Which team has the strongest driver pairing for 2017?

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Only one team will start the 2017 F1 season with the same driver line-up they had this time 12 months ago.

The world champions have lost the world champion. And a trio of novices flush with junior championship success are embarking on their first crack at the big time.

But which team has assembled the strongest partnership for the coming season? Compare the ten driver pairings below and vote for the best.

Mercedes: Hamilton and Bottas

Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement left Mercedes needing a new driver in a hurry. With all the ‘big names’ already locked up, prising Valtteri Bottas out of his Williams deal proved the quickest way of getting their hands on a rapid and known quantity.

But is he quick and tough enough to handle life at the sharp end of the field. Going up against Lewis Hamilton in an environment where he’s been very happy for the past four seasons and delivered two championships will be a daunting proposition.

Red Bull: Ricciardo and Verstappen

Red Bull’s line up is the product of junior driver programme which has run for years and cast dozens of talents aside in pursuit of only the very best. In Daniel Ricciardo they already have a multiple race winner, but the driver who joined him last year is threatening to upstage him.

Max Verstappen is about to embark on his first full-season campaign at Red Bull. He already has a reputation as a hard racer. Will he be too much for Ricciardo to handle in 2017? This promises to be one of the most exciting driver line-ups in what should be a competitive car.

Ferrari: Raikkonen and Vettel

Now the only team with an all-champion pairing, Ferrari’s duo each turned in somewhat lacklustre performances last season. Sebastian Vettel could have won on more than one occasion but for errors by the team, and the frustration told towards the end of last year.

Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, remains the same rapid, persistent yet unobtrusive force he has always been. But he increasingly seems a blunt instrument in wheel-to-wheel combat.

Force India: Perez and Ocon

Consistently excellent performances by Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg took Force India to new heights last year. Will they be as strong now Hulkenberg has been lured away by the promise of a manufacturer-backed drive?

In his place comes the genuinely exciting rookie talent which is Esteban Ocon. Half a season in a Manor he’d done little running in gave little evidence for his qualities, except for a superb drive in Brazil. He could push Perez very hard indeed.

Williams: Massa and Stroll

Whatever they may say, Williams cannot feel terribly satisfied about their driver pairing for 2017. Felipe Massa had a sub-par 2016 and looked ready to retire, so he did. Then Mercedes came knocking for Bottas, so the retirement went on hold.

Newcomer Lance Stroll gets a bad rap because of his father’s huge wealth. He’s got Formula Four and Formula Three titles under his belt, but the latter of those was won against a thin and weakened field. Not a pairing which inspires confidence.

McLaren: Alonso and Vandoorne

Two-times world champion Fernando Alonso is joined by an incredibly exciting talent who’s already won the GP2 championship. This all sounds rather familiar.

Ten years ago when Alonso was paired with Hamilton, few would have thought he’d still be looking for a third world title in 2017 when his team mate will be Stoffel Vandoorne. Heading into his 16th season Alonso remains as relentless as ever, but Vandoorne hinted at his capabilities by taking a point in a one-off start last year.

Toro Rosso: Sainz and Kvyat

Daniil Kvyat may have fallen out of favour but Red Bull have at least given him another season to prove himself back at Toro Rosso. Life doesn’t get any easier, though: Carlos Sainz Jnr was on another level last year.

Toro Rosso started last season in great shape. But their year-old engine hardware inevitably left their drivers scrapping around the lower reaches of the points. Bigger scores should be on offer this season if they are up to it.

Haas: Grosjean and Magnussen

Bringing in Kevin Magnussen to replace Esteban Gutierrez has to be an upgrade for Haas. However Magnussen’s somewhat scrappy season for Renault demonstrated too little of the promise of his debut campaign at McLaren.

The experience of Romain Grosjean served this team well last season but they will need both drivers to perform at that kind of level in what could be a difficult second year for Gene Haas’s project.

Renault: Hulkenberg and Palmer

Nico Hulkenberg has been labelled as F1’s best driver without a top-team drive for years. He’s banking on Renault getting their eventually, but he will have to be patient.

After a slow start, Jolyon Palmer came good in the second half of 2016 and achieved a breakthrough points finish. He fared better alongside Magnussen than many expected, making this an intriguing line-up.

Sauber: Ericsson and Wehrlein

Sauber have retained Marcus Ericsson for what will be his fourth year of Formula One following another adequate but unspectacular campaign.

The interesting new addition here is Manor refugee Pascal Wehrlein, who claims the seat formerly occupied by Felipe Nasr. He was passed over for the Mercedes seat in favour of Bottas, and will be hungry to prove that was a mistake.

Over to you

Which F1 team has got the best driver line-up ahead of the new season? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments:

Which team has the best driver line-up for 2017?

  • Sauber: Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein (1%)
  • Renault: Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer (0%)
  • Haas: Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen (1%)
  • Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
  • McLaren: Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne (10%)
  • Williams: Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll (0%)
  • Force India: Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon (1%)
  • Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen (9%)
  • Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen (71%)
  • Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas (7%)

Total Voters: 423

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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127 comments on “Which team has the strongest driver pairing for 2017?”

  1. Red Bull have got two drivers with potential to be multiple-time world champions in my opinion. To me they’re definitely the strongest.

    1. Agreed, but I can’t help think that if Red Bull have a car worthy of a title challenge this season, they’ll end up stealing points off each other (like Mansell and Piquet in 1986) and most likely gift the title to Hamilton.

      1. …and like Hamilton and Rosberg? Or Vettel and Webber? This argument is nonsense every time it’s made.

        1. is it that much of a nonsense?
          Alonso vs Hamilton; Kimi wins championship.

        2. Webber vs Vettel??? never happened!

      2. I’d be very surprised if a driver other than Hamilton grabs the title no matter what.

  2. It has to be the Red Bull pair of Ricciardo and Verstappen. The two most exciting drivers on the current grid to watch for sure. Definitely two future world champions.

