2018 Formula 2 Championship, Changes for 2018, Sporting regulations
Teams were required to use the "halo" cockpit protection device, a wishbone-shaped frame mounted above and around the driver's head and anchored to the monocoque forward of the cockpit. The halo was designed to improve safety standards by deflecting debris away from a driver's head and was originally developed for use in Formula One before its application was expanded to other open-wheel championships and it was incorporated into the final design of the Dallara F2 2018 chassis.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Changes for 2018, Sporting regulations
Following widespread criticism of the Dallara F2 2018 for its difficult start procedure and reliability issues, the championship temporarily introduced rolling starts until a solution to the car's problems could be found.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Changes for 2018, Other changes
The championship discontinued the use of promotional models or "grid girls". The decision was made by Formula One management in the face of changing social attitudes and the decision by other sports to phase out the use of models, and the decision applied to all categories appearing on the Grand Prix support bill, including Formula 2.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries
The following teams and drivers were under contract to compete in the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship. As the championship was a spec series, all competitors raced with identical Dallara F2 2018 chassis with a V6 turbo engine developed by Mecachrome. Teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Team changes
Twenty entries spread across ten teams were entered into the championship. Carlin returned to Formula 2 in 2018 after a one-year absence, while former World Series Formula V8 3.5 team Charouz Racing System joined the championship. Charouz left the Formula 3.5 V8 championship when the championship was discontinued and the team subsequently submitted an entry to join the Formula 2 grid which marked the return of a Czech single-seater junior team to the second tier of Formula One's feeder championships since the 2003 International Formula 3000 season.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Team changes
Racing Engineering were included on the initial entry list but later withdrew from the championship to focus on their European Le Mans Series entry. Fortec Motorsports were due to make their Formula 2 début, replacing the departing Rapax team, but later withdrew their entry due to a lack of sponsorship. Fortec were later granted permission to defer their entry by a year and were scheduled to make their début in 2019, but aborted the plans.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Defending teams' champions Russian Time signed FIA Formula 3 European Championship driver Tadasuke Makino to partner Artem Markelov. With reigning drivers' champion Charles Leclerc leaving the series to join Formula 1 team Sauber. Prema Racing enlisted Sean Gelael, who left Arden International to join the team. Gelael was partnered by Nyck de Vries, who drove for Rapax and Racing Engineering throughout the 2017 championship. Gustav Malja, who raced for Racing Engineering in 2017, moved to the Porsche Supercup.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Alexander Albon left ART Grand Prix to join DAMS where he replaced Oliver Rowland; Rowland left the series and moved to the FIA World Endurance Championship. Albon was paired with Nicholas Latifi, who remained with the team for a third year. ART Grand Prix promoted reigning GP3 Series champion George Russell to the category, partnering him with Jack Aitken, who also drove for the team in GP3. Nobuharu Matsushita, who drove for the team in 2017, left the series and returned to Japan to race in the Super Formula Championship.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Ralph Boschung left Campos Racing to join MP Motorsport. He was accompanied by Roberto Merhi, who previously competed in selected rounds of the championship with Campos and Rapax in 2017. Jordan King, who raced for MP, moved to the United States to compete in the IndyCar Series. With Gelael's switch to Prema and Norman Nato's departure to the European Le Mans Series, Arden International promoted two rookie drivers. Former GP3 Series driver Nirei Fukuzumi filled one seat, while Maximilian Günther—who finished second in the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship and third in 2017—took the other.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Luca Ghiotto left Russian Time after a single season to join Campos Racing. He was partnered by series debutant Roy Nissany, who left the World Series Formula V8 3.5 to join the championship. Álex Palou left the team to compete in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Trident recruited two of Formula One team Haas' development drivers. Santino Ferrucci, who had contested five rounds of the 2017 championship with the team, was signed for the season. He is partnered by Arjun Maini, who was promoted from the GP3 Series. Nabil Jeffri, who raced for Trident in 2017, left the team to join the FIA World Endurance Championship.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Sérgio Sette Câmara left MP Motorsport to join newcomers Carlin. He was partnered by Lando Norris, who won the 2017 FIA Formula 3 European Championship title with Carlin before making a guest appearance in the Formula 2 Championship with Campos Racing. Louis Delétraz and Antonio Fuoco joined Charouz Racing System. Delétraz left Rapax after the team withdrew from the championship, while Fuoco moved from Prema Racing as part of an agreement with Ferrari's driver development programme.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Driver changes, Mid-season changes
Santino Ferrucci was banned for two rounds as punishment for multiple violations of the sporting and technical regulations—including deliberately crashing into Arjun Maini—during the Silverstone round. He was later dismissed by Trident, with the team citing sponsorship issues rather than his suspension as the reason for Ferrucci's firing. Ferrucci was replaced by Trident's GP3 Series driver Alessio Lorandi for the Hungaroring round.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Entries, Driver changes, Mid-season changes
Roberto Merhi left MP Motorsport before the Spa-Francorchamps round. He was replaced by Dorian Boccolacci, who raced for the team in the GP3 Series. For the remainder of the season he joined Campos Vexatec Racing, replacing Roy Nissany. MP Motorsport promoted Niko Kari from their GP3 Series team, where he replaced Ralph Boschung for the remainder of the season. Dan Ticktum replaced Maximilian Günther at BWT Arden for the season finale at Abu Dhabi.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Calendar
The following twelve rounds took place as part of the 2018 championship. Each round consisted of two races: a Feature race, which was run over 170 km (105.6 mi) and included a mandatory pit stop; and a Sprint race, which was run over 120 km (75 mi) and did not require drivers to make a pit stop.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Calendar, Calendar changes
The calendar was expanded to twelve rounds in 2018. The championship started at the Circuit Paul Ricard, where it was featured as part of the French Grand Prix support programme. The championship visited the Sochi Autodrom for the first time, where it ran in support of the Russian Grand Prix. The stand-alone event that was held at the Circuito de Jerez in 2017 was discontinued.


