5 Drivers Likely To Win Their First F1 World Championship.

The future of Formula One may still be being mapped out by Liberty Media but the future in terms of drivers challenging for the world championship in years to come is easy to see.

In this list we will be looking at the drivers who look the most promising and have that something special to challenge and win the F1 drivers’ championship. The list of past champions is unbelievable and diverse in terms of raw talent and sheer determination to win the biggest honour in motorsport. The list includes Ayrton Senna, Jack Brabham, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Jackie Stewart, Lewis Hamilton, Niki Lauda, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel.

Here are my picks from the drivers on the grid in 2018 who I feel have the potential to be future world champions.

#5 Valtteri Bottas

At Number five is Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas. The Finnish driver is in his second season at the silver arrows team and has fit in perfectly. The team like him as does Hamilton with both drivers finding a perfect bond between friends and rivals, something which was lost between Lewis Hamilton and his former teammate Nico Rosberg.

Bottas has won 3 races so far in his career as well as winning the constructors championship with Mercedes last season, he is certainly a team player but he also has the raw talent to win the individual prize all F1 drivers crave.

He may be considered one of the quieter drivers on the grid but he can certainly pack a punch when needed, yes he will always struggle to be number one in that Mercedes team as long as Hamilton is around but there is no reason why he could not challenge him for it. He has the car to do it and if Mercedes renew his contract for the 2019 season which looks likely there is no reason why Bottas cannot challenge for the world title.

#4 Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon made his debut in F1 at the Belgium GP in 2016 for the Manor racing team after replacing Rio Haryanto for the second half of the season. He finished as high as 12th for the team in the 2016 Brazilian GP before moving to Force India for the 2017 season. He has been consistently in the points for the team since joining and with a double 5th place finish in Spain and Mexico in 2017, he qualified third on the grid for the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix and finished the race in 6th place, he certainly has got the talent to win.

He will need to move to one of the bigger teams if he ever wants to win the championship and his performances have impressed bosses at the top teams. Mercedes would seem like the obvious choice considering he is part of the junior programme.

He has the talent to drive for the big teams, let’s see if he gets that opportunity.

#3 Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo has been a part of the Red Bull team since 2014 when fellow Aussie Mark Webber retired from the sport and ever since he has become the most well-liked and respected on the grid. He is also the best driver on the grid yet to win a world title as he joined Red Bull just as their dominance was coming to an end.

The Aussie is been very impressive this season outperforming his teammate Verstappen and also being victorious at two occasions so far this season. Ricciardo is out of contract at the end of the year with Renault and McLaren ready to pounce if he decides to leave but would that help become champion? He has won 7 races so far in his F1 career but he needs to make a decision soon on where he feels will help him secure his first world championship.

#2 Charles Leclerc

The rising star of 2018, the rookie Charles Leclerc. This is his first season in Formula one and people in the paddock are already tipping him for F1 glory in the future and I think we can all see why.

His performances so far this year have been beyond what fans expected and even beyond what Sauber was expecting. He finished a magnificent sixth in Baku and managed to get into Q3 at the Paul Ricard circuit in France last weekend.

The chances of Leclerc winning the World Championship is high as the Monegasque will partner Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari for 2019. Leclerc has been a part of the Ferrari driver academy, many believe at Maranello that the youngster is a world champion material and will be in contention for the 2019 World Drivers' Championship.

#1 Max Verstappen

2018 Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix Race Day Jun 10th

At number one is Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver who has been tipped to be a future world champion from the reigning champion Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman may be in his fourth season in F1 but he does not turn 21 until September this year. He started out at Toro Rosso in 2015 where he finished as high as fourth in the Hungarian and US GP.

It was his move to Red Bull in 2016 where he became an F1 star, replacing Daniil Kvyat after the Russian GP, Verstappen went on to win his first GP in his first race for Red Bull at the Circuit de Catalunya becoming the youngest driver ever to win a formula one race.

The 2018 season has seen critics’ questioning Max Verstappen’s talent after a few errors has seen him lose valuable points in the early stages of the season. He has won 3 races so far in his career and that number will only continue to rise, he has recently signed a new deal to keep him at Red Bull for the foreseeable future and with that and his raw talent and determination to succeed Max Verstappen looks like a future F1 world champion.

Two drivers that did not make it in the top 5 but should still be considered as potential champions are Carlos Sainz Jr at Renault and Pierre Gasly at Toro Rosso.

If Mclaren can get a competitive package for the next season, Sainz will be the man to watch while Gasly at Redbull will have to fight it out with Max Verstappen.

Edited by Shahid Salman