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Time for the final analysis.
My first thoughts are what in the hell happened to Lance Stroll in the second half of the season?
After that superb podium mid season, the last several races he's been qualifying terribly and battling with the Toro Rosso's and Saubers while the long overdue retiring Massa mixes it up in the top 10. Except for the 6th he got at Mexico which really all came down to a brilliant start, Massa's been well ahead. So where' that leave him? Hamilton > Bottas > Massa > Stroll. Stroll really needs to get a bit more consistent next year because Williams should be regularly in the top 10 fighting with Force India and I think they would be if they had better drivers. I don't think Kubica is the right replacement for Massa either, not if he can't even get around that hairpin at Monaco.
Magnussen: boy he's not making friends. Even at Abu Dhabi he got into a tough tussle with someone, can't even remember who now. The start of the race was very aggressive as well. But hey nothing wrong with that for the spectators, just shows he has what it takes and frankly he's been faster than Grosjean for a while now, and Grosjean certainly is a decent driver. Kmag definitely deserves another season in the Haas. Despite some haters he could have done enough to show he has what it takes to have a career in F1 for a while.
Vandoorne: it'll be great to see how he goes in a faster car next season. Again he's not that far away from Fred, only 2 tenths in quali. Pitted far too early at Abu Dhabi which comprimised the rest of his race, but the terrible dirty air of todays F1 car meant no one could catch him to pass anyway.
Ocon: it's easy to say he's the star of newbies this year. But he isn't really convincingly beating Perez. Perez beat him at Abu Dhabi, although it was only by 6 secs, that still means he was slower. All the times this year Ocon has managed to beat Perez, usually Perez was faster. Still, if Ricciardo doesn't get the Merc seat in 2019, Ocon will be a nice comparison to Hamilton (assuming Bottas continues to be average). He'll need to more regularly beat Perez though, who isn't exactly next in line for a top seat. He had it in the McLaren and struggled. Both drivers shouldn't be getting beaten by Hulk in that dog Renault, though.
Wehrlein: good race at Abu Dhabi beating the Toro Rosso pair, Stroll and his team mate. But again not far ahead of Ericsson. I never rated Ericsson so Wehrlein only occassionally being much faster isn't helping his case. Wehrlein vs Leclerc will be interesting, but personally I'd probably put Wehrlein in the Williams and see how he goes. I think he'll be experienced enough to perform similarly to Massa as opposed to the wildly inconsistent Stroll. Although for that matter, Leclerc should be in the Williams first.
Hartley and Gasly: well first time in their third race together, Hartley wasn't as fast as Gasly. Previous 2 races they were fairly similar. Whether it's down to managing the car parts or Hartley just couldn't get it set up, I don't know. But quali and practise he was well down on Pierre. Then in the race Pierre couldn't keep it on the track so Brendon beat him. Still too early to really judge their performances having stepped in late in the season (remember how terrible Stroll and Palmer were early on) with Renault giving them scrap metal to put in the car for an engine. It'll be good to see them over a full season, but I hope Honda isn't a pos. Kyvat might have scored a point on his departure and Sainz a 4th place before he left for Renault, but I think there's no way either of those two would have been scoring points in those last races either with what Toro Rosso gave them.
On to 2019 then, where we can continue to watch Lando Norris and George Russells progress to possible F1 seats.
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