[Jody Barton]

Being as though the big teams seem to be sticking rather than twisting, and the only two teams who haven’t confirmed their pairing for 2018 are Williams and Sauber (Still think Sauber will Leclerc Ericcson), who, of the confirmed teams has the best driver line-up and why?

I’ll kick the conversation off and go a tad controversial....

Mercedes. Why? I think Lewis is the best driver on the grid right now, and in Bottas he has a very steady calm number 2 who is willing to put in the mileage and leg work. The fact they seemingly get on so well means I think it gives the team a great ego free shot at both titles, something I think RBR May lack if they are competitive next year.

[Purple-banana]

I think the Merc boys only get on so well because of the gulf in performance between them. It will only take a single incident when Ham is having a bad day or Bottas a good one and the atmosphere in that team will begin to turn as toxic as it did between Hamilton & Rosberg... or Hamilton and Button... or Hamilton and Alonso. Hmmm I spot a pattern!!

Your question is a tough one to answer, how do you define 'best'? I would say Red Bull, Force India or Renault have the most evenly matched pairings, whereas inevitably whichever team has Seb or Lewis at the moment are odds-on to deliver the strongest results.

I was hopeful 2018 was going to be a cracker, but if Lewis' fight through the field was representative of a 2018 PU in race trim, I really hope Ferrari & Renault have got plenty in their pocket too. Have Mercedes made a mistake by showing their hand - or an indication of it - so far ahead of pre-season testing?

[forzaferrari]

I have voted Red bull simply because I think across the board they have the best / strongest pairing, If I thought Bottas could raise his game I would have voted Merc. I would love to have voted Ferrari however after Seb showing weakness and Kimi showing a lack of interest (in just about everything) I dont believe they are a strong line up!

In reply to Purple I too agree the harmony in Merc is down to Lewis having a huge advantage over his team mate, put a strong team mate along side Lewis who can push him and/or take points away the harmony would go out the window...who that team mate would be i`m not sure, Alonso? Max? Danny?

[Jody Barton]

Purple-banana and forzaferrari I take both your points re the Hamilton/Bottas pairing, however I think that is why it is so strong. Bottas give Lewis a decent benchmark, and someone else to gather useful data for the team, but not so useful he’ll be able to consistently threaten Lewis. This in term allows the team to focus on Lewis and he in turn feels loved and supported and can go out and perform. Ferrari sho7ld have that, but Vettel has been far too inconsistent and error prone, and Kimi just doesn’t look interested at all.

In terms of mean average talent I agree, it’s very had to look past Max and Danny, both in my opinion future F1 Champions. However, we’ve already had this season Max griping early doors about his reliability vs Danny’s and that the team needed to focus more on his car. We then had multiple new component gates, where Max has been given new parts and Danny gasn’t, which has caused needle the other way...

Then we had the explosive Hungaroring incident... where I think Danny let out some of the frustrations he’s feeling, couple that with the whole “building a team around Max” comment from Horner and. Argo saying “Max was Red Bulls focus and future” and you have the recipe for a very miffed off Ricciardo for that reason... I think if they are competitive next year we’ll see problems there, like we did at times at Force India.

[forzaferrari]

You are right in what you say re Lewis/Bottas, this pairing does work well for Merc and Lewis, I was looking more towards the strongest pair hence Danny and Max.

[Jody Barton]

forzaferrari that’s a valid argument too. I certainly don’t think either Ferrari or Mercedes can match RBR on the sheer talent stakes, as both teams have a clear number 2 driver, Bottas because of talent level, and Kimi because... bwoah... he doesn’t care anymore. Whereas I really don’t think there’s much to choose between Danny and Max.

[morini]

I voted for the RB pair too. Still think Hamilton is the best driver on the grid, but poor Valterri seems to be struggling with the step up to a top team so drops the team combo down.

[forzaferrari]

I can freely admit on here yes Hamilton is the best out there at present....dont let the Sky loonies know I said that haha

[Jody Barton]

I used to say Hamilton was one of the best, I’m not the chaps biggest fan, although I admire his driving skill, but anyone who seriously tries arguing he isn’t the best right now on the grid is probably going to struggle to win me round to their way of thinking. He’s clearly been on another plane of existence lately, and I seriously think Schumachers records, all of them, are under serious threat from Hamilton.

[forzaferrari]

There is every possibility of Lewis beating all the Schumacher records (Michael himself said records are there to be broken), I hope not but there is every chance while the likes of Seb and Ferrari squanders chances to win.