With the new season rapidly approaching, it’s time to take a look at the teams and how they measure up against each other. We start from the bottom.

Note: Numbers next to driver names are their rank on the official driver list, released by the MFIA.

#12 – Stefan GP

Drivers: Carlos Sainz Jr. (17), Rio Haryanto (68)

Stefan GP has secured the services of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Rio Haryanto for the upcoming season, and there’s really not much to say about those two. Sainz, who was the reserve driver at McLaren last year, will face quite the challenge in lifting Stefan GP off the bottom row this season.

#11 – Haas

Drivers: Daniil Kvyat (9), Max Chilton (39)

Haas made a strong signing in Daniil Kvyat, currently rated 9th overall on the Model F1 driver list. And by signing Max Chilton as the second driver they get a pay-driver bonus of 0.5 TC, which may prove very valuable in securing consistent finishes in the points. Both drivers are rated better than their Stefan GP counterparts, and some quick calculations also indicates that they will have more TC available in total. All in all they should be able to keep Stefan GP behind.

#10 – BRM

Drivers: Romain Grosjean (12), Juan Pablo Montoya (31)

BRM comes out of a tumultuous season which saw the team change both leadership and name. They now seem to have stabilized and look ready to rectify their mistakes from season one. With Romain Grosjean and Juan Pablo Montoya signed, they’ve secured a nice mix of youth and experience, however neither driver brings a bonus, putting some pressure on BRM in terms of TC, if they hope to keep up with Manor.

#9 – Manor

Drivers: Felipe Massa (15), Pastor Maldonado (23)

Manor made some smart moves during the break to secure Massa and Maldonado. Both drivers rank reasonably high up for a Band C team, and Maldonado brings in the largest TC bonus of any driver on the grid. The TC bonus, combined with the overall skill of the drivers mean that Manor will be able to contend with BRM, and in our opinion will finish ahead this season.

#8 – Toro Rosso

Drivers: Kimi Raikkonen (7), Esteban Ocon (36)

Toro Rosso has decided to keep last years lineup. Raikkonen is a strong driver but should have outscored Ocon more than he did last year. That leads us to believe that the team is struggling to get the race setup just right, which will likely carry over into the first half of this season.

#7 – Sauber

Drivers: Fernando Alonso (3), Marcus Ericsson (27)

Sauber are hoping Alonso still has a few good years in him, and will use the 0.5 TC pay-driver bonus from Ericsson to see how far they can push the aging star. Ericsson however will be a gamble in terms of points, with a negative reliability stat. Last year when Hamilton was racing with the team, they failed to truly capitalize on the top rated driver, but did have short glimpses of brilliance. This year they trade down a bit and will face a bigger challenge to score enough points to challenge Red Bull and Lotus.

#6 – Red Bull

Drivers: Daniel Ricciardo (5), Jenson Button (8)

Red Bull joins Band B this year, and does so with the best driver lineup in the band. The team will however be short on TCs as they have no bonus from either driver, unlike both Lotus and Sauber. Luckily the quality of their drivers should be enough to keep them competitive.

#5 – Lotus

Drivers: Sergio Perez (10), Giedo van der Garde (29)

Lotus hangs on to Perez this season, and adds pay-driver van der Garde for a grand total 0.6 TC bonus. The key to Lotus finishing ahead of Red Bull will be having fewer DNFs, which is exactly what was the case last season. This season however, the bonus will bring the speed boost needed to finally get ahead of the Bulls.

#4 – McLaren

Drivers: Nico Rosberg (4), Max Verstappen (14)

The defending Constructors’ Champions, McLaren, have traded in Alonso for Rosberg. A smart move, no question, as Alonso was looking at his stats being further lowered coming in to this season. Making their move early during the Driver Market, McLaren stayed passive and failed to capitalize on the value of Verstappen to maybe do a trade and have a lineup that could truly match the top Band A teams.

#3 – Mercedes

Drivers: Valtteri Bottas (6), Nico Hülkenberg (11)

Mercedes continue unchanged from last season, with Bottas and Hülkenberg in their cars. Bottas showed true brilliance in the first half of last season, winning four races in a row and Hülkenberg consistently scored podiums and points. Overall their drivers have better stats than McLaren, and with no trades from either team, we can assume their TC amount will be similar. The key to Mercedes edging out McLaren for the Top 3, is if Mercedes can keep their DNFs low. Had Bottas not had 2 DNSs and 4 DNFs in the final 7 races of last season, they would have secured both the WDC and WCC, well ahead of McLaren. The rivalry will be a thrilling one to follow.

#2 – Ferrari

Drivers: Kevin Magnussen (13), Felipe Nasr (21)

Ferrari decided to trade Ricciardo for Magnussen, while retaining the services of pay-driver Felipe Nasr. While the trade suggests that Ferrari are banking on Magnussen to grow over the coming seasons, we assume that Red Bull added a bit of TC to sweeten the deal. That combined with the bonus from Nasr, means that Ferrari are most likely the team with most TC to spend and will able to cling to the top spots.

#1 – Williams

Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (1), Sebastian Vettel (2)

This can come as no surprise. Securing the Top 2 rated drivers in all of Model F1 is a mammoth achievement, and not one to be taken lightly. Even the TC heavy Ferrari will have their work cut out for them, if they are to keep up with the new Williams super-duo. The only unknown here, is if Williams had to spend a large deal of TC to secure the drivers, putting them at risk. However it’s unlikely that if the team management could think up a strategy to secure both Hamilton and Vettel, they would do so by compromising the teams coordinate amount.

Do you agree with our ranking? Let us know in the comments, either here or on http://reddit.com/r/ModelF1