Alfa Romeo Racing [Switzerland] Chassis: C38 Engine: Ferrari Team Principal: Frederic Vasseur Drivers: 7 – Kimi Raikkonen [Finalnd] 99 – Antonio Giovanazzi [Italy] Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow [Italy] Chassis: SF90 Engine: Ferrari Team Principal: Mattia Binotto Drivers: 5 – Sebastien Vettel [Germany] 16 – Charles Leclerc [Monaco] Haas F1 Team [USA] Chassis: VF-19 Engine: Ferrari Team Principal: Gunther Steiner Drivers: 8 – Romain Gosjean [France] 20 – Kevin Magnussen [Denmark] McLaren F1 Team [UK] Chassis: MCL34 Engine: Renault Team Principal: Andreas Seidl Drivers: 55 – Carlos Sainz [Spain] 4 – Lando Norris [UK] Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport [Germany] Chassis: F1 W10 EQ Power+ Engine: Mercedes Team Principal: Toto Wolff Drivers: 44 – Lewis Hamilton [UK] 77 – Valtteri Bottas [Finalnd] SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team [UK] Chassis: RP19 Engine: Mercedes Team Principal: Otmar Szafnauer Drivers:11 – Sergio Perez [Mexico] 18 – Lance Stroll [Canada] Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda [Austria] Chassis: RB15 Engine: Honda Team Principal: Christian Horner Drivers: 10 – Pierre Gasly [France] - Races 1-12 23 – Alexander Albon [Thailand] - Races 13- 33 – Max Verstappen [Netherlands] Renault F1 Team [France] Chassis: R.S. 19 Engine: Renault Team Principal: Cyril Abitboul Drivers: 3 – Daniel Ricciardo [Australia] 27 – Nico Hulkenberg [Germany] Red Bull Torro Rosso Honda [Italy] Chassis: STR14 Engine: Honda Team Principal: Franz Tost Drivers: 26 – Daniil Kvyat [Russia] 23 – Alexander Albon [Thailand] - Races 1-12 10 – Pierre Gasly [France] - Races 13- ROKiT Williams Racing [UK] Chassis: FW42 Engine: Mercedes Team Principal: Claire Williams Drivers: 88 – Robert Kubica [Poland] 63 – George Russel [UK]
2019 predictions: Williams v STR for the wooden spoon. Williams to come last again, but Russell and Kubica to make a good battle of it, reaching Q2 about half the time. Renault and/or Mclaren and/or Force India to finish ahead of Red Bull. Red Bull Honda to get extremely acrimonious. Merc'n'Lewis champions again. Leclerc second. Bottas third but replaced by Occon at the season's end. Occon to be driving the Force India from the summer break onwards. Russell to Force India at season's end, replacing 'Stroll'. Perez to lap Stroll at least once in the first three GPs. Vettel and Arrivibene out of Ferrari. Ricciardo beats both Red Bulls, gets some cheeky podiums. Hulkenberg finally gets a podium. Verstappen or Raikkonen (again) into Ferrari.
I'll play predictions: Leclerc a serious competitor to Seb in the second half. RBR not happy with Honda. Ocon to replace Bottas at season end. Merc/Lewis WCC/WDC again. Vettel to consider retirement at season end. Arivabene out at Ferrari. Verstappen to be rumored at Ferrari come crazy season, but no cigar, since he's still mentally 10 years old. Renault to do better than expected, outgunning McLaren and (hopefully) RBR. Stroll out at season end.
Predictions. I think Lewis will pick up his 6th title, Leclerc will be a match for Seb diluting his points haul. Bottas will dissspoint yet again, he’ll support Lewis early on then either get frustrated and fall out or be replaced mid season by Ocon. Merc and Ferrari will be on level terms performance wise, but Lewis with getting full support from his team unlike Seb at Ferrari. Red bull to show their frustration at Honda, and fall behind Renault Max won’t have a great year, and rather than mature will become more petulant and get caught in in fights with leading drivers - he might move in after the year end (future champion, but will need the right car) Kubica won’t be the second coming, and Russel will completely outshine him - well as much as he can in what will still be a dog of a car. Claire Williams will step down from her roll at the end of the year. McLaren, looks like a nice driver lineup - but can’t see the guys having the car they deserve. Riciardo to become the new Hulk, the guy that everyone thought could be a future champ - but never ended up in the right car at the right time. He’ll hang around for a number of years before heading of to do some V8 racing. Stroll to be utterly outclassed, throw his toys out of the pram, ask dad to have Perez replaced - but dad being a real businessman will actually drop his son.