2018 Formula 2 Championship, Championship standings, Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 8 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race also received four points, and two points were given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race as the grid for the sprint race is based on the results of the feature race with the top eight drivers having their positions reversed.


2018 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship
The 2018 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship season was the third season of the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship. It began on 7 July at the Sepang International Circuit and finished on 1 December at the same venue.


2018 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, Drivers
The provisional driver entry list was released on 27 April 2018.


2018 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, Calendar
The calendar for the 2018 season expanded upon the previous season. The Clark International Speedway round in the Philippines was discontinued and replaced with the Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai, India.


2018 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, Championship standings
The series follows the standard F1 points scoring system with the addition of 1 point for fastest lap and 3 points for pole. The best 18 results out of 24 races counted towards the championship.


2018 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, Championship standings
The fastest qualifying laps determine the grid positions for race 1. The finishing positions of the entire field in race 1 are reversed to determine the grid positions for race 2. The finishing positions of the entire field in race 2 are reversed to determine the grid positions for race 3.


2018 Formula 4 United States Championship
The 2018 Formula 4 United States Championship season was the third season of the United States Formula 4 Championship, a motor racing series regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations and sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing, the professional racing division of the Sports Car Club of America.


2018 Formula 4 United States Championship, Race calendar
The calendar was unveiled on 9 December 2017. All races were held in the United States.


2018 Formula 4 United States Championship, Championship standings, Drivers' standings
Bold – PoleItalics – Fastest Lap† — Did not finish, but classified


2018 Formula Academy Sudamericana season
The 2018 Fórmula Academy Sudamericana Championship season is the third season of this series, and the first under the Fórmula Academy Sudamericana name. It began on the 22 July at the Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna, Londrina in Brazil and finished on 9 December at the Autódromo Victor Borrat Fabini "El Pinar" in Uruguay after 6 rounds.


2018 Formula Academy Sudamericana season, Race calendar and results
The grid for race 2 is determined by the finishing order of race 1, but with the top 6 reversed.


2018 Formula Academy Sudamericana season, Championship standings, Fórmula Academy Sudamericana Championship
Juan Vieira was crowned the 2018 champion at the final round.


2018 Formula One World Championship
The 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars and the 69th running of the Formula One World Championship. Formula One is recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Drivers and teams competed in twenty-one Grands Prix for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championship titles.


2018 Formula One World Championship
Lewis Hamilton won the World Drivers' Championship title, while his team, Mercedes, secured the World Constructors' Championship title. Hamilton clinched his fifth title at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix, with the team securing its fifth consecutive title at the following race. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel finished runner-up, 88 points behind Hamilton, with his teammate Kimi Räikkönen finishing third. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes finished 84 points ahead of Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer in third, 152 points behind Ferrari.


2018 Formula One World Championship
In 2018, the championship saw the introduction of a new cockpit protection device, known as the "halo". The introduction of the halo was the first stage of a planned rollout that would see the device adopted in all FIA-sanctioned open wheel series by 2020.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries
The following teams and drivers participated in the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Free practice drivers
Across the season six drivers served as third or free practice drivers for teams. Nicholas Latifi served as a free practice driver for Sahara Force India and Racing Point Force India. Lando Norris, Artem Markelov, Antonio Giovinazzi, Sean Gelael and Robert Kubica drove in free practice sessions for McLaren, Renault, Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Williams respectively.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Team changes
McLaren terminated their engine partnership with Honda and instead signed a three-year deal for power units supplied by Renault. The team cited Honda's repeated failure to supply a reliable and competitive power unit as the reason for ending the partnership.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Team changes
Toro Rosso parted ways with Renault – allowing McLaren to finalise their agreement with Renault – and came to an agreement to use Honda power units. As part of the deal, Red Bull Racing loaned Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr. to Renault's works team.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Team changes
Sauber renewed their partnership with Ferrari, upgrading to current-specification power units after using year-old power units in 2017 and also signed a sponsorship deal that saw Alfa Romeo become their title sponsor.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Team changes, Mid-season changes
Force India were placed into administration on 27 July 2018, during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. After speculation of a purchase, any sale of the team in a short time-span was complicated by legal proceedings against certain shareholders and the need for debt settlement. A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll purchased the racing assets and operations of Force India through a company named Racing Point UK Ltd. The original team, known as "Sahara Force India", was then excluded from the Constructors' Championship on the grounds of their inability to participate in remaining races.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Team changes, Mid-season changes
This allowed a new team known as "Racing Point Force India" to apply for a late entry and start their participation in the championship from the Belgian Grand Prix. The team was required to keep "Force India" as part of their constructor name as their chassis had been homologated under the Force India name and Formula One sporting regulations required the constructor name to include the chassis name. The new team began with zero points in the Constructors' Championship, though their drivers retained the points they had scored in the Drivers' Championship. The other teams later agreed to allow the Racing Point Force India team to retain prize money accrued by Sahara Force India in the preceding years.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Toro Rosso signed 2016 GP2 Series champion Pierre Gasly and two-time World Endurance champion Brendon Hartley as their full-time drivers for 2018. Both Gasly and Hartley made their Formula One débuts with the team in the latter stages of the 2017 championship. Daniil Kvyat left the team and the Red Bull driver programme, securing a development role with Ferrari.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Charles Leclerc, the reigning Formula 2 champion, made his competitive début with Sauber. Leclerc, who had previously driven in Friday practice sessions in 2016 and 2017, was hired by the team to replace Pascal Wehrlein. Wehrlein was ultimately unable to secure a race seat and was instead enlisted as one of Mercedes's test and reserve drivers while racing full-time in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Entries, Driver changes
Williams driver Felipe Massa retired from Formula One at the end of the 2017 championship. Massa was replaced by former Renault test driver and SMP Racing driver Sergey Sirotkin, who made his competitive début with the team.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Calendar
The following twenty-one Grands Prix were run as part of the 2018 World Championship:


2018 Formula One World Championship, Calendar, Calendar changes
The French Grand Prix returned to the calendar for the first time since 2008. The race has returned to the Circuit Paul Ricard, which last hosted the French Grand Prix in 1990 before the event moved to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. The race was scheduled to be run in June, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix brought forward to April to accommodate the change and to avoid clashing with celebrations for the centenary of the Azerbaijan republic. The German Grand Prix also returned to the championship after a one-year absence, with the Hockenheimring hosting the race.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Calendar, Calendar changes
The Malaysian Grand Prix, which was part of the championship from 1999 to 2017, was discontinued. The Russian Grand Prix was moved from April to September, filling the vacancy left by the Malaysian Grand Prix.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Sporting regulations
Following widespread criticism of the grid penalty system in 2017 that regularly saw multiple drivers start races outside their qualifying positions, the FIA introduced a revised set of regulations for 2018. In the event that a driver changes a power unit component, they are still subject to a five- or ten-place grid penalty depending on the component being changed; however, should they then replace a second component, they will be moved to the back of the starting grid. If multiple drivers are moved to the back of the grid, their starting positions are determined by the order that components were changed based on the most recent change made by each driver.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Sporting regulations
The rules governing starting procedures were changed for 2018, granting race stewards the power to issue penalties for improper race starts even if a driver's start does not trigger the automated detection system. The changes were introduced following two incidents during 2017: at the Chinese Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel positioned his car too far across his grid slot to be registered by the detection system; while at the Austrian Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas's start was called into question for his reaction time despite the detection system recognising it as legal.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Sporting regulations
In the event that a race is suspended due to a red flag, it would be restarted with a standing start. Drivers would return to the starting grid in the positions they held at the time of the suspension and the race director would repeat the race start procedure. If circuit conditions are suitable for racing but the race director deems a standing start inappropriate, the race would resume with a rolling start where the safety car returns to pit lane and drivers proceed around the circuit in single file until they are shown the green flag.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Sporting regulations
The FIA introduced tighter restrictions on racing licences issued to drivers taking part in free practice sessions. Candidate drivers are required to complete a minimum number of Formula 2 races or earn twenty-five superlicense points over a three-year period. The changes were introduced to address concerns about drivers who would not be able to meet the standards required to compete in Formula One having access to Formula One cars.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Sporting regulations
The schedule of a Grand Prix weekend was changed, with the start time of most European races pushed back by one hour in an attempt to accommodate a larger television audience. All races were scheduled to start at ten minutes past the hour so as to allow broadcasters the opportunity for pre-race coverage, especially in cases when their broadcast of the race starts on the hour.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Sporting regulations
Finally, the mid-season test, which was held in Bahrain in 2017, was moved to Barcelona.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Technical regulations
Power unit suppliers are required to provide all teams using their engines with an identical specification of power units. The change was introduced to ensure parity after Mercedes's works team was observed to have access to additional engine performance settings that were not available to their customer teams.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Technical regulations
The quantity of power unit components a driver may use during the season was reduced from four complete power units during the entire season in 2017 to a new system where each of the power unit components is considered separately. Therefore, in 2018, each driver is permitted to use up to three each of internal combustion engines (ICE), heat motor generator units (MGU-H), and turbochargers (TC); and two each of the kinetic motor generator units (MGU-K), energy stores (ES), and control electronics (CE).


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Technical regulations
Restrictions against the practice of oil burning, where engine oils are burned as fuel to boost performance, were also introduced. The practice, which was first used in 2017 saw teams burning as much as 1.2 litres per one hundred kilometres. For the 2018 championship, this figure was revised down to a maximum of 0.6 litres per one hundred kilometres. The rules were further amended to restrict teams to using a single specification of oil, which must be declared before the race. These oils are subject to stricter definitions of what is considered "oil" in order to prevent teams from using exotic blends designed to boost performance. Teams are also required to inform the stewards of the mass of oil in each oil tank before the race.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Technical regulations
Further changes to the technical regulations require the temperature of air in the plenum chamber – adjacent to the turbocharger – to be more than 10 °C above the ambient air temperature. This rule was introduced in a bid to limit the performance gains possible via charge air cooling. Active control valves, which electronically regulate the flow of fluids between power unit components, were also banned.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Technical regulations
The FIA banned the use of "shark fins", a carbon fibre extension to the engine cowling aimed at directing airflow over the rear wing. The use of "T-wings", a horizontal secondary wing mounted forward of and above the rear wing, was also banned.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
Following a series of serious incidents in open-wheel racing – including the fatal accidents of Henry Surtees and Justin Wilson – in which drivers were struck in the head by tyres or debris, the FIA announced plans to introduce additional mandatory cockpit protection with 2018 given as the first year for its introduction. Several solutions were tested, with the final design subject to feedback from teams and drivers.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
Each design was created to deflect debris away from a driver's head without compromising their visibility or the ability of safety marshals to access the cockpit and extract a driver and their seat in the event of a serious accident or medical emergency, with a series of serious accidents – such as the fatal accidents of Jules Bianchi and Dan Wheldon – recreated to simulate the ability of devices to withstand a serious impact. The FIA ultimately settled on the "halo", a wishbone-shaped frame mounted above and around the driver's head and anchored to the monocoque forward of the cockpit.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
Seventeen accidents were examined as case studies, with the FIA concluding that the halo would have prevented injuries in fifteen of them. In the other two instances – most notably Jules Bianchi's fatal accident – the FIA concluded that although the halo would not have prevented driver injuries, it would not have contributed to or complicated the outcome of the accidents. Once introduced, the halo concept is scheduled to be applied to other FIA-sanctioned open-wheel racing categories including Formula 2, Formula 3 and Formula E, with 2020 earmarked as the deadline for all FIA-sanctioned open-wheel racing series to adopt the halo.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
Following criticisms over the aesthetic value of the device, the FIA revealed plans to allow teams some design freedom in the final version of the halo, with the teams permitted to attach a thin single-plane wing atop the halo to control airflow over the top of the car and into the airbox to assist with engine cooling. Where the test models of the halo had been attached to an existing monocoque structure, teams were required to incorporate the final build of the halo into the chassis design from its inception rather than attached once the design was completed.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
The minimum weight of the chassis was raised to 734 kg (1,618.2 lb), in order to accommodate the additional weight of the halo. The mandatory crash tests that each chassis must pass were adjusted to include a new static load test. In order to simulate a serious accident, a tyre was mounted to a hydraulic ram and fired at the crash structure; to pass the test, the chassis and the mounting points for the halo had to remain intact.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
In order to prevent teams from exploiting the halo for aerodynamic gain and potentially compromising its purpose, the FIA banned teams from developing their own devices and instead required them to purchase pre-fabricated models from approved suppliers. The technical regulations were updated mid-season to allow teams to mount rear view mirrors to the halo instead of affixing them to the bodywork.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
The changes were introduced in response to criticism that the halo obstructed the driver's view of the mirrors; however, halo-mounted designs were also criticised for allowing teams to exploit a loophole and introduce aerodynamic device, in the form of winglets above the mirrors, into an area where aerodynamic development was prohibited under the pretense of improving driver visibility, and the regulations were rewritten once more to ban the practice of mounting anything besides mirrors on the halo.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Driver safety
The FIA made several changes to its trackside procedures to further accommodate the halo. The time limit on the extraction test – the test of a driver extracting himself from the survival cell of a crashed car – was extended to allow drivers more time to escape. The starting gantries at circuits were also lowered to improve the visibility of the starting lights.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Tyres
Tyre supplier Pirelli provided teams with two new tyre compounds in 2018. Each of the 2017 compounds was made softer, with a new "hypersoft" tyre becoming the softest of the nine and a new "superhard" tyre to be the hardest. The hypersoft compound was marked by a pink sidewall, while the superhard was orange. The hard compound, which previously used orange markings, was changed to ice blue. The hypersoft compound made its début at the Monaco Grand Prix. The rules dictating which tyres are available were relaxed to allow Pirelli to supply a wider range of compounds.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Tyres
Previously, Pirelli had to provide sequential compounds; for example, ultrasoft, supersoft and soft. In 2018, Pirelli was able to supply compounds with up to two steps of difference between them; for example, the ultrasoft, supersoft and hard tyres. Pirelli was required to manufacture an additional tyre compound that was not intended for competition. This tyre was to be supplied to teams for use in demonstration events to prevent teams from using demonstration events as informal – and illegal – testing.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Changes, Tyres
For the Spanish, French and British Grands Prix, Pirelli reduced the tread depth by 0.4mm across all compounds. This was to combat blistering due to new asphalt at these circuits for the 2018 season, which resulted in higher grip and reduced tyre wear. This was in response to the high level of blistering experienced by Mercedes at the re-surfaced Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in pre-season testing.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Opening rounds
The championship started in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix. The race concluded with a victory for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel, who used a timely virtual safety car period – triggered by the stricken Haas of Romain Grosjean – to pass Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton, after which Vettel successfully defended his position until the finish. Kimi Räikkönen finished third in the other Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo. McLaren ended the first race of their partnership with Renault with a fifth and ninth place for Alonso and Vandoorne respectively.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Opening rounds
Max Verstappen finished sixth after an early spin ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. Valtteri Bottas was eighth, having started fifteenth when he took a penalty for a gearbox change after a heavy crash in qualifying. Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the points-scoring positions in tenth. Charles Leclerc and Sergey Sirotkin both made their competitive débuts for Sauber and Williams respectively. Leclerc finished thirteenth while Sirotkin retired with a brake failure.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Opening rounds
Vettel then won from pole at the next round in Bahrain, holding off a late charge from Bottas to win by seven-tenths of a second. Hamilton finished third despite a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change and contact with Verstappen on the second lap.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Opening rounds
However, in China, Vettel's winning run was broken, with Ricciardo's 2 stop strategy helping the Australian to his sixth career victory, ahead of Bottas and Räikkönen. Ricciardo pitted for a new set of softs with 20 laps to go under safety car while the leaders stayed out on their used set of mediums, he then fought his way past both Ferraris and Mercedes to the lead.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Opening rounds
Hamilton took his first win of the year in Azerbaijan and with it, the lead in the Drivers' Championship. Räikkönen finished 2nd while Sergio Pérez claimed 3rd. With 10 laps to go, Bottas was leading (but still needing to make a pitstop) followed by Vettel and Hamilton. When the Red Bulls crashed they brought out the safety car. Bottas pitted under safety car and came out still leading but a puncture on the penultimate lap caused him to retire. Vettel, who was second behind him at the restart, locked up on cold tyres at turn 1 and went wide, dropping behind the remaining top three.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
In Spain, Hamilton had taken pole position. However, the first lap saw the safety car deployed when Haas's Romain Grosjean spun off at turn 3. He had spun back onto the track, but his spinning rear tyres caused a plume of smoke to bellow, which Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso and Nico Hülkenberg of Renault got caught in and led to a 3