A Casual American F1 Fan's 2019 Predictions: FINAL RESULTS


A Casual American F1 Fan’s 2019 Predictions: FINAL RESULTS
By Brian Cotnoir

I made A LOT of bold predictions this season, and I was feeling very confident about my predictions, I thought we were going to see some exciting races, and some changes to the field…but honestly, I was way off!  In fact, as you will see from my list of Predictions that I made before the start of the season, I was only accurate 40% of the time, but at the time I didn’t think I’d be that far off; and some of my predictions are open to interpretation.  Did anyone else here think that the only Podium finishers outside of The Big 3 Teams were going to be Toro Rosso and McLaren?  No!  So let’s take a look at how wrong I was (and a few times that I was actually right) this F1 Season!

PREDICTION #1 Lewis Hamilton will win a 5th straight Championship

This one was a no-brainer.  I think picking anyone but Hamilton this season would have been stupid, and you know what I think he’ll most likely win it again in 2020 to tie Schumacher.  


PREDICTION #2 Ferrari will win the Constructors Championship  

Wow, I was dead a$$ wrong on this one.  I thought for sure that Hamilton would be a one-man show at Mercedes and it would be Vettel and Leclerc taking turns dominating at Ferrari.  I have to say I’m very disappointed in the Scuderia, but it’s not really all their fault.  Mercedes is clearly Lewis’s team and Red Bull is clearly Max’s team, there’ no arguing those facts….but whose the #1 driver at Ferrari, is it the 4-Time World Champion and seasoned veteran Vettel, or the Young Up & Comer Leclerc?   There was a lot of in team fighting this season and I think it’s really going to heat up next season too

PREDICTION #3 Valterri Bottas will be let go at the end of the season and replaced by Esteban Ocon for the 2020 Season

Boy is egg on my face!   If you were to ask me what I thought the 2019 Final Points would have looked like at Seasons End, this would have been my prediction

1.)  Lewis Hamilton
2.)  Sebastian Vettel
3.)  Max Verstappen
4.)  Charles Leclerc
5.)  Pierre Gasly
6.)  Daniel Ricciardo
7.)  Valterri Bottas

That’s right, I didn’t even think Bottas would make the Top 6, I thought he would just be relegated to Hamilton’s shadow, and would have been let go after this season.  Well the first round in Australia was a clear indication that he wasn’t going anywhere just yet, but I was surprised/happy to see Ocon announced as Renault’s new driver for 2020   

PREDICTION #4 Charles Leclerc will be the only rookie winner this season. 

CALLED IT! I thought Charles Leclerc would win just one race this season, but in all honesty he should have won about 4-5 of them!  He was so good this season, and I think he will only get better.

PREDICTION #5 Kimi Raikonen and Daniel Ricciardo will get some podiums for their new teams.

Call this one wishful optimism.  I can’t get over how poorly Renault did this season.  When Red Bull announced the engine deal with Honda, there were no guarantees that they would be competitive right away, and Renault seemed like the smart move for Ricciardo.    I also thought Raikonen’s experience would have him battling for occasional Top 5’s, and maybe with the right pit strategy he’d luck out and help Alfa Romeo finish on the podium in 3rd, but I was wrong; dead wrong.

PREDICTION #6 Pierre Gasly will have more success than Max Verstappen early in the season. 

I did not see Pierre Gasly being swapped out half-way through the season on my radar!  I also didn’t see him scoring his first podium with Toro Rosso, but I’m glad it happened!  Max was in control of his car and this team, and his new Honda engines from the first race of the season.   And I was half right on this one because I also said in this prediction that Max was going to win 3 Grand Prix’s….so small victory!

PREDICTION #7 Rich Energy Haas F1 will get their 1st podium.

Yeah, again, it was foolish for me to believe in these midfield teams, but damn it, I really thought we were going to see Kevin Magnussen finish on the Podium again, but Haas just had too many woes to overcome this season.

PREDICTION #8 Sergio Perez is going to outscore Teammate Lance Stroll in the points by a lot

This one’s open to interpretation; what do you consider a lot?   Perez scored twice as many points as Stroll this season?   I consider that a lot!  Granted, Stroll did better at Racing Point then he did at Williams, and he finished in the points more often than I thought he would, but still Checo finished 10th in the points, while Stroll only managed 15th.

PREDICTION #9 Renault will be the “Best of the Rest” in the Constructors Championship this year.   

Oh Renault, what happened to you?   I didn’t expect Daniel Ricciardo to win any races for you this season, but I did expect the team to be putting pressure on the Big 3! Wow, did McLaren kick you’re a$$ this season!  Here’s hoping your team does better in 2020!


PREDICTION #10 Williams will score less than 10 points and will finish Dead Last in the Constructors Championship again.

Well who didn’t see that one coming?   Williams fell, and they fell hard!  I’m honestly surprised that Robert Kubica scored their only point and not George Russell.  I mean, I hope Williams can get their act together soon and hopefully by 2023 be competing in midfield battles, but wow…only 1 point scored!

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