    1. And they are both hungry for wins and the Championship. If they can avoid tripping each other up, RB will be exciting to watch, no matter how the car performs.

    2. Yeah, gotta agree with this..
      Still too many question marks with bottas i feel.
      And the Ferrari guys? Just not feeling it.

  3. No brained, has to be redbull with Max and Dan.

    1. Brained = brainer

    2. Yes. I’d say it’s pretty clear and unanimous that it is.
      1ºRBR
      2ºMercedes/McLaren
      But I would say that STR and Ferrari are on the same level.

      1. @peartree

        Lewis and Max lineup would have been my ultimate.
        Max and Dan will produce a great challenge to Merc even if they loose, the 2 of them working together to ensure redbull succeed despite their own wishes is why they are my top pick.

  4. Ferrari. Two proven champions. Then Red Bull with drivers of great potential.

    1. @curmudgeon Ferrari? With a guy who has defeated by one of the Red Bull boys, and a 36 year-old who is often defeated by someone who has been defeated by one of the Red Bull boys. Ferrari would rank after McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes for me.

      1. Yeah, the Ferrari line-up is overrated.

    2. Vettel is pushing too hard to make up for team mistakes, and Raikkonen isn’t what he used to be. (If he was still the Kimi we saw 2003 – 2007 it might be another story.)

    3. Would put Ferrari 3rd best team at best.

    4. I like the way you think :). Ferrari and Red Bull have two of the strongest line ups.

      Despite all the reliability problems and bad strategy calls, Vettel and Raikkonen got the best out of the unpredictable SF16. If Kimi’s wheel to wheel skills are an issue, the fact that more than one of his overtakes were featured amongst the best of the year in the Formula One site or that he was one of the few drivers who overtook Hamilton on the track last season (Singapore and China) should be proof enough of his race craft in that regard.

      Red Bull have two hungry guys that will face their first full season together whereas McLaren and Force India by bringing on board Vandoorne and Ocon seem to have made good choices.

      Bottas in a new environment and right under the spotlight is the biggest question mark. He was quick and determined in ’14/’15 when Williams was the third team in the field, but he can also make sporadic mistakes like crashing into Hamilton in Bahrein ’16.

    5. I can’t believe Kimi still has a job at all.

  5. If i could rank the Top 5 lineups it would be:
    1)Red Bull Racing
    2)Mercedes
    3)McLaren
    4)Ferrari
    5)Scuderia Toro Rosso
    It will be interesting to see those fights!

    1. @miltosgreekfan I would personally rank Force India above STR

      1. @mashiat An hungry Kvyat & Sainz who has to prove that he is a top driver seems to me more interesting that F.I boys.

        1. Kvyat is a better driver than ricciardo. He beat him in 2015

          1. Sarcasm?

    2. ExcitedAbout17
      5th February 2017, 17:43

      Generally agree with your top-5.
      Still struggle to make up mind between McL and Merc. Alonso and Hamilton can be rated roughly equal IMO. Though I’m not sure if the highly rated (almost) rookie will be better/worse than the used-to-be-exciting-but-seemed-to-have-leveled-off experienced Bottas.
      Thinking about it, I’d probably put the McLaren pair as 2nd.

      1. We will have to wait & see how Vandoorne will perform as a full time driver & how his relationship with Alonso is going to be…Still,Macca has a very strong pairing!

  6. Some very strong line-ups – Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes especially. Force India should be very interesting as well.

    Williams and Sauber really stand out negatively. Their line-ups, compared to other midfield teams, could cost them a championship position…

    1. @enigma I agree but I would say apart from the top 3 or 4 pairings the rest are pretty level, I think Haas, STR, Renault, Williams, and Sauber are on the same level, either lacking speed or consistency.

      1. @peartree Maybe to some extent, but I do think Williams and Sauber are a bit worse than Haas, STR and Renault.

        Roughly, I’d rate the line-ups as:
        Great: Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes
        Very good: Ferrari, Force India
        Good: Toro Rosso, Renault, Haas
        Worse: Sauber, Williams

        That’s all very subjective, though, of course.

        1. @enigma That’s a perfectly reasonable way to put it.

  7. Seriously if they were all driving Mercedes, then Alonso and Hamilton would get the most wins, then Vettel, Riccairdo, Verstappen, Raikonen, Sainz, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Perez.

    So Red Bull have the strongest pair IMO, but still too much relying on cars in F1. Hamilton and Bottas should clean up and Bottas is going to shoot up in everyone’s ratings.

    1. hamilton? no way

    2. Interesting to see that you would put Vettel above Ricciardo.

      1. why not? one bad season with car problems doesn’t make you the worse driver, especially a 4 time wc against a guy with 4 race wins, by your logic button and rosberg are better than hamilton

        1. Beating a driver in the same equipment doesn’t count for anything in your books? But the logic of 4WDC vs race wins is surely a trump card.

          1. ricciardo is great, but you have to admit that vettel wasn’t any near his best in 2014, i think 2015 has proven the haters wrong and he would have been 3rd in 2016 too with a little bit better reliability and less stupid ferrari tactics

          2. @nelson piquet

            Unfortunately, Vettel hasn’t been at his best too often. 2012 he was second best to Mark Webber for the 1st half of the season, 2014 he was thrashed by Ricciardo and 2016 he was almost matched (and out qualified) by a washed up Kimi.

    3. Interesting how you put arguably the best driver of the past 3 seasons “Riccairdo!?” below one that hasn’t won a race and one that has, yet by running away from Dan, anyway, I rate Alonso, looking at his last Ferrari year and him against Button, on equal pairing I’d say he crushed JB, Alonso was 2nd and then Ham and Verstappen on the same level perhaps. It’s not to say who’s the best, but who has seemingly, delivered closest to what the car was capable of doing every single race. Evaluating the team-mate battles is a good standard and rating the car’s relative pace and the drivers race ability albeit arguable can point with certainty to whom was the best. That said new cars can shake up the order. Vandoorne may be the greatest driver on the field and we do not know it yet. I think 2017 from the team mates perspective is going to be fun.

