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. The championship lead ebbed and flowed between the two title contenders, the points lead swapping hands five times throughout the year. At the halfway point after the British Grand Prix, Vettel led the title battle by eight points. Hamilton clinched his fifth World Drivers' Championship title at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix, with the team securing its fifth consecutive World Constructors' Championship title at the following race. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel finished runner-up, 88 points behind Hamilton, with his teammate Kimi Räikkönen finishing third. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes finished 84 points ahead of Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer in third, 152 points behind Ferrari.
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.
, it was also the last season in which no Honda-engined car scored a podium finish.
Entries The following teams and drivers participated in the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.
EntrantConstructorChassisPower unitRace driversNo. Driver nameRounds Scuderia FerrariFerrariSF71HFerrari 062 EVO57 Sebastian Vettel Kimi RäikkönenAllAll Sahara Force India F1 TeamForce India-MercedesVJM11Mercedes M09 EQ Power+1131 Sergio Pérez Esteban Ocon1–121–12 Racing Point Force India F1 TeamForce India-MercedesVJM11Mercedes M09 EQ Power+1131 Sergio Pérez Esteban Ocon13–2113–21 Haas F1 TeamHaas-FerrariVF-18Ferrari 062 EVO820 Romain Grosjean Kevin MagnussenAllAll McLaren F1 TeamMcLaren-RenaultMCL33Renault R.E.18214 Stoffel Vandoorne Fernando AlonsoAllAll Mercedes AMG Petronas MotorsportMercedesF1 W09 EQ Power+Mercedes M09 EQ Power+4477 Lewis Hamilton Valtteri BottasAllAll Aston Martin Red Bull RacingRed Bull Racing-TAG HeuerRB14TAG Heuer F1-2018333 Daniel Ricciardo Max VerstappenAllAll Renault Sport Formula One TeamRenaultR.S.18Renault R.E.182755 Nico Hülkenberg Carlos Sainz Jr.AllAll Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 TeamSauber-FerrariC37Ferrari 062 EVO916 Marcus Ericsson Charles LeclercAllAll Red Bull Toro Rosso HondaScuderia Toro Rosso-HondaSTR13Honda RA618H1028 Pierre Gasly Brendon HartleyAllAll Williams Martini RacingWilliams-MercedesFW41Mercedes M09 EQ Power+1835 Lance Stroll Sergey SirotkinAllAllSources:Official entry lists: † All engines were 1.6 litre, V6 turbo hybrid configuration.
Free practice drivers Across the season six drivers served as third or free practice drivers for teams. Lewis Hamilton ran the number one on his car in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix first practice.
+ Drivers that took part in a free practice sessionConstructorNo.Driver nameRoundsForce India-Mercedes 34 Nicholas Latifi 7, 1116, 18–20McLaren-Renault 47 Lando Norris 13–14, 16–20Renault 46 Artem Markelov 16Sauber-Ferrari 36 Antonio Giovinazzi 11–12, 16, 19–21Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 38 Sean Gelael 18Williams-Mercedes 40 Robert Kubica 5, 9, 21 Source: – Contested under Sahara Force India ownership. – Contested under Racing Point Force India ownership.
Team changes McLaren terminated their engine partnership with Honda and instead signed a three-year deal for power units supplied by Renault. The team cited Honda's repeated failure to supply a reliable and competitive power unit as the reason for ending the partnership.
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. As part of the deal, Red Bull Racing loaned Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr. to Renault's works team.
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.
Mid-season changes Force India were placed into administration on 27 July 2018, during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. After speculation of a purchase, any sale of the team in a short time-span was complicated by legal proceedings against certain shareholders and the need for debt settlement. A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll purchased the racing assets and operations of Force India through a company named Racing Point UK Ltd. The original team, known as "Sahara Force India", was then excluded from the Constructors' Championship on the grounds of their inability to participate in remaining races. This allowed a new team known as "Racing Point Force India" to apply for a late entry and start their participation in the championship from the Belgian Grand Prix. The team was required to keep "Force India" as part of their constructor name as their chassis had been homologated under the Force India name and Formula One sporting regulations required the constructor name to include the chassis name. The new team began with zero points in the Constructors' Championship, though their drivers retained the points they had scored in the Drivers' Championship. The other teams later agreed to allow the Racing Point Force India team to retain prize money accrued by Sahara Force India in the preceding years.
Driver changes
Toro Rosso signed 2016 GP2 Series champion Pierre Gasly and two-time World Endurance champion Brendon Hartley as their full-time drivers for 2018, with Hartley becoming the first full-time New Zealander driver since Denny Hulme in 1974. Both Gasly and Hartley made their Formula One debuts with the team in the latter stages of the 2017 championship. Daniil Kvyat left the team and the Red Bull driver programme, securing a development role with Ferrari. Charles Leclerc, the reigning Formula 2 champion, made his competitive début with Sauber. Leclerc, who had previously driven in Friday practice sessions in 2016 and 2017, was hired by the team to replace Pascal Wehrlein. Wehrlein was ultimately unable to secure a race seat and was instead enlisted as one of Mercedes's test and reserve drivers while racing full-time in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series.
runner-up Felipe Massa retired from Formula One at the end of the 2017 championship. Massa was replaced by former Renault test driver and SMP Racing driver Sergey Sirotkin, who made his competitive début with the team.
Calendar
The following twenty-one Grands Prix were run as part of the 2018 World Championship: +Schedule of eventsRoundGrand PrixCircuitDate1Australian Grand Prix Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne25 March2Bahrain Grand Prix Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir8 April3Chinese Grand Prix Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai15 April4Azerbaijan Grand Prix Baku City Circuit, Baku29 April5Spanish Grand Prix Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló13 May6Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo27 May7Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal10 June8French Grand Prix Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet24 June9Austrian Grand Prix Red Bull Ring, Spielberg1 July10British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone8 July11German Grand Prix Hockenheimring, Hockenheim22 July12Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring, Mogyoród29 July13Belgian Grand Prix Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot26 August14Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza2 September15Singapore Grand Prix Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore16 September16Russian Grand Prix Sochi Autodrom, Sochi30 September17Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka7 October18United States Grand Prix Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas21 October19Mexican Grand Prix Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City28 October20Brazilian Grand Prix Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo11 November21Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi25 NovemberSource:
Calendar changes
The French Grand Prix returned to the calendar for the first time since . The race has returned to the Circuit Paul Ricard, which last hosted the French Grand Prix in before the event moved to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. The race was scheduled to be run in June, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix brought forward to April to accommodate the change and to avoid clashing with celebrations for the centenary of the Azerbaijan republic. The German Grand Prix also returned to the championship after a one-year absence, with the Hockenheimring hosting the race.
The Malaysian Grand Prix, which was part of the championship from to , was discontinued. The Russian Grand Prix was moved from April to September, filling the vacancy left by the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Changes Sporting regulations 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. If multiple drivers are moved to the back of the grid, their starting positions are determined by the order that components were changed based on the most recent change made by each driver.
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. The changes were introduced following two incidents during : 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 question for his reaction time despite the detection system recognising it as legal.
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 file until they are shown the green flag.
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.