We are 12 races down in the 2018 Formula 1 season, a little more than half from the 21 to be completed. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton leads the respective championships from Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel.
It has been an up and down Formula 1 season so far as we sit in the summer break. While both Vettel and Ferrari had their chances, they are sitting behind Hamilton and Mercedes after Hungarian GP. The Top 3 are clearly ahead from the rest of the field though.
Here’s a look at the key statistics from the 2018 Formula 1 season so far:
- Hamilton has 24 points advantage over Vettel after 12 races. The German had a 14 points lead over Hamilton at the summer break last season with 11 races. Only Hamilton and Vettel have led the standings this year, six times apiece.
- Mercedes has 10 points advantage over Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. Last year, it was a mammoth 39 points lead for Mercedes at the same time but in 11 races.
- Hamilton has the most wins with 5 followed by Vettel on 4 as Daniel Ricciardo has two with Max Verstappen having one. Last year it was four apiece for Hamilton and Vettel.
- Hamilton has the most podiums with nine (including five wins) as Kimi Raikkonen is next with eight (no wins) followed by Vettel with seven (four wins), Bottas with five, Verstappen with four (two wins), Ricciardo with two (all wins) and Sergio Perez with one.
- Ferrari has 15 podiums to Mercedes’ 14, while Red Bull has six and Force India one.
- Hamilton has completed the most race distance in 12 races with 3588.333 km and also the most laps with 738 – of which he led 232. Vettel has led 297 laps.
- Pierre Gasly has completed the least race distance with 2758.451km but he has not done the fewest race laps with 580 to his name. The fewest is 578 by Nico Hulkenberg.
- Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean have the most retirements with four each. Verstappen has four non-finishes as well but he was classified 15th in Britain.
- Six drivers have just a single retirement: Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Perez and Carlos Sainz. Bottas did not finish two races but was classified in Baku.
- Total of 44 retirements so far as car 44 leads the championship.
- The gap between sixth placed Verstappen and seventh placed Hulkenberg is 53 points in the drivers’ championship. It was 11 points last year with 11 races.
- The gap between third placed Red Bull and fourth placed Renault is 141 points in the constructors’ championship. It was just 83 last year between Red Bull and Force India.
- Only Sergey Sirotkin is yet to score a point this year so far. Last season, Jolyon Palmer and Marcus Ericsson were the ones yet to score at halfway mark.
- Hamilton and Vettel are tied on with five poles each, followed by Ricciardo and Bottas with one each.
- Vettel, Raikkonen and Bottas are the only drivers that have made it into every Q3 session so far with Stoffel Vandoorne, Ericsson, Lance Stroll and Sirotkin only ones that are yet to reach Q3.
- Sainz has reached Q3 11 times – the maximum among the best of the rest, more than both of the Red Bull drivers with 10 each for Verstappen and Ricciardo. Williams are the only team that is yet to reach Q3.
- Fernando Alonso has out-qualified Vandoorne at every race this season – only starting behind him once due to a penalty.
The stats were compiled by Darshan Chokhani and Jack Ekeller