Lewis Hamilton is expecting another head-to-head battle with Sebastian Vettel in 2019 for what would be the third straight year.
Mercedes and Ferrari have been a step above the rest the past two seasons and it has been the consistency of the Briton and the Brackley-based squad that has seen him win out on both occasions.
New faces, notably Charles Leclerc, new regulations and a new engine could impact the battle at the front, however, Hamilton doesn’t think it will be enough to change the status quo.
“I would imagine it’s going to be Sebastian,” he told Formula1.com predicting his main championship challenger.
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The 33-year-old also thinks teammate Valtteri Bottas will bounce back from a torrid 2018 and put up a stronger fight but explained why he has doubts over Red Bull’s chances.
“They’ve got to obviously improve on their reliability, which has been a big downfall for them this year,” he said.
“So there are lots of areas [to work on], but I really wish them all the best – and we are down for the competition that’s for sure.”
Hamilton has continually admitted a desire for more battles with Max Verstappen and admits he is hoping the Anglo-Austrian outfit with Honda can close the gap.
“They’ve been very strong at the end of the year, they’ve got a new engine next year,” he pointed out. “Will it be able to compete with ours? I hope so because that would be epic if Red Bull could really start to mingle with us a bit more, weekend in, weekend out.”