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With Mercedes stretching their legs at the front and only one Red Bull currently capable of getting in amongst the red cars, it's already beginning to look like 2019 is going to be another Mercedes - Ferrari - Red Bull 1-2-3 in the WCC standings. What doesn't seem anywhere near as clear is which team will win the 'Formula 1.5' title and finish 4th in the WCC.

So far in four races, four different teams have finished best of the rest: Haas, McLaren, Renault and Racing Point. Alfa Romeo have scored at every race while Toro Rosso picked up points in the first three races. At this early stage a mere ten points separates 4th in the WCC (McLaren with 18 points) and 8th (Haas with 8 points) and while it's difficult to imagine it'll remain so close all season, it does seem like the midfield is even more competitive in 2019. So my question is a very simple one: which team will end up finishing 4th in the WCC? (And if you fancy being brave, predict how they'll finish from 5th through to 9th as well!)

What, no Williams?

Everything has been so up and down it's virtually impossible to say with any certainty. I'm going to go for McLaren but it's a complete guess tbh. I think Giovinazzi is dragging Alfa down and Kimi's not strong enough to do it on his own. Racing Point haven't really looked that pacy over all, while in the battle of the Renault-powered cars McLaren seem the more consistent currently. Bit of wishful thinking thrown in there too, of course!

I went with Renault. They have two good drivers who will make the difference.

I'd say so far car performance on average over the 4 races would be -

Mclaren
Alfa
Renault
Racing .
Haas
STR

But it's very close.

Either McLaren or Racing Point. I'm honestly pretty disappointed in Renault -- the car doesn't seem to be a step forward (if anything, it's a step backward) compared to last season. McLaren has a notably faster car with the same PU and weaker drivers, leaving Renault absolutely no room to hide.

As for Racing Point, it all depends on how much development they can do with superior funding. They'll always be hampered by having one driver weaker than their immediate competitors, however.

The rest either don't have the car, don't have the drivers, or don't have either.

If Alfa had two drivers of Kimi's caliber then them hands down. Giovanazzi has not impressed me at all yet.

I was hoping that after last year Haas would keep climbing up the rankings. They are making their usual start of the season mess of it. They can't continue to do that. Probably have to replace the loose nuts behind the wheel.

McLaren is looking good and has one of the most interesting team mate competitions. Will be keeping my eyes on the Sainz/Norris battles.

Renault was set to be a terrific battle between Daniel and Nico. It just has not delivered. Makes me wish Daniel could have gone to Alfa.


Racing Point and Toro Rosso just haven't engaged my attention much this year.

When it comes to lineup, Renault have the most balanced / strong lineup without a doubt but as we're seeing, Renault is having issues big time & are not reliable.

Alfa Romeo & Racing Point at the moment look strong but they've got only 1 competitive / consistent driver each which could hurt them in the WCC fight.

Toro Rosso actually have a good car but not a strong lineup at the moment. McLaren have a good car as well & have good drivers too which could be a boon for the WCC running.

Haas has a good lineup but the car is struggling big time with tyre temperature issues. If they keep struggling, they'll fall back & it will be hard to recover.

What we've seen so far is different tracks are suiting different teams. I actually like it this way so the WCC fight will go right down to the wire. Between Alfa Romeo, Haas, McLaren, Renault,, Racing Point & even Toro Rosso, anyone can finish 4th. It all depends on the developments upgrade wise & driver wise.

In the poll, I've been biased & gone for Racing Point. When the team was financially weak, it still managed to have a good car. Now with a much better budget & a promise of upgrades as good as to every race, I can't neglect this team's performance as the season progresses. Only wish Stroll would qualify better.

I think it would be really close between Alfa, McLaren and Renault if (like the other two teams) Alfa had two good drivers. Kimi won't be able to single-handedly compete so it's between McLaren (who'll have the edge in pace) and Renault (who has the better lineup). I'm going for:
McLaren
Renault
Alfa Romeo

Haas
Racing Point
Toro Rosso

Racing Point.
They tend to start slow and stretch their legs quarter way through the championship.
But with these new tyers it all seems a lottery.

If Renault can get their reliability sorted out, I think they'll easily take it. As it stands now, I think McLaren have the most promising combination of driver line-up, reliability, and pace.

I think Renault have the greatest potential to finish 4th, but they also have the potential to become the biggest flops of the year too.

They've got the drivers. The PU seems to have the grunt needed to be competitive judging by how Macca is performing. They seem to me be struggling in the aero & brake dept as well as of course PU reliability. I'd reckon after 4 rounds they would've expected to have, AT THE VERY LEAST, twice as many points on the board than they have now. If this continues the board should be asking Abiteboul some serious questions during the latter half of the season.

At a fifth of the way through the season, it's going to take a massive turn around for Renault to be able to say after round 21 that this season was a step forward over last.

As for the question, i'm very tentatively tipping Renault to sort their stuff & finish 4th though i'd not be surprised to see either Alfa, Macca or RP top the "Best of the Rest" comp.