2019 aero changes will do nothing Vettel will crash for no real reason leading a race RBR will say they are down on power all season Kubica will be very meh McRenaulto will move forward slightly LeClerc will challange Seb and be more a 1.5 driver rather than a true No2 Bottas will continue to fade Sauber will become a more solid mid field team with Kimi eating all the magnums he can find
Predictions! 1 - Lewis to become 6-time champ. And it'll be an easier ride than this year, too. 2 - Vettel will be upset by Leclerc early on, but it'll motivate him to actually step-up to his potential after a couple of easy years being compared to Kimi. 3 - RBR will combust in spectacular fashion, literally and figuratively... Fiery Max + snakey Horner + easily rattled Marko + sketchy Honda engine is just a superb recipe for fireworks. Threats to leave the sport before summer break. 4 - Renault will continue to close the gap, but at it's current glacial pace. With Force India having a Stroll handicap (and HAAS having Grosjean), they'll finish WELL clear of the mid-field, but I suspect the Red Bull's peak results (when it makes it to the end of a GP) will still keep them in front. 5 - McLaren will suffer without Alonso's input. I won't say they'll fall further behind, but they won't be making any progress either. On a good day, scraping for points, but generally behind the likes of Sauber/Force India/HAAS and fighting with Torro Rosso and Williams. 6 - Williams will make progress with Kubica's technical input, and with Russel in the other car, won't completely embarrass themselves... Providing they have enough money to see the season out. 7 - Grosjean will crash. Not as much as this year, but still more than any other driver. Driver battles: Ham VS Bottas - Ham. Easy. Vettel VS Leclerc - Seb, but only after a strong 2nd half of the season. Max VS Pierre - Max. But only because of favouritism and Pierre fearing a 5 knuckle shuffle. Hulk VS D-Ric - Tough one, this. I'm a career Hulk fan, but I suspect Danny will just edge it... Unless his Renault PU curse continues. Sainz VS Norris - Sainz, but neither will make much of an impact on the season and McLaren will continue to look for a proper "Tier 1" driver. Perez VS Stroll - HAHAHAHAHA. Grosjean VS K-Mag - It'll be closer than this year, but I think Kevin will have the momentum to win it. Kubica VS Russell - I think it'll be fairly even. Russell is a rookie, and will take some time to get used the Formula. Bob has been away for a few years, but he has enough experience to get up to speed quicker, the question mark is where his peak now is. Could surprise us, and I would love for him to. Kimi VS Gio - Kimi. By a wide margin. But he won't enjoy it. Kvyat VS ??? - ???
Lewis casually cruises to a 6th title. Ferrari 2nd in no mans land. Red Bull drop back to mid field. Three way battle for best of the rest between Red Bull, Renault and Ferrari 2 Sauber Force India, Haas and McLaren three way battle at the bottom end of midfield TR 2nd last in no mans land. Williams fall from grace to continue and out of F1 at end of season.
STR have found someone to replace Hartley That leaves Not-FIndia's second driver the only unconfirmed, even though it's almost certainly Stroll.
So the top 3 from Formula 2 are coming into F1, the Super License rules work! Also, they're all brits. Although for reasons unknown Albon lists his nationality and racing license as Thai, even though he was born in London, went to school in Ipswich, holds a British passport and is about as Thai as a Cornish Pasty. About the only connection to Thailand he has is his mum... who he is estranged from after she was convicted of fraud for a huge ponsi scheme that left her in prison for six years. But no, totally Thailand's first Formula 1 driver.