  8. I voted for McLaren. I really believe Vandoorne will soon prove to be just as exciting, fast and talented as Verstappen. With Alonso next to him whom I still rate as the top man in the sport right now it’s a killer line-up that shouts for a race winning car.

    Obviously second comes Red Bull followed by Mercedes and Ferrari. A good reason to vote for either Red Bull or McLaren is that those line-up will also push each other whereas I feel that won’t be (or to a lesser extent) be the case at Mercedes or Ferrari.

    Another fun line-up however is Force India with Perez and Ocon, really looking forward to that one. Expect Hulkenberg to fully thrash Palmer, same with Sauber and Wehrlein. Sainz is for me easily the better of the two STR drivers. Haas will have to manage their two too but I’m not a big fan of either of them. The Williams line-up is one of the most depressing I’ve seen in a while, Chilton levels.

    1. Same here.

    2. For me, it really depends on Vandoorne. He’s good, but is he as good as Verstappen or Ricciardo, in his debut season? Time will tell.

      Right now, I think it’s hard to argue against the Red Bull pair beimg strongest. But as the season unfolds, and we see how Vandoorne and Bottas stack up against they’re teammates who are proevn to be the best in the business, McLaren or Mercedes may look stronger.

      1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
        5th February 2017, 19:07

        I believe Vandoorne is Schumacher’s true generational heir. I think he will be better than Verstappen. But both of them will be the class of the sport very soon. Stoffel seriously needs to be in a race winning car asap, McLaren need to step up and sort it, or let both drivers find better seats for next year and beyond.

    3. The fact is, I think Vandoorne is at least as good as Verstappen but will not have the loud personality nor will he make a fuss like other drivers in the media. This paired with what is most likely going to be an average season by Mclaren standards (4th in constructors most likely?) I am worried F1 fans will still have reservations about Vandoorne by the end of this season unless he comprehensively beats Alonso or takes the car to a podium when Alonso could not, which is frankly an unfair request for fans to make but one that many will make anyway, especially when Alonso is ‘the guy’ to take midfield cars to the top.

      Either way, I completely agree that McLaren has the best line-up but it will not be apparent this season with merc and red bull looking more likely to be the big players in 2017.

    4. That’s a fair appraisal.

      However as Vandoorne is still really an unknown quantity (especially over the course of a season), I’m still picking the Red Bull duo as strongest pairing. If his talent is shown to be in or around the Verstappen/Ricciardo/Sainz level by the end of the season then I would say that McLaren will have the strongest line up. I doubt Alonso’s immense talent will schrivel up anytime soon.

    5. Agreed. I have the feeling that Vandoorne is faster than Bottas or Ricciardo (let alone Räikkönen…), with Alonso being a known quantity, McLaren has the strongest lineup.

    6. I really think either they or Red Bull have the better line-up. In the end, I voted for Red Bull, but that might be more to do with the expectations of what they will be able to do with the car, whereas with McLaren, the drivers will most likely have to struggle with their cars first before putting the fight to the others.

      But I tink it certainly is right at the top of the sheets

  9. Evil Homer (@)
    5th February 2017, 13:28

    Red Bull by a mile, well maybe just :)
    Dan is simply World Class and Max will be that one in a generation driver – Daniel really needs to beat be him this year as the kid will just keep getting better-a but A1 at Red Bull.

    Mercs and Ferrari not too far off- The Horse have two World Champions but may be past their best, Kimi through age and Seb as I am not sure he will get the car and is frustrated, but may not be as quick as 4 years ago??

    Mercs of course – Bottas will be quicker than many expect and Lewis is top notch- a nice combo there!

    Force India have a good line up- Checo is strong and Ocon is gonna be the best in times to come- gold- I wish SFI had 100m more in budget!

    1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      5th February 2017, 13:53

      Vandoorne will be the one in a generation i think. He will be the best in the field by next year

      1. Sure…thats why he enters in his mid twentys….because he is a one in a generation talent……………………………..

        1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
          5th February 2017, 19:24

          Schumacher entered the sport at 22, and he was utterly brilliant during his career – the best ever. Vandoorne will be at least as good/fast as Alonso this year. Thereafter he will be even better. Why do you think coming into the sport in mid twenties influences the ability of a driver?

          1. I dont say it influences the ability of the driver, I’m just saying that if Stoffel is as half as good as some people here want him to be, then he would have had an active seat 3 years ago. Stoffel is good….but IMHO is not THAT good

        2. If McLaren had any balls they could have put him next to Button back in 2014, and he would’ve done great. His junior record is second to none.

        3. VA, it didn’t exactly harm the careers of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna that they didn’t enter F1 until their mid 20’s either – on the contrary, both of them felt that they were better off from having taken more time to mature in junior series before entering F1.

        4. Some people have too work their way into the sport and dominate lower series while others have ex-driver fathers and can be muscled into a seat. Both still need talent. But the age of start is irrelevant. Given Vandoorne’s success in GP2 and his two other titles in lower categories I’m sure he would have been just as good as Verstappen had he been given the chance to drive earlier.

          1. Stoffel isnt as good as Verstappen. Max is in a league of his own…and is getting even better. First Stoffel needs to prove himself in the F1. I remember Hulkenberg dominating the Formula3 and GP2…and look were he ended up. Stoffel is a great driver, no doubt about that, but first he needs to prove to even being close to Max in terms of talent and ability. We will see…..if Alonso spanks Stoffel in his first year…then we sure know how good Stoffel is…as Alonso is fairly overrated around the fans

  10. 1 – Red Bull
    2 – Ferrari (if the old Räikkönen turns up)
    3 – Mercedes
    4 – McLaren
    5 – Force India

  11. meanwhile williams has the weakest imo

    1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      5th February 2017, 18:10

      Can’t argue with that.

