Putting the skills of both teammates together which team(s) comes on top?
You have to give that to Ham and Bottas. They have the most experience as partners, and know where each stands in the team hierarchy. The others are new pairings. Once LEC gets into the Ferrari groove, he will give Seb a run for his money. Then there will be an adjustment period where Seb has to assert his dominance. If he doesn't, the team will be in shambles. Max and Gasly is interesting, but Max will drive rings around him. Ricci and the Hulk are an interesting pair and may be the dark horse as both drivers are experienced. Give them a good power unit, and they will surprise you.
In terms of working together to win the WDC probably Bot-Ham are the best coupling but in terms of pure skill, speed and strength? Horner has claimed that one for his drivers multiple times this year.
Hamilton and Bottas both work well together and Bottas can and has taken the fight to Hamilton in quali and the race. Ricci and Hulkenberg are both experienced and very capable racers. We will need to wait and see how they will work together if one of them (Ricci) moves ahead in WDC points, will the other play wingman for the team if requested? Seb will want to assert his dominance in the team and show he is worthy of his 4 titles. Le Clerc will be snipping at his heels to cut him down a notch or two. Will be interesting to see how the Scuderia will perform or will the implosion of this latter part of the season carry over the winter break. Hopefully whoever takes over the helm cracks a whip and brings back order to get the team back into a winning mindset. One can only hope.
ard to say, Ricci and Hulk are both to notch, we have to see charles in a top team, but if he's as good as i think he and Seb will be a helluva team! Elton and Botichello are also pretty good....i think these 3 will be the very best.
How is Hulk rated so highly? I mean Perez did very very well against him and Perez himself is struggling to hang on to the coattails of Ocon.
Unless you are in a team/car that is fighting at the front a 'wingman' means nothing. So that knocks out half the list. If Ferrari enforces orders and Leclerc follows them I can see him being a stronger #2 than Bottas.
I am interested in seeing how Hulk matches up against Daniel. Renault looks like they are going nowhere at the moment so it might be moot.
Good question. I remember that some on this forum wished for Hulkenberg to join the Scuderia ! I cannot see Hulkenberg getting good results at Renault either, although that is more due to the car probably. Interestingly, Hulkenberg himself confessed in an interview that he had given hope of being called by a top team. I think the next year will be revealing of his true form, with Ricciardo as team mate. I aloso wish that Renault becomes more competitive in 2019.
I wouldn't want him to replace either of next year's drivers though I think that he could have outperformed Kimi--and I like Kimi. Leclerc seems to hold great promise so I am hopeful that he will fit in; although Seb has been a disappointment I'm not certain that Hulk could do better. Perhaps given an opportunity in a top team Hulk would rise to the occasion? Pure speculation on my part.
Hulkenberg reminds me of Frentzen or Heidfeld. They did show some promises at the beginng, and people started raving about them. Only for them to become very average and simply fade away.
At this point in time there is no evidence to support such a hunch. What about Gasly or Giovinazzi, aren't they as likely to become another Alex Wurz?
As I recall Wurz was an exceptional talent who lost his mojo after an accident, is that correct? I have yet to see evidence that either Gasly or Giovinazzi are in Leclerc's class. I wish them well but I don't have high expectations for either.
I'm going with RAI-GIO. This is because I forsee a greater improvement of the Sauber team as a whole than the rest. Merc will win again in 2019, with Ferrari and then Red Bull behind. Nothing changes. Actually, I am fearful Ferrari may drop to 3rd in the CC if LeClerc isn't quite ready and/or Seb has a meltdown. However, I really do think Sauber has a chance at being the best of the rest by the end of 2019, and could score more Championship points in 2019 than they have in any other year (not including BMW years).
Take the car out of the mix and you would have radically different results. I voted on drivers only. Otherwise, Mercedes has the market cornered on car and team. Put anyone in that situation and they will win... Robb