2019 Predictions Hamilton makes it 6 with the aim of equalling Schumy before any rules change in 2021 Stroll [if confirmed at not-FI] is still DFL or close to it. RBR are slagging off Honda by the summer break. McRenault and Williams improve, but not enough to not be at the back. Sainz inherits Alonso's role of primary source of televised radio meltdowns. Leclerc out qualifies Seb and starts suffering Ricciardo-esque car troubles thereafter. Gasly out qualifies Max and starts suffering Ricciardo-esque car troubles thereafter.Grosjean gets a race ban. Max trades bodywork with Hamilton Max trades bodywork with Vettel Max trades bodywork with Gasly Max trades bodywork with Ricciardo Max causes at least one Safety Car. Bottas' contract isn't renewed at Merc. Kvyat gets shitcanned half way through the season. again. Driver head-to-heads Merc - Ham > Bottas. Ferrari - Vettel > Leclerc RBR - Max = Gasly Renault - Ricciardo beats Hulk on Saturdays, Hulk beats Riccardo on Sundays. Not-FI - Perez > I-can't-believe-it's-not-Stroll Haas - Grosjean = KMag TR - Kvyat = Albon Sauber - Kimi > Giovanazzi McLol - Lando > Sainz WTFiams - Kubica > Russel Team most likely to go under this year - Williams
Between Force India disappearing, the HAAS cars being almost completely rebranded with garish Rich Energy liveries and Williams announcing their new sponsorship deal with a Polish oil company, the midfield grid is going to look VERY different in 2019...
The Haas will black and gold, so it'll look like a Lotus, the Williams will be white and red, so it'll look like a Sauber, the Racing Private Finance Inititative will still be Pepto Bismol pink, because that's their major sponsor. Personally I really, really like the pink, there are not enough pink racing cars.
Driver numbers and official entry list confirmed FI name is officially dead replaced with Role Playing F1. I'll do my predictions later
Interesting little article about Alonso Vs Vandoorne, The team failed no notice a fault in his chassis, along with the car in general being a dog and paired against Alonso who we all know will wrestle cars to places they shouldnt be. Its a shame seems a mix of the car being poor and a domination team mates pretty much ruined his F1 chances. https://www.racefans.net/2018/12/05/2018-team-mates-battles-alonso-vs-vandoorne-at-mclaren/
Mclaren have form in this regard, Button once drove an entire Canadian GP weekend (2012 I think?) with a car with a hairline crack in it's chassis. Not only was his insistence that something was wrong with the car ignored, he was lapped by Hamilton (who won) and had a new chassis at the next race, because he refused to drive that one again. Only taking it apart at Woking did they find the damage. Mclaren are a shambles.
My predictions: Lewis to win another title and bottas to wingman him again all season, and as others have said i see occon moving to the team at the end of the year. I see Seb being no1 and Charl being the no2 driver at ferrari but Seb will make mistakes and by the end of the season (last couple of races) i see charl being allowed to race properly red bull I see having a similar season, Some promising results but overall they will have issues with the PU that will limit their title chances at all. Max the clear no1 driver Renault: I hope to see them do well and that Danny Ricc gets a good season and can perform but i just dont see it happening unfortunately. i expect both drivers to finish 1st and 2nd in the 1.5 championship Torro Rosso: A few visits to Q3 and some top 10 finishes but not much more than that, they will do whats expected of them i think McLaren: If you believe them they know the issues they had last season and can fix them and make it all work, I hope this is try as want to see them battling again, I dont see it expect them to have a few visits to Q3 and a few top 10 finishes in races not more than that really sauber: I want to see kimi do well in this car as we have seen it perform well over the past season at times, so we know its no slouch. they will be pushing Renault for the 4th best constructor williams: They can't do much worse can they? they have a good looking driver lineup that i really want to see perform well. just dont think they will. Racing Point: expect to see Stroll get comprehensively beaten all season by his team mate and get moved to test driver at the end of the year. I have still not seen enough of him to make me believe hes worthy to be in F1 compared to others Haas: I expect similar to this year, They had a decent middle pack car they had some adequate results and I expect more of the same. I dont see them making enough of a leap to be pusshing the top 3 teams, I wouldnt be surprised to see them trying to get 4th in the championship but theres plenty of tracks their car just does not perform
