planetf1.com

So come on, then...

Before they've even set foot in Barcelona, I thought we should make some bold predictions ahead of the season which we can refer back to in about 9 months' time and laugh about, or rub everyone's faces in.

- Top Five in the WDC.
- Complete finishing order of the WCC.
- Race Winners.
- Any other predictions such as on/off-track controversies, team mate battles etc.

I'll get the ball rolling.


WDC:

1 - Lewis Hamilton
2 - Max Verstappen
3 - Daniel Ricciardo
4 - Valteri Bottas
5 - Sebastian Vettel


WCC:

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


Race Winners:

Hamilton
Verstappen
Ricciardo
Bottas
Vettel
Alonso


Other:

- The Verstappen / Ricciardo rivalry spills over after several minor on-track incidents. The Red Bull is roughly as quick as the Merc over the course of the season, but as the Bulls are so evenly matched, they keep taking points off each other and this allows Hamilton to seal another title.

- Toro Rosso are so completely and utterly last, that they stop even showing up on the timing screens.

- Raikkonen quits mid-season, replaced by Pedro de la Rosa.

Ok, bold and baseless predictions are one thing. But your very first choice is Hamilton for the WDC.

I'd argue that this is the most logical choice!

Ah, well, I didn't mean silly predictions.

So you are guessing to the best of your ability, but at this stage, before testing has even begun, one could argue that ANY prediction is a bold one!

I guess I could have made the clearer!

Renault engines prove to be slow and unreliable and Honda comes good.
It is revealed that Alonso recently invested in several UK franchises of KFC.

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Where I'm going, I don't need roads

Haas to be the slowest team this year is my out-there prediction, with the reasoning that Ferrari will favour the closer collaboration with Sauber over the deal with Haas to put Sauber ahead of them, and for Honda to finally show some semblance of respectability with the fire of Red Bull waiting in the wings to crucify them in public if they get it wrong for Toro Rosso.

Think we might see a mid season driver change too again this year, Brendan Hartley springs to mind, as does Vandoorne if he starts off all out to sea again; Norris has looked bloody quick in everything he has touched so far, and if Alonso is hassling the front of the grid and Vandoorne is behind Renaults/FIs/Williams, WDC position might to dictate a change.

Other than that, not expecting any real sea change. Merc/Ferrari close at the front with RB close enough to win if either/both of them drop the ball. Midfield looks like it could be as close as it has ever been, especially without any 'backmarker' teams this season.

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition 2018: {Rookie Year}
Current positon: 1st | 3 Podiums | 1 Win

WDC:

1 -Sebastian Vettel
2 -Lewis Hamilton
3 - Daniel Ricciardo
4 - Fernando Alsono
5 - Max Verstappen


WCC:

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


Race Winners:

Hamilton
Verstappen
Ricciardo
Bottas
Vettel
Alonso
Magnussen

WDC
Lewis
Seb
Bottas
Max
Alonso

WCC
Merc
Ferrari
Red Bull
McLaren
Renault

Winners
Lewis
Seb
Bottas
Max

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I remember when this website was all fields.

Lets be bold here:

WDC

L.Hamilton
K.Raikkonen
Max V.
Seb Vettel
V. Bottas
D. Ricciardo

WCC

Ferrari
Mercedes
RedBull
McLaren
Renault

Winners

L.Hamilton
Kimi
S. Vettel
Max
Ricciardo
Sainz

Alonso will have less points than his teammate. Sains will steal one race win. Force India and Williams will drop down the order, Ocon will beat Perez and Leclerc will impress at Sauber by outscoring his teammate. Ric solid #2 driver. Last year at Merc for Bottas

WDC
Vettel
Hamilton
Max
Bottas
Ricciardo

WCC
Mercedes
RBR
Ferrari
McLaren
Renault
Williams
The team formerly know as Force India
Haas
Sauber
Toro Rosso

Winners
Hamilton
Vettel
Max
Bottas
Alonso
Kimi (even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then)

Other
Although the Ferrari is fast enough for Vettel to fight for and win the WDC, Kimi (with one brilliant exception) doesn't do well enough to keep them in the constructors battle. RBR although being a step behind the Mercedes and Ferrari on pace and fighting with McLaren as the third best car will still be able to grab 2nd in the WCC.

The RBR boys will be a slightly better behaved version of the FI team mates from last year. A little argy-bargy and worn out car-to-pit radio buttons but nothing that comes to tears.

Vandoorne is a lot closer to Alonso than most people expect.

