COULD SAUBER CHALLENGE FOR 4th PLACE IN 2019?
The Swiss Team Signed Italian Antonio Giovinazzi Yesterday
Yesterday it was announced that the highly talented Antonio Giovinazzi will finally get his F1 chance with Sauber signing the 24 year old Italian to partner Kimi Raikkonen in 2019.
Now on the surface, this line-up is arguably one of the best of 2019, along with Renault's partnering of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo, plus Ferrari's obviously talented Sebastian Vettel and Leclerc.
But what I am interested in seeing is if Sauber can translate this amazing raw talent into a serious championship challenge for 4th place, or otherwise known as 'best of the rest'. However this depends on a few factors.
First of all, will Red Bull stay in the top three of Formula One in 2019. I know that this might seem a really silly question to most of you considering that Red Bull are scoring the occasional podium or win. The switch to Honda in 2019 is looking more promising by the day, thanks to the decent results of the Toro Rosso's, but what if there not as good as we believe?
What if there is a larger deficit than we all thought, and are only competitive in street circuits? This could open the door to Renault, which leads me to my second question? Do you buy the statements from Renault that they will be challenging for wins by 2020?
Now let's think about this. Currently Renault are in fourth in the constructors championships, but that doesn't mean they currently have the fourth fastest car on the grid, probably that title resides to Force India.
Renault are obviously going to be in the midfield next year, or are they? Will they be able to exert pressure on the Red Bull's with the inexperience of Gasly compared the seniority of Hulkenberg?
Where Sauber fits into all of this who knows, but next year looks to be a very hectic midfield battle, with the Swiss team potentially finishing as low as eighth and as high as fourth.
One thing to take from the 2018 season is that Sauber are quickly developing their car, and I believe (this may be weird) Ferrari are... 'favouring' Sauber over Haas currently. This could be because of the strong links of their drivers to Ferrari, but who knows.
All we know is that Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi will team up at Sauber for 2019 with Marcus Ericsson residing to the reserve driver title. Giovinazzi will be F1’s first full-time Italian driver since Jarno Trulli and Vitantonio Liuzzi departed F1 at the end of 2011.
Here is the 2019 grid as it stands:
Join In
Comments (10)
I think with Red Bull struggling a bit and Renault coming in with scarily high hopes to lure Ricciardo, there could be a serious battle below the big boys. Will the Sauber car have the outright pace though? Has it ever had top 6 pace regularly?
At some circuits, but this is all hypothetical. We will find out in winter testing next year whether my theory was true or completely wrong.
It's going to be a tough midfield though, with Williams appearing to be rebounding.
I think 4th is too much to ask for in 2019, but they should be in the hunt.
Agreed, but I see them around 6th next year, and who knows in 2020, maybe in the top four.
I see them challenging Haas for fifth place next year, but it will be difficult to get any higher with no new regulations coming in for quite some time.
Going to be tough, but sixth is a reasonable target for next year, and with the raw talent of Raikkonen and Giovinazzi, then maybe they could challenge Haas.
I think they'll struggle to be top four - but they *could* be top five. I think the top three will still be the top three, Renault should be fourth, but after that it's up for grabs. Force India could slip back, Williams and McLaren will be nowhere, Toro Rosso will be 8th or something as usual. Haas could push them for fourth though.
Force India is a interesting question, but if they can keep their current performance levels up for 2019, then who knows, they could be in fourth place quite easily.
I think that will be tough. The uncertainty around the team ownership situation this year may have had an effect. But I also think Renault are coming - and with factory level money and resources, they must surely be favourites for 4th next...
Read more