4 drivers who have the potential to be the next breakout F1 champion

4. Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo

The "Honey Badger" has lost his smile in recent times owing to some appalling luck on the grid, with as many as eight retirements this season. He's made a switch to the Renault team with a long-term aim of becoming the team leader and emulating to an extent what Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher did after their respective switches to Mercedes and Ferrari.

If he succeeds and Renault are able to provide him with a car capable of fighting for championships, then Ricciardo has the potential to stitch together a winning campaign. Whether he will be able to beat Verstappen and Leclerc to it is a different question altogether.

For at least one or two more seasons it looks unlikely that Renault will be able to bridge the gap to the front, especially after finishing two laps behind Verstappen in Mexico.

Could it be someone else apart from these four who could upset the current multiple champions? Could it be Nico Hulkenberg, George Russell or Lando Norris? For now, none of them is in a favorable seat nor have they proven themselves enough to stake such a claim.

Hulkenberg goes up against a proven race winner and de facto team leader in Ricciardo in a Renault which is not even capable of fighting for podiums right now. Russell steps into a Williams which is nothing but a pale shadow of its glory days. And Norris is still pretty raw and steps into a McLaren, a former legend of the game but which is showing no signs of improvement.

It's often said that the devil is in the details, and with Leclerc and Verstappen already in a race-winning seat, it does seem that we could be looking at either of these two as the next face of F1.