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{Insert clever sig line here}

Going to go with business as usual at the front, but the bold prediction being Renault leading the chasing pack and taking 3rd in the WCC. Verstappen to edge both Renault drivers in the WDC though, with a close battle between the two and Sainz coming out on top. Hopefully the chasing teams are close enough to finish above Raikkonen and Bottas consistently if they both remain of the pace.

I know the thread title was 'baseless' but no force on Heaven or Earth will get Kimi above Seb in the WDC.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

Injury / illness early season? A few thoughtless lines to the press?

Possible, although last season Kimi scored 10 points per race on average, whilst Seb managed 15. Given a similar scoring ratio, Seb would have to miss 7 races.

Not sure what he'd say to the press to get fired.

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I remember when this website was all fields.

Its a strech and a bit crazy, but we need a dog fight between all six drivers on the top 3 teams and HOPE McLaren and Renault get in the mix.

- Honda makes a very good engine and gives a few podiums to STR
- Ferrari produces a great car, Vettel gets the WDC
- RBR has worst season in 10 years
- Mclaren fails to get a podium
- HAAS slowest
- Sauber regularly in the points
- Force India fails big time
- Renault, fast but unreliable
- Williams pays heavy price for lack of experienced drivers gets a lot of fines for stupid infringements
- Mercedes falls behind Ferrari

- Raikonnen retires at the end of season as a vice-champ with at least one victory
- Hamilton retires at the end of season for loosing interest after being defeated
- Alonso retires at the end of season, fed up with bad choices

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The end is near

Okay, here are my bold and baseless predictions:

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Top Five: Verstappen, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas

WCC Order: Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Williams, Force India, Haas, Alfa-Sauber, Toro Rosso

Race Winners: Verstappen, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Alonso

Other Predictions: Verstappen and Ricciardo hit each other at least one while battling for the lead; Alonso wins in Spain; Hulk gets not one podium but two; Leclerc scores all of Sauber's points; Kimi is fired mid-season at his first pit stop in Hungary; Toto Wolff says Ferrari will be the car to beat in all 20 races despite beating Ferrari more often than not; fans soon turn on the new RBR livery despite hailing it as good in the pre-season

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PF1 PICK 10 COMPETITION (4 wins, 14 podiums): 2017: 19th| 2016: 3rd| 2015: 4th
PF1 TOP THREE TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (No Limit Excedrin Racing): 2017: 2nd| 2015: 1st
AUTOSPORT GP PREDICTOR: 2017 United States Champion! (world #2)

Top Five WDC:
1. Hamilton
2. Verstappen
3. Bottas
4. Vettel
5. Ricciardo

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

Race Winners:
Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Alonso

Other:
- McLaren have a full orange livery.
- Ricciardo Mercedes deal for 2019 announced before season ends. Bottas to Ferrari.
- Williams to have a good car which forces them actually invest in a good driver for 2019 season.

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Raikkonen Bottas Ricciardo

Thanks for the memories Nico

WDC:

1 - Kimi Raikkonen
2 - Lewis Hamilton
3 - Sebastian Vettel
4 - Daniel Ricciardo
5 - Max Verstappen


WCC:

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


Race Winners:

Hamilton
Verstappen
Ricciardo
Vettel
Raikkonen
Vandoorne
Alonso

Other:

- Halo to be majorly modified by season end
- Ricciardo to announce Mercedes move at Japanese Grand Prix
- Perez to join Ferrari after Raikkonen retirement
- Alonso to retire

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hulkenberg to get a podium

I can't see this season being much different really.

- Mercedes to dominate most races
- Ferrari to have a competitive car yet not good enough
- Red Bull to be more in the mix but again, not good enough
- Force India to remain the fourth best on the grid
- Renault to just nip the fifth spot from McLaren
- McLaren to have a better but by no means good season
- Williams
- Sauber
- Toro Rosso
- HAAS

I would, of course, like to be proved seriously wrong. I would love to see Alonso in the mix but I honestly can't see McLaren doing much at all again this season.

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Fernando Alonso

PF1 Autosport GP 2017: 3rd Place

If RB and McLaren have same engine. McLaren will be faster.

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Aussie :: Ricciardo

After taking one look at the cars launched so far and obviously not knowing enough, I predict that the Ferrari will be the class of the field this year and Vettel will win the title.

(I am available to eat my words after working hours).

WDC:
1 - Sebastian Vettel
2 - Lewis Hamilton
3 - Max Verstappen
4 - Valtteri Bottas
5 - Kimi Raikkonen


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


Race Winners:

Hamilton
Verstappen
Ricciardo
Bottas
Vettel
Alonso


- McLaren to be closer to Renault than Red Bull in spite of their bold claims about their chassis last year. Despite that Alonso is bound to nick a win somewhere.
- Toro Rosso will be some way off the back. Terrible engine and terrible drivers.
- Kubica to sub in for at least one race.
- Grosjean will moan about his brakes at some point.

