Lewis Hamilton rounded off another successful campaign with his 11th race win of the season in Abu Dhabi as attention already begins to turn to the 2019 Championship and who, if anyone, will be rivalling the Brit and Mercedes for their titles.
The 33-year-old will be out to make six-in-a-row next season, with Mercedes continuing to dominate the sport.
Hamilton looked in control throughout the race in Abu Dhabi, a sign of just how far ahead of his rivals he is.
Even after the race finished, it was Hamilton who stole the show as he celebrated in style with ‘donuts’ on the track as he ended of the season on yet another high.
No sooner did the race end, attention turned to 2019 and specifically March 17, when the new season gets underway in Melbourne, Australia.
As you would expect, Hamilton is already odds-on favourite to retain his title during the 2019 season but there are certainly some names to keep an eye on throughout the calendar year.
Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen are once again likely to be Hamilton’s biggest competitors and are reasonably priced in the odds market.
Could there be a major upset?
A lot of attention has been reserved for the highly-rated Charles Leclerc, who will be aiming to better Kimi Raikkonen’s performances for Ferrari next time around.
The 21-year-old comes in fresh-faced and is being tipped to achieve big things in the sport. Leclerc could be a name to keep an eye out for if you fancy an upset when making your predictions for the upcoming season. And if you want to wage some money on the Frenchman having an impact in certain Grand Prix, then freebets.uk is a good place to start.
In what is only his second year in Formula 1, Leclerc will make the step up and swap Sauber for Ferrari, replacing Raikkonen, with the aim of giving Ferrari the boost they need to close the gap between themselves and Hamilton and Mercedes.
The youngster has already spoken of his ambitions for next season, hoping to achieve big things with Ferrari and he is certainly an outsider that could upset the apple cart if things go his way.
For Vettel and Ferrari, next season will give them a chance to re-write the wrongs of the 2018 season, one where they looked set to achieve big things in both championships.
However, despite starting brightly, their season tailed off with Mercedes having just too much power to see them over the line.
The next Lewis Hamilton?
While he may not challenge Hamilton in 2019, British F1 fans will be keeping a close eye on the performances of Lando Norris, an 18-year-old with huge potential.
Already Norris is being viewed as the future of British racing, with Hamilton approaching the latter stages of his career.
However, for now Norris has to step up and show that he can handle the pressure and the tags that will come with being viewed as the ‘next Hamilton’. McClaren have given him that opportunity after impressing in the Formula 2, F1’s feeder series.
His time will undoubtedly come in future years, so he’ll be looking to learn what he can from the current crop of drivers, Hamilton included, that are dominating the sport in what will be valuable experience for the youngster.
