My thoughts exactly when I saw it - It won't spoil the party or change the 4 😂

Yep, the race was rather dull wasn’t it, Steve. Bottas did well to keep Lewis behind mind you.

I really hope so, Martin, whilst I am no great fan of Alonso, he is still probably one of the best guys on the grid.

Lewis is right at the top of his game, as are Mercedes, so I suspect it they will be hard to beat again next year though.

To me it depends on whether this was a payback year for Lewis from a Mercedes perspective, because they knew they had to keep him sweet following the calamitous technical failures he experienced in 2016 and Nico Rosberg announcing his unexpected retirement.

If that is the case, I suspect that we'll see Bottas a lot closer to Lewis next year, although on downright skill, I still would imagine Lewis would win. I too doubt Ferrari will bounce back, and until that Renault engine improves (which it hasn't done enough yet in the hybrid era) I doubt Red Bull or McLaren will get right up to the top rung.

I think Merc will struggle to make big aero advances, and their engine is already the best. Ferrari stand every chance of being up there with them as their chassis is possibly better and their engine just needs some more reliability.

Red Bull and McLaren have a bigger issue with the Renault engine, although again both have good chassis.

It could be two teams or up to four vying for the championship next year.

So the season has come to an end, what are everyone's thoughts?

In my opinion, Lewis did a great job and is a very worthy champion, he stepped up his game a lot in the second half of the season, but there is no denying he was helped by Ferrari and Vettel in the closing stages of the championship as they imploded. Bottas was a good number 2 to Lewis, I very much doubt he will ever be a champion whilst Lewis is in the other car.

Vettel showed himself up more this year than before, he has always been a little bit erratic, but in his previous championship years, his machinery always allowed him enough of an advantage that we didn't see all of his traits come out. Up against possibly the greatest F1 driver of his generation in a Mercedes, Vettel struggled and I am not sure he would be a match for Lewis next year either, unless the Ferrari is miles better.

Mercedes had their usual strength, the introduced a fast car at the beginning of the season (if a bit diva like), and managed to develop it throughout the year to marvelous outcomes.

Red Bull have a great pairing, and I genuinely think that Max will be a World Champion at some point. I fear for Riccardio in the Red Bull camp, as he is clearly a good driver and deserves to be treated equally and given the commitment they have shown to Max, I doubt he will get that going forward. I foresee a Webber scenario happening for Riccardio if he stays there.

Best of the rest, Force India did their usual of performing above their means financially and have a great pairing. I think Ocon is a future Champion and will likely see off Checo in the long run.

Renault improved their car a lot this year, but they still need to sort out the reliability of the engine. Hulkenburg showed he is a reasonable driver, top, no but probably on the next run down. Palmer is gone and should never be invited back, he was just useless. Sainz on the other hand I believe has a lot of potential. I am not sure he has the raw talent of say Lewis or even Max, but he works hard so has potential.

Toro Rosso were ok this year, they seem to have a good chassis, but struggled with the engine, their 2018 driver line up should be interesting to watch, but I have to admit that neither of them look like future champions to me, maybe a little unfair given that they have only done a couple of races each, but worth watching.

McLaren, what can we say about them, Alonso still has the driving skill that he always had, although I don't rate him anywhere near as highly as some others do. He did drag that car into places it didn't deserve to be though, so fair play to him. Vandorme was much better in the second half of the season, he showed great promise, but a future champion?, I have my doubts. Lets see how they both fair with a better engine in their car next year.

Sauber, one to forget for them this year, their car was pretty darn slow, although Pascal managed to do well with the machinery he had, shame we are unlikely to see him in F1 again next year, or possibly ever again. Ericsson was just his usual below par pay driver style, hopefully they will forgo his millions and put someone decent in there next year, certainly they have a better chance next year with Alfa Romeo sponsorship and a more up to date Ferrari engine.

Oh I don't know, Andrew, Rosberg (unfortunately) gave Lewis a good run for his money at times. I have a feeling that Ricciardo may go to Mercedes in 2019 as a future long-term replacement for Lewis, but you never know.

I agree that is what happens at Ferrari, but I am not sure it is exactly what happened at Mercedes this year, Bottas was simply not as fast as or as complete racer as Lewis throughout the majority of the year, although I am biased . Ferarri have always played favourites, and have a number 1 driver, which I agree doesn't impress me and is a really bad, but I doubt it will change anytime soon. Sergio Marchionne calling Raikkonen a laggard this year seemed to destroy and remaining spark he had.

I knew I’d forget one.

Haas, well what can be said about them? Grosjean reminds me of one of those really annoying swurps at school who like to tell the teacher all of the things that the other students have done wrong... plus he’s a pretty average driver who thinks he’s better than the rest. Oh and he crashes A LOT and continuously moans about the car.

Kevin Magnussen had one really good drive in his first race for McLaren but since then he’s been average at best. He likes to be the naughty driver, so I’m surprised he gets on ok with his team mate considering.

Overall I think the team could do a lot better if they employed two much more competent drivers.