Formula 1: 2018 season in review

With just one day remaining in the year 2018, let’s take a look back at everything that the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season had to offer.

The year 2019 begins tomorrow, meaning the year 2018 will officially be history. While the 2018 Formula 1 season has been over since Sunday, November 25, let’s take a look back at everything it had to offer before the focus officially turns to the 2019 season once the calendars change.

The 2018 season was comprised of 21 races, and it resulted in Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton winning his fifth career championship, which tied him with Juan Manuel Fangio for second place on the all-time titles list.

Hamilton now trails only Michael Schumacher on the all-time titles list. Schumacher won seven championships over the course of his career. He also won 91 races, a win total that the 33-year-old Briton is also in hot pursuit of and a total that he climbed ever so closer to in the 2018 season.

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Five different drivers won at least one race in the 2018 season. Hamilton entered the season with 62 career victories, a total that trailed on the win total of Schumacher, and he led all drivers by winning 11 races, bringing his win total to 73. He now trails Schumacher’s wins record by 18 victories.

Hamilton entered the season on a three-race win drought, and that win drought became a six-race win drought after he failed to win any of the season’s first three races. He then only failed to win seven of the season’s 18 races. In doing so, he tied his career-high win total for a single season. He also earned 11 victories in the 2014 season, the season that resulted in him winning his second career championship.

Hamilton’s winning margin over Vettel, who finished in second place in the driver standings, was 88 points (408 to 320), which is the largest winning margin that he has had in any of his championship-winning seasons.

The other four drivers who won at least one race in the 2018 season were Scuderia Ferrari teammates Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen as well as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Vettel earned five victories while Raikkonen earned one, which was his first victory since the 2013 season. Ricciardo and Verstappen each earned two.

While Valtteri Bottas became the first Mercedes driver to fail to win a race in a season since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in the 2014 season, the Silver Arrows still did enough to secure their fifth consecutive constructor championship.

However, Mercedes’ winning margin over Ferrari, which finished in second place in the constructor standings, was 84 points (655 to 571), which is the smallest winning margin that they have had in any of their championship-winning seasons.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg won the unofficial “best of the rest” driver championship by finishing in seventh place in the driver standings behind only the six Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers while Renault won the unofficial “best of the rest” constructor championship by finishing in fourth in the constructor standings behind only Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.

However, it was Sahara Force India’s (Racing Point Force India’s) Sergio Perez who made headlines among “the rest” by finishing the season as the only non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver to finish a race on the podium. He finished in third place in the fourth race of the season, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, behind race winner Hamilton and second place finisher Raikkonen, and he did so despite the fact that he served a penalty earlier in the race.

Among the four rookies, including Scuderia Toro Rosso teammates Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, Alfa Romeo Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Williams Martini Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin, Leclerc finished in the highest position in the driver standings. He finished in 13th place after scoring 39 points on 10 top 10 finishes in what was the best season by a Sauber driver in several years.

What does the 2019 Formula 1 season have in store? It is scheduled to get underway in just over two and a half months, as the Australian Grand Prix, which is the first race on the 21-race 2019 schedule, is scheduled to take place at that time. This race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 17, 2019 at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia.