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The 2018 midfield has had some epic battles, with different teams claiming the 'best of the rest spots' in different races.
After Haas ran 4th and 5th for a long time in Melbourne, we all thought they would easily take 4th place in the constructors. Then, Renault came in with the consistent Carlos Sainz and the even more consistent Nico Hulkenberg, and looked pretty strong on most tracks, although Haas clearly had the power advantage.
It looked pretty tight until Force India joined the gang and started to produce great results, with Sergio Perez's podium at Baku. Toro Rosso looked good at Bahrain, Fernando Alonso had some great results and so did the Saubers.
With five teams battling it out for a few points, it made for some brilliant viewing.
There are many drivers with new teams in 2019, like Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica and the crucial top 3 from this year's Formula 2 Championship. It will be quite interesting to see how these drivers adapt to the new surroundings (old surroundings for our old friend, Daniil Kvyat), and take on the slight rule changes in the upcoming season.
The FIA say the new rules will enhance overtaking. And with the amount of overtaking among the midfield pack this year itself, you'd better get 21 packets of popcorn ready for the 2019 season.
Assuming that Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull will be the top 3 next year - they might get challenged by the others in a surprise turnaround though - we can expect the other teams to be even closer than they were this year, and they know that as well. This is why the teams start working flat out immediately after the end of the season.
Here's a list of the teams I'm expecting to be in the midfield fight, along with some predictions about them for next season.
Renault
With one of the strongest line-ups in F1 for next year in Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, who have improved a lot in the past few years, will surely try and challenge the Red Bulls who have their new Honda power units coming. Their chassis is pretty good, and with a quick engine, they can be very strong.
The two drivers are surely capable of throwing in some great results for any team.
They got some really good P5 and P6 results with an engine that looked even weaker than the globally hated Honda engines this year. But with a good chassis, they were fine with the lack of power, and made up time in the corners compared to the other teams.
With a good engine next year, expect some podiums!
Prediction: Hulkenberg breaks his streak of zero podiums, and Ricciardo pulls his shoes out...
Sauber
They started off like we all expected them to start this year, with some results around 15th place. But after Charles Leclerc got that 6th place in Baku, it all changed.
The team was motivated, Leclerc showed how quick he can be, and Marcus Ericsson backed it all up with some good results too. The car improved a lot too, and was very quick in a straight line with the Ferrari engine powering it.
The pit stops were pretty quick, especially in Silverstone where they used their place at the end of the pit lane to their advantage.
Next year, with Kimi Raikkonen joining the team, the car has huge chances of being very fast with his feedback, setup and development. Antonio Giovinazzi is quite fast too, so it will be very interesting to see where the team can jump to in the constructors' standings.
Prediction: Raikkonen gets best of the rest in standings.
Haas
This car was overall the fourth quickest in 2018, but mistakes from the team and drivers made them drop to fifth (sixth without the Force India ownership change).
Kevin Magnussen was great in the first half, and Romain Grosjean was great in the second half. Even though both of them showed how strong they can be in Austria, it was rare to see both drivers performing well in the same race.
Australia was another great race for the drivers, but sadly, not for the team.
But with Ferrari's help, some big power from that V6 and two pretty talented drivers, we can expect Haas to do well again next year - assuming everyone performs consistently. That said, this position in only your third year in F1 is still fantastic, Mr. Steiner.
Prediction: Everyone gives a much better performance. Grosjean gets a podium.
Force India
They had a really bad start to 2018, but again, like Sauber, it all changed at Baku with the surprise third place that Sergio Perez got. Perez is an expert, as it turns out, at taking surprise podiums.
After their points were taken away, they qualified a dream 3rd and 4th in Spa, with Perez saying he could have taken pole without the mistake in the last corner. Some great results showed they have one of the best development teams for such a small budget, and could have been right in the 4th place fight without the events regarding the ownership.
2019 can see Lance Stroll get settled into the team. And the only two drivers to have taken podiums in the past two years who weren't in the top 3 teams, can look to take the fight to the others in whatever name they decide to give the team next year.
Prediction: No podiums, but Perez beats Stroll by at least 20 points.
The rest of the teams
McLaren, Toro Rosso and Williams haven't performed that brilliantly this year, even though Alonso drove the maximum and more out of that car and Pierre Gasly had a few brilliant drives. They have a really good chance to be in that packed midfield battle, as they all know how it is to be fighting up there.
They also have some really good driver line-ups, and we can look forward to them progressing up the order within a few years.
I'm not saying they won't be backmarkers though. I do think they won't be good enough (unfortunately) in some races. Someone's got to be last...
Prediction: They will be fighting for last place, sadly. But there will surely be some good points performances.
This is just a prediction, so I'm not sure this is all going to happen. In any case it will be exciting to see how things unfold in 2019.
