2018 Formula One Season - Info/Calendar/Changes

[BillyHills]

2018 Schedule

We have 21 races this year starting in Australia on 25th March

 

Notes:

The French Grand Prix has returned to the calendar for the first time since 2008. The race is due to return to the Circuit Paul Ricard, which last hosted the French Grand Prix in 1990. The race is 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 centenary of the Azerbaijan republic.

The German Grand Prix also returned to the championship after a one-year absence, with the Hockenheimring scheduled to host the race.

The Malaysian Grand Prix has been discontinued—which was part of the championship from 1999 to 2017

The Russian Grand Prix was moved from April to September, filling the vacancy left by the Malaysian Grand Prix.

[BillyHills]

Teams

Changes:

Toro Rosso signed 2016 GP2 Series champion Pierre Gasly and two-time World Endurance champion Brendon Hartley 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, the reigning Formula 2 champion, is scheduled to make his competitive début in 2018 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' test and reserve drivers while racing full-time in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series.

Williams driver Felipe Massa retired from Formula One at the end of the 2017 championship. He was replaced by former Renault test driver and SMP Racing driver Sergey Sirotkin, who will make his competitive début with the team.

 

[BillyHills]

Technical Changes

 

Technical regulations:

- T-wings and shark-fin style engine covers outlawed
- halo cockpit protection device mandatory
- suspension systems that could alter the car’s aero performance over a lap not allowed

 

Sporting regulations:

Drivers allowed three rather than four power units per season

In a bid to make F1 power units even more reliable – and further reduce costs – this season each driver must make do with just three engines for the 21-race campaign. That compares with four engines last year- simplified grid penalties for power unit changes

Wider range of dry tyre compounds

As in 2017, official F1 tyre suppliers Pirelli will make three dry-weather compounds available to teams at each Grand Prix. However, for 2018 those three will be selected from a broader range of compounds, which now includes the new, pink-marked hypersoft at one end of the spectrum and the orange-marked superhard at the other.

 

Simpler grid penalties

One less engine per driver could mean more grid penalties in 2018. However, there will be far less confusion for fans over how those penalties impact the starting order.

Under the previous system, drivers changing multiple power unit elements could rack up multiple grid drops, often in excess of the number of cars at the event.

Now, any driver who earns a grid penalty of 15 places or more will have to start from the back of the grid. If more than one driver receives such a penalty they will be arranged at the back of the grid in the order in which they changed elements. That should mean less headaches for fans - and those at the FIA tasked with deciding the grid!

 

[BillyHills]

Championship Odds

 

 

Constructors Title

[LePapo]

My bookie offers Verstappen to win -2.5 races at 2.10 and that will be my main outright bet. RB is just behind Ferrari and Mercedes. 1.75 on RB to win under 4.5 races looks value to me but not enough to bet on that. At 1.9ish i'd bet some money.

5 units on Verstappen to win -2.5 races at 2.10

[MarioDunav]

On 22.03.2018 г. at 10:02 PM, LePapo said:

My bookie offers Verstappen to win -2.5 races at 2.10 and that will be my main outright bet. RB is just behind Ferrari and Mercedes. 1.75 on RB to win under 4.5 races looks value to me but not enough to bet on that. At 1.9ish i'd bet some money.

5 units on Verstappen to win -2.5 races at 2.10

I wll also try this bet. My local bookie gives me 2,25 for the same bet.

Edited December 7, 2018 by MarioDunav