    2. As the article mentioned, even Williams knows it.

  12. Voted Ferrari just like last year. Vettel’s contribution wasn’t all that great last season, but Ferrari still has the best line-up IMO.

  13. Red Bull

  14. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    5th February 2017, 13:52

    McLaren have the best line up by miles this year

    1. There’s a couple of big unknowns there:

      * Is Alonso going to be on top of his game, or is he going to be fed up with F1?
      * Is Vandoorne going to be as good in F1 as he was in the lower formulae? (Not all drivers make the jump cleanly)

      If both of those questions get a positive answer, you may be right. If not, RBR have the edge.

    2. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      5th February 2017, 18:12

      We don’t know how good Vandoorne is yet? He was beaten by Magnussen in FR3.5 albeit with one year less experience. I must admit he does look a real talent though and I’m very excited to see how he does.

  15. Ferrari, no question about it.

    1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      5th February 2017, 18:14

      Ricciardo beat Vettel and Raikkonnen has been beaten by…. well everyone. That raises at least one question….

      1. @rdotquestionmark Yeah, why do people give that one season so much value? Why do so many people use it as the excuse to say Vettel is not among the top dogs in F1? I think it’s because Ricciardo won three races thanks to a whole lot of luck. Those would’ve been three fine third places had Mercedes not ruined it for themselves. Ricciardo beat Vettel that year, but Button also won one over Hamilton, and now Hamilton even lost to Rosberg too. What does that say? Not much, if it wasn’t or isn’t happening consistently over many seasons.

        But I guess the bias always wins that war, won’t it?

        1. @xtwl, even if Mercedes hadn’t had the problems they did and Ricciardo just scored three podium finishes instead, he’d have still picked up twice as many podiums as Vettel and would still have outscored Vettel by a large margin (he outscored Vettel by 71 points – even if you knocked 30 points off that from dropping him down from 1st to 3rd in those races, that’s still a 41 point margin in Ricciardo’s favour).

          That said, I don’t think it is the case that people keep bringing up Ricciardo’s success over Vettel that season just because of the wins that Ricciardo took.

          Rather, I think that the reason why Ricciardo’s success over Vettel made such an impact was because it was the first time, and indeed some people think the only time, that Vettel had a competitive team mate in peak form who was being allowed off the leash to challenge him, and it looked like Vettel was unable to work out how to respond to that challenge.

          We saw the public frustration and the feeling that he had lost his sense of direction within the team, and I think that it is that loss of personal discipline and the public frustration, especially when set against Ricciardo’s ebullient nature, which made people question Vettel’s ability to perform when facing a challenge from his team mate.

          1. I think Vettel was very frustrated that year with the new car. Gone was his WDC car that gained him 4 Championships and instead he now had on his hands something completely different, and not to the good for him. Underpowered, unreliable…nothing like what he had become accustomed to. Along comes DR in a no-pressure, can’t lose situation…best car he’s ever had (in spite of Vettel’s opinion on that). If DR loses to SV it’s no surprise…if he beats him it’s gravy. SV didn’t suddenly forget how to drive or win. He just had his world turned upside down without the WCC car anymore, and I’m sure that is very hard to deal with in any era. Does anybody really think SV would be inferior if he once again had a WCC car?

        2. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
          5th February 2017, 21:30

          @xtwl I try to be unbiased I have nothing against Vettel but 2014 was pretty damming, he was beaten in his own incumbent team convincingly. He may have had motivational issues but I had my doubt over him after a career of many unforced errors and often questionable race craft. 2016 was possibly a worse season for him as well, just lucky he had Raikkonnen as a team mate, someone like Ricciardo/Lewis/Max/Alonso even Rosberg would have embarrassed him again.

        3. Bias wins for sure.

          Also in F1 you are as good as your last race.

          Rosberg got trashed in last race hence unworthy champion.

          Vettel trashed over a season by Ric.. not as good then… Ric, less points over a season Kvyat also not as good as him then?

          Bias then there is all that is to it.

          Like many people dislike Schumacher.

          Same now people try to diminish Vettel, and in less British circles Hamilton.

          But bias aside, any multiple world champion is likeley to be way better tha a few time winner. There is a lot more to winning championships than winning a few races. Ask Rosberg.

      2. Kvyat beat Daniel in 2015 and Carlos drove very good in 2016, and not so many people rank this pair in their personal “TOP 5”. What I mean is that every single driver has better years than others, better days than others… so it’s pointless to ask questions about who is the best pairing for 2017. Only on November 26th we will know the answer.

    2. Hahahhaa +1

      Oh wait… you’re serious?

