2018 Formula One World Championship

The 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars and the 69th running of the Formula One World Championship . Formula One is recognised by the governing body of international motorsport , the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) , as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars . Drivers and teams competed in twenty-one Grands Prix for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championship titles.

For the second consecutive year, the season featured a title battle between Mercedes and Ferrari . The 2018 season saw two four-time World Champions, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel , as the main Championship challengers. It was the first time in Formula One history, two quadruple world champions would be competing for a fifth title, and the season was billed as the "Fight for Five" by journalists and fans. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The championship lead ebbed and flowed between the two title conten...

In 2018, the championship saw the introduction of a new cockpit protection device, known as the "halo" . The introduction of the halo was the first stage of a planned rollout that would see the device adopted in all FIA-sanctioned and non-FIA-sanctioned open wheel series by 2020.

The following teams and drivers participated in the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli .

† All engines were 1.6 litre, V6 turbo hybrid configuration.

^1 – Contested under Sahara Force India ownership. ^2 – Contested under Racing Point Force India ownership.

McLaren terminated their engine partnership with Honda and instead signed a three-year deal for power units supplied by Renault . [ 14 ] The team cited Honda's repeated failure to supply a reliable and competitive power unit as the reason for ending the partnership. [ 14 ]

Toro Rosso parted ways with Renault – allowing McLaren to finalise their agreement with Renault – and came to an agreement to use full-works Honda power units for the first time in history. [ 15 ] As part of the deal, Red Bull Racing loaned Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr. to Renault's works team . [ 16 ] [ 17 ]

Sauber renewed their partnership with Ferrari , upgrading to current-specification power units after using year-old power units in 2017 and also signed a sponsorship deal that saw Alfa Romeo become their title sponsor. [ 18 ] [ 19 ]

Force India were placed into administration on 27 July 2018, during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. [ 20 ] After speculation of a purchase, [ 21 ] any sale of the team in a short time-span was complicated by legal proceedings against certain shareholders and the need for debt settlement. [ 22 ] A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll purchased the racing assets and operations of Force India through a company named Racing Point UK Ltd. [ 23 ] The original team, known as "Sahara Force India", was th...

The Malaysian Grand Prix , which was part of the championship from 1999 to 2017 , was discontinued. [ 39 ] The Russian Grand Prix was moved from April to September, filling the vacancy left by the Malaysian Grand Prix. [ 40 ]

Following widespread criticism of the grid penalty system in 2017 that regularly saw multiple drivers start races outside their qualifying positions, the FIA introduced a revised set of regulations for 2018. In the event that a driver changes a power unit component, they are still subject to a five- or ten-place grid penalty depending on the component being changed; however, should they then replace a second component, they will be moved to the back of the starting grid. [ 41 ] If multiple drive...

The rules governing starting procedures were changed for 2018, granting race stewards the power to issue penalties for improper race starts even if a driver's start does not trigger the automated detection system. [ 42 ] The changes were introduced following two incidents during 2017 : at the Chinese Grand Prix , Sebastian Vettel positioned his car too far across his grid slot to be registered by the detection system; while at the Austrian Grand Prix , Valtteri Bottas 's start was called into qu...

In the event that a race is suspended due to a red flag, it would be restarted with a standing start. Drivers would return to the starting grid in the positions they held at the time of the suspension and the race director would repeat the race start procedure. If circuit conditions are suitable for racing but the race director deems a standing start inappropriate, the race would resume with a rolling start where the safety car returns to pit lane and drivers proceed around the circuit in single...

