F1 Features

Formula 1 is back. The F1 circus has landed in Melbourne’s Albert Park, and it is the happiest weekend of the entire season. For now, with testing but a distant memory and qualifying yet to come, every driver is a potential race winner, and every car a potential championship victor.

In a new feature for Crash.net, Formula 1 editor Luke Smith brings you his ‘Paddock Notebook’ at the end of the opening day of media commitments at Albert Park ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

2018 will set the tone for how the final few years of Fernando Alonso's F1 career will play out with McLaren.

Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari F1 future has become a yearly talking point as the driver market shapes up.

Entering his fifth full season in F1, Marcus Ericsson will want to end his points drought dating back to 2015.

Nico Hulkenberg has long been tipped as one of F1's up-and-comers, but needs to deliver on-track this year with Renault.

Valtteri Bottas may have impressed through his first season with Mercedes in 2018, but with a volatile driver market on the cards, he needs to fight for his place with the team.

The start of the new season brings plenty of pressure to the F1 field, but which drivers are facing make or break campaigns in 2018?

Sauber has recovered from a couple of difficult years to now sign a new partnership with Alfa Romeo, paving the way for a better future.

After its much-anticipated split with Honda, McLaren enters 2018 with nowhere to hide and only itself to blame should things go awry.

With stability in the regulations for 2018, Haas has been able to better-prepare itself for an assault on the upper midfield.

Now a Honda works-backed team, Toro Rosso will be looking to succeed where the partnership with McLaren failed.

In year three since its return to F1 with a factory operation, Renault is looking to move out of the midfield and up to the sharp end of the grid.

Williams heads into 2018 with one of the least experienced line-ups in F1 history - but can Stroll and Sirotkin start a turnaround in its fortunes?

Force India has been F1's pound-for-pound champion for a number of years now, but faces a challenge to lead the midfield once again this year.

A late-season surge in 2017 has given Red Bull hope of fighting for the F1 championship once again this year.

2018 marks a decade since Ferrari's last F1 title. Can it bounce back from a near miss last season and finally end its drought?

Mercedes heads into 2018 chasing a fifth straight set of F1 titles, but expects a greater challenge from Ferrari and Red Bull behind.

A preview of all 10 F1 teams heading into the start of the 2018 season at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

Following his shock exploits into American racing in 2017 - contesting the Indianapolis 500 instead of the Monaco Grand Prix - Alonso’s goal has been crystal clear.

Championship winner, drivers’? Luke Smith: Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel may have run Hamilton close last year, and Red Bull may have shaped up as a greater threat towards the end of the season, but I can’t look past a fifth world title for the Briton.

Upon arriving in a new city for a grand prix weekend, I’ve always found it interesting to note what the first sign is that Formula 1 is in town.

Formula 1 is back with the 2018 campaign nearly upon us for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.  Testing is over. Predictions have been made. But now it’s time for the racing to begin with Melbourne again acting as F1’s curtain raiser. 

View the best images from 2018 F1 pre-season testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.