-Some drivers are unable to deal with the halo. Result: stupid accidents and big differences between team mates
-At least one really bad accident caused by the halo in a totally unforeseen manner.
-Bottas hits the ground running. Hamilton might or might not eventually get past him but only with lots of mind games and shenanigans.
-Honda is quick but both drivers smoke up their three engines in three races. After that: penalties galore.
-A horror summer for the whole of Europe will cause seven rain races in a row with seven different winners, one of them Lance Stroll.

This guy gets it. Those predictions are all very bold.

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PF1 PICK 10 COMPETITION (4 wins, 14 podiums): 2017: 19th| 2016: 3rd| 2015: 4th
PF1 TOP THREE TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (No Limit Excedrin Racing): 2017: 2nd| 2015: 1st
AUTOSPORT GP PREDICTOR: 2017 United States Champion! (world #2)

A title fight between Alonso and Verstappen.

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#Keep Fighting Michael

2016 was close between them.

I think this season will be very similar to 2017 with Mercedes and Ferrari ahead of the rest then RBR. Mclaren will flop again.

WCC:
1. Mercedes
2. Ferrari
3. RBR
4. FI
5. Renault
6. Mclaren
7. STR
8. Haas
9. Williams
10. Sauber

WDC
1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Kimi
4. Vettel
5. Ricciardo

Race Winners: Hamilton, Bottas, Kimi and Vettel.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM9-GK3MeLI

Top three in both WDC and WCC will be the same as last year.

Williams will tumble from 5th to 9th in 2018

While McLaren will advance only one from 9th to 8th.
Alonso will defect early May so he can try Indianapolis again... He can't help himself.

Raikkonen will drop out (or be fired) to go rally racing (again).

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Short-time member, Life-Long Fan from 1965 -- More than 550 Grand Prix recorded since 1982 (all but 3), and counting...

I'm just going to say what I think will happen this season.

Redbull and Mercedes will be the top 2 cars. Ferrari will be close but will have fallen behind as they struggle to understand their new longer wheelbase car. Ferrari will announce that Raikonnen is being replaced in the middle of the season.
Mclaren will be fourth, and in no man's land; Unable to catch up to the top three cars but too fast for the other midfield teams.
STR will be last. Honda will be more reliable, but will still lack power, and the driver's won't help.
The surprise of the season will be Sauber, from being a backmarker in 2017 to being able to challenge for 5th in the WCC.

- Having been conservative in 2017, Mercedes more aggressive 2018 car marks a return to the sort of dominance they had in 2014/15/16. They don't quite reach those heights but do win 15 of the 21 races. Lewis takes the majority of the victories and is crowned a 5x WDC in Mexico. However, their dominance allows Bottas to win multiple races himself, finishing P2 in the WDC, which is enough to convince Mercedes to retain him for 2019.
- An improved Renault engine plus a better understanding of their own car, combined with Ferrari's move to a longer wheelbase hurting them, enables Red Bull to jump Ferrari. Ricciardo spends a season flirting with Mercedes, McLaren, Renault and indeed Ferrari, but ultimately opts to stay with Red Bull for 2019. Red Bull's relationship with Renault improves, partly thanks to Renault's improvement but also because the Honda engine (whilst more reliable) remains the weakest on the grid and makes a switch to Honda power for 2019 unfeasible. Verstappen and Ricciardo are P3 and P4 in the WDC without a great deal separating them.
- Ferrari finish P3 in the WCC but McLaren aren't far off them in fourth. 'Kimi' announces it'll be his last F1 season around the Italian grand prix and thanks to a combination of Ocon making Perez look ordinary and his own performances at Sauber, Charles Leclerc is announced as a Ferrari driver for 2019 a month or so later. Vettel lucks into a race win early in the year but other than that the best they can do is podium finishes.
- McLaren rise up to P4. Alonso returns to the podium. Renault jump to P5. Sainz's loan is extended into 2019 as Red Bull don't have an opening. Hulkenberg finishes P4 twice. Alonso's Le Mans bid ends in heartbreak when his car lets him down whilst leading in the final two hours. However, McLaren's progress (including that long awaited 'principle partner' announcement) means there is a lot less speculation about his future and he's confirmed as staying alongside Vandoorne for 2019 by the Autumn.
- Force whatever they end up being drop to P6 with Ocon outperforming Perez. They largely avoid the sort of issues they had in 2017 simply because Ocon is usually far enough ahead of Perez to avoid them tripping over each other.
- At the bottom Toro Rosso finish P10, mainly due to the poor performance of the Honda engine. Williams drop to P9 but Sirotkin outscores Stroll, who comes nowhere near repeating his podium heroics from last year. Haas continue their theme of having the odd good result but generally being a bit anonymous, except for their ongoing brake issues. And Sauber climb up to P7 on the back of Leclerc's starring performances and the Ferrari partnership.

