quoted by GPFans.

"So the fact that we kept racing each other every year, I think it was useful for all of us trying to extract the best of ourselves and it kind of raised our game for all of us. It was a really good thing."

Also Read:

• Ocon tips Leclerc & Gasly to trigger a 'generational shift' in 2019
• Hamilton claims he must raise his game against Verstappen & Leclerc
• Mercedes: Ocon "guaranteed" a "good seat" in F1 for 2020

It isn't just a French invasion either lingually speaking with two young Briton's joining the fray at McLaren and Williams.

"We see also some new guys like [Lando] Norris coming and [George] Russell. Kind of a new generation coming into F1," Gasly claimed.

"Probably for the people that didn’t follow the F1 in the last five years [who] will start to follow again either next year or in two years the grid will change quite a lot.

"But I think it’s a pretty good thing, fresh people in F1, I think we have a lot of ambitions, all of us, we know what we want and it’s great," he continued.

"We’ve been growing together in the lower series and now we are at the top of motorsports still fighting and hopefully will keep going for the next few years."

Though names like Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel may not be on the grid for too much longer, the amount of talent coming through means F1 is in safe hands for the next decade at least.

Outgoing engineering chief Rob Smedley believes Williams needs to "modernise" and "attack all areas" if they are to overcome their 2018 slump.

A change in car design philosophy by technical chief Paddy Lowe exposed a number of problems within the Grove-based team as the FW41 chassis proved flawed and has actually performed worse than its predecessor at the majority of circuits.

The result is just seven points scored so far this season and the uncomfortable position of last in the Constructors' Championship with the Briton outlining what needs to be done.

“I think it would be a mistake to pinpoint one area and say that has to be the sole concentration or that’s the sole problem; it’s not," Smedley told Autosport.

“There’s never one magic bullet, in all areas really, you can never stop learning and improving.

“They’ve got strong leadership and Claire [Williams] is at the front of that leadership. I think at that leadership level they need a recovery plan and that has to attack all areas of the business.

“It has to be technical, but it has to be all the support structure of the business as well.

“There are areas that need modernisation, there are areas that need change and there are areas you should recognise that are strong compared to other Formula 1 teams but are not supported in other ways.

“It’s a long road, they’re a talented bunch there, there are some really good technical people, some really good engineers and a good management group and the trick now is they have to pull together and start to go in one direction,” he concluded.

Also Read:

• Stroll: I've 'improved well as a driver' despite 'awful' Williams car
• Williams still getting over the scale of 2018 woes

Smedley has decided not to continue in the attempted revival of Williams though, taking time off with his family despite rumours of a possible offer from a former employer in Ferrari.

And while the current situation is very difficult, he does his work has helped in some key areas.

“I joined Williams at a time when they were evolving from having a torrid time of it,” he said.

“[For] the new regulations in 2014, the part that I was going to play in the journey was to take on the vehicle science, the vehicle performance side of it, the race operations and to try to help out in that area.

“If you look back at 2012, 2013 and from that point on, from 2014, with the huge effort that all of the guys that work in that department, we have been able to grow it, we’ve been able to improve it, and hopefully I leave it in better shape than it was.”

Robert Kubica is to be confirmed as a Williams driver for 2019 at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a  Polish journalist has claimed.

The former BMW and Renault driver, who has been the reserve at the British team this season, has become the favourite for the seat alongside George Russell in recent weeks, with rumours the Pole had been offered the drive back in Brazil.

Though they were denied, Kubica himself has acknowledged he has the choice between racing at Williams or a development role at Ferrari and now it appears the chance to achieve a highly anticipated comeback has been chosen.

Reporter Cezary Gutowski has posted on Twitter that an announcement will be made on Thursday at Yas Marina and if true, it will see the 33-year-old back on a Formula 1 grid for the first time since 2010 next March in Melbourne.

It will also mark a remarkable recovery from the injuries suffered in a rally crash in early 2011 which ended Kubica's first stint in F1 and left him with a partially amputated right arm.

The main motivation behind his promotion is thought to be financial, with Robert gaining backing from his homeland and the Grove-based team in need of funds to make up for the loss of title sponsor Martini and Lance Stroll's sponsorship to Force India.

It is that reason which means the exiled Esteban Ocon will miss out, albeit with a year as reserve driver at all three Mercedes-powered teams is expected for the Frenchman.