F1 2018 Season Awards

OK! Now made prescient by popular request, here's the thread I almost posted a couple of days ago.

Please give consideration to the whole of the last nine months or so. Some choices are probably easy; others may be more difficult because recent events tend to over-write previous memories.
For those not wishing to re-watch 30+ hours of racing, the individual race awards within this forum may jog the memory. And of course, there are numerous reminders on the internet which will answer to appropriately worded searches.

I hope lots of people will contribute. Thanks in advance.


2018's Best Driver:
Worst Driver:
Luckiest Driver:
Unluckiest Driver:
Best Rookie/New Driver:

Best Team of the season:
Surprise Team:
Worst Team:
(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!:

Surprise of the season:
Most expected result:
Funniest moment:
Excuse of the season:

Special Mention:

Season Rating: ?/10

 

.

 

Thanks for setting this up Cosi, and generally contributing them throughout the season.

2018's Best Driver: Hamilton - I can't remember such a flawless season from a driver
Worst Driver: Can see why Vandoorne has been dropped, but I think Bottas is a contender here too.
Luckiest Driver: Verstappen? I'm not usually one to claim FIA bias, but I don't see how he's been able to get away with things these last few races. Admitting you deliberately made contact with someone should be a race ban. Stroll for his fortunate fortune?
Unluckiest Driver: Poor Ricciardo.
Best Rookie/New Driver: Leclerc, no question.

Best Team of the season: Sauber? Operationally seem very sound this season, maximised what they could get out of the car.
Surprise Team: Also Sauber, but I'm going with Mclaren for being surprisingly terrible.
Worst Team: Williams. Woeful in all areas.
(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!: Ricciardo on Bottas at China. Honourable mention to Hamilton's triple overtake at Bahrain.

Surprise of the season: Raikkonen showing there's some life in him yet.
Most expected result: Hamilton WDC
Funniest moment: Gasly on full wets
Excuse of the season: Helmut and Horner for excusing Verstappen's every mistake.

Special Mention: Sirotkin and Ericsson have performed better than I expected, Grosjean for turning his season around.

Season Rating: 8/10

 

2018's Best Driver: Hamilton
Worst Driver: Stroll
Luckiest Driver: Stroll. For being there at all.
Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo
Best Rookie/New Driver: I wonder....hmmm....I think Leclerc might nick this.

Best Team of the season: Sauber. Their season long improvement was mighty.
Surprise Team: Sauber for the above reason. They gained 0.4 on Mercedes over the course of the season. Remarkable.
Worst Team: Williams and McLaren tie. How the mighty have fallen.
(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!: One of the Ricciardo late brakers more than likely, though special mention to Vandoorne’s three abreast, being overtaken at Abu Dhabi and still ending up ahead. Another special for Leclerc taking Ricciardo and Raikkonen for third at Abu Dhabi for its WTFness.

Surprise of the season: McLaren’s inability to find a title sponsor.
Most expected result: The Haas demolition derby drivers.
Funniest moment: Alonso’s radio transmissions pipping Kimi to his regular crown there. Second goes to Hamilton advising Max on maturity.
Excuse of the season: “he was lucky he only pushed him”

Special Mention: Has to be young Charles Leclerc. The best rookie by miles since Hamilton, and a special, special talent. Could be better than Hamilton, and I suspect will give Vettel major issues next season. I actually think he’ll beat him.

Race Rating: 6/10

 

Thanks and thanks!
1/ It's really very little effort. At the same time, I'm aware that there have been occasions when I have been unable to put the thread up as early as I would have liked – so, apologies for that.
2/

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I've now corrected the error you drew attention to. (Underlined in the quote. Thanks).

 

I agree with everything, except I would give Bottas the worse driver, he should have done more with that car and sometimes in races he seems to be doing nothing and going nowhere even with new tyres...just seems really doesnt have the motivation somehow, but I like him and hope he does better next year. And I totally agree that the officials need to look at Max's statements, especially when he admits to hitting people deliberately and deliberately running them off the track...if those arent worth race bans I dont know what will...maybe when he injures someone badly, or himself. The thing is he doesnt have to do that, he is very talented, so why try to be a bully when you can use your talent?