Not exactly out there predictions I know, but I feel like we're not going to get too many surprises this year. Hope I'm wrong though!

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Pick 10 | 1st x3, 2nd x3, 3rd x7
2018: 5th | 2017: 6th | 2016: 8th | 2015: 2nd | 2014: 15th | 2013: 17th | 2012: 11th

Ferrari hadn’t exploited oil burning to the extent Mercedes were able to in 2017 so therefore finally be able to match the grunt, hopefully Renault will do the same.

So, with the best chassi and best drivers Red Bull will dominate again with Ferrari a close second.
Mercedes finally after four years of domination fall back to 3:rd best car but still best reliability.

Verstappen WDC with Vettel and Ricciardo close second.
Red Bull WCC with Ferrari and Mercedes close behind.

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I don't rely entirely on God

I rely on Prost



FA#14

LeClerc to mysteriously struggle against Ericsson. Analysis along the lines of "guess he wasn't that good" by season's end

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I don't rely entirely on God

I rely on Prost



FA#14

Between Toyota being Toyota and the car crapping the bed or the chance of running up the back end of a "gentleman driver" in a Ferrari through the Porsche Curves this is almost guaranteed.

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{Insert clever sig line here}

I'm already looking forward to the first time someone uses this to support a 'Hulkenberg > Alonso' argument

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Pick 10 | 1st x3, 2nd x3, 3rd x7
2018: 5th | 2017: 6th | 2016: 8th | 2015: 2nd | 2014: 15th | 2013: 17th | 2012: 11th

Never mind, I'm an idiot. Right team wrong car.

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{Insert clever sig line here}

WDC
1. Vettel
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen
4. Ricciardo
5. Alonso

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

Race winners
Hamilton
Bottas
Vettel
Verstappen
Ricciardo

I could happily swap Mercedes/Ferrari and Hamilton/Vettel but the rest I'm pretty happy with, which means I'm probably way off the mark!

Lots seeming optimistic about Renault reliability this year. With Red Bull, they were shocking last year. Much worse than the years before. They had less time on track than Honda - yes, really. And given they clearly were worse than Mercedes and Ferrari for most of the season, that is another thing that to me makes Ricciardo or Verstappen pretty unlikely to be able to beat either of the Mercedes drivers. Although I think it will mainly be reliability that effects it. I somehow don't expect Renault to have made a sudden turn around in reliability. Given Ricciardo was over 100 points behind Bottas who was in his first season with Mercedes, will the car really manage to be so much better that even Verstappen could manage to beat Bottas in the Mercedes? Of course Mercedes could go downhill but I think that seems unlikely. I think Red Bull will be closer than they were, but not enough to be right at the top. I also think Bottas should be able to improve quite a bit this season which also will make it harder for either of the Red Bull drivers to beat him. He has had time over the winter and very likely has been able to help develop the car to suit his driving style much better. We will see. I'm not saying Bottas is better, but the Red Bull's engine reliability will have to improve significantly to give either driver a chance in my view. Mercedes engines have been brilliant last year. If I remember correctly, Bottas was one of the only drivers with a Mercedes engine that had a single blow out during a race. Reliability will play a huge part in the positions in the championship.

I personally think the top 3 drivers in the championship will be the same as last year, although the order could be different. But I find guessing very difficult so I don't think I'd want to say too much.

I cant find the article, it may of been a user on here - but I believe Renault have alluded to ran 7 times as much as they did prior to last seasons tests, and believe that each PU could now potentially do 7 races. That is an incredible achievement *if* true. Lets not forget that Honda spoke of fantastic dyno results. It was a different story when the engine was in the back of the car.

I do hope it is closer though.. that would bring in the potential for a Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferarri championship.. That is a mouth-watering prospect.

That being said, Mercedes are also very quietly confident. But I guess that comes from 4 championships on the trot.. And Toto likes to maintain a professional approach..

They say winter testing doesnt tell us anything, but we were able to deduce a fair bit from last seasons.. I think we will start to get a rough picture after week 1. Excited.

Anyone that says that is an idiot. The fastest car in winter testing is almost always the fastest car in Melbourne.