[2018] Pecking order speculation thread

[GM7]

1) RedBull
2) Mercedes
3) Ferrari
4) Mclaren
5) Renault
6) Force India
7) Williams
Haas
9) Alfa-Romeo Sauber
10) Toro Rosso

IMO RedBull will have the best chassis and drivers pair in 2018, in addition the Renault engine will surely be as competitive as the Ferrari engine actually is. I think Ferrari will have a very good car just like this year, maybe the best package but I don't see Raikkonen doing a good season. Mercedes is going to change the aero philosophy of his car, they will surely have some little difficuties at the beginning of the season.
Mclaren and Renault will move up the hierarchy.
Toro Rosso will have a difficult season.

[FrukostScones]

Really tough this 2018... but do I care. Halo not. or yes....
1Ferrari VET will win easy as on a 2010 RB
2RedBull only to be let down by 3 Renault PU alloc. ; ) Verstappen would have won it.
3Merc New concepts will Prove costly, BOT a complete failure on a diffucult car.
4 McLaren ALo to win AUS but then only 4 best
5 Renault, nearly AS gold AS McLaren Hulenberg to win at least one GP
6ForceIndia.
7 Saubr, New funds ,Philosoph and Pu plus1 driver will deliver
8Williams, decline continues
9TR, GP2 pilots will ruin a decent car PU Combo
10 Haas

[Just_a_fan]

If RedBull are the class of the field, do we think that Vettel or Hamilton will possibly still win the title? We could see the RedBull drivers squabbling and taking points off each other and another driver sneaking through for the title. Think 2007.

[NL_Fer]

Mercedes
Redbull
Ferrari
——————
McLaren
Renault
——————-
Force India
Williams
Torro Rosso
——————-
Sauber
Haas

Renault will be making great progress, closing the gap in races. So Redbull will be right there with Merc and Ferrari. The factory team ofcourse will benefit also and the chassis is improving also, bring them close to 0,5s off the top. McLaren will be very compatitive, bit also 0,3 slower because of pu integration issues. Torro Rosso has a nice chassis, but the Honda will be somewhere like Renault was in 2017. Little chassis development en engine penalties will take them to the back by 2/3 part of the season.

[Manoah2u]

1 ) Ferrari
2 ) RedBull
3 ) Renault
4 ) Mercedes
5 ) Mclaren
6 ) Force India
7 ) Toro Rosso
8 ) Sauber
9 ) Haas
10 ) Williams

based upon the following:

Mercedes will introduce a completely new chassis, and discover they missed hard and get back to the positions when Hamilton first joined.
Ferrari keeps their philosophy but upgraded some weaknesses and decided to give it even more and not slack, which is how they keep their current position
RedBull has been constantly improving, have aimed for better over the winter period, and with Mercedes degraded have 1 enemy less in front of them.
Renault have significantly improved their car, and engine, installed qually mode which positions them better, and Sainz is their biggest asset. P5 andP6 not easy but achievable.
Mercedes have a chassis disaster which brings tire nightmares, but are helped by their still superb engine and hamilton's capabilities and qually mode.
Mclaren have a great chassis, but Renault proves to bring toro rosso's and verstappens reliability issues to the woking team, frustrating Alonso, and VanDoorne simply isnt that good.
Force India are great with a great driver pairing but appeared with a total different chassis which took things - like mercedes amg - into a wrong turn whilst the others took a step forward.
Toro Rosso have a surprisingly good Honda engine, but a very mediocre chassis and even less potent driver pairing. It's all down to the Honda engine that they're there.
Sauber made this jump due to current-year spec engines and a wealth of Ferrari parts and knowledge, and a new chassis which isn't horrible. Leclerc needs time but gets the car here.
Haas is dropping down because of an aging chassis, a demotivated Grosjean, less Ferrari input due to Ferrari befriending Sauber.
Williams has Kubica, whom is more than capable, and Stroll is actually decent, but again miss the mark completely and get lots of tech errors and tire problems. Daddy Stroll explodes.

in reality, nobody knows. this is just letting thoughts roll freely.

in reality, i think Mercedes will still be up top, RedBull might pass Ferrari but are restricted due to the Renault engine, Ferrari is still there, Force India is still great but get more competition from Mclaren and Renault and Williams, Sauber fights Haas, Toro Rosso is all the way to the back due to crap drivers, a shitty chassis, and still troublesome honda engines.

[NathanOlder]

Mercedes
Redbull
Ferrari
——————
McLaren
Renault
——————-
Force India
Williams
Torro Rosso
——————-
Sauber
Haas

Renault will be making great progress, closing the gap in races. So Redbull will be right there with Merc and Ferrari. The factory team ofcourse will benefit also and the chassis is improving also, bring them close to 0,5s off the top. McLaren will be very compatitive, bit also 0,3 slower because of pu integration issues. Torro Rosso has a nice chassis, but the Honda will be somewhere like Renault was in 2017. Little chassis development en engine penalties will take them to the back by 2/3 part of the season.

100% agree with this.

[Shrieker]

My take:

Mercedes
-----------------
Ferrari
Redbull
-----------------
McLaren
Renault
______________
Williams
Force India
Haas
______________
Sauber
______________
Toro Rosso

Mercedes will be slightly(but ultimately decisively) ahead - as they were in 2017;
Ferrari and Redbull very close but slightly ahead of the much improved McLaren and Renault teams;
Williams will finally have a decent chassis thanks to Lowe after a veeeeeeery long time;
Findia and occasionally Haas will keep them more than honest;
Sauber will improve a lot compared to 2017, but I expect the drivers to find wanting;
Toro Rosso will be a joke. Bad engine and no better drivers than Sauber. Maybe a little nudge from their big brother (chassis wise) might tip the scales and put them much higher tho.