  16. For a moment I thought why is Alonso interviewing Vandoorne??

    1. Had to go back to check before I realized he didn’t hold a mic.

    2. Hahaha….same! :)

  17. ferrari and mclaren if vandoorne becomes a second hamilton for alonso

  18. 1. Red Bull – Verstappen is an exciting talent and has to be in the top four best F1 drivers right now, with Ricciardo a very solid driver who will consistently get you good results.
    2. Mercedes – Hamilton is the best driver in F1, simply untouchable on his days. Bottas is a good choice for Mercedes, solid points scorer with Williams who has usually beaten his teammates, and is very cool-headed and consistent. Very close between RBR and Mercedes.
    3. McLaren – Alonso is the only one as good as Hamilton, with a great race package, strong on outright speed, overtaking and of course his starts. Vandoorne has a great junior record with exciting qualifying pace, and both McLaren drivers are up near the top.
    4. Ferrari – Vettel is one of the best F1 drivers at the moment, four world champions and one his day one of the best but unfortunately he really depends on whether he is on a good run or not. Raikkonen is getting old and losing pace, unworthy of his Ferrari seat, doesn’t really have the mindset going into the race for wins.
    5. Force India – Perez has really excelled over the last few years, with a combination of good race pace aswell as his touch with the tyres making him an excelling driver in this era. Ocon has had a solid start to life in F1 with Manor, and has the potential to make this lineup as good as the previous one.
    6. Toro Rosso – Sainz didn’t have the pace of a driver like Verstappen, but had a quietly solid second season in the sport with less pressure on him, and has boosted his reputation with some strong drives for points. Kvyat must be kicking himself still after being dropped from Red Bull, but we know once his mental state is in good shape he has the pace to challenge sainz once again.
    7. Haas – Grosjean usually is a some what wild and erratic driver, who has very good qualifying pace, but can’t always put it together with some mistakes. If he can get that nurtured once again, he is a very good driver for a lower midfield team like Haas. Magnussen has a similar style to Grosjean, with some good pace but some silly mistakes, but as an overall package he probably improves upon Gutierrez.
    8. Renault – Renault and Haas have even lineups. Hulkenberg is a very good one-lap driver who has the pace to challenge the best. His race pace usually isn’t near the standard but he still is a very strong driver who can give a midfield team some very good points scores. Palmer exceeded expectations last season, and was very close with Magnussen, and will hope to improve and give Hulkenberg a run for his money.
    9. Sauber – Wehrlein has switched from Manor to Sauber, and his rookie season had some highlights, and he has shown glimmers of quick pace. Ericsson will hope to be evenly matched, having had a steady improvement over his three years in f1.
    10. Williams – Massa was probably the slowest driver by the end of the season with extremely slow qualifying speed and not much in the races. Staying on will probably prove to be a mistake. Stroll is a very inconsistent driver who has the speed to be a potential start of the futrue but needs to tone his agression down.

  19. Red Bull by far. Both Ricciardo and Verstappen are more than capable of winning championships and I’d be surprised if one or both aren’t World Champions in the next few years.

    Then Ferrari and Mercedes. Four really good drivers between them but all of them tend to have on and off days for me. Raikkonen’s performances are spotty and Bottas is a little bit of an unknown quantity.

    I tend to rate Haas’s lineup as pretty good, of Grosjean and Magnussen. If they’ve got a decent car they’ll be dangerous in the mid-field.

  20. I’m very pleased with the line-ups: the top three teams have incredible pairings with the Red Bull couple slightly ahead of the others. Force India have a strong line-up and McLaren have a top-class one too. The midfield has excellent drivers considering they are that, midfield teams, with the worts pairings being, in my opinion, the ones at Williams, Renault and Sauber. The class of 2017 is still incredibly talented on paper.

  21. Alonso is the best pairing. Vandoorne is bonus.

  22. On balance, the RBR lineup seems to be the best. However Merc, Ferrari and Mclaren are close behind, and then Force India is close behind these three. Toro Rosso is a question mark. If Kvyat rediscovered his mojo during the off-season and mounts a fight for his F1 future in 2017, then STR are on par if not better than FI. If not then they’re near the back with Renault as a team that has only 1 great driver. Haas’ lineup is also potentially up there with FI but it depends on KM bringing his A game. Sauber are second to last in terms of lineup IMO. Worst lineup is unfortunately my favorite F1 team Williams. I understand the reasons that led to this under-par lineup but it’s hard for me to accept nonetheless.

  23. Safe bet as most exciting has to be red bull. Bit if mclaren had a better package they would get my vote. Alonso being a proven racer and Stoffle having some awesome moves in gp2.

  24. Ferrari have the best driver pairing now that Button and Rosberg have retired, two proven champions with lots of class. Lots of people voting for Red Bull is kind of understandable, they have two fantastic drivers, however they also have one of the best chassis designers which makes their job as drivers just a bit easier. I think Ricciardo still has a bit to do to be put alongside the likes of Alonso and Hamilton, and Verstappen is still on a fairly steep learning curve. This year with the new formula may be where we see how good both these two can really be.

    1. Yes Raikonnen is on top of his game

  25. Red Bull & McLaren

    1. Would have to agree. I feel Red Bull just has the edge on the driver lineup right now because Vandoorne doesn’t have a whole season of Formula 1 experience under his belt.

      I would say Mercedes has the 3rd best lineup, with Ferrari in 4th.

      The worst lineup on the grid has to be Williams followed closely by Sauber.

  26. Williams, Massa and Stroll, obviously.

  27. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    5th February 2017, 18:03

    Very surprised Ferrari have received so many votes. Their driver line up is a big weakness imo compared to Merc, RB and Mclaren.

    RB definitely best pairing, 2 of the best 4 drivers on the grid.

    1. I too am also surprised. Vettel is overrated and easily frustrated, Raikkonen is past his prime. Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes have far superior driver line-ups to Ferrari.

      1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
        5th February 2017, 18:21

        Yes completely agree. Think sometimes popularity gets confused with ability.

        1. @rdotquestionmark; Yes, why would one rate a quadruple world champion among the best,…

          Also your comment below is quite funny that you say Vettel is just a Newey champion, so basically what Verstappen and Ricciardo have been doing over the past season is also just Newey’s production. At least be consistent in your bias.

          Here’s a thought too, Webber wasn’t all that bad, Vettel was just better. But if you already assume Webber was only a snail then I see you don’t think much of Vettel too.

          Vettel is overrated and easily frustrated

          @ultimateuzair; Could you elaborate on that? I guess the overrated is just your bias and the ‘frustrated’ part your long term memory showing nothing else but Mexico? You wouldn’t say that of Alonso, he’s been saying all sorts of things about his car and team but surely that’s not ‘easily frustrated’.

          Look, I get you don’t have to like everyone but aren’t we all adult enough to realise it’s utterly pointless to argue Vettel is not among the top talents F1 has ever seen? His 2015 season alone was brilliant, better than either of Ricciardo his seasons since 2014. And I like Ricciardo too, even a lot, and he will be champion one day and he’ll be pushed by Verstappen to greater heights. Verstappen is a massive talent too, we’re lucky to have them. But don’t let that be a gate to talking bad about ‘past‘ talents who have meant and achieved so much. Or do some thinking about Button beating both Alonso and Hamilton too and continue with your ‘overrated’ line.

