Formula 1: Driver championship lead continues to change hands

Through the first nine races of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the leader of the driver championship standings has change four times.

While none of the first nine races of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season have featured more than three lead changes, the leader of the driver championship standings has already changed four times, as the battle is extremely tight between the sport’s top two drivers.

Those top two drivers are Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton.

While their teammates, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas, respectively, and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are certainly all still well in the hunt for this season’s driver championship, the battle at the top has been all about Vettel and Hamilton.

Neither Vettel nor Hamilton has been any lower than second place in the driver standings so far this season. However, neither driver has been able to establish himself as this season’s true driver to beat, either.

After Vettel won the first two races of the season, the Australian Grand Prix and the Bahrain Grand Prix, it appeared as though Ferrari had made enough offseason adjustments to have a great chance at ending the four-year reign of Mercedes in the form of Vettel beating Hamilton to his fifth career Formula 1 championship.

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However, after Hamilton finished higher than Vettel in both the Chinese Grand Prix and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which Hamilton won, Hamilton took the lead of the driver standings for the first time this season.

After Hamilton went on to win his second race in a row by dominating the Spanish Grand Prix, it appeared as though he would take control of the championship fight. But after Vettel finished higher than him in both the Monaco Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix, which he won, Vettel retook the lead of the driver standings and looked like the favorite to win the championship once again.

Hamilton responded by dominating the French Grand Prix and thus retaking the lead in the driver standings. However, an abysmal race in the Austrian Grand Prix allowed Vettel to capitalize and retake the lead of the standings once again.

These four lead changes in the driver standings that have taken place through the first nine races of the 2018 season have actually all taken place within the last six races, which goes to show just how close this season’s championship battle is.

Here is a chart showing which of these two drivers has led the driver standings after each of the first nine races of the 2018 season, and by how many points.

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Which driver will end up winning the 2018 Formula 1 championship? Will the 2018 champion be Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton? Will another one of the four drivers who are still in the championship hunt arrive on the scene as a true championship contender before the season comes to an end in late November following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?