The Real 2018 Formula 1 Standings

F1 tabulates points to award its championship. But, not all cars are created equal and (spoiler) Lewis Hamilton should romp to a comfortable fourth title in five years. A more fun subject is who is winning the vital perception battle.

Drivers are ranked below in descending order from first to Grosjean. Enjoy.Daniel Ricciardo [Red Bull] Two epic drives for wins at China and Monaco.

Stock soaring in a contract year with ears purportedly perked at Mercedes and Ferrari. Yacht TDs from Tom Brady. How well are things going?

F1 felt compelled to trademark the shoey.Charles LeClerc [Sauber] Six career F1 races. Two top ten finishes.

Real folks are talking him up for the Ferrari seatnext season. The postface in a Sauber, makes every modest success sound twice as impressive.Pierre Gasly [Toro Rosso] P4 in Bahrain.

P7 in Monaco. Gasly is singlehandedly restoring Hondas reputation as an engine provider. Making a strong case to get called up to the English language outfit if Danny Ric leaves.

Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] 14-point championship lead. He has missed the podium once in six races, finishing P4. Chasing perfection can be lonely, though, and ennui is a killer.

Fernando Alonso [McLaren] Five-straight points finishes for the first time since leaving Ferrari. Q3 the past two races post-aero upgrade. Probably going to win Le Mans.

Widely respected as an all-time great. Still making a stupid amount of money at McLaren.Sebastian Vettel [Ferrari] Two opening wins.

One podium since. The championship race could be closer without the Verstappen crash or the botched overtake for the win in Baku or if his tires gave him a better shot to overtake Ricciardo in Monaco. But, it isnt.

Valteri Bottas [Mercedes] Crushing it in the hypothetical points table, but not in the real one after blowing a tire with the lead in Baku. May be doing well enough to keep his Merc seat, for one more year. Kimi Raikonnen [Ferrari] Pit lane accident in Bahrain.

Engine trouble in Spain. Egregious race strategy sacrifice in Australia. To Kimi someone is now an accepted verb.

It may all bother him, but who would be able to tell?Kevin Magnussen [Haas] Dangerous Kev has two top six finishes. His pit crew cost him a third in Oz.

Being faster and far less crash-happy than your teammate is a good way to keep your seat.Nico Hulkenberg [Renault] Steady as she goes, Nico. Still without a career podium, but he remains F1s most relentless P610 finisher.

Carlos Sainz [Renault] Five points finishes in six races. But, Hulkenberg has been faster than him in the same car. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] The future is not having a great present.

Verstappen has blown four potential podiums (two that could have been wins) in six races through driver error. Would be quite interesting if it were him and not Ricciardo in the hunt for a new contract. Sergio Perez [Force India] Got his semi-annual podium appearance out of the way early in Baku.

Just one points finish otherwise.Esteban Ocon [Force India] Car is not what it was last year. P6 at Monaco ameliorates matters a bit after more DNFs (two) than points (one) through the first five races.

Has looked more like an also ran in 2018 than the future at Mercedes.Marcus Ericsson [Sauber] Picked up a couple points in a Sauber. Quietly finished ahead of LeClerc in three of the six races.

Stoffel Vandoorne [McLaren] Alonso is destroying him head to head. Lando Norris, 27 points ahead of the field in F2, seems all but locked in for a McLaren spot next year. That leaves Stoffelairing excuses publicly.

Sergey Sirotkin [Williams] Shrug. Lance Stroll [Williams] Williams has the grids worst car. Stroll is not wrestling any extra pace from it.

Hard for a billionaires son to garner much sympathy. Brendon Hartley [Toro Rosso] Proof that great hair can only take you so far. Finally earned his full F1 chance in 2018.

But crashes, miscommunications, and mistakes could see him shipped out rather than up, before the end of the season. Roman Grosjean [Haas] The first lap nutcase reemerged in Spain. He slammed into a wall under a safety car in Baku.

Throw in the botched pitstop in Australia. Thats three more notable track accidents (three) than points earned (nil). Hes 32, in his seventh F1 season, and may have had the grids aggregate fourth best car through the first six races