2018 Teams and Drivers Rookie/New Drivers in Purple, Changes from 2017 in Orange Scuderia Ferrari [Italy] Team Principal: Maurizio Arrivabene Chassis: SF71H Engine: Ferrari 5 - Sebastian Vettel [Germany] 7 - Kimi Räikkönen [Finland] Sahara Force India F1 Team [India] Team Principal: Vijay Maliya Chassis: VJM11 Engine: Mercedes 11 - Sergio Perez [Mexico] 31 - Esteban Ocon [France] Haas F1 Team [USA] Team Principal: Günther Steiner Chassis: VF-18 Engine: Ferrari 8 - Romain Grosjean [France] 20 - Kevin Magnussen [Denmark] McLaren Formula 1 Team [UK] Team Principal: Éric Boullier Chassis: MCL33 Engine: Renault 2 - Stoffel Vandoorne [Belguim] 14 - Fernando Alonso [Spain] Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport [Germany] Team Principal: Toto Wolff Chassis: F1 W09 EQ Power+ Engine: Mercedes 44 - Lewis Hamilton [UK] 77 - Valtteri Bottas [Finland] Aston Martin Red Bull Racing [Austria] Team Principal: Christian Horner Chassis: RB14 Engine: TAG Heuer [Renault] 3 - Daniel Ricciardo [Australia] 33 - Max Verstappen [Netherlands] Renault Sport Formula One Team [France] Team Principal: Cyril Abiteboul Chassis: R.S.18 Engine: Renault 27 - Nico Hulkenberg [Germany] 55 - Carlos Sainz Jr [Spain] Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team [Switzerland] Team Principal: Frederic Vasseur Chassis: C37 Engine: Alfa Romeo [Ferrari] 9 - Marcus Ericsson [Sweden] 16 - Charles Leclerc [Monaco] Scuderia Toro Rosso [Italy] Team Principal: Franz Tost Chassis: STR13 Engine: Honda 10 - Pierre Gasly [France] 28 - Brendon Hartley [New Zealand] Williams Martini Racing [UK] Team Principal: Sir Frank Williams Chassis: FW41 Engine: Mercedes 18 - Lance Stroll [Canada] 35 - Sergey Sirotkin [Russia]
As is traditional - Now for this year's... McRenault rack up as many engine penalties or certainly rack them up as often as the did as McHonda. Sauber may, just may, not completely suck. STR will completely suck. Gasly and/or Hartley are replaced before the season is over. Fairly comfortable Merc win, again. Whatever Pirelli has done with/to the 2018 tyres, it'll have been the wrong thing...
My predictions: Hamilton and Vettel continue to clash, starting in Australia. This is the closest we'll ever get to a Senna/Prost thing. Alonso scores more podiums than either of the RBR drivers... But no wins. Renault and McLaren close the gap to RBR in the constructors championship, pushing Force India down in the process. Ferrari push development in the completely wrong direction and start rolling heads by mid-season. Williams sign Kubica, but lack of... everything means they spend the year fighting a much improved Sauber and Torro Rosso (when it's actually working). Nobody uses the Super Hard tyre... Except to make rubber jokes.
Merc will walk away with driver and constructors title Red Bull will get closer to Ferrari Just like this year none of the other teams will have a chance at a podium place in a regular race Williams, Sauber and Toro Rosso will be doing a season long Minardi impression.
Merc/Ham takes it again Bottas comes through as the guy that's always #2. Ferrari and RBR clash more. McLaren is best of the rest, Alonso still unhappy. FIndia and Williams fight behind them.
Dauber new Livery and Leclerc and Erricson confirmed for next season. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...-ericsson--as-alfa-romeo-livery-revealed.html
Damn shame for Wehrlein. Pity Ericsson brings the mega bucks and there's no Merc junior seat/team for Pascal.
Merc to win constructors on reliability but the heavily revised car doesn't perform well for most of the season. Ferrari implosion dampens down with early success but then continues after red bull catch and start winning races but overall hampered by reliability. Three way shootout for Drivers between Hamilton who is slow but consistent and helped by the fact Riccardo, Verstappen and Vettel keep nabbing points of each other. Raikkonen and Bottas to be no where next year with Raikkonen taking a race win but then fading away. McLaren pick up good points but continue with reliability problems but at least look like they want to participate. Battle with Force India and Renault for 4th spot but really look like a team that could break the top 3. Torro Rosso to finish dead last as Honda is continuing to be dreadful but shows much improvement towards the end of the season. Heartily and Gasley look mediocre for most of the season. Williams, Haas and Sauber all battle for second worse will Stroll being dreadful propped up by Kubica. Haas looks strong but fade as the season progresses but still finishes ahead of Torro Rosso due to end season reliability and nicking points now and again. Sauber look strong with up to date Ferrari engine, solid package and good performances from Leclerc and Erricson. Renault continue to improve but hampered by reliability but still keep Force India honest.
Pascal could still be a surprise at Williams but I agree. Ocon looks the golden boy for Merc. I can see Wherlin as test driver for a season or sports car racing. This year will be telling in terms of head space and if he can make it
With Red Bull having Torro Rosso, now Ferrari having Sauber as proper junior/feeder teams, I wouldn't be surprised to see Mercedes make more of a push onto the likes of Force India... Which, considering they are by far and away the best mid-field team of the past few years, would be a pretty big snatch. That is, of course, if they feel the need to - they know any driver would do an early exit from any team to get in that car, so they don't really need to gestate junior drivers.
Haas have a budget set out for five seasons, then they will 'evaluate their position,' Gene Haas has point blank stated in the past that either rules change in such a way that midfield teams can win some of the time without increasing their spending or he will take his company elsewhere. Haas F1 is an advert for Haas wind tunnels and machine tools, he started the F1 project on the promise of a more level playing field after 2020 (a Bernie promise, make of that what you will) and I can see Haas walking away when Ferrari/Merc protect the status quo.
Having said that yesterday, http://www.planetf1.com/news/haas-linked-with-maserati-partnership-report/ Dallara and Maserati have history, Dallar built the MC-12 GT1 cars that completely ruined GT in the mid 2000s until the FIA loaded 200kg of ballast into them. If this turns out to be true it looks like Fiat have offered Haas a secondary deal, less money than the Alfa option but some money and no imposition on driver choice. Seeing a Haas Maserati would certainly be cool, it might lead to an improvement in the Haas primer grey paintwork..
