2019 Driver Speculation

[Chrill]

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport:
44. Lewis Hamilton (link)
77. Valtteri Bottas (link)

Scuderia Ferrari:
5. Sebastian Vettel (link)
16. Charles Leclerc (link)

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda:
10. Pierre Gasly (link)
33. Max Verstappen (link)

Renault Sport Formula One Team:
3. Daniel Ricciardo (link)
27. Nico Hulkenberg (link)

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team:
8. Romain Grosjean (link)
20. Kevin Magnussen (link)

McLaren F1 Team:
55. Carlos Sainz (link)
?. Lando Norris (link)

Racing Point Force India F1 Team:
11. Sergio Perez (link)
18. Lance Stroll (link)
31. Esteban Ocon (link)
?. Nicholas Latifi (link)

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda:
26. Daniil Kvyat (link)
28. Brendon Hartley (link)
?. Alexander Albon (link)
?. Dan Ticktum (link)

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team:
7. Kimi Raikkonen (link)
?. Antonio Giovinazzi (link)

Williams Martini Racing:
63. George Russell (link)
?. Robert Kubica (link)

[Chrill]

Kubica won his only F1 race with car number 4, and that number is available for 2019. Just saying.

[Penfold]

Agree with your comments re: Kubica & F1's current talent pool.  The only real weak spots for me in 2019 are Stroll, Hartley (assuming he stays), and Kvyat - unless he's magically improved during his enforced holiday.  This begs the question, which team will have the worst driver line-up next year: Force India with Perez/Stroll, or Toro Rosso with, let's say, Kvyat/Hartley?  Is Stroll so poor that he drags Force India's average below that of Toro Rosso?

[Chrill]

I rated Kvyat highly before his farcical final season with Red Bull. If he has got his moral up and his mindset right, he is a really strong signing by Toro Rosso. If we get a grid like it seems we are, I'd say the weakest pairings will be Stroll/Perez, Kvyat/Albon or Sainz/Norris. In other words, pretty strong all around the grid.

Maybe something like this, I wrote it up with (very) little thought:

1. Vettel/Leclerc
2. Verstappen/Gasly
3. Ricciardo/Hulkenberg
4. Hamilton/Bottas
5. Raikkonen/Giovinazzi
6. Kubica/Russell
7. Grosjean/Magnussen
8. Kvyat/Albon
=. Stroll/Perez
=. Sainz/Norris

[Matt]

The only thing wrong with F1 drivers at the moment is Stroll and Sirotkin. We're only keeping 50% of that.

The narrative that Williams?s struggles had nothing to do with the drivers started immediately in Australia, and it is ridiculous. Yes, the car is bad anyway. But we just saw Stroll get destroyed by Massa, who was way past his prime. And then we have Will Buxton, who is, to me, the most annoying personality in English-speaking F1 coverage, tweeting his normal cheerleading BS about how Sirotkin was ?brilliant? this season. Sirotkin was average at best. I just don?t get why some people act like every driver in F1 is actually a future world champion if only they got more of a chance (see: Vandoorne, Sirotkin).

On top of that, I have seen many people saying that Ocon has proven that he is just a pretty good driver and has no higher ceiling. This has intensified since Brazil, which was a dumb mistake, sure, but he has been right with Perez for two years, and Perez is good with a ton of experience.

So anyway, similar to my last post, I do not understand where people come up with some of the shit they think.

[Chrill]

Sirotkin has been poor this year. He was soundly beaten by Stroll, who was soundly beaten by Massa, who was soundly beaten by Bottas, who is getting destroyed by Hamilton.

I will happily rate Stroll and Sirotkin as the 19th and 20th best F1 driver of the season respectively. I don't know if my Driver Ratings align with that, though. Hmm, nope. I rate Sirotkin 19th and Stroll 20th. Oh well, they're still at the bottom.

Sirotkin has a season-best of 8 at the Singapore GP. Stroll, too, scored 8 but that was both in Italy and Azerbaijan. Only one other driver has failed to score 9 or 10 at least once, Bottas, but he consistently scored 7 or 8 so is rated far higher still. Bottas has been reliably mediocre, I suppose.

[Chrill]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/albon-set-toro-rosso-drive-2019/4304510/
Albon no longer tied to Nissan's Formula E project. It would be a very strange move to make unless he was about be announced for Toro Rosso. Which we can all agree he most likely is.

[Chrill]

And there's the confirmation, thus completing the grid. Technically, one seat is still open at Racing Point but I wonder who gets that...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/albon-confirmed-toro-rosso-2019/4304672/

[Penfold]

Could be almost anyone.

Glad to see Blur (Albon) in for JR (Hartley).  Means for 2019 we get: Three new racers, two guys promoted, and a Kubica in a Williams car. 

[Penfold]

You'll never guess who's been picked to partner Perez at Force India: https://www.racefans.net/2018/11/30/2019-f1-grid-complete-force-india-drop-ocon-stroll/

[Chrill]

Oh my word. I can't even.

And with that stunning announcement, we have our 2019 grid:

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport:
44. Lewis Hamilton (link)
77. Valtteri Bottas (link)

Scuderia Ferrari:
5. Sebastian Vettel (link)
16. Charles Leclerc (link)

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda:
10. Pierre Gasly (link)
33. Max Verstappen (link)

Renault Sport Formula One Team:
3. Daniel Ricciardo (link)
27. Nico Hulkenberg (link)

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team:
8. Romain Grosjean (link)
20. Kevin Magnussen (link)

McLaren F1 Team:
55. Carlos Sainz (link)
?. Lando Norris (link)

Racing Point Force India F1 Team:
11. Sergio Perez (link)
18. Lance Stroll (link)

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team:
7. Kimi Raikkonen (link)
?. Antonio Giovinazzi (link)

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda:
26. Daniil Kvyat (link)
?. Alexander Albon (link)

Williams Martini Racing:
63. George Russell (link)
?. Robert Kubica (link)

[Chrill]

And now, the FIA has published the official entry list, complete with numbers for all drivers except Albon as well as a non-Force India name for Force India. Ferrari includes "Mission Winnow" in their team name, Williams removes Martini, Haas adds Rich Energy, and Renault shortens their name to merely "Renault F1 Team". Good stuff.

Interestingly, it lists Perez as "Sergio Perez Mendoza" which I have not seen before but shall oblige with.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport:
44. Lewis Hamilton (link)
77. Valtteri Bottas (link)

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow:
5. Sebastian Vettel (link)
16. Charles Leclerc (link)

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing:
10. Pierre Gasly (link)
33. Max Verstappen (link)

Renault F1 Team:
3. Daniel Ricciardo (link)
27. Nico Hulkenberg (link)

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team:
8. Romain Grosjean (link)
20. Kevin Magnussen (link)

McLaren F1 Team:
4. Lando Norris (link)
55. Carlos Sainz (link)

Racing Point F1 Team:
11. Sergio Perez Mendoza (link)
18. Lance Stroll (link)

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team:
7. Kimi Raikkonen (link)
99. Antonio Giovinazzi (link)

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda:
26. Daniil Kvyat (link)
?. Alexander Albon (link)

Williams Racing:
63. George Russell (link)
88. Robert Kubica (link)

[Chrill]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/formula-one-entry-list-albon/4314693/

Albon does not want to copy Valentino Rossi because he is Valentino Rossi, so he goes halfway there. 23 for Albon.

[Penfold]

That's about as exciting as the news gets this time of year....

[Chrill]

At least the grid is complete. Yay.