2019 performance speculation

[NathanOlder]

Being able to follow closely and not having to nurse the tires as much. That's been the stated goals, so the takeaway IMO will be that the gap between worst to first will compress quite a bit. Turbo and batteries are the main areas left for making power gains. Aero "complexity" for lack of a better word is being decreased, but that's not really what will be going on, we know that areas of the car such as floors and barges will likely be asked to work double time to make up for the loss of outwash effect. Interesting times indeed, but I think come Barcelona next year we'll be looking at around a 2 second qualifying gap between first and last.

I hope you're right, I'd love the midfield guys to be able to fight the front guys if the front guys have any issues and have to come back through the field. When it happens this year, most of the midfield jump out the way as they know they have no chance to keep a front car behind them. If next year some of Renault, F.I , Haas, Sauber ect are within a second of the top 3 teams then they may try and hold them back as they may feel they can keep them back.

[Polite]

Right Now my running order predctions
1. Mercedes
2. Ferrari
3.Red Bull
4.Renault
5. Force India
6. Haas
7. Sauber
8.Toro Rosso
9. Maclern
10.Williams

mine is, in group of competitors

1 Mercedes, Ferrari, Redbull
2 Renault, AlfaSauber, ForceIndia
3 Haas, ToroRosso, Mclaren
4 Williams.

Hoping for a good job for the end of the year by Mecca and Williams..

[anzx]

Sorry guys, but I think you underestimate Renault too much. It's about time that French team joins the front. They invested to much to be just 4th. I believe that Renault will be max 0.5 sec behind. And their driving pairing is probably the best in F1.

[AJI]

I'll go for driver number of wins, from most to least. This is not my WDC prediction though.

1 - HAM
2 - VET
3 - LEC
4 - VER
5 - RIC
6 - GAS

Sorry BOT, you're gonna get team ordered out of existence...

[djos]

It will be interesting to see how the Red Bull goes, or should I say how the Honda PU performs in a Newey car.

Indeed, the Honda PU has been pretty fragile this year so reliability is still a big question mark.

[WaikeCU]

I'm thinking Sauber might surprise for next season. I assume that Kimi will have a no.1 status at Sauber. He'll spend a lot of time in the factory and close to the engineers weekly or even daily, so there will be constant feedback and input. Ever since he announced the Sauber deal I felt a load fell off his shoulders, he seems more relaxed, lense tensed, lense 'Iceman', more sense of humor.

Did you guys notice how fast that Sauber was in Abu Dhabi in the hands of Leclerc? I think it might well be the 4th fastest team next season with some occasional podium finishes with Kimi.

[NathanOlder]

Podium is a massive push with the top 3 teams dominating! Plus surely Renault are most likely to clean up any podiums on offer next year ?

[notsofast]

I would like to see Red Bull on an equal footing with Mercedes and Ferrari, but I would not be surprised if Honda reliability will cause Ricciardo to have a better season than Verstappen.

[i70q7m7ghw]

McLaren said similar things about Honda at the start, I'm not convinced, it didn't look great in the Torro Rosso this year. Let's not forget, Renault isn't standing still, the Spec C engine is a significant upgrade in power, they just need to sort the delivery issues, and they may even turn up next year with a Spec D/E with even more improvements.

McLaren and Honda had a major disconnect from the start, there was no synergy noticeable at all. The opposite is happening according to the various reports with the RBR/Honda partnership, cooperation is happening in every R&D and production process it seems.

McLaren said all the same things at the start. I'm sorry, but if Honda is going to turn up with the best engine on the grid next year I'll need to see it before I believe it. Let's not forget, they've also got two very junior drivers with limited experience of developing a GP car.

I think as others have mentioned, Renault should move closer to the top 4 next year, and if the Honda in the back of the RB isn't up to scratch Renault could be right in the mix.

Overall I don't expect massive changes up/down the grid, Mercedes & Ferrari will fight for the championship again.

[Phil]

I dont think Redbull would need ‘the best engine’ to be competitive.

[dans79]

I dont think Redbull would need ‘the best engine’ to be competitive.

Redbull will have other issues to deal with, because Newey's shrink wrap mentality always seems to cause issues with the PU.

[Wynters]

I dont think Redbull would need ‘the best engine’ to be competitive.

Agreed. Red Bull were competitive this season, Ricciardo's unreliability and Verstappen's incidents hid a significant portion of their pace. If you extrapolate finishes based on Verstappen not tangling with other cars then he would have been ahead of Vettel for the last part of the season. He wouldn't have caught Hamilton in the end but he'd have been significantly closer, putting more pressure on Mercedes and it would certainly have been a more exciting season.

If Red Bull aren't challenging next year then they'll have gone backwards.

[NathanOlder]

I dont think Redbull would need ‘the best engine’ to be competitive.

Agreed. Red Bull were competitive this season, Ricciardo's unreliability and Verstappen's incidents hid a significant portion of their pace. If you extrapolate finishes based on Verstappen not tangling with other cars then he would have been ahead of Vettel for the last part of the season. He wouldn't have caught Hamilton in the end but he'd have been significantly closer, putting more pressure on Mercedes and it would certainly have been a more exciting season.

If Red Bull aren't challenging next year then they'll have gone backwards.

But Verstappen would have only challenged Vettel if he hadn't have screwed up and tangled with other cars like you say. But that would have only been because Vettel screwed up himself. If Vettel hadn't have screwed up so much himself, there's no way Verstappen would have been anywhere near Vettel. The Red Bull was competitive yes, but it was never competitive for a championship race. So it depends what you call competitive.

[AJI]

The pecking order won't change much in 2019. Mercedes/Ferrari equal first (driver ability and team politics will decide the WDC and WCC), Red Bull third, Renault fourth...

[Bill]

Why is everyone lying about Honda reliability,they had 2 problems with Gasly in first race meh (Aus) and last race Abu Dhabi all a result of hitting the kerb had . For bit of perspective Hulknberg has used 5 engines. Redbull as of now is the only term that have been able to recoup all of the downforce lost as a result of new front wing , Honda expect another step in power gains so Rbr will be the team to beat