          1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
            5th February 2017, 21:22

            @xtwl Yes fair point about the Newey comment but the Red Bull hasn’t been the dominant car for Max or Daniel whereas Seb’s cars 2010-2013 were on another level and he still got took to 2 deciders by Alonso in a far inferior Ferrari. I rate Webber as a Courtyard, nice guy, great on his day but not championship material.

            I can only speak from my own personal point of view built from my own experiences of watching F1 but Vettel has never reached that top echelon for me of ‘freakish’ talent. Don’t get me wrong though he is a fantastic talent.

          2. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
            5th February 2017, 21:25

            Courtyard = Coulthard in predictive text land 😂

    2. ferrari just needs to build a proper racecar and we’ll see how “weak” they are, 5 world champions between those 2 and you rate combined 5 race wins above them?

      1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
        5th February 2017, 18:24

        I believe Kimi although solid is no longer the spectacular driver he once was. Seb is just a Newey champion. He was in a Newey car against a weak teammate in Webber. Again though Seb is fantastic I just don’t consider him up there with the freakish natural talents.

        1. we could say hamilton is merc rocket champion..

          1. Although he did win a WDC and a huge handful of races even before he joined Mercedes. Overall, I think he’s done enough in his career before joining Merc to be coined a ‘Mercedes Rocket Champion’

      2. Massa and Stroll would land multiple championships if Williams builds them a championship winning car. Your performance when the car is not the class of the field speaks larger volumes than when you’re driving a car with a 1 second a lap advantage.

  28. Top 5 would be Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and then probably Toro Rosso. I’d like to put Renault in there for Hulkenberg but Palmer really drags the team down to about 7th or 8th best. Last years Force India line up would’ve arguably been in the top 3 or 4, imo the two best drivers (bar Alonso) not in the big 3.

  29. I haven’t decided what the top team will be yet but I’m not completely sure Williams will be right at the bottom in terms of the strength of the drivers. We just don’t know how good Stroll will be in F1. He could be a surprise. And while Massa was noticeably slower at points in the season, he still did have plenty of good moments even towards the end of the season, such as the final race. Massa also has generally started off his seasons well. This is a fact, he was the only driver on the entire grid last year that scored points in all of the 1st 6 races. Since Williams wanted him, I’m certain there is something that they still much appreciate about having him there and I don’t think that will just be experience.

    About the best driver line up, it is between Red Bull and Mercedes. I do rate Bottas higher than a lot do and I think he’ll surprise many. In 2014, he showed what he could do in a very good car which looked very impressive. last year, while he may have look anywhere near as exciting as other drivers, he did a great job at being a very solid and consistent driver. I think he will pair with Hamilton very well as they both have very different driving styles and they shouldn’t clash. Something I would fear about a driver paring such as Verstappen and Hamilton is that they may occasionally both be a little too aggressive and occasionally something every now and then going wrong.
    Ricciardo and verstappen also showed that they are a very good driver pairing. Never get in each other’s way and work well together. I personally think that even though Verstappen did do better than Ricciardo a lot of the time, he still made several big mistakes last year, which Ricciardo just didn’t. I think he’ll improve though.

    I just can’t decide who has the strongest line up between the 2 teams.

  30. That was easy.

  31. Ferrari easilly has the most decorated pairing…

    But I voted RBR, easilly most promising pair.

  32. 1) Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen
    2) Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas 

    3) Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen
    4) McLaren: Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne
    5) Haas: Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen
    6) Renault: Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer
    7) Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jnr
    8) Force India: Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon
    9) Sauber: Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein
    10) Williams: Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll

    Put personal preferences and personal favorites aside to rank as fairly as possible. I really would like to have put McLaren’s pair higher because I truly believe that Vandoorne will at a very high level coming in, but still unproven at this point. Amazing how low Williams’ pair rank when you think about it. A retired driver and a nearly completely unquantifiable rookie.

  33. Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari are all very close. The vote here is very biased towards Red Bull’s ‘exciting’ drivers. Best and exciting are two different things, one reason Bottas is so under rated here. Nobody voting is thinking about how good a driver’s technical knowledge is, how good they are helping the team setup and develop the car.

  34. 1) Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen
    2) Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
    3) McLaren: Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne
    4) Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen
    5) Force India: Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon
    6) Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jnr
    7) Haas: Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen
    8) Renault: Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer
    9) Sauber: Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein
    10) Williams: Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll

  35. Surely Bottas/Perez/Sainz/Stoffel are as ‘exciting’ as the ‘kamikaze’ pairing at Redbull.

  36. Red Bull. Very strong pairing.

  37. This year has possibly one of the best line ups across the board that we’ve seen in years.

    The big question will be which teams have got their 2017 cars right because if one of the top teams hasn’t, their drivers , or one of them, could end up looking fairly ordinary.

  38. Hard to argue with the consensus that Red Bull have the best lineup, but who knows? I think McLaren and Mercedes could potentially be as strong, but we just don’t know how well Bottas and Vandoorne will do.

    I’m curious to see whether Kvyat can bounce back and catch up to Sainz, and I’m particularly excited to see how Ocon will do.

    The only thing I’m certain of is that Williams have by far the least inspiring lineup. I hate to beat up on Stroll, but I’ve seen nothing to suggest that he can be a top driver, much less some child prodigy that deserves a fast-track promotion to a race seat as an 18-year-old. And Massa is far past his best. 2017 will see Williams go back to their pre-2014 downward spiral, I’m sure of it.

  39. Ferrari still has 5 championships between their two drivers. Red Bull may be the talent of the future, but they still have a lot to prove. Bottas may yet cave under pressure like Kovelienen.

