The real rivalry F1 2018 promises

Forget the so-called rivalry between Mercedes and Ferrari - the 2018 Formula 1 season promises to pit two of the biggest underachievers of recent times against each other to prove they're not spent forces.

Jonathan Noble Feb 12, 2018, 11:45 AM

Upd: Feb 17, 2018, 2:33 PM

Formula 1 2018

The 2018 Formula 1 World Championship is the 69th season of the world’s leading open-wheel single-seater series. Sanctioned by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, its 10 teams and 20 drivers will compete in 21 Grands Prix around the world, beginning in Australia on March 25 and ending in Abu Dhabi on November 25. <p>The French Grand Prix, at Circuit Paul Ricard, returns to the calendar for the first time since 2008. The German Grand Prix, at Hockenheim, reappears after a one-year absence. The Malaysian Grand Prix, run since 1999 at Sepang, has dropped off the 2018 calendar.</p> <p>The main technical change for the new season is the adoption of the Halo cockpit protection system to all cars.</p>

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has often described his team's relationship with Formula 1 title rival Ferrari as that of 'frenemies': battling as hard as possible on track while enjoying cordial relations off it.

That's probably a fair assessment, for in spite of a few tetchy moments - such as last year's oil-burn controversy, or Sebastian Vettel driving into Lewis Hamilton in Baku - it has been rare for the Silver Arrows and the Prancing Horse to allow competitive circumstances to sour their rapport.

Share Or Save This Story

Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.