With the Formula One season just days away from finally kicking off in Austria, we have ranked each of the drivers competing in the 2020 season by tier.

Naturally, the "Champion" tier had to be solely reserved for Lewis Hamilton.

The reigning world champion is one of the greatest drivers of all time - and will be keen to add to his haul of six Drivers' Championships this term.

However, that feat may be no easy task, with the 35-year-old Brit likely to be chased all the way by the rivals.

Chief among them will surely be Red Bull's Max Verstappen. At just 22, Verstappen is a world champion in-waiting and most expect Red Bull to be Mercedes' leading challengers for the Constructors' Championship this time around.

With that said, though, it is hard to ever write off Ferrari - and the Scuderia's brightest hope this term is Charles Leclerc. Coming off a debut season for Ferrari in which he won two races, finished on the podium 10 times and recorded more pole positions than any other driver on the grid, Leclerc will be hungry to improve on his fourth-place finish in last year's Drivers' Championship.

That finish, though, was enough to outdo teammate Sebastian Vettel. Vettel won just a single race last year on his way to finishing fifth in the overall standings.

We already know that the 2020 campaign will be Vettel's last for Ferrari, and it seems like this could be a case of the 32-year-old just going through the motions. 

It is for this reason that we have decided to rank him in the perhaps harshly titled tier of competitors who "Should Leave F1".

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Realistically, it is hard to see Vettel having much of an impact this season and whether it is the right choice to have a man who knows he is leaving the team in the Ferrari car this term remains to be seen.

Vettel is joined in the bottom tier by Williams duo George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. Williams struggled last season - and their outlook does not look fantastic this time around either. In fact, speaking recently, Russell declared that the team "realistically still had the slowest car", which sounds as though the team have conceded defeat already.

Of the other drivers with potential to make an impact in 2020, Racing Point's Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll look set to be contenders. Perez has called Racing Point's car for the upcoming campaign "the best I have ever driven" and the team will almost certainly improve on their seventh-place finish last time around.

We may be about to embark on a shortened F1 season, but there is still plenty of excitement ahead for F1 fans.