F1 2018: Top 5 Driver Performances

#1 Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton made it four championships in five years in the V6 era

Nobody else could've won this one, Lewis Hamilton was simply the best in 2018.

It took Lewis four races to win his first Grand Prix of 2018, but a slow start eventually gave way to near-perfect results after the summer break.

Six-race wins in seven Grand Prix between Germany and Japan provided Hamilton with an insurmountable lead that Sebastian Vettel couldn't challenge.

Vettel did his utmost to follow in Hamilton's slipstream, but mistakes in Azerbaijan, France, Italy, Japan, and the USA showed that the German couldn't handle the pressure of a title battle with Lewis.

Even with what was the best car for most of the season, Seb couldn't convert it to a fifth world title.

It's not like Vettel had a particularly poor season, he made unforced errors but also produced some fantastic displays and reminded us of the driver that won four titles in a row between 2010 and 13.

The gap by the end of the season was largely down to Hamilton's Absolutely faultless campaigns, one of the best season-long performances in the history of motorsport.

To pick out a few standout results, there's the Hungaroring pole position in treacherous conditions, coming out on top in the race-long battle with Raikkonen at Monza, the perfect pole lap in Singapore and of course, winning at the Hockenheimring after starting 14th and after Vettel fell off the road in humiliating fashion.

11 wins, 11 poles, and 17 podiums from 21 races, along with a record high points tally, even the best champions from down the years would struggle to deal with that form.

If Mercedes produce another top car in 2019, you'd be a fool betting against this legend becoming a six-time world champion.

Honourable mentions should also go to Nico Hulkenberg, the man who finished best of the rest, Sergio Perez, the only driver to score a podium who doesn't drive for a top three team and also Kimi Raikkonen, who arguably also drove one of his best seasons in his final campaign for Ferrari.

Who do you think has been the best performer in 2018? Was it our world champion or someone else? Comment below and let us know!