1 week of Blogmas down. 2 more to go. The next few posts are going to be looking back on the 2018 Formula One season.
Welcome to the 2018 Formula One Season Review Part 1.
The 2018 Formula One season began on 25th March 2018 with 11 teams and 22 drivers lining up on the grid in Melbourne, Australia. Lewis Hamilton was to start on pole for Mercedes, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen right next to him on the front row.
The beginning of the race was uneventful. The first retirement being Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) on lap 4. Red Bull's Max Verstappen spun on lap 9, relegating the Dutchman down to 8th. The first round of pitstops began around lap 18 with Raikkonen pitting for softs. Race leader; Hamilton, pitted one lap later, emerging back on track ahead of the Finn. Down at Haas, disaster was about to strike. Both drivers; Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, had to pull over and retire thanks to a cross-threaded wheel-nut being fitted loosley, resulting in this seasons first Virtual Safety Car. (VSC.) Sebastian Vettel pitted at this point, taking advantage of the VSC, emerging in front of Hamilton and thus, taking the lead. The rest of the race was relatively quiet with Vettel taking the chequered flag on lap 58. Hamilton was to finish 2nd with Raikkonen on the final step of the podium. There were five retirements overall.
Two weeks later, and the Formula One circus reached Bahrain for Round Two of the championship. Ferrari's Vettel started on pole ahead of Raikkonen, giving Ferrari a lock out on the front row.
The race began and positions shifted. Mercedes; Valtteri Bottas took 2nd whereas his teammate Hamilton fell down the order to 10th, clashing with Max Verstappen on lap two with the Dutchman taking a punchture to his left rear tyre. Meanwhile, Verstappen's teammate; Daniel Ricciardo, lost all power to his car, therefore retiring him from the race. Just laps later, Verstappen had the same problem, ending his race. An incident in the pitlane saw Ferrari tyre changer; Cigarini get struck by Raikkonen's car, breaking his leg in the process thus meaning race leader; Vettel, would have to extend his stint on his current tyres. As with the previous race, Vettel took the chequered flag after a late race attack from Bottas. Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly took his first points in F1 after finishing 4th.
Now onto China. The third round started in Ferrari's favour with another front row lock out. Both Mercedes of Bottas and Hamilton would start on the row behind them.
A relatively quiet start to the race. Vettel got away well. The first round of pitstops came and Bottas managed to undercut Vettel, taking the lead from the German. Vettel subsequently took 2nd place from teammate Raikkonen. On lap 30, the Toro Rosso's of Brendan Hartley and Pierre Gasly came together at the first corner, with the Frenchman taking a 10-second penalty. A safety car was sent out due to the debris on the track. Both Red Bull's took advantage of this period, pitting for fresher tyres whereas the likes of Mercedes stayed out. Both Red Bulls, on fresher tires battled their way through the field with Verstappen coming together with Sebastian Vettel on lap 43, sending both drivers into a spin. Meanwhile, Ricciardo was up front battling Bottas for the lead, eventually finding a way past. Ricciardo was the eventual winner of this race.
Next up came the race we were all waiting for. Azerbaijan. Vettel again took pole, with Hamilton starting right next to him.
As with many races these days, the field got away cleanly. However, after the first few corners, some drivers had come together. Most notably Kimi Raikkonen and Force India's Esteban Ocon, leading the latter to retire from the race. A safety car was deployed and our round of pitstops had begun. The race begun again on lap 6 but only a few laps later on lap 11, Nico Hulkenberg hit the wall, meaning he was to retire. After this, the race setteled down. Well, until lap 40 that was. For a number of laps before this, both Red Bulls and been racing each other. The team decided to not deploy team orders and let the two race. On lap 40, the two came together, with both cars damaged, the team were in for a double retirement and thus, safety car number two was deployed. During the SC period on lap 43, Romain Grosjean hit the wall, sending him into retirement. Blaming Sauber's Marcus Ericsson during the process. At the restart, Bottas was leading but it wasn't long until he suffered a puncture, causing him to retire also. Lewis Hamilton was the winner. Raikkonen came second and a surprise for Force India when their driver Sergio Perez took 3rd.
After the hectics of Azerbaijan, Formula One came back to Europe with the Spanish Grand Prix. Vettel's string of poles were broken when Hamilton took pole. Bottas lined up beside him, giving Mercedes that all important one-two.
The beginning of a lap at Catalunya is very "windy," so it was no surprise when Romain Grosjean spun at turn 3 of the first lap, taking out the Renault of Nico Hulkeberg and Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly in the process. More retirements were to come. Raikkonen lost power to his car on lap 25, Ocon had a similar issue on lap 40 and again, a similar issue for McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne on lap 47. Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll (Williams) came together after a VSC period, both cars completed the race. Hamilton won the race by over twenty seconds. His teammate, Bottas, crossed the finish line in 2nd with Red Bull's Max Verstappen claiming his first podium of the season.
27th May. We're in Monaco. Usually described as "the most boring race of the year." This one lived up to it's name. Daniel Ricciardo was to start on pole, his first of the season.
The race began and the majority of drivers stayed in their qualifying order. On lap 18, race leader, Ricciardo, started to complain of a loss of power. For the remainder of the race, Ricciardo had to nurse his car home. It was later revealed that he had problems with the MGU-K and only had six out of eight gears working. After this, the race was quiet. Fernando Alonso retired for McLaren with gearbox issues on lap 53. On lap 70, Sauber's Charles Leclerc had a brake failure, sending him into the back of Brendan Hartley. Both drivers joined Fernando Alonso in retirement. Daniel Ricciardo managed his problems well, taking the chequered flag on lap 78.
Two weeks later and we're off to Canada. The home of Lance Stroll. Sebastian Vettel was back on pole with his main championship rival, Lewis Hamilton down in 4th.
As what seemed to be the running theme in 2018, the race started without incident until turn 5 where Brendan Hartley and Lance Stroll clashed, knocking them both out of the race. The safety car was deployed. During the restart, Perez and Renault's Carlos Sainz banged wheels but no major damage was reported and both drivers carried on. Fernando Alonso was again the next car to retire with mechanical issues. The most entertaining part of the race came at the end when model; Winnie Harlow, waved the chequered flag a few laps early. The results were officially taken from lap 68 instead of 70, meaning, Ricciardo's fastest laps were voided and Perez's overtake on Magnussen did not stand.
Come back soon for Part 2!
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