So far we can guarantee the 2019 grid will not be the same as this current season. For one, Mercedes is the only top team to have kept the same driver pairing, Lewis Hamilton and Valterri Bottas. Ferrari have kept Sebastian Vettel but have rejected Kimi Raikkonen, who will be moving to Sauber, whilst Charles Leclerc will replace him at the red team.
Red Bull have continued with Max Verstappen until 2020 however, on the other side of the garage, Daniel Ricciardo has opted out of the Red Bull team and will be moving to Renault at the end of this current season, where he will partner Nico Hulkenberg. Pierre Gasly will make a big step up from Toro Rosso to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull. Toro Rosso have confirmed Daniil Kvyat for the 2019 season. They have yet to confirm who will partner the Russian, reports have surfaced that their current driver, Brendon Hartley, has been given the remaining races to prove himself against his French teammate, Pierre Gasly.
If Hartley fails to match Gasly this season potential drivers such as, Mick Schumacher, who has been tipped to drive for the Italian team, Toro Rosso. Dan Ticktum, Red Bull Junior driver has also been mentioned however, he has failed to qualify for a superlicence this year and will therefore not be able to drive in Formula One. Pascal Wehrlein has also been linked to drive for the Toro Rosso team after he, along with Mercedes, terminated their contract together.
McLaren have a whole new driver line up Fernando Alonso, their current driver, has announced his retirement from the sport and has been linked to drive in the Indianapolis 500 (Indy 500). His current teammate, Stoffel Vandoorne, has also been linked to race in the Indy 500 after being pushed out by the spaniard, Carlos Sainz and the Brit, Land Norris. The 2019 season will be Lando's first season in Formula One.
Force India are yet to confirm their 2019 driver pairing. However, they are looking more likely to sign Lance Stroll and re-sign their current driver, Sergio Perez. The summer break brought huge change upon Force India, Sergio Perez along with Mercedes AMG Petronas placed the team into administration after months of struggling financially. This resulted in Lawrence Stroll, Lance Stroll's father, along with other businessmen buying Force India, ultimately saving the team from falling apart. However, the ownership change meant that they had to change the teams name to Racing Point Force India and start their Constructors Championship points from zero. Therefore, Lance Stroll is considered to be first in line for the 2019 Force India seat. If this is to happen, Ocon will mostly likely to be out of Formula One for the 2019 season.
However, Williams are yet to confirm their driver pairing. Some say Esteban Ocon's last hopes lie with the British Team, as other teams on the grid such as Toro Rosso won't sign a driver with links to Mercedes as they believe it to be helping their rivals. Sergey Sirotkin is most likely to stay at Williams although he has failed to out perform Stroll this season but has shown potential. Moreover, next season Williams' main sponsor Martini is said to leave and therefore, Sergey's sponsors at the Russian bank SMP will add interest to re-signing him. Other rumours are circulating of Robert Kubica making his Formula One return to Williams but these are yet to be confirmed.
What we do know is that Marcus Ericsson isn't driving for Sauber for the 2019 season but he will maintain a development role for the Swiss team.
Haas have retained both of their current drivers for the next season, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. Magnussen is currently 7th in the drivers standings whilst Grosjean is 14th.
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