F1 2018: 5 early predictions for the 2018 Monaco GP

Lewis Hamilton has extended his lead in the Formula One Driver's Championship, and Mercedes have placed themselves squarely at the lead of the Constructors race.

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari are still in it with a strong chance, but it's clear that Mercedes are back to fighting form.

While Monaco isn't always the most exciting race, the attitude of the drivers this season and the speed of the cars should be enough to deliver a serviceable race.

Will Vettel and Ferrari bounce back? Will Lewis Hamilton take his driving to the next level? Will Valtteri Bottas or Kimi Raikkonen emerge as a credible contender in the 2018 drivers Championship? We don't know, but like always, that won't stop us from guessing.

#1 Grosjean feels another failure

As of yet, Romain Grosjean has yet to score a point in the 2018 Formula One season. This seems especially surprising given the Frenchman's previous success, and the raw speed that the 2018 Haas car boasts.

Grosjean has not had a great season, with wheel gun failures, a highest finish of P13 in Bahrain and 2 self-caused incidents.

We all know that Grosjean has it in him to grab some great points for Haas, but in his current form, it feels unlikely that his luck will turn around in Monaco.

At a track where position is everything, and the smallest of mistakes can send you into the barriers, Grosjean has his work cut out for him to make it through Monaco with some points. Hopefully, we will be wrong, Romain can avoid the wrath of Marcus Ericsson, and get back to his scoring ways.

#2 Sergey Sirotkin gets on The Board

The only other driver apart from Romain Grosjean who is yet to have scored any points is Sergey Sirotkin.

While the Russian may have garnered criticism due to his presence in Williams as a pay driver, he certainly has not been performing in any noticeably abhorrent way.

In what might be the worst car on the grid, Sirotkin has always finished above his qualifying position and has only had to retire due to events out of his control.

Looking at Romain Grosjean's luck so far this season, it is not out of question at all for Sergey Sirotkin to leave the Frenchman at the bottom of the table alone.

We predict that this Sunday, the Russian driver will put his Williams into the top ten and grab his first points in Formula 1.

#3 Sainz on podium

One of the most exceptional performances from the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix was that of Carlos Sainz.

In a Toro Rosso that should have been nowhere near the top 10, Sainz managed to put in some blistering lap times and secure P6 during Qualifying.

While the success of Sainz at last years race might be overlooked due to the low percentage of overtaking in Monaco, it isn't an understatement to say that Sainz drove a flawless race in 2017.

The Spaniard currently sits 10th in the Drivers Championship, and with under a season with his new team Renault, he has still managed to put in some good drives with a car that he's not completely suited to yet.

If all goes well and Sainz gets a handle on his Renault, there is a high likelihood that he could pull off a similar performance to last year and land a supposedly inferior car ahead of even the Red Bulls and maybe even secure a podium finish.

#4 Bottas bounces back

While as of right now, the race for the Championship seems to be a two-horse race, if you look a little closer, you can see that mathematically speaking, Valtteri Bottas still has a great chance of becoming World Champion.

The Finn has had 3-second places this season, with his two poorer performances of 8th and 14th coming only as a result of accidents.

With this form, if Valtteri manages a clean race, there is every chance that the Finn could rank highly again and throw himself right in the mix alongside his teammate and Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel.

Finishing 4th last year at Monaco, Bottas has proved that he has what it takes to win races and consistently score podiums.

Mercedes have also made very clear during their tenure that until one of their drivers is mathematically eliminated, they will give both drivers equal chance to win the World Championship.

Let's hope that we're right and that indeed Bottas can provide a challenge for the title.

#5 A Monegasque miracle in Monaco

I understand that this sounds insane and that this would take an absolute miracle, if not 3 or 4, to come into existence.

However, a miracle at Monaco has happened before when Frenchman Olivier Panis, took his one and only win at Monaco from P14 on the grid, that too in a French car at the 1996 GP.

The rookie Sauber driver has already made quite an impact in his debut season, gathering the first points for a Monegasque driver in over 50 years, and sitting squarely ahead of more experienced drivers in a worse car.

He currently ranks 13th in the Championship, ahead of the likes of Ocon, Vandoorne and his teammate Marcus Ericsson.

What would it take to create a scenario like this? Heavy rain like in 1996? A series of unfortunate events, like what led to Jarno Trulli's victory in 2004? Monaco is a magical place for Motorsport fans yes, but is it magical enough that in his debut season, Charles LeClerc could take victory at his home Grand Prix? It would take a real comeback as he retired from both F2 races here in 2017, but if it did occur, the cheers in Monaco are likely to be heard around the world!

Edited by Akhilesh Tirumala