The FIA introduced tighter restrictions on racing licences issued to drivers taking part in free practice sessions. Candidate drivers are required to complete a minimum number of Formula 2 races or earn twenty-five superlicense points over a three-year period. The changes were introduced to address concerns about drivers who would not be able to meet the standards required to compete in Formula One having access to Formula One cars. [ 44 ]

The schedule of a Grand Prix weekend was changed, with the start time of most European races pushed back by one hour in an attempt to accommodate a larger television audience. All races were scheduled to start at ten minutes past the hour so as to allow broadcasters the opportunity for pre-race coverage, especially in cases when their broadcast of the race starts on the hour. [ 45 ]

Power unit suppliers are required to provide all teams using their engines with an identical specification of power units. The change was introduced to ensure parity after Mercedes's works team was observed to have access to additional engine performance settings that were not available to their customer teams. [ 48 ]

The quantity of power unit components a driver may use during the season was reduced from four complete power units during the entire season in 2017 to a new system where each of the power unit components is considered separately. [ 49 ] Therefore, in 2018, each driver is permitted to use up to three each of internal combustion engines (ICE), heat motor generator units (MGU-H), and turbochargers (TC); and two each of the kinetic motor generator units (MGU-K), energy stores (ES), and control elec...

Restrictions against the practice of oil burning, where engine oils are burned as fuel to boost performance, were also introduced. The practice, which was first used in 2017 saw teams burning as much as 1.2 litres per one hundred kilometres. For the 2018 championship, this figure was revised down to a maximum of 0.6 litres per one hundred kilometres. [ 50 ] The rules were further amended to restrict teams to using a single specification of oil, which must be declared before the race. These oils ...

The FIA banned the use of "shark fins", a carbon fibre extension to the engine cowling aimed at directing airflow over the rear wing. [ 52 ] [ 53 ] The use of "T-wings", a horizontal secondary wing mounted forward of and above the rear wing, was also banned. [ 52 ]

Following a series of serious incidents in open-wheel racing – including the fatal accidents of Henry Surtees and Justin Wilson – in which drivers were struck in the head by tyres or debris, the FIA announced plans to introduce additional mandatory cockpit protection with 2018 given as the first year for its introduction. Several solutions were tested, with the final design subject to feedback from teams and drivers. [ 54 ] Each design was created to deflect debris away from a driver's head with...

Following criticisms over the aesthetic value of the device, the FIA revealed plans to allow teams some design freedom in the final version of the halo, [ 62 ] with the teams permitted to attach a thin single-plane wing atop the halo to control airflow over the top of the car and into the airbox to assist with engine cooling. Where the test models of the halo had been attached to an existing monocoque structure, teams were required to incorporate the final build of the halo into the chassis desi...

Tyre supplier Pirelli provided teams with two new tyre compounds in 2018. [ 68 ] Each of the 2017 compounds was made softer, with a new "hypersoft" tyre becoming the softest of the nine and a new "superhard" tyre to be the hardest. [ 69 ] The hypersoft compound was marked by a pink sidewall, while the superhard was orange. The hard compound, which previously used orange markings, was changed to ice blue. [ 70 ] The hypersoft compound made its début at the Monaco Grand Prix . [ 71 ] The rules dic...

The championship started in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix . The race concluded with a victory for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel, who used a timely virtual safety car period – triggered by the stricken Haas of Romain Grosjean – to pass Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton, after which Vettel successfully defended his position until the finish. [ 75 ] Kimi Räikkönen finished third in the other Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo. [ 75 ] McLaren ended the first race of their partners...

Vettel then won from pole at the next round in Bahrain , holding off a late charge from Bottas to win by seven-tenths of a second. Hamilton finished third despite a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change and contact with Verstappen on the second lap. [ 80 ]

However, in China , Vettel's winning run was broken, with Ricciardo's 2 stop strategy helping the Australian to his sixth career victory, ahead of Bottas and Räikkönen. Ricciardo pitted for a new set of softs with 20 laps to go under safety car while the leaders stayed out on their used set of mediums, he then fought his way past both Ferraris and Mercedes to the lead. [ 81 ]

Hamilton took his first win of the year in Azerbaijan and with it, the lead in the Drivers' Championship. Räikkönen finished 2nd while Sergio Pérez claimed 3rd. With 10 laps to go, Bottas was leading (but still needing to make a pitstop) followed by Vettel and Hamilton. When the Red Bulls crashed they brought out the safety car. Bottas pitted under safety car and came out still leading but a puncture on the penultimate lap caused him to retire. Vettel, who was second behind him at the restart, l...

