Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Circuit of the Americas, 2018

Raikkonen’s US GP win was RaceFans’ readers’ top race of 2018

2018 F1 season review

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The United States Grand Prix, which saw Kimi Raikkonen’s first Formula 1 victory for more than five years, was voted the best race of the season by RaceFans readers.

It was one of nine races this year which readers rated at least eight out of 10 on average in our post-race polls. The Chinese Grand Prix (won by Daniel Ricciardo) and British Grand Prix (won by Sebastian Vettel) scored almost as high at 8.6 out of 10.

The most popular race took place at the Circuit of the Americas, which has the best average race rating of any circuit on the 2019 F1 calendar. Only the Nurburgring, which last held an F1 race five years ago, has a higher average score.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has also been one of the most consistently highly-rated venues. However It has fallen to fifth place after this year’s race, won in dominant fashion by Vettel, was rated the worst of the year. It scored 4.2 out of 10.

This year’s races received average scores of 6.8, making 2018 the highest-rated season of the last four years.

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Best and worst races of 2018

Average Rate the Race scores, 2008-2018

Year Average rating Highest rating Lowest rating
2008 6.651 8.756 (Brazil) 3.977 (Europe)
2009 6.316 8.309 (Brazil) 5.276 (Turkey)
2010 6.759 8.668 (Canada) 3.740 (Germany)
2011 7.23 9.241 (Chinese) 3.871 (Europe)
2012 7.367 9.449 (Brazil) 5.158 (Korea)
2013 6.691 7.826 (Bahrain) 5.017 (Abu Dhabi)
2014 7.127 9.190 (Canada) 4.064 (Russia)
2015 6.332 9.115 (Hungary) 4.566 (Brazil)
2016 6.829 8.706 (Spain) 4.728 (Europe)
2017 6.603 8.790 (Azerbaijan) 3.743 (Abu Dhabi)
2018 6.831 8.758 (USA) 4.243 (Canada)

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2018 F1 season review

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “Raikkonen’s US GP win was RaceFans’ readers’ top race of 2018”

  1. Poor Keith! Not only is Kimi popular as ever but he’s even sticking around for more.

    1. The joke that never ends.

      1. @rethla Yes Kimi haters in the media and elsewhere are a sad joke that never ends. Their perennial disappointment is an endless source of amusement

        1. @montreal95
          :)
          I like Kimi, hes a really cool guy. Hes not deserving of the seat however.

          1. A cool guy and a helluva driver. I guess all the team principals who hire him are wrong and @rethla is right… Whatever the case you’re entitled to your opinion. Everyone is. Just glad those who make the decisions don’t listen to yours. And to Keith’s and the(most of the) rest of the media :)

          2. @montreal95 They did demote him at least, I dont mind him in the midfield where the likes of Stroll gets to drive.

        2. MB (@muralibhats)
          28th December 2018, 5:25

          Calm down @montreal95 😊 @rethla has said nothing to get so worked up! We are all happy to see Kimi race in 2019.

    2. Yes Keith is very sad today. Not as sad as he will be next year when the Hulk ends up on the podium but still…

      1. I’m expecting at least one more podium from Kimi.

        1. I expect him to lead the 1.5 F1 race all thoughout 2019, without the pressure ( or maybe brakes ) from Vettel and Ferrari. Remember his 2012-2013 season – lotus days, he was making the calls , steering rack , tyres, strategy – leave me alone I know what I am doing ? :)

  2. Mwoah, it was ok

  3. I agree with both the highest-ranked, as well as, the lowest-ranked race although the Italian GP was almost as exciting throughout as the US GP.

    1. Both races were interesting because there was a real fight , a real race actually happened , strategy and tyre wear were a key ingredient ( both raikonen and hamilton lost in those races due to poor race strategy and excessive tyre wear ). Hope to see more races like that in 2019, and I believe behind the top three teams will be much closer than expected. Good luck to the all teams.

    2. Even German GP, Japanese GP, Bahrain GP and Brazilian GP were pretty good in terms of racing and overtaking. Monaco GP , Spanish and few other were Snoozefests at best.

  4. Not even one race in the 7’s. So the races was 8+ or 6+ and lower than that.

    1. Its good or its bad.

Comments are closed.