[Vasconia]

Ferrari
Red Bull
Mercedes
McLaren
Renault
Williams
Force India
Haas
Alfa Romeo-Sauber
Toro Rosso

I think Ferrari will improve this car and the PU which will give them the chance of beating Mercedes. The Germans will try new solutions which at first won´t work but their second half of the season will be better. Red Bull with an awesome chasis and an improved PU will fight with Ferrari.

I expect a close battle between Renault and McLaren. Williams will improve thanks to the new technical managment and (hopefully) the car will be competitive in Kubika´s hands. Alfa Romeo-Sauber will need more time to improve so I expect them to fight with TR and probably beat them in the second half.

[bauc]

Mercedes
Redbull
Ferrari
——————
McLaren
Renault
——————-
Force India
Williams
Torro Rosso
——————-
Sauber
Haas

Renault will be making great progress, closing the gap in races. So Redbull will be right there with Merc and Ferrari. The factory team ofcourse will benefit also and the chassis is improving also, bring them close to 0,5s off the top. McLaren will be very compatitive, bit also 0,3 slower because of pu integration issues. Torro Rosso has a nice chassis, but the Honda will be somewhere like Renault was in 2017. Little chassis development en engine penalties will take them to the back by 2/3 part of the season.

100% agree with this.

Me2, with a great hope to see Mclaren win a race and RBR or Ferrari stealing the tile from Mercedes in the last race.

[Fowks]

Here is mine:

Mercedes
-----------------
Ferrari
___________
McLaren
Red Bull
___________
Renault
Force India
___________
Williams
___________
Haas
Sauber
______________
Toro Rosso

[dren]

Mercedes
Ferrari - Red Bull
Force India - Renault
Mclaren
Williams - Toro Rosso
Haas - Sauber

[PlatinumZealot]

Ferrari and Renault unlock engine power but Mercedes still faster in qually but chassis begs for low speed downforce.

McLaren chassis is. Beast but not refined for high speed.

Paddy Low works his magic and williams chassis is finally a decent one. Matching Renault. Just half a second off the leading pack.

Haas and Sauber will get the Ferrari 2017 B spec chassis and due to rules continuation will be quite competitive.

Toro Rosso flounders with chassis and drivers despite a decently improved Honda engine.

RedBull
Ferrari
Mercedes
McLaren
----------------
Williams
Renault
Force india
Haas
sauber
---------------

Toro Rosso

[markovski19]

Mercedes
Ferrari
---------- 0.20-0.30/lap gap
Red Bull
McLaren
---------- 0.10-0.20/lap gap further
Renault
----------
Force India
Williams
----------
Sauber
Haas
----------
Toro Rosso

Mercedes and Ferrari (mainly VET) squabbling for poles and race wins. With glimpses of excellence from both Red Bull drivers. Maybe, just maybe, outside chance that Alonso picks up a pole position, definitely top 3 at some stage.

Red Bull fighting with McLaren for podium places, Red Bull drivers with more of a chance of winning, whereas Alonso has 1 or 2 chances of winning for McLaren.

Renault takes a few chances for podium places.

Smaller gap than in previous years to midfield and their battles.

RIC signs a deal to move to Ferrari for 2019. Raikkonen out. HAM and BOT stay put.

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[marmer]

Will be interesting to see how the halo affects teams aero. If a small team gets some luck like brawn 09 with a design it could actually really help spice up things

[Webber2011]

Hahahaha !
This thread is going to be so much fun to review after 2018 is done and dusted
Thinking hard about my own opinions, and scrolling down at the same time to see what everyone else is thinking

This post is the closest to my thoughts, but I'd change one or two just because of my way of thinking.

Mercedes
Redbull
Ferrari
——————
McLaren
Renault
——————-
Force India
Williams
Torro Rosso
——————-
Sauber
Haas

Renault will be making great progress, closing the gap in races. So Redbull will be right there with Merc and Ferrari. The factory team ofcourse will benefit also and the chassis is improving also, bring them close to 0,5s off the top. McLaren will be very compatitive, bit also 0,3 slower because of pu integration issues. Torro Rosso has a nice chassis, but the Honda will be somewhere like Renault was in 2017. Little chassis development en engine penalties will take them to the back by 2/3 part of the season.

Top 3 is hard to doubt, simply because of their budget and the talent of their personnel, although I expect Red Bull to hit the ground running in testing and the first few races.
After their disastrous start to 2017 they seem very committed to not making the same mistake twice, and I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with some sort of sneaky aero that flabbergasts everyone.
Bug bear will be the new PU limit so there's a real dependence on Renault to get their shite together, but I expect Red Bull to win at least half of the first 8 races.

Mercedes will still be top dog with power, but they will struggle as far as set up goes once again.

Ferrari will totally lose their way and be a distant third, maybe even being caught by the rest of the midfield ?

I honestly think next year Williams will finally make a decent step up, so I'd put them in the battle for 4th with McLaren and Renault, especially if they end up signing Robert.

And a dream.............Honda will finally develop a beast of a PU, that will propel TR into the same group, so we will see Macca, Williams, FI, Renault, and Torro Rosso all nipping at the heels of the top 3 and occasionally snatching a podium.


Sauber and Haas to consistently bring up the rear.

Man I can't wait to see how foolish my predictions were