 

2018's Best Driver:

Best Driver: Hamilton. Even the most avid Benson hater has to admit his season has been pretty much as perfect as can be. kept out of silly scuffles on the track, had raw speed and also managed pace when required to get a result.
Worst Driver: Would be easy to say Stroll/Vandoorne but really hard to fully judge them with the equipment they had, though Vandoorne's 0/21 quali effort against Alonso is something truly special. It has to go to Bottas. The gulf in class between him and Hamilton this year was too wide. Forget team orders etc, look at the true race pace between them and Bottas was nowhere close most of the season, regularly finishing off the podium when Hamilton was winning at a canter.

Luckiest Driver: Verstappen. Got away with too many incidents and avoided bans or further penalties for his off track antics and words. Red Bull need to take him to one side and tell him to drop the attitude and concentrate on his driving.

Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo. Too many failures meant he finished behind Max in the standings when in reality he should have finished ahead and stopped the hyperbole over his teammates abilities

Best Rookie/New Driver: Charlie Leclerc. Dodgy start soon vanished and he produced some great drives and has earned his place in the Ferrari 'A' team

Best Team of the season: Tough one. Sauber showed great improvement and speed, not just over last season but to maintain it as well, so I will give it to them. Ericsson could have had more points too , not all of that loss was down to him either.

Surprise Team: McLaren. Surprised at how bad they were. Expecting a rejuvenation with Renault power, only to show where the real issue was. A public embarrassment for them.

Worst Team: Williams, but could easily have been McLaren. Williams weren't expected to do that well anyway, but their lame duck driver choice puts them ahead of McLaren as they really didn't try at all to make 2018 a success.

(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!: I'm nearly 40, my memory is not good enough to remember early in the season so will have to think about that one.

Surprise of the season: Kimi racing on with a lesser team for 2019

Most expected result: Hamilton WDC, Stroll buying his way up the grid.

Funniest moment: A lot of amusing radio commentary as ever, hard to pick out one.

Excuse of the season: Verstappen's attitude and RBR's sycophantic defence of it on and off the track.

Special Mention: Fernando of course. I have my reservations over his status as an F1 great and his attitude over the last few years, however can't ignore his career as a whole and the sport will be poorer for him not being around much.

Season Rating: 7/10. If Ferrari and Vettel had screwed up over the summer period then the battle for the WDC could have been a classic. Turned into 2013 in the end with Hamilton just waltzing the second half of the season without a challenge, like Vettel had done in his RBR days.

 

2018's Best Driver: Hamilton. By miles frankly. Everyone else had a flawed season.
Worst Driver: Sirotkin was clearly the least talented (although still faster than one lap than stroll), but picking the pay driver is boring so i made i new category...
Most Disappointing Driver: Vandoorne has to be the most disappointing driver in a decade. Meant to be the next big thing, McLaren were prepared to sack Jenson Button for him and he was totally dreadful. Honourable mention to Vettel and Bottas for wasting their cars.
Luckiest Driver: Probably Verstappen, just based on how often his teammate's car broke.
Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo for the opposite reason to Verstappen.
Best Rookie/New Driver: Leclerc is a superstar. Vettel should be worried.

Best Team of the season: Sauber
Surprise Team: McLaren. I hope that this chassis was a lot worse than last years, otherwise ditching Honda is amongst the worst decisions in F1 history. I had been totally fooled their talk and i guess they convinced themselves of it too.
Worst Team: Williams. Wondering if this is a lower ebb than 2013.
(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!: I'll wait until a montage video can jog my memory before answering that one.

Surprise of the season: I wouldn't have predicted Force India's results getting split in half. That was weird.
Most expected result: Hamilton WDC.
Funniest moment: In hindsight, probably "Now we can fight"
Excuse of the season: Ferrari claiming their car wasn't good enough for the title.

Special Mention: Alonso is a substantial loss for the sport.

