F1 2018 Season

*(This article contains fanon information, this isn't the actual F1 2018 season)*

The 2018 Formula 1 Season was the 69th season of Formula One.

## Calendar

### Calendar changes

* As per the agreement between the Nurburgring and Hockenheimring circuits, the German Grand Prix was held on the second one.

## Season Report

### Early rounds and Ferrari domination

Ferrari was the clear car to beat, topping winter testing. At the Australian GP, they proved it with a front row lockout and 1-2 finish in the race ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bulls. Rosberg suffered an engine retirement in the opening parts of the race, compromising his WDC challenge. In Malaysia, Ferrari repeated what they did in Australia and won everything they could, with polesitter Vettel winning ahead of Bianchi and Hamilton. Rosberg once again retired, this time in the closing laps with an alternator failure from P4. At the Bahrain Grand Prix, a Ferrari stronghold, Vettel would once again win from pole, but the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg chased him and weren't far off. Bianchi could only manage fourth this time, losing out to both Mercs on tyres late in the race. In China, Rosberg broke Vettel's monopoly on pole positions, qualifying first ahead of Bianchi, Vettel and Hamilton. In the race, Bianchi started well and had the opportunity to take the lead into the first corner; however, he misunderstood Rosberg's intentions and instead rammed into his side, with the collision breaking front suspensions of both cars and forcing them to retire on the spot. This allowed Vettel to lead from Hamilton, Ricciardo, Alonso and Verstappen during the ensuing safety car period. On the 30th lap, Gasly collided with Ocon at the hairpin, putting out a 2nd safety car which both Red Bulls and McLarens used to pit for fresh tyres. Vettel and Hamilton were both overtaken in the following laps, however Verstappen tried to massively divebomb the championship leader and ended up colliding with him, sending both cars into a spin. A damaged Vettel could only limp home in 8th, losing out to the Force Indias in the closing laps. Verstappen lost a place to Alonso but escaped without any damage. Ricciardo went on to win ahead of Alonso and Verstappen, giving the Spaniard his first podium since the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix. Hamilton held off his old teammate Button for several laps at the end, allowing him to preserve P4. Rosberg was furious after the race and Bianchi was given a 10 place grid penalty for the next event in Turkey. At the Turkish Grand Prix, Vettel once again took pole but got away poorly and lost positions to both Rosberg and Hamilton. However, the Ferrari driver was able to overtake Hamilton and undercut Rosberg, giving him his fourth win in the first five rounds.

### Mercedes picks up the fight midseason

At the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes looked faster than Ferrari for the first time, but it was once again Vettel who won on Saturday, taking pole just 0.013s in front of Hamilton and Rosberg. Bianchi struggled and could only qualify 6th behind both Red Bulls. Vettel held his lead at the start and into the race, but in the first round of pitstops, Ferrari suffered a wheel gun failure and needed 4 extra seconds in the pits, allowing Hamilton to catch up. Vettel went out still ahead of the Mercedes, but in 2 laps Hamilton used DRS on the main straight to take the lead which he didn't return until the end of the race. Rosberg finished 3rd ahead of Verstappen, Bianchi and Ricciardo. In Monaco, Ricciardo took pole position ahead of Hamilton, Bianchi, Rosberg and Vettel. Verstappen had to start last after crashing in FP3 and could only manage 11th in the race. Despite a gearbox issue plaguing Ricciardo from the start, he was able to hold off Hamilton thanks to the circuit nature to take his 2nd win of the season. Bianchi completed the podium, his first since Malaysia. Rosberg took the pole in Azerbaijan ahead of Vettel, Hamilton and Bianchi. Hamilton was able to jump Vettel at the start, leaving a Mercedes 1-2 in the race. A crazy race saw a high amount of crashes and retirements, including a collison of the two Red Bulls, but the top four remained firmly placed. After the final safety car period (caused by Grosjean crashing under the safety car) Vettel divebombed Rosberg in turn 1 to try to take the win, but he massively overcooked the move and went into the runoff area, losing a place to Bianchi. Force India's Sergio Perez got close enough to overtake the championship leader with DRS for 4th on the next straight. Rosberg held the lead through the chaos and was looking set to win the race, but as he started the penultimate lap, he ran over a piece of debris on the main straight which blew apart his right rear tyre. The incident forced him to retire after leading almost the entire race and handed the win to his Mercedes teammate Hamilton, who took only his 2nd win of the season ahead of Jules Bianchi and, to everyone's surprise Perez who held off Vettel for the final podium position. Rosberg stated in interviews in the later part of the season, that losing the win in Baku was what eventually prevented him from charging for the title. The last three results massively knocked Vettel's championship lead, to single digits. However, Vettel's luck turned in Canada. In a performance reminiscent of the ones in the first part of the season he won the race from pole position, ahead of Rosberg and Verstappen. Hamilton could only finish 5th, after being overtaken by both Red Bulls in the second stint. At the following round in Austria, Rosberg took his third pole position of the season; however, his race was over by lap 13 with an engine failure, his fifth retirement of the season. Verstappen inherited the lead which he retained until the end of the race. Hamilton lost out to Bianchi and Vettel and was driving in 5th, however with 10 laps to go he too was forced to retire with a fuel pressure problem, marking an unlikely double retirement from Mercedes. On lap 69, Bianchi was given an order to let Vettel by for the championship, with which he complied. Verstappen won ahead of Ricciardo at their team's home race, with Vettel third and Bianchi fourth. The result added 17 points to Vettel's advantage on Hamilton in the championship. At the British Grand Prix, Hamilton's home race, he took pole ahead of Vettel, Rosberg and Bianchi. However, he suffered a poor getaway losing places to Rosberg and Vettel, with Rosberg also overtaking the Ferrari driver for the lead. As Bianchi attempted to overtake Hamilton into turn 3, he hit him sending the home hero into a spin. Bianchi was given a 10 second time penalty for the incident, which he served in the pits. Later in the race, Vettel overtook Rosberg who struggled to find the pace on the hard compound. Hamilton would make an incredible charge through the field and go on to finish 3rd, only a few seconds behind his teammate. Verstappen's engine failed on the penultimate lap, depriving him of a 5th place finish. At the German Grand Prix, Vettel took pole positon ahead of Rosberg and Bianchi, with Hamilton starting in last place (26th) after a mechanichal failure in Q1. Vettel led the rain-affected race from start to finish to take his 2nd ever home win. On the final lap, Bianchi overtook Rosberg to make it a Ferrari 1-2, the first since Malaysia. Hamilton recovered to finish fifth. In Hungary, Hamilton secured pole position ahead of teammate Rosberg, with the Ferraris only starting 5th and 6th being outqualified by both Red Bulls. Rosberg jumped Hamilton at the start and didn't give the lead until the end of the race. With Hamilton closing up to him at the end, Rosberg was asked to move over and let Hamilton take the win to increase his championship chances, but Rosberg refused to do so and took only his first win this season. Ricciardo finished third, with Verstappen retiring due to a collision with his teammate on lap one. Vettel and Bianchi took 4th and 5th.

### Mercedes gets ahead as the season nears its end

After the summer break, we returned traditionally to Belgium. Hamilton took pole position, just edging out Vettel. A wet Q3 session allowed the Renault of Esteban Ocon and Aston of Sergio Perez into the second row. At the start of the race, Hülkenberg failed to properly brake into turn one and smashed into Fernando Alonso causing a massive turn 1 collision which also took out 4 other drivers: Daniel Ricciardo, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Charles Leclerc. However, it was Sebastian Vettel who bested Hamilton at the start and took the lead. Despite Hamilton being on his back for the entire race, Vettel defended well and took his 8th win of the season, which would also prove to be his last this year. Bianchi retired with electrical failure, becoming the first time a Ferrari retired with a mechanichal issue in 2018. Rosberg recovered to a distant third and Verstappen to fourth. But, at the time, nothing signalled that it was the end of Ferrari's dominance, when at their home Italian Grand Prix, they locked out the front row in front of the tifosi, with Bianchi taking his career first pole just ahead of Vettel. Second row was locked out by Mercedes drivers, Hamilton leading Rosberg, with the fifth row being an all-McLaren one, who managed to edge out the Red Bulls. Bianchi and Vettel got away well and Bianchi held his lead into the first corner, while Vettel covered off Hamilton who was right on his back. However, into the second chicane Hamilton caught a tunnel off Vettel and overtook him into the Della Roggia chicane; Vettel tried to divebomb his way back into P2, but he made contact with the Brit which sent him into a spin dropping the long time championship leader to the very back of the 26-car field. Bianchi emerged with about a 2 second lead after the incident, and gradually increased his gap over Hamilton and Rosberg. At the ending portion of the race however, Hamilton got the message "Lewis, it's hammertime" and quickly started chasing the lead Ferrari to the horror of the gathered Tifosi, getting into DRS range on lap 48 with 6 laps to go in the race. However, using the Ferrari's straight line speed and some smart driving, the Frenchman was able to hold off Hamilton until the chequered flag, converting his first career pole position into a first career race victory at probably the best track to do so. Hamilton and Rosberg finished second and third, Alonso was fourth ahead of the Red Bulls. Button fell down to 8th after a gearbox issue materialized at the end of the race for him, while Vettel could only make up positions up to ninth in the race, losing 17 points in the championship to Hamilton (who also finished with a fastest lap).