  40. Duh. Mercedes and its not even close

  41. From top to bottom

    1: Red Bull
    2: Mercedes
    3: McLaren
    4: Ferrari
    5: Force India
    6: Toro Rosso
    7: Haas
    8: Sauber
    9: Renault
    10: Williams

    Most of these are no-brainers really. Red Bull is incredibly strong, definitely two guys capable of multiple world championships. Mercedes too, Bottas could definitely challenge Hamilton if luck goes his way. McLaren in third, because I rate Vandoorne very highlu.

    Ferrari comes in 4th courtesy of experience more than anything – there are 5 world championships between the two and Raikkonen definitely improved in 2016 compared to 2015.

    Force India is looking strong too, with Ocon quickly catching up to Wehrlein.

    Toro Rosso is helped by Sainz but limited by Kvyat. Had they found Sainz a new team mate, they would be above Ferrari.

    Haas has a decent enough pairing, with Grosjean and Magnussen being a step up from Grosjean-Gutierrez for sure.

    Now the bottom 3 all suffer from the same problems – they are simply not very spectacular pairings. Sauber’s Ericsson-Wehrlein duo is really a bore. Ericsson is there thanks to money, Wehrlein thanks to not being quite good enough for the Mercedes team.

    Renault slots in behind them even though I rate Hülkenberg fairly high. I simply rate Palmer low.

    At the very bottom, Williams. Lance Stroll is fast but prone to errors and has not really had to prove himself against top drivers yet. Massa is far past his prime and should not be in F1 this year.

    1. Just curious: Ericsson is there because of money but Stroll are not…?

  42. Warning – this list is long!

    1) Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas

    I’m not a Hamilton fan at all but I have to admit he is pretty much the best driver on the grid. I actually think his performance was slightly lower than his usual last year but I’m sure he’ll be stronger again this year. Bottas is a driver that I’ve always been keeping an eye on. I think he is possibly the most consistent driver after Ricciardo. He hardly ever makes mistakes. If I am correct, he’s never been at fault for a retirement in his F1 career and the moment where he’s been mostly to blame for something was probably Bahrain this year. But many of us thought the penalty he got was too harsh and even Hamilton said he had no need to apologise for what he did. Bottas seems to be very consistent but unspectacular. That IMO was different in 2014. He showed his skill that year when the car was capable and had many excellent races. As the car has gone downhill, he may not have looked as impressive, but I think he hasn’t been wanting to take as many risks which I think was a sensible choice. He instead was a very solid and consistent points scorer. When he’s at a top team like Mercedes, I’m sure he can show us what he’s capable of and I think he’ll be a lot better than many think.

    2) Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen

    Ricciardo is IMO probably the best driver on the grid. He certainly pretty much never makes mistakes. While Verstappen has quite possibly had more stand out moments this year, I think Ricciardo’s consistency matters that bit more importent. I just can’t think of any mistakes Ricciardo has made that evded up getting him a penalty. I’d say that Verstappen is Certainly as Ricciardo, if not stronger at times, but he still makes costly mistakes every now and then. Over the past couple of years, Verstappen has made quite a lot of mistakes. If I just include this years, then Monaco alone was a simply dreadful weekend by him, quite possibly worse than any other driver has had. A crash in practice qualifying and the race involving just himself certainly didn’t look impressive. Then he made a mistake of thinking the team had asked him to pit one race when that wasn’t true. Not a big mistake, but a costly one. If Verstappen didn’t make the mistakes he has over the past 2 seasons, i’d rate Red Bull over Mercedes.

    3) Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen

    Vettal did have a slightly unlucky season last year. But his bad luck seemed to make his frustration show. He then started to make several mistakes too. Ignoring all his radio complaints and mistakes, you can still see that he is very strong and he did still have many stand out races, but Red Bull were clearly a better team last year. Vettel was more impressive in 2015 but I don’t see why that performance can’t come back. What I find strange about Raikonnen is that at the end of 2015, I thought he should retire. 2014 and 2015 really were not very impressive years by Raikonnen. Towards the end of 2015, he had 2 moments with Bottas which both clearly were his fault. I’ve change my mind on him this year. The car seems to suit him a lot better. He’s made far less mistakes and has been close to Vettel a lot of the time. And if I include there championships somehow makes it clear that they are a very strong team. Lets just hope Vettel improves a little.

    4) McLaren: Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne

    Alonso has been very good overall this year getting points very often in a car that clearly isn’t that strong most of the time. But I feel that Button being far worse that his usual sort of made it look like Alonso was much better than he really was. I know it was partly luck but Button did beat him the year before. In the past couple of years, While Alonso has been strong, I don’t rate him as high as others. I’ts not like he hasn’t made big costly mistakes. I know this one didn’t cost him much and people probably forget it because it involved Maldonado. But in 2015 in the final race, he knocked Maldonado out of the race in the first corner and only seemed to get a driver through penalty for it. That incident was avoidable. Then the following race, although it was the next year, he collided with Gutierrez and ended up costing himself the chance to race in Bahrain. It isn’t often that he made these mistakes but to me, he isn’t as consistent as some other drivers. However, he certainly does preform extremely well most of the time.
    I don’t know much about Vandoorne but he did look impressive in his 1 race last year and others seem to think he’ll be good. I certainly feel like he’ll be a surprise.

    5) Force India: Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon

    I’m a bit unsure on how Ocon will perform. Force India will know more than we do and I’m sure there will be a reason why they have gone for him. But he hasn’t even had 3/4 of a season in F1 and from my view, he hadn’t done anything special. But as I said, Force India should know. Perez on the other hand has improved massively over the past couple of seasons. Now, he hardly made any mistakes and is very consistent. He’s also managed 3 podiums with Force India as well as several before that which is rather impressive. In his McLaren days and before that, he seemed extremely unpredictable and inconsistent. He has changed completely since then and should do well in what hopefully will be a strong car next year.

