Formula One: 2018 championship prediction
By Asher Fair
When each and every one of the 21 races on the 2018 Formula One schedule are in the books in November, which driver will be the 2018 champion?
The 2018 Formula One season is right around the corner now, as the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, is just days away. With the four-month offseason between the 2017 and 2018 seasons almost completely in the books, now is a great time to predict which driver will end up being the 2018 champion.
In the field of 20 full-time Formula One drivers this season, four are former champions. One of those former champions, Kimi Raikkonen, has one career championship to his name, while the other three have won multiple championships.
Fernando Alonso has won two career Formula One championships. The other two drivers with multiple championships to their names are Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Both drivers have won four career championships.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
Odds are, we will see a third driver enter into the five-time champions club this season, joining seven-time champion Michael Schumacher and five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio in the process.
In all likelihood, the 2018 champion will be the same as the 2017 champion. That driver, who also won two of the three championships in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons leading up to the 2017 season, is 33-year-old Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton has been on a dominant run over the last four years since Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport became the top team in Formula One. In the last four seasons, he has won three championships, and his 40 wins in that span are an all-time record in any four-year span.
In fact, only four other drivers in Formula One history have managed to win at least 40 races throughout their entire career. Hamilton now sits second on the all-time wins list with 62 victories, and he has continued his climb up the all-time championships list into a third place tie with four titles.
While Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, the teams that finished in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively, in the 2017 constructors standings, are set to make improvements in the 2018 season, something that Hamilton himself was concerned about, expect Mercedes to continue their dominant run as the sport’s top team, and expect Hamilton, the team’s top driver, to benefit from this en route to his fifth career Formula One championship.
Next: Top 10 Formula One drivers of all-time
Will Lewis Hamilton win his fifth career Formula One championship in the 2018 season, or will another driver emerge as the sport’s best by the time the season concludes in November? Watch the season unfold, starting with the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, on Sunday, March 25th.