Obviously Lewis is the favorite, but 1) I do think Max is now the best driver on the grid, full stop, and 2) Honda is right there, and assuming even slight improvement in the off-season, the RBR could be the best car. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Max ended up on top. Barring that, if Albon keeps doing what he seems to be able to do in the races, they might be in the constructor's fight as well.

>Renault and Haas have some soul searching to do. Whether
>Renault is treading water until the 2021 regs hit (like
>Mercedes did before the hybrid era started) is unclear. They
>have two good drivers (or one and an unknown) with Ricciardo
>and Ocon.

Ocon's not an unknown, though. Speed was never a question. Only lost the drive because of the Stroll takeover—just a money thing. He'll push Ricciardo.

>Couple that with drivers
>that seem to rather fight each other than race the field and
>you have issues on both sides. Considering they were set to be
>in play for best of the rest just last year, it's hard to say
>how to right the ship.

I don't think the drivers are an issue, but they definitely need to fix that car. If they're not 4th or 5th next year, I bet Gene Haas pulls the plug. Which would be a real shame.

>Williams has nowhere to go but up. At least they got a point.
>Flush this year and forget the results, but build on whatever
>positive things happened and, who knows, double your point
>total?

They can't be any worse, I guess. But given what a piece of shit that car was this year, they'll have learned some lessons. Whatever happened with Paddy Lowe must have really messed up the whole year.