    6) Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jnr

    I don’t rate Sainz quite as high as others do. In his first season, to me, he seemed a little clumsy and inconsistent and was clearly beaten by Verstappen who I also didn’t think was that great in 2015. He has improved hugely since then but I just don’t quite get the hype that he gets. We’ve been comparing him to Kvyat who has clearly been weak since Red Bull dropped him this season. I still think Sainz is very good, just not quite as good as many think. I actually rate Kvyat reasonably highly still even though he has had a very poor season this year. However, he did show he was strong and even better than Ricciardo at times in 2015 so I’m sure hell be capable of some decent results next year with a fresh start. Lets just hope he can stay in the same team all year! I just feel that Red Bull dropping his severely affected his performance. With a fresh start, I think he’ll come back much stronger, possibly even matching Sainz.

    7) Renault: Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer

    This may seem a bit harsh but the main reason why I have rated Renault this low is mainly because of Palmer. He may have improved towards the end of the season a little but he barely had any impressive races this year. There was the odd time when he was about to get a decent result and then he ended up making a mistake and costing himself. I’d like to see him have another season but I certainly don’t rate him highly. Sorry to Hulkenberg fans but I don’t think he’s as good as many people think. He obviously is far better than Palmer and he also managed to beat Perez in 2014 but it seems that in the past couple of years, he’s been going backwards a little. Or maybe Perez getting better makes it seem that way. Anyway, he’s made quite a few more mistakes than Perez and somehow hasn’t managed a podium even in his whole F1 career which seems a bit surprising. Just in the past couple of years, Perez has managed 3 while being in the same team. I certainly think Renault will be stronger than last year and Hulkenberg is still good, I just think that there are a lot of better drivers out there.

    8) Sauber: Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein

    Rating Sauber 8th seems a bit higher than others have put them. Although Ericsson does still seem a little inconsistent, he has had several very good races this year, especially Mexico. People seem to forget it because he didn’t get any points. The thing was that he finished 11th when only a manor retired. He got knocked out and spun on lap 1 getting damage. Then slowly went to pit. Then managed 69 laps on 1 set of tyres with a a slightly damaged car that was already pretty much the slowest and he finished 11th. That was a very solid race by him. I think he seems to work well with Sauber now so I’m pleased they kept him. Although Nasr was clearly better in early 2015, Ericsson was a huge amount better last year. Pascal Wherlien didn’t impress me quite as much as others but even so, he has also managed several good races. And he also brought Manor’s only point to the team. It was a good weekend overall by him but I personally think Ericsson’s race in Mexico was a fair bit more impressive. Wherlein was sort of lucky that there were several retirements that helped him get that point. What I find very strange though is that all through 2014 and early 2015, I thought Ericsson was the worst driver on the grid. My view on him has totally changed now.

    9) Williams: Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll

    I’ve noticed that I’m about the only one who hasn’t rated Williams last. I agree they are nowhere near the top but I feel Hass have a weaker driver line up as last year, I actually think Massa overall did quite a bit better than Grosjean and Magnussen. Here is the unknown part though. We just don’t know how good Stroll will be in F1. But I don’t think he’ll be that good. I actually think keeping Massa in Williams will be a better choice than bringing in another rookie. I still rate Massa higher than many do. He did indeed drop off towards the end of the season but He still clearly had some good moments even towards the end of the season. Such as the final race. That was really good. He was under a second behind the force India’s which were quite clearly faster than them by the end of the season. Massa also did something that no other drivers on the grid achieved at the beginning of the season. He scored points in all of the 1st 6 races and proved pretty strong at several of them.

    10) Haas: Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen

    I think many will disagree here, but I don’t think this team is a very good line up. First off, although it didn’t look like it, Grosjean hardly did any better than Gutierrez last year. Gutierrez has worse luck overall and had to retire in the 2 races where that Hass was by far at their strongest. Grosjean had good drives at Australia and Bahrain but was somewhat lucky. Since then, he has been very up and down and it seemed that whenever the car was poor, Gutierrez was clearly better than him, resulting in Gutierrez finishing ahead more often than not overall this season. And I don’t rate Gutierrez high. If Grosjean had to retire in the first 2 races instead and Gutierrez had Grosjean’s luck, then it is very likely Gutierrez could have beaten him in points overall this season. Magnussen did have several stand out moments in 2014 but also made many mistakes. I don’t think he improved last year. He did have a dreadful car but made quite a few mistakes and from what I saw, had very few stand out races. But then he did seem to have a lack of TV coverage. I just don’t think he’s that good and I also used to think Grosjean was better. I could be wrong though.

    1. Wow thought I was reading the article and then I discovered it was your comment…:-)

      Haas will do ok this season – MAG has a 2 year contract and don’t have to strugle for his life in F1..this will help him.. GRO is a good driver and together they will support each other…think this team could be the 2017 joker – nobody expects anything from them..

      1. Yes, I did say that they could surprise. It’s just that Grosjean really has gone backwards this season and hardly beat his team mate. He was also clearly weaker very often. That is what surprised me. I know the Renault drivers haven’t been able to show much this season but Magnussen hasn’t really had any great races other than Russia and then he’s made some huge mistakes in some others. I could well be wrong but at the moment, I think this is the weakest driver pairing. Not by much at all though and overall this year, every team is still good. I just think one is probably the weakest. Lets hope Grosjean gets better again.

        1. Wow. That took some time to write. ( bowing down ). Hamilton was only outscored by both Red Bull drivers by 80~ points. So with a competent team mate (Bottas) the Merc drivers should still be tough. Lewis is a masterful qualifier so I as long as he continues that trend he’ll be ok.

          1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            7th February 2017, 8:58

            I just wish I noticed more of my mistakes and I wish I could edit it too! I think people should be able to tell what I mean though.

  43. I found it tough to decide between Red Bull, Haas, and McLaren. But in the end I figured Magnussen is yet to show his full potential, and Vandoorne has only done one race. So for the combined experience of the drivers, Red Bull.

  44. It will be interesting to see how the Red Bull duo races if a title is on the line. Will they still be super aggressive?

  45. I wish I could see Kubica behind the F1 steering wheel again

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