[Antilochos]

So, I'm quite curious about Red Bull to be honest.
They are a great team with good people, but because of a engine with bad reliability and a lack of speed (compared to Mercedes), will they be a title contender for next year?

Normally, I would say no. But the fact that Verstappen signed a new contract puzzles me. Verstappen is a driver wanted by all teams, why choose a team that is not fighting for a title and nothing points in the direction that they will be for the next two years.
Does Verstappen know something that we do not (obvious, but you know what I mean)? Or did he the smart move to give Red Bull that extra year, in exchange that he is free to leave earlier if the team does not reach certain goals?
Don't see Ricciardo signing anytime soon.

Then I read Horner saying Newey will be involved in the new design in same amount like 2017 design. Didn't Newey get involved only a little bit and when it turned out the design at start season wasn't that good at all, he returned to finish the job? This phrase of Horner worries me.

And then the engine. What about that? Renault, Honda. Are they really capable of getting up to Mercedes niveau, or even Ferrari niveau? Will they get that reliability?

Would love to see this team fighting again for the title, but it is keeping me puzzled...

[morini]

Newey is certainly one of the very best aero designers on the grid and the Red Bulls are always at or close to the head of the pack in that respect. But Peter Prodromou learnt a lot of his tricks while at RBR and is also highly rated. RBR haven't actually done so well since he went to McLaren.

I'm not a big fan of Red Bull myself (probably because Horner always rubs me up the wrong way, the irritating git), but really like both their drivers. I would love to see them in the mix next year and it will be interesting to see McLaren and Red Bull with the same power unit.

[forzaferrari]

Newey is certainly one of the very best aero designers on the grid and the Red Bulls are always at or close to the head of the pack in that respect. But Peter Prodromou learnt a lot of his tricks while at RBR and is also highly rated. RBR haven't actually done so well since he went to McLaren.

I'm not a big fan of Red Bull myself (probably because Horner always rubs me up the wrong way, the irritating git), but really like both their drivers. I would love to see them in the mix next year and it will be interesting to see McLaren and Red Bull with the same power unit.

I am looking forward to the RBR v McLaren also, engine parity = nowhere to hide

[Jody Barton]

Good question, Morini is spot on, I think RBR losing Prodromou was a big blow, bigger than they let on. McLaren’s chassis and aero have certainly come on leaps and bounds since then. As to Newey? He’s not interested in this ‘brand’ of F1. He’s said as much publicly. He’s off designing hypercars with Aston Martin and America’s Cup winning yachts as that is his real passion. He absolutely was needed to come in and sort out the 2017 car, which was a pig at the start of the year because of the loss of FRIC. However, the DNA of the car at the end of 2017 is a very strong platform to build on. Renault seem confident they’ve produced an engine on dynos that seemingly is hitting Ferrari esque performance, and so far Renault have been honest about where they are in the hybrid era, so I’ll be watching closely come winter testing. Do I think the Renault PU will be a match for the Mercedes or Ferrari? Nope. However, if they can get close then their chassis could allow them to be competitive.

[morini]

@Jody. Yes please! Winter testing. Bring it on. I know I'm sad, but I hate the F1 off season. We haven't got Christmas out of the way yet and I'm already longing for winter testing to break up the cold, miserable, dark, boring winter months.

[The Professor]

Good question, Morini is spot on, I think RBR losing Prodromou was a big blow, bigger than they let on. McLaren’s chassis and aero have certainly come on leaps and bounds since then.

It's very interesting. The McLaren looks like a car with a great chassis and potentially aerodynamic efficiency - is it real though? It's feasible (maybe even easy) to tune an under performing  car to "just" be good in the slow corners and then blame the PU for the lack of straight line speed. Truth is, the best lap time is always a compromise between giving something away in the corners to gain some on the straight bits. I have a feeling that McLaren won't be quite so impressive in the slow speed once they have a chance of being "overall competitive".

TLDR; McLaren low speed performance - potential smoke and mirrors.

@Jody. Yes please! Winter testing. Bring it on. I know I'm sad, but I hate the F1 off season. We haven't got Christmas out of the way yet and I'm already longing for winter testing to break up the cold, miserable, dark, boring winter months.

Me too. Last race of the season is always a bit depressing.

[Jody Barton]

@The Professor, I agree partly with your McLaren assessment, if you read my post in the technical section on the rake of the cars you’ll see I believe McLaren are running significantly more rake than anyone else. Also way more wing. What is interesting to me at least is that the traces show the Honda unit is consistently proving to be one of the quickest accelerators then it sort of stalls on the straights... i’ve Spoken to some engineers who tell me that’s drag related, not because the engine can’t hit those speeds. We do know, and can see the unit is struggling to store energy and deploy it consistently, but apparently that’s a fairly easy fix as it is believed to be battery related now. Next years Honda engine will be interesting to watch, I have a sneaky suspicion it won’t look quite as bad in the back of the ‘slippy’ Toro Rosso...

Still think Peter Prodomou will produce a nice car though. I rate him quite highly, as do Ferrari if the rumours are true about them trying to tap him up.

[morini]

Still think Peter Prodomou will produce a nice car though. I rate him quite highly, as do Ferrari if the rumours are true about them trying to tap him up.

I wasn't aware Ferrari were chasing him, but understandable if they were / are.

One of the most interesting aspects of next year for me, exactly how good will McLaren be as a customer Renault team? The nostalgic morini wants to see them close to the top, but I'm not sure it's really the same team with big Ron ousted. I'll be up front and say I don't like Zak Brown much, he's no front man for a fundamentally British F1 team. Sorry if that offends anyone.

[Antilochos]

Indeed an interesting question a lot are asking; how will McLaren compare to Red Bull?
Personally, I think Red Bull is the better team in these last years, but it will be interesting.

[Monster Hesh]

This season has all been about recovering from banned suspension for both Mercedes and RedBull. Luckily Merc had their power unit to see them through the first part of the season. Come the second half of the season both teams had overcome their deficit. Coupled with their proclaimed correlation issues sorted, that RedBull came alive.

So perhaps it does all come down to the power unit. I imagine Reanult to really make gains for next season. I heard or read that they have a supreme energy store, which when then couple with better ICE we could be in for a real surprise. Renault especially with RedBull have always seemed to be very creative and effective with the engine maps, apply this and I think RedBull are going to be right there. But I'm going be more reserved in our speculation, and wait for winter testing.