2019 F1 Guide: Will the Red Bull Honda gamble payout?

The chosen one, Max Verstappen, remains with the team while 23-year-old Pierre Gasly is welcomed to the garage, replacing Daniel Ricciardo following his move to Renault.

While on paper Red Bull looks to be a step back from the front running duo of Mercedes and Ferrari, early signs out of preseason testing suggest they may have closed the gap to the top two.

We know Adrian Newey will deliver a great car and the team have the resources to develop it and sustain a constant challenge as the season progresses, provided Honda deliver a power-unit package that gives them wings.

Much hinges on this new era as the team bank on the Japanese auto giant to rise from the ashes of a disastrous McLaren project and prove a point by becoming a potent force in F1 once again, with Red Bull of course.

Christian Horner.

Christian Horner, Team Principal: The 45-year-old had a career in racing, competing professionally in the British Formula Renault and Formula 3000 championships.

Horner has led Red Bull Racing since their inaugural season in 2005, when they made their debut in Melbourne with two-time Australian Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and Austrian Christian Klien.

Outside F1, Horner resides in the rural countryside of England and is famously married to Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

Despite his relatively young age Horner is one of the most experienced team principals in the pit lane and over the years has managed to keep the team sharp despite interference from Helmut Marko who manages the drivers.

A potentially combustible dynamic which the pair employ to good effect and seem to be pretty much on the same page. His big tasks this year is to keep Max cool, calm and focussed while keeping an eye on the new kid on the block and make sure he does not break too much kit.

But like Marko, Horner has no doubt that Max will do the business should he be given the tools to do the job, even going as far as saying he would not swap his driver for five-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

Meanwhile, the noises coming out of Sakura and Milton Keynes are positive, reminiscent of a recently married couple on honeymoon as they build their new house together, Red Bull tasked to build the house and Honda to equip it, in Melbourne we will see if the toaster is properly wired...

Max Verstappen with his father Jos Verstappen.

Max Verstappen: A car that runs but breaks will not sit well with their eager ace Max who at the tender age of 21 is the de facto team leader.

Much depends on which Max turns up in Melbourne. If we get the chap who so impressed in the latter half of last season then expect brilliance, however if he has another wayward spell as he did early on in 2018 it could be another story.

Which Max we get will depend on what Honda deliver in terms of pace and reliability. Blow-ups and retirements on a regular basis will not sit well with driver and team. Remember the end of their Renault marriage?

On the other side of the coin, should Honda get their sums right Max will be in there with a title chance taking on Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in what should be a riveting battle for the title

Pierre Gasly: The 23-year-old Frenchman very early on has already blotted his copybook with his new team with an unnecessary mistake that virtually wrote-off the RB15 on the penultimate day of Barcelona testing which compromised the team's preparations as they lost the final day of track action.

Is Pierre he ready? Paddock consensus is that another year at Toro Rosso may have served him better, but the problem was that with Daniel Ricciardo departing the team had two choices: Pierre or Brendon Hartley, the Frenchman got the nod for obvious reasons, but it was a forced call and not their preferred choice but he was off to Remault.

Pierre Gasly.

It would be no surprise if Pierre does not shape up Red Bull will send him back to the Toro Rosso B-Team and give Daniil Kvyat a second crack with the Blues.

Many speak of Gasly's easy going, care-less attitude and his ability to bounce back from adversity, alas in the spotlight of the top flight there is no place to hide and too many mistakes will get punished.

The reality at Red Bull and Honda is that Max is

The Man, the entire operation will revolve around him in a style reminiscent to their most successful era with Sebastian Vettel their main focus.

On a historic note, remarkably, the Red Bull crew team go to Melbourne without an Australian driver in for the first time in 13 years, when two-time Australian Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and Austrian Christian Klien raced the Red Bull RB2 all the way back in 2006.