Eight racing drivers we can’t wait to watch in 2019

8 Yvan Muller

The legendary four-time World Touring Car Champion retired at the end of 2016 – then thankfully changed his mind. Now 49, the Frenchman has proven conclusively that there is plenty of life in the old chien yet.

Muller finished just three points behind fellow veteran, friend and inaugural World Touring Car Cup champion Gabriele Tarquini – himself a pension-defying 56 – in the super-competitive series for TCR tin-tops.

Now for 2019, having run his own team of Hyundais, Muller has joined new manufacturer Lynk and Co for its first motor sport campaign. The company, which is part of the Geely empire that also owns Volvo and Lotus, appears full of ambition to make a splash on the world stage, and in Muller it has the perfect blend of experience and speed.

If he can win a fifth world title, at the age of 50 and with a new car manufacturer, it will surely be his greatest accomplishment.

7 Kris Meeke

Like his late and much-missed rallying mentor Colin McRae, Kris Meeke is spectacular, fiercely competitive – and a little accident-prone. And also just like McRae, he’s a proven winner and potential game-changer in the World Rally Championship.

Will Citroën regret losing patience with Meeke and sacking him after one crash too many in 2018? Toyota clearly believes so. The Japanese manufacturer, which claimed the makes’ WRC crown in 2018, has snapped up Meeke for 2019 to drive its potent Yaris.

Meeke will surely add to his tally of five WRC wins and, if he can harness the old excesses, a title challenge is not beyond him.

6 Stoffel Vandoorne

The 26-year-old Belgian has gone from the most-hyped Formula 1 prospect to yet another washed up talent spat out after two disastrous seasons at McLaren.

Now he begins his career rehabilitation, in the all-electric Formula E, driving for the HWA team that is also new to the series.

The use of the second-generation 250kW single-seater, which has the range to banish the series’ infamous car swaps to history, will at least be a leveller. But Vandoorne is under no illusions at the challenge he and his Mercedes-backed team is facing.

Vandoorne’s recharge begins in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 15.

5 George Russell, Lando Norris and Alex Albon

OK, so we have three for the price of one in our entry at number five. Then again, it’s not often that three British-born talents join F1 at the same time.

In all honesty, expectations must be kept in check for the top three Formula 2 drivers in 2018. Champion George Russell will be hoping Williams will bounce back from its recent horrors with a car that will at least allow him to compete in the midfield. In contrast, McLaren almost looked respectable, but the truth is both once-great teams have a mountain to climb. Highly rated Lando Norris will be banking on his career at McLaren not turning out like Vandoorne’s – and at least he won’t have Fernando Alonso as a team-mate.

London-born Alex Albon, who races under the Thai flag, might actually be well placed to perform best at Toro Rosso. We’ll begin to find out in Melbourne come March.

4 Billy Monger

Still only 19, the double amputee has won a million hearts for his breath-taking resilience since losing both lower legs in a Formula 4 crash at Donington Park in 2017.

Now Monger is eyeing a move into the new FIA Formula 3 Championship after proving his chops in the BRDC F3 series, in which he finished sixth in 2018.

Anyone who watched the recent moving documentary about this amazing young man, broadcast on the BBC, will be keeping their fingers crossed for him.

He’s proven a halo safety device is no obstruction to exiting a car within the mandatory maximum eight seconds. Now he might be racing on the F1 support bill. But just how far can this amazing young man rise?

3 Charles Leclerc

Sebastian Vettel won’t exactly be quaking in his racing boots, but it will surely have crossed his mind that a repeat of 2014 would be less than helpful when his new team-mate joins him at Ferrari next season.

Back then, the four-time world champion was shown up by Red Bull new-boy Daniel Ricciardo in the first year of the turbo hybrid F1. Now he faces another young talent who appears, from what we have seen at Sauber, to have monumental potential.

If Leclerc can get off to flying start, the Ferrari intra-team duel promises to be one of the stories of the season. Beating Vettel is clearly no mean feat – but Ricciardo has already proven it is possible.

2 Robert Kubica

How the Pole has made it this far is already a fantastic story. What happens next could either be an anti-climactic comeback coda – or the completion of a revival to eclipse anything Tyson Fury has managed in the world of boxing.

Kubica’s terrible arm injuries, sustained in a rallying accident in 2011, are still a clear disability, but the man once tipped as a future world champion has worked so hard to prove to Williams that they won’t stop him performing at the highest level. Now the team has committed to him, it must do its part by providing a worthy car. That more than Kubica’s capabilities will be key to what happens next.

1 Fernando Alonso

The great warrior battles on in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota after stepping back from life in F1 – but it’s his return to the Indianapolis 500 in May that really fires the imagination for 2019.

McLaren is entering its own bespoke team this time, unlike Alonso’s previous attempt in 2017 when he was run by Michael Andretti’s squad. Could that be a disadvantage? It’s certainly a tough order for a new team to come in and compete directly with the Indycar regulars – but if anyone can pull off motor racing’s win of the century, it’s surely Alonso.

We can’t wait for the Month of May to find out.

Photography courtesy of Motorsport Images.