In Spain , Hamilton had taken pole position. However, the first lap saw the safety car deployed when Haas's Romain Grosjean spun off at turn 3. He had spun back onto the track, but his spinning rear tyres caused a plume of smoke to billow, which Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso and Nico Hülkenberg of Renault got caught in and led to a 3-car retirement. In the end, Hamilton won comfortably in Spain , extending his lead to seventeen points. Bottas finished second while Verstappen finished third, his fir...

Ricciardo took pole in Monaco and won the event despite developing an engine problem mid-race that left him severely down on power. Vettel finished second and Hamilton finished 3rd. Vettel closed his points deficit to Hamilton, while Ricciardo gained two spots in the Drivers' Championship to be third overall. [ 84 ]

In Canada , Vettel won from pole taking the world championship lead by one point from Hamilton. Bottas finished 2nd for the fourth time this season as Verstappen finished third, his qualifying position. The race result was counted back to the standings at the end of lap 68 (of 70) after the chequered flag was waved a lap early in error – although this did not impact the top 10 standings. [ 85 ] The fastest lap of the race however, was affected. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo had set two fastest lap...

Hamilton took pole position and victory (his third of the season) in the returning French Grand Prix , taking the world championship lead back with 14 points, with Vettel finishing only 5th after a first corner crash with Bottas. Verstappen finished second, taking advantage of the Vettel–Bottas crash. Räikkönen finished third, passing Ricciardo in the closing laps of the race. [ 86 ]

In Austria , Bottas started the race on pole, followed by Hamilton and Räikkönen. However, in the race, both Mercedes suffered from technical problems and neither one was able to finish the race. Ricciardo also retired from the race. Verstappen won, followed by Räikkönen in 2nd and Vettel in 3rd. Haas took full advantage of the Mercedes and Ricciardo retirements and finished 4th (Grosjean) and 5th (Magnussen). Vettel re-took the lead of the championship by 1 point, following Hamilton's retiremen...

In Singapore , a track where Mercedes traditionally struggled, Hamilton took pole position with the fastest lap which he described as "magical" and as one of the best laps he's ever done. [ 96 ] Hamilton would go on to win the race with title rival Vettel finishing third behind Verstappen. [ 97 ] The race also saw both Kevin Magnussen and Haas get their first fastest lap. [ 98 ]

In Russia , Bottas started from pole and was the virtual race leader for the first half of the race but obeyed team orders and allowed Hamilton to overtake him on lap 26. This allowed Hamilton to win the race followed by Bottas and Vettel. [ 99 ]

In Japan , Hamilton took the pole which he then converted into victory after leading every lap, he was followed by Bottas in second and Max Verstappen in third. This was Hamilton's 80th pole position and Bottas's 30th podium finish. [ 100 ]

At the United States Grand Prix Hamilton could win the world championship if he outscored Vettel by 8 points or more. [ 101 ] It was Hamilton who took pole with Räikkönen starting second. Vettel actually qualified second but had to start fifth after being penalised for not slowing enough during a red flag period in first practice. [ 102 ] The race was won by Räikkönen, his first win in 114 grand prix which was a new record. [ 103 ] Verstappen finished second and Hamilton third, as Vettel finishe...

In Mexico , Vettel needed to win the Grand Prix and Hamilton 8th or lower for the Championship to remain in contention. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo secured his latest pole position, but would eventually retire from the Grand Prix with an engine failure, his eighth failure to finish during the season. His teammate, Max Verstappen won by 17.3 seconds while Vettel came in second place. Hamilton finished in 4th place, which was enough to secure his fifth Drivers' Championship. [ 105 ]

Points were awarded to the top ten classified drivers in every race, using the following system: [ 113 ]

In order for full points to be awarded, the race winner must completed at least 75% of the scheduled race distance. Half points were awarded if the race winner completes less than 75% of the race distance provided that at least two laps were completed. [ d ] In the event of a tie at the conclusion of the championship, a count-back system was used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's/constructor's best result used to decide the standings. [ e ]

Notes:

Notes: