I feel like put Alonso and Vetten in Mercedes next year and they will be winning a championship too, it is a bit more about the car as well. HamVerRuss this is the new trio if you ask me.
Alonso maybe, Vettel no. There was a season recently where Vettel's Ferrari was faster than Hamilton's Merc, and Hamilton still beat him.
And I still think Russell is being over-hyped a bit. He came in when Hamilton was unavailable, and he did a better job than Bottas. But 'better than Bottas' is a target that quite a few drivers could beat. We'll see, I suppose. Russell is good, yes, but I don't think he's a challenge to Hamilton yet.
I do not think that Ferrari car that year was faster than Mercedes, they were certainly A LOT better than what they were this year, but it feels like it was another Red Bull vs Mercedes situation, the engine was cool but they were like maybe fraction of a second slower from what I can see. They were certainly close enough though, I mean looking at this season I feel like Red Bull was slower as well, especially in the straights as well, but Max still managed to win, which shows us that it doesn't matter if we are talking about which car is better when there is such a tiny difference and that is why I understand the Vettel situation.
However this is a 4 time champion guy we are talking about, give him the best car on the track and he will definitely get you that championship. That's the thing about big teams, they could get the best driver, and build the best car, so it is becoming a bit more one team sport, or few teams at the most. Do we really think anyone aside from red bull, mercedes, ferrari or mclaren have even ANY chance? Even in that 4, only 2 have a proper chance.