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In reverse order:
20: Stroll – just didn’t show the progress expected of a driver in their second season, the reaction to him getting the (insert name here) drive for 2019 sums it up really…
19: Vandoorne – Yes, his teammate was one of the best drivers of this era, but he never really shone at all, making the decision to replace him at the end of the season all too easy for Mclaren. Another driver with worldbeating potential in gp2/f2 to fail to adapt to F1. He’ll fit right in with Di Grassi/Da Costa at al in Formula E.
18: Hartley – his end of season was decent, but it just took far too long for him to get going and feel comfortable. In his own words, he didn’t fight hard enough for his own corner, and ended up losing out. Probably too late for him to get another proper go at it as well, barring another Kvyat implosion!
17: Sirotkin – solid job for a rookie, but the closest he came to leaving a lasting memory was his Jarno Trulli impression in Singapore fending off a train of cars. Likely to be a pointless answer for the category of “Williams Drivers” in future.
16: Sainz – Honestly, Hulkenberg had the beating of him pretty much all season. Showed flashes of what got him the Renault drive in the first place, but not often enough. Will need a step up if he’s hoping to lead Mclaren anywhere next year.
15: Grosjean – after an excellent couple of years, has slid back into “first lap nutcase” territory again recently. Far too many silly accidents show why he has never earned a top drive. Spain was a particular low point.
14: Gasly – Solid job, a few good results, will need to make that step up at Red Bull next year though, will be hoping that his experience with Honda will give him an edge over Max to start, but expectations are not high for him.
13: Perez – after years of being level with Hulkenberg, has now been seemingly shaded by Ocon. Only his money earned him the 2019 drive ahead of his former teammate. At this point in his career he is a solid stable hand, but his reputation rests on him outperforming Stroll next year.
12: Alonso – Always entertaining, you can be usually be pretty safe in the assumption that Fernando got the most out of the Mclaren. Despite being imperious in qualifying over his teammate,you could tell that his mind was elsewhere by the end of the season.
11: Magnussen – relatively evenly matched on pace with Romain, If not slightly ahead, but with fewer incidents (although some do still come to mind), despite his aggressive style, somehow faded into mid-grid obscurity.
10: Vettel – Started the season on great form, but it seems that one mistake in Germany led to the entire season unravelling. Was overdriving the car from there on in, leading to mistake after mistake. Poor strategy from Ferrari only worsened the situation. In the end, a distant second best in both championships.
9: Verstappen – almost the reverse in fortunes to Sebastian, started erraticly, but as the season progressed, grew into it and ended up the second best driver in terms of points in the second half of the season. Red Bull will be hoping he can carry that into 2019 as de facto team leader
8: Bottas – was immensely unlucky during the first half of the season, often being the only driver to take the fight to Vettel, the cruellest moment being the puncture in Baku that handed victory to his teammate. In the end had to play the role of wingman, which he did competently, although his end of season pace showed that gruelling season had taken it’s toll on Valterri mentally. An end of season reset is exactly that the Finn desperately needs to hopefully return to winning ways in 2019
7: Raikkonen
His last year at Ferrari, and in many ways, his best. Despite being beaten by his teammate, he was often able to take the fight to Vettel, and even managed to finally grab that long-overdue victory in an impressive defensive display against a faster Hamilton. Did so well by the end of the year that it has led to people being quite excited as to what he can bring to Sauber over the next few years.
6: Ocon – The real barometer of his season has been the reaction from the fans to him failing to land a seat for 2019. Despite a couple of incidents, he has edged Sergio over the course of the season, and has been an exciting prospect, that many have put as a potential future championship contender. Hopefully a year out won’t dampen the enthusiasm.
5: Ericsson – typical that what has turned out to be his final year has been his best by far! In a year where everyone had been excited by the antics of Leclerc, Marcus was able to, if not match, then at least stay within striking distance of pretty much all season. Personally, I never rated Ericsson before, but this season was excellent for the Swede, to the point I’m sad to see him go! Makes up part of a very exciting influx for IndyCar though, will be watching with interest!
4: Ricciardo – in what was his last season for Red Bull, he made a real attempt to claim the title of Red Bull’s unluckiest Australian. Car failure after car failure put paid to promising start after promising start, and the few races he did manage to finish were highly entertaining jaunts from the lower reaches of the grid. If the Renault gives him any reliable performance next year, this guy can shine.
3: Hulkenberg – In an era where the top 3 teams are far up the road by lap 5, 7th in the championship is a hard fought battle, and on that was supremely won by Nico. Despite the most retirements of anyone this season, he still managed to outscored 13 drivers, and was more than a match for Carlos Sainz, after years of being basically level pegging with his teammates. Next year will be a big year for Nico, if he can live with Daniel, he might just be square in the sights of a number of top teams for 2020.
2: Hamilton – As divisive as he is a character, there was no doubting Lewis’ talent this season. He was flawless, never out of the running for any pole or victory, and just too much for anyone else. The truly dominant moment came with his pole at Singapore, a circuit nobody expected Mercedes to perform at. If this form continues into next year, even a Vettel without the mistakes of this season will struggle to live with him.
1: Leclerc – You’ve got to have a special something to get bought into Ferrari, especially at the expense of their last world champion, but this season Charles showed exactly that. Even coming off the back of a dominant F2 championship, nobody was expecting much from Leclerc in a Sauber, but with a car able to match the midfield pace, Leclerc was able to push the Sauber team to performances they could only dream of. My stand out memory of him was early on at Abu Dhabi, when he not only ran with, but was Passing Red Bulls and Ferraris, only for a misguided strategy call from Sauber ended his charge, getting caught up in the usual midfield traffic. This season has been so impressive for him that the public are debating whether he can take the fight to his 4 time world championship winning teammate, and I for one, cannot wait to find out!Wow. That sounds like amazing news! Hopefully all 6 contructors will be well represented in both series! and hopefully they will get the coverage!
Brazil, Monaco and GB are no-brainers really. I’d go with Canada, US East and US West, Belgium, Italy, Singapore and I guess the opener in Australia. Japan just misses out unfortuantely, although it can easily replace one of the others. I guess Canada or New Jersey would be the most likely to be dropped…
Apart from the lack of actual flags, and the guy that doesn’t know when to stop saying Champagne, it looks good. Going by the GP2/3 races, anyway.
Not seen the BBC coverage yet, so probably going to try that. Also, as Simon says, I’ve only got SkyGo, and got the BBC HD channels!
Enjoyed the Sky coverage. They’ve got the money to throw at F1, as demonstrated by the fact that it got it’s own channel! Crofty and Brundle seemed to work well together, and although I didn’t watch much of the Quali build up, it seemed pretty good. Damon Hill seems a little fixated on 90s F1, but that’s not neccessarily a bad thing! XD
Will be watching the race build up from 4:30, hoping for a good race!