Could we all declare 2019 as the season with the most competitive midfield in ages? Barring Williams ofcourse. I would love if at every grand prix, any midfield team is stronger than the rest as this has been the pattern. A track's characteristics have been suiting a car as the main reason for it to be the best of the rest. For eg; RP being strong at Baku because of the layout & low downforce trim. It's not as if RP are the 4th best team currently.

Racing point.

Because Stroll > Giovinzazzi

Lt. Drebin wrote:Racing point.

Because Stroll > Giovinzazzi

Mate You being sarcastic?

At Spain, most of the teams will be introducing major upgrades. This will be a big step which could dictate the WCC hierarchy.

UnlikeUday wrote:Could we all declare 2019 as the season with the most competitive midfield in ages? Barring Williams ofcourse. I would love if at every grand prix, any midfield team is stronger than the rest as this has been the pattern. A track's characteristics have been suiting a car as the main reason for it to be the best of the rest. For eg; RP being strong at Baku because of the layout & low downforce trim. It's not as if RP are the 4th best team currently.

2009. The most competitive field all round. Could go from slowest to fastest in one upgrade.

mikeyg123 wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:Could we all declare 2019 as the season with the most competitive midfield in ages? Barring Williams ofcourse. I would love if at every grand prix, any midfield team is stronger than the rest as this has been the pattern. A track's characteristics have been suiting a car as the main reason for it to be the best of the rest. For eg; RP being strong at Baku because of the layout & low downforce trim. It's not as if RP are the 4th best team currently.

2009. The most competitive field all round. Could go from slowest to fastest in one upgrade.

I think this year is more like 2012. Everybody's trying to figure out how to make the tyres work and it can produce big variations from race to race.

Zoue wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:Could we all declare 2019 as the season with the most competitive midfield in ages? Barring Williams ofcourse. I would love if at every grand prix, any midfield team is stronger than the rest as this has been the pattern. A track's characteristics have been suiting a car as the main reason for it to be the best of the rest. For eg; RP being strong at Baku because of the layout & low downforce trim. It's not as if RP are the 4th best team currently.

2009. The most competitive field all round. Could go from slowest to fastest in one upgrade.

I think this year is more like 2012. Everybody's trying to figure out how to make the tyres work and it can produce big variations from race to race.

Maybe like a very mini version of 2012. We still have the same three teams nearly always in the exact same order at the front. 2012 had far more variety.

mikeyg123 wrote:

Zoue wrote:

mikeyg123 wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:Could we all declare 2019 as the season with the most competitive midfield in ages? Barring Williams ofcourse. I would love if at every grand prix, any midfield team is stronger than the rest as this has been the pattern. A track's characteristics have been suiting a car as the main reason for it to be the best of the rest. For eg; RP being strong at Baku because of the layout & low downforce trim. It's not as if RP are the 4th best team currently.

2009. The most competitive field all round. Could go from slowest to fastest in one upgrade.

I think this year is more like 2012. Everybody's trying to figure out how to make the tyres work and it can produce big variations from race to race.

Maybe like a very mini version of 2012. We still have the same three teams nearly always in the exact same order at the front. 2012 had far more variety.

That is true, yes. It's not exactly the same. I was talking more from the viewpoint that the competitive order is somewhat mixed up due to the tyres and isn't necessarily reflective of true car performance. It's hard to tell who actually has the best car

UnlikeUday wrote:

Lt. Drebin wrote:Racing point.

Because Stroll > Giovinzazzi

Mate You being sarcastic?

At Spain, most of the teams will be introducing major upgrades. This will be a big step which could dictate the WCC hierarchy.

I stand by my opinion. And I just wrote it down. Force Point will be a force to reckon with, the Stroll Snr. is very enthusiastic and will have a success. We have seen nothing of them yet. Perez, man I don't like his personality, but as a driver he is top, and Stroll Jnr., when he has his day, is a very fine driver. He is growing, no doubt.

I’m a Ricc fan, but I can’t honestly pick a winner. I exclude Haas and TR, but that’s as far as I’ll commit.

The midfield has been splendid when it comes to close competition. It usually has been between McLaren, Renault, Toro Rosso & Racing Point when it comes to fighting for the honor of 'Best of the Rest'. Shockingly, the 2 teams which looked the strongest at the start of the season - Haas & Alfa Romeo are nowhere now.

The midfield can be divided mainly into 2 groups - (McLaren, Renault, Toro Rosso & Racing point) & (Haas, Alfa Romeo & maybe Williams).

The midfield battles are many times not shown on live TV as it could be the thinking that maximum fans of F1 belong to either Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull camps so the race director is compelled to showing 2 front running cars just following each other whilst missing the many overtakes which take place in the midfield.

I think McLaren has had the clear 4th best car for most of this year, and a combination of bad luck and (occasionally) driver differences have made it closer on the points table than it should be.

Exediron wrote:I think McLaren has had the clear 4th best car for most of this year, and a combination of bad luck and (occasionally) driver differences have made it closer on the points table than it should be.

Renault have been doing a good job on Sundays by and large, it's just they have had to overcome awful qualifying pace. I think the points gap is fairly representative.