Season Rating: 6.5/10. Probably not one that will get talked about much in future years. Neither great nor awful. Petered out after a strong start. However, i do think this season has set things up nicely for next year. Should be a cracker so long as nobody ****s up the new wings.

 

Funniest moment: A lot of amusing radio commentary as ever, hard to pick out one.
Let me help you with one.
Vettel: There is something between my legs...well, besides the obvious....I think that took the cake..lol

 

From the summer break, but might be helpful:

 

2018's Best Driver: Lewis , no question .

Worst Driver:Sirotkin , speaks very well , but that counts for nothing IN the car .

Luckiest Driver: Verstappen . He's like John Mcenroe , creates headlines so the FIA will do Nothing until he thumps someone out of the car , or seriously hurts someone in a collision on the track . ** HE IS A THUG **

Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo...and I feel for Hartley , better than we will know I suspect .

Best Rookie/New Driver:Leclerc

Best Team of the season: I will give it to Renault , SAUBER & esp HAAS have Ferrari !

Surprise Team:Ferrari ( I thought they would nail both championships this year )

Worst Team: Williams

(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!:** will have to think about it **

Surprise of the season: Kimi coming good .

Most expected result: top 2 teams being WAY ahead of the others ( not saying that's a good thing ) .

Funniest moment: Have to think about it .

Excuse of the season: Verstappen's attitude and RBR's sycophantic defence of it on and off the track.( Word for word agree with ASC ) .

Special Mention: Horner & Helmet's lack of respect / gratitude towards Renault ( Horners comments about Cyril making the tea 15 years ago sums him up ) . .

Season Rating: 6/10

 

Vettels season seems very reminiscent of Damon Hill's 1995 season.

Too many silly incidents etc and clearly had pressure issues against a faster driver and over-drove to make up.

 

Was that the season Hill drove into Schumacher, and Sir Frank apologised to Ferrari for his driver being an idiot ?

 

No comment.
–Except that it points to a bizarre and unpalatable truth…
To my knowledge, Damon Hill is the only driver in the history of F1 to win a World Drivers' Championship without the full support of his team. [As you know, Frank; many of us still think that was disgraceful…]

Patrick Head (and a lot more than 50% of Williams' staff) was disgusted at Sir Frank's deliberate undermining of his own driver. It was the start of Williams' decline. Good riddance to that particularly dismissive, ungrateful Knight. Apologies to Claire – who inherited his egocentric, dystopian dawn…

 

That's the one.

There were reliability issues with that Williams as well but it was not a good year for Damon generally.

Hopefully Vettel comes back as strong as Hill did in 96, then we should have a good battle again.

 

2018's Best Driver: none other than Lewis Hamilton. Wasn't amazing but didn't put a foot wrong. Drove the most consistent season of his career and got rewards.

Worst Driver: Bottas had a poor season but pound for pound the worst driver was Vandoorne. He was no match to his team mate and got pasted. Lost his interest and 'gave up'

Luckiest Driver: Bottas for getting the 2019 drive. More deserving drivers should have that seat.

Unluckiest Driver: Daniel Ricciardo. Just weird he had all the car troubles.


Best Rookie/New Driver: LeClerc. He is going to be a superstar. The next Hamilton.

Best Team of the season: Ferrari. The step up was massive but lost due incompetence of lead driver.

Surprise Team: Toro Rosso Honda. We all thought they would be where mclaren was.

Worst Team: Williams. Built a poor car. I worry about them.

(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!:

Surprise of the season: kimis victory was a nice surprise or Perez podium.

Most expected result: Mercedes to Win the WCC. They still have the fastest car after all.

Funniest moment: Alonso rant at Silverstone.

Excuse of the season: Horner for excusing Verstappen.

Special Mention: Alonso for getting 50 points in that mclaren. Just shows what talent is wasted due to politics. He will be back I'm certain.

Season Rating: 5/10
Better than last few years but still same old issues that are making the sport a turn off.

 

Thank you CC for the insight . You keep on opening my eyes . Your thoughts on the BullDog , aka Sir Patrick ?

