Lt. Drebin wrote:
Bottas will either be close to Hamilton, or he will be out. Verstappen is coming for 2019, most probably.
I thought Red Bull still had hold of Verstappen in 2019? I'm not saying it isn't possible that this won't be the case. I actually do think that Bottas will improve enough next year that if Ricciardo goes to Ferrari for 2019 and Verstappen isn't available, they will very likely keep him. But I'll be honest, I'm not sure if Hamilton and Verstappen will be a great combination as a team. I know they are both very strong, but I just can't see them getting on as well as team mates as Hamilton and Bottas currently are. I feel that there will me more teension between them and I really don't seem to think that Verstappen will accept team orders in the way that Bottas does. I feel that this could at some point lead to big crashes like Hamilton and Rosberg had in Spain which I'd say was due to both of them trying too hard. Bottas seems to be doing a good job at playing along with this and there have been a lot of examples this year that even when he's not been at his best, he has been helping out Hamilton. I expect Bottas to improve, and I still think he will continue being a good team player. There have been many moments I've seen from Verstappen's career that makes him appear rather difficult to get him to do these sorts of things. This is nothing related to the driving style, but it is one importent area I do think Bottas is better than Verstappen. But the team will quite possibly still want Verstappen over Bottas. But we can't be sure who it is they are wanting most just yet. But I don't think that it certainly won't be Bottas again.