Projected 2018 driver lineup
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Lewis Hamilton, 32, just secured his fourth career Formula One championship in the Mexican Grand Prix, and barring a surprise retirement announcement, the man who sits in 2nd place on the all-time Formula One wins list with 62 victories will be back driving for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport to try to win his fifth career championship and tie Juan Manuel Fangio for 2nd on the all-time list behind only Michael Schumacher, who won seven titles.
This season, Hamilton has won nine of the 18 races contested and looks poised to record a double-digit win total for the fourth straight season, something that no Formula One driver has ever even been able to do two seasons in a row. He is still in his prime and performing at an extremely high level.
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Valtteri Bottas, 28, signed a one-year deal to remain with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in the 2018 Formula One season, which will be his second season with the team and his sixth season in the sport as a full-time driver.
This season, Bottas won his first career Formula One race in the Russian Grand Prix and added another victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. While he has just two victories in 18 races driving for the sport’s top team and is in 3rd place in the drivers standings, thus putting him at risk of being the first Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport driver to not finish in the top 2 in the standings since the 2013 season, he has been a regular front-runner in races and has just two finishes outside of the top 5.
Next: Who is the greatest Formula One driver of all-time?
Slowly but surely, things are starting to come together as far as the 2018 Formula One season’s driver lineup goes. Which drivers will land which open rides next season? Will there be any surprise announcements in the coming weeks or months?