 

Top bloke.

 

2018's Best Driver: Can't look past the WDC, drove with his head and cleaned up; I don't remember many mistakes
Worst Driver: probably Sirotkin or Vandoorne, Vandoorne had Alonso to contend with, so Sergei gets the wooden spoon
Luckiest Driver: Verstappen, should've been black flagged or banned for Monza, disgraceful driving, as usual.
Unluckiest Driver: Danny Ric, got to be so happy ditching his Renault power for, er, Renault power
Best Rookie/New Driver: Leclerc

Best Team of the season: Sauber
Surprise Team: STR
Worst Team: Williams
(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!: Probably one of Danny's numerous late brakers.

Surprise of the season: Kimi's performances, never really rated him that highly due to his consistency, but he was the best I remember him being this year
Most expected result: Lewis Hamilton, but expected Bottas to be closer, the Merc isn;t the advantage it has been (though just slightly ahead over the season)
Funniest moment:Hamilton commenting on a 'Verstappen special' "what a dick-head"
Excuse of the season: Whatever bs came out of the RBR garage whenever Verstappen jumped over the line

Special Mention:

Season Rating: 7/10 was a see-saw battle for a large part of the season, until Mercedes upped their game and Ferrari lowered theirs.

 

2018's Best Driver: Lewis Hamilton. Very 'measured' throughout the whole season and did not panic when things were not going his way. Head and shoulders above every other driver on the grid (including Alonso).
Worst Driver: Probably Vandoorne. Ericsson turned into an F1 driver in the end and now I almost feel sorry for him having to go elsewhere – but he should do well throughout the next decade and I wish him every success.
Luckiest Driver: For the same reasons already given by others: Verstappen. He is a great talent but has been incredibly lucky to misbehave and receive barely a rap on the knuckles. Worse still, his behaviour has been bolstered by the full support of his team's management. All told, this situation has become an embarrassment. Unfortunately, I cannot see any forthcoming change for the 2019 season. I'm not normally given to wishing misfortune upon others but I like to see Lady Luck balance the books – so I'm right on the edge of hoping he suffers twice as much 'bad luck' as any other driver next year!
Unluckiest Driver: Ricciardo. Without the slightest doubt.
Best Rookie/New Driver: This has to be Leclerc. Congratulations to him getting the Ferrari drive. Such early promotion of inexperience is an uncharacteristic decision from the red team and he could be a very real threat to Vettel (as well as others who may see themselves with a chance of next year's WDC!).

Best Team of the season: Mercedes. But only just. For at least one third of the season they were being out-performed by Ferrari, as well as some circuits where Red Bull had the best package. And for at least half of the remaining two-thirds, Mercedes were about equal with Ferrari. But by far the biggest factor in the differences between the two main teams was their respective leading drivers.
Surprise Team: Hmm. A tricky one. Probably Toro Rosso.
Worst Team: Williams. Absolutely nowhere.
(Most difficult?) – Overtake of the Season!: I've not come up with a definitive answer yet but I should say I tend to weight overtaking in terms of importance as much as for audacity. I'll probably edit this into something representing a critical turning point during the Championship.

Surprise of the season: Vettel making so many unforced errors. He probably made more than the out-going Ericsson. Seriously! But unlike the vastly improved Swede, SV was lead driver in a top team!
Most expected result: Hamilton's thoroughly disciplined approach throughout his campaign.
Funniest moment: Two at the same event. Verstappen's ego getting in the way of a virtually assured win in Brazil. And then his speechlessness at hearing the obvious, simple words from the only driver he respects.
Excuse of the season: Little Jack Horner supporting and justifying Verstappen's sometimes questionable driving and but worse: his disgraceful off-track behaviour, at each and every opportunity. Not unexpected from him, of course, but still sickening.

Special Mention: Alonso. He seems to have got in the way of his own destiny; yet he also created it. In another world he'd surely have more than two WDC titles to his name. He will be missed at McLaren and I wish him well for 2019.

Season Rating: 8.20/10. It was a good one.