2018 Formula One World Championship (Alt)

This is a fictional account of an alternative version of the 2018 F1 season. For the real 2018 season, see the 2018 Formula One World Championship

The **2018 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars and the 69th running of the Formula One World Championship. Formula One is recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Drivers and teams competed in twenty-one Grands Prix for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championship titles.

In 2018, the championship saw the introduction of a new cockpit protection device, known as the "halo". The introduction of the halo was the first stage of a planned rollout that would see the device adopted in all FIA-sanctioned open wheel series by 2020.

## Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers took part in the 2018 season. Teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.

### Free practice drivers

Across the season six drivers served as third or free practice drivers for teams. Nicholas Latifi served as a free practice driver for Sahara Force India and Racing Point Force India. Lando Norris, Artem Markelov, Antonio Giovinazzi, Sean Gelael and Robert Kubica drove in free practice sessions for McLaren, Renault, Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Williams respectively.

### Team changes

**Toro Rosso: Renault -> Honda.** Toro Rosso parted ways with Renault and came to an agreement to use Honda power units.

### Driver changes

**Pierre Gasly -> Toro Rosso.** Toro Rosso signed 2016 GP2 Series champion Pierre Gasly as their full-time drivers for 2018. Daniil Kvyat left the team and the Red Bull driver programme, securing a development role with Ferrari.

**Charles Leclerc -> Sauber.** Charles Leclerc, the reigning Formula 2 champion, made his competitive début with Sauber. Leclerc, who had previously driven in Friday practice sessions in 2016 and 2017, was hired by the team to replace Pascal Wehrlein. Wehrlein was ultimately unable to secure a race seat and was instead enlisted as one of Mercedes's test and reserve drivers while racing full-time in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series.

## Calendar

The following twenty-one Grands Prix were run as part of the 2018 World Championship:

### Calendar changes

The championship returned to the Circuit Paul Ricard for the first time since 1990.
The French Grand Prix returned to the calendar for the first time since 2008. The race has returned to the Circuit Paul Ricard, which last hosted the French Grand Prix in 1990 before the event moved to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. The race was scheduled to be run in June, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix brought forward to April to accommodate the change and to avoid clashing with celebrations for the centenary of the Azerbaijan republic. The German Grand Prix also returned to the championship after a one-year absence, with the Hockenheimring hosting the race.

The Malaysian Grand Prix, which was part of the championship from 1999 to 2017, was discontinued. The Russian Grand Prix was moved from April to September, filling the vacancy left by the Malaysian Grand Prix.

## Results and standings

### Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top ten classified drivers in every race, using the following system:

In order for full points to be awarded, the race winner must complete at least 75% of the scheduled race distance. Half points are awarded if the race winner completes less than 75% of the race distance provided that at least two laps are completed. In the event of a tie at the conclusion of the championship, a count-back system is used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's/constructor's best result used to decide the standings.