What was your 2018 season like?

[Nitrodaze]

What was your experience of this 2018 season?
How would you rate the season?
How would you rank the drivers?
How would you rate the teams?
What were the dumbest things that happened this season?
How would you rate the incoming rookies?

[Nitrodaze]

What was your experience of this 2018 season?
This was the most entertaining season that l have experienced for a very long time. 2017 was an exciting season too but this season took it to another level. And that was mainly due to Ferrari turning up with a fantastic car that could have won the constructors title if they had remained faithful to their inception designs. For the first time in five years, a Mercedes was lapped. There were times when doubt of a Mercedes victory at the end of the season was seriously contemplated.

Mercedes were raced very hard this year. I think they were spared by the errors of Ferrari drivers and team combined. I think it would have been a massive crescendo at the Abu Dhabi, if Ferrari had not gone the wrong way with development at Singapore, even with Vettel's errors. This is the first season that l have not missed a single race. I missed the grid girls, hence, did not watch a single pre-race activities.



How would you rate the season?
I rate it 8/10 because the titles were won before the end of the season and NO GRID GIRLS :-(



How would you rank the drivers?
Hamilton 11/10 He won half of the races this season [ok one was due to team orders]. Undisputed champ and simply untouchable this season.

Verstapenn 9/10 He made less mistakes this season and drove outstandingly this season.

Hulkenburg 9/10 An outstanding season for the Hulk. Best of the rest and showed what a great racer he is by beating Sainz fair and square.

Vettel 8/10 He gave the title away with mistakes

Raikonen 8/10 Mostly because the team did not give him the opportunities to archive more, hence was lacklustre in a majority of races but managed to win one outstanding race. Monza was a strong race for Kimi as well, poor strategy gave the race to Hamilton as tyres wore thin.

Alonso 7/10 Scored 50 points of the Mclaren's 62 points. An uncomfortable spectacle for any true racing fans to see Alonso in a poor Mclaren.

Perez 7/10 A strong season for Perez but was out-qualified too often by ocon. But always managed to have a strong race. He put the Force India on the podium in Baku.

Leclerc 7/10 A very strong season for Leclerc. He drove the wheels off that Sauber and took it regularly into the top ten where most did not think it belonged.

Gasly 7/10 A strong season for Gasly. Managing to finish 4th at Bahrain in a Honda powered Toro Rosso.

Magnussen 7/10 - A strong season for Magnussen. A few crashes dented his progress, l thought he was good for higher than where he ended the season. And he trashed Grosjean fair and square this season.

Sainz 7/10 - A good season for Sainz but did not reach his full potential due to car problems.

Ocon 6/10 A strong season for Ocon. Only tarnished by his numerous crashes that saw him lose points to Perez, even though he regularly out-qualified the Mexican.

Bottas 6/10 Was lapped in a Mercedes that won both titles, he was only good for two race win this season which was stolen from him by team orders and a puncture at Baku. His driving was generally poor.

Grosjean 5/10 An uncharacteristic mediocre season for Grosjean. He was not at his best this season for whatever reason but had occcasional good races.

Stroll 5/10 A difficult season for Lance in an underpowered car but comprehensively trashed his teammate.

Ericsson 4/10 A poor season for Marcus. His teammate scored more than four times his points. Marcus had the lion share of the Sauber car problems.

Vandoorne 4/10 A very poor season for Stoffel. Finished last most of the time and was out-qualified at every race this season by his teammate.

Hartley 4/10 A very poor year for Hartley. He was comprehensively destroyed by his teammate who score more than seven times his points

Sirotkin 4/10 A difficult rookie season for Sergey in an underpowered car. He only manage one point and five behind his teammate. He pissed off a few drivers at the Singapore GP



How would you rate the teams?
Mercedes 11/10 Simply the best team of the last five years

Ferrari 9/10 Ferrari improved tremendously this season, they did not have the reliability problems that dogged their 2017 season but made more mistakes that cost them the titles. They took the fight to the Mercedes and gave Mercedes a frightful kicking in the first half of the season. It all went down hill in the second half.

Redbull 9/10 A very strong year for Redbull. They were good for five wins this season but were denied the fifth win by an Ocon crash at Interlagos. They did much better than they managed last year which made for an even harder year for Mercedes; that were made to look ordinary by the Redbulls at some races. Most importantly, they made no mistakes and had excellent strategies and the fastest pitstop of 2 seconds flat.

Renault 8/10 A very strong season for Renault. Finished best of the rest team. A solid fourth but less than a third of the points of the Redbull in 3rd. But a very impressive step forward.

Haas 8/10 A very strong season for Haas. They could have easily pipped Renault to fourth in the constructors championship but for the infringement of the chassis regulation which was incidentally pointed out by Renault. The changes to the car saw the performances of the car wane considerably compared to the start of the season. But nonetheless a very impressive season.

Force India 8/10 A very strong season for Force India, their point tally does not tell the true story of the Force India performance this season. Inspite of losing all their constructors points mid way through the season, Force India was still able top rack up 52 points. Force India was good for 5th place in the constructors championship.

Sauber 7/10 What a revelation Sauber turned out to be this season. We had all written off Sauber this season as a backmarker but somehow they managed to put out a great showing in the top ten occasionally. They really impressed.

Mclaren 6/10 A very ordinary season for Mclaren. They only secured 6th in the constructors championship because Force India lost a lot of constructors points due to a name change. The car was just as worst with a Renault engine as it was with a Honda engine. I fully expected Alonso to yell into the radio "GP2 chassis" but it did not happen.

Toro Rosso 6/10 A strong year for Toro Rosso. Their true potential was curtailed by engine experiments, a price to pay for being the guinea pig for the Redbull adoption of Honda engines.

Williams 2/10 A torrid year for Williams as what initially looked like an outstanding car turned out to be a three legged dog. It was as slow as it was cumbersome to drive. The team has swiftly declined from its lofty position in the top three a few years back to the rear of the grid. A truely astonishing decline that leaves the team struggling to find funds for its 2019 campaign. But from the bottom of the championship, the only way is up and l expect they would bounce back in 2019.



What were the dumbest things that happened this season?
1. Vettel's crash at the German GP.
2. Force India change of name from Force India to Force India, who cares about the prefixes or surfixes. We all know the team as Force India.
3. Grosjean's spin in the middle of the pack at the start of the Spanish GP which took out four cars
4. Verstapenn's weave at Baku that caused Ricciado to crash into the back of his car, taking out both Redbull from a very strong race.



How would you rate the incoming rookies?
George Russell 10/10 2018 F2 World driver champion. He thoroughly thrashed Lando Norris with points to spare.
Lando Norris 9/10 A highly talented driver with a promise of something special in F1 given a competitive car.
Antonio Giovinazzi 8/10 Antonio has some F1 experience already and this is his second bite of the F1 apple. He appeared promising until that embarrassing spin that cost him his seat at his first outing. He did not finish a season hence is still a rookie.
Alexander Albon 8/10 A very interesting driver to watch. Great speed and incredible overtaking skills. A young Ricciado if you like.

[gm99]

I thought the season was very good in the first half, until about Spa. From then on, Mercedes was really the dominant team (aided by Ferrari's and Vettel's mistakes), which took a lot of excitement out of the title battle. Hamilton was flawless and won a deserved championship.
The drivers who surprised me most (in a positive way) were Leclerc and Räikkönen. The latter had his most impressive season in quite a while, the former showed that he is a star of the future.
I was not too impressed with Bottas this year. Yes, he had some bad luck and had to yield to his team-mate on occassion, but 160 points behind his team-mate in the championship-winning car is nothing to write home about.
In the same vein, Hartley wasn't too impressive with just 4 points compared to his team-mate at 29. He won't be badly missed in 2019.
As a team, Williams was dreadful again this season. In spite of being powered by a Mercedes engine, they only scored 7 points, which speaks neither for their chassis nor their drivers.Like Hartley, Sirotkin won't be missed much.
As for the in-coming rookies, Norris, Russell, Albon all look promising, but so did Van Doorne...

[N. Jones]

What was your experience of this 2018 season?
Three teams at the top and everyone else fighting for scraps. Some good races and some bad ones.

How would you rate the season?
Six. Races in evil countries (Azerbaijan, Bahrain) need to go.

How would you rank the drivers?
Hamilton, Alonso, Ocon, Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Perez, Hulkenberg,Gasly, Sainz, Grosjean, Magnussen, Eriksson, Hartley, Stroll, Sirotkin, Vandoorne

How would you rate the teams?
Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Renault, Racing Point, Sauber, Haas, STR, McLaren, Williams

What were the dumbest things that happened this season?
Ferrari screw ups, Alonso's rants, Max's early crashes, Red Bull's insistence that only Renault were at fault.

How would you rate the incoming rookies?
Norris, Russell, Albon, Giovinazzi.

[Mia 01]

Kimi won and he is back in Sauber, thats made the season for me.

[N. Jones]

Hamilton 11/10 He won half of the races this season [ok one was due to team orders]. Undisputed champ and simply untouchable this season.

Verstapenn 9/10 He made less mistakes this season and drove outstandingly this season.

Hulkenburg 9/10 An outstanding season for the Hulk. Best of the rest and showed what a great racer he is by beating Sainz fair and square.

Vettel 8/10 He gave the title away with mistakes

Raikonen 8/10 Mostly because the team did not give him the opportunities to archive more, hence was lacklustre in a majority of races but managed to win one outstanding race. Monza was a strong race for Kimi as well, poor strategy gave the race to Hamilton as tyres wore thin.

Perez 7/10 A strong season for Perez but was out-qualified too often by ocon. But always managed to have a strong race.

Leclerc 7/10 A very strong season for Leclerc. He drove the wheels off that Sauber and took it regularly into the top ten where most did not think it belonged.

Gasly 7/10 A strong season for Gasly. Managing to finish 4th at Baku in a Honda powered Toro Rosso.

Magnussen 7/10 - A strong season for Magnussen. A few crashes dented his progress, l thought he was good for higher than where he ended the season. And he trashed Grosjean fair and square this season.

Sainz 7/10 - A good season for Sainz but did not reach his full potential due to car problems.

Ocon 6/10 A strong season for Ocon. Only tarnished by his numerous crashes that saw him lose points to Perez, even though he regularly out-qualified the Mexican.

Bottas 6/10 Was lapped in a Mercedes that won both titles, he was only good for one race win this season which was stolen from him by team orders. His driving was generally poor.

Grosjean 5/10 An uncharacteristic mediocre season for Grosjean. He was not at his best this season for whatever reason but had occcasional good races.

Stroll 5/10 A difficult season for Lance in an underpowered car but comprehensively trashed his teammate.

Ericsson 4/10 A poor season for Marcus. His teammate scored more than four times his points. Marcus had the lion share of the Sauber car problems.

Vandoorne 4/10 A very poor season for Stoffel. Finished last most of the time and was out-qualified at every race this season by his teammate.

Hartley 4/10 A very poor year for Hartley. He was comprehensively destroyed by his teammate who score more than seven times his points

Sirotkin 4/10 A difficult rookie season for Sergey in an underpowered car. He only manage one point and five behind his teammate. He pissed off a few drivers at the Singapore GP

.

So, Alonso doesn't rate?

[Nitrodaze]

So, Alonso doesn't rate?

Cut and paste glitch. I have updated my list accordingly. Thanks for noticing.

[N. Jones]

NP. I thought it was deliberate! :D

[Duncan]

Hulkenburg 9/10 An outstanding season for the Hulk. Best of the rest and showed what a great racer he is by beating Sainz fair and square.

I think I'd deduct a couple of points for failing to stick the landing in Abu Dhabi...

[journeyman racer]

11/10 for Hamilton is an embellishment of Hamilton that grates. Just say 10/10, your point is made.


Speaking of 10/10. technically that what Ricciardo's score should be. He outscored Verstappen 158 to 142 in the races both finished. That's if was in the list.

[Nitrodaze]

11/10 for Hamilton is an embellishment of Hamilton that grates. Just say 10/10, your point is made.

Speaking of 10/10. technically that what Ricciardo's score should be. He outscored Verstappen 158 to 142 in the races both finished. That's if was in the list.

The difference between Verstapenn and Ricciado's scoring is based on winning potential this season. Verstapenn had three clear winning performances but one got away due to a crash. Ricciado was only good for two wins. On a head to head basis, Verstapenn got the measure of Ricciado this season.

That said, Ricciado would have done better if he did not have car troubles which was unfairly distributed between the Redbull drivers. Unfortunately, Ricciado caught the wrong end of the reliabilty failures. He is seen by me and many aa a clear championship winning driver given the right car.

[Nitrodaze]

I think I'd deduct a couple of points for failing to stick the landing in Abu Dhabi...

I don't understand ???

[jimclark]

That's a shame. Having to explain squashes the humour.

Think gymnastics. ;)

[Nitrodaze]

That's a shame. Having to explain squashes the humour.

Think gymnastics. ;)

So what is your verdict?

[jimclark]

The same, an 8; -2 for the landing. Other than that, the tumble was performed with excellent form. ;)

[Zico]

Interesting anonymous collective driver rating results provided by the team bosses for this season.

1. Hamilton
2. Verstappen
3. Vettel
4. Alonso
5. Ricciardo
6. LeClerc
7. Raikkonen
8. Bottas
9. Ocon
10. Hulkenberg

https://youtu.be/8Y9yd8Sj0OA


Roughly about right on the whole.. but for me Vettel made too many mistakes to deserve third, LeClerc also deserving of higher than 6th.

[Starter]

Interesting anonymous collective driver rating results provided by the team bosses for this season.

1. Hamilton
2. Verstappen
3. Vettel
4. Alonso
5. Ricciardo
6. LeClerc
7. Raikkonen
8. Bottas
9. Ocon
10. Hulkenberg

https://youtu.be/8Y9yd8Sj0OA


Roughly about right on the whole.. but for me Vettel made too many mistakes to deserve third, LeClerc also deserving of higher than 6th.
Raikkonen should have been higher, but the first half of the season did him in.

[zako85]

This season was not bad (bad would be like 2011, 2013, or 2015), specially in the first half. However, it was somewhat of a disappointment once Vettel and Ferrari collectively dropped the ball allowing Hamilton to run with the WDC title two races before the end of the season.

I am kind of sick of people saying things like "I don't watch F1 any more because it got boring and it's not like it used to be a while back". And I always answer, dude, have you seen any F1 races recently? And what part of F1 you liked so much the way it used to be? Schumacher winning 5 WDCs in a row in 2000s, or Williams being 5 times WCC in the 1990s, or McLaren dominating in the 1980s?

[airshifter]

Overall a good season. Plenty of action through the pack, some newer drivers showing their worth on the grid, and some "new-ish" drivers honing their overall skill set, all while the pointy end of the pack was battling with both cars and drivers.

I think 2019 has a lot of potential to shake things up. The power advantage of the Merc cars seems to be lesser, and the other teams have been clawing back what appears to be a handling advantage vs Merc. If Ferrari and/or RB get the package right for next season, Lewis is going to have his work cut out for him trying to hold on to a WDC, and if Leclerc and Gasly do well in the #2 spots, the constructors title should be a fight through the season.

[Jag_Warrior]

Overall a good season. Plenty of action through the pack, some newer drivers showing their worth on the grid, and some "new-ish" drivers honing their overall skill set, all while the pointy end of the pack was battling with both cars and drivers.

I think 2019 has a lot of potential to shake things up. The power advantage of the Merc cars seems to be lesser, and the other teams have been clawing back what appears to be a handling advantage vs Merc. If Ferrari and/or RB get the package right for next season, Lewis is going to have his work cut out for him trying to hold on to a WDC, and if Leclerc and Gasly do well in the #2 spots, the constructors title should be a fight through the season.

My feelings exactly. I can't really add anything to that.