What would be the pecking order of the 2018 grid?

[Nitrodaze]

* Williams could have a good chassis, but I really don't expect a good constructors position, because it seems they are seriously handicapped by drivers. Stroll will most likely improve, but all too often he qualified a whole second (!) behind Massa and this points to fundamental lack of speed in my view. I can't tell much about the second driver, whoever it is going to be (Sirotkin?), but I suspect points will be lost by that guy too.

If the theory that Paddy Lower would transfer some valuable knowledge to Williams were to hold up, and they build a better chassis than they currently have, then the selection of the second driver become all the more important as to where they may end up next season. Having two rookies for their lineup in 2018 may definitely be very costly point wise. Beside the cost of rookie mistakes and resulting car damage etc.

If they put someone with Hybrid experience and with at least three full season of recent F1 racing in the other seat, the Williams chance to mix it with the sharp end increases considerably. But if they send unseasoned boys to fight with the tigers at the sharp end, they would most certainly end up in the outskirts of the midfield as they did in 2016.

I hope they put an experienced driver in the second seat because we would get a better idea of Williams progress in 2018 from such a driver. I think Mercedes would unlikely make the same mistake that they did with their 2017 chassis next season. So the rare opportunity that put Stroll on the podium in 2017 may not arise in 2018, especially if Ferrari also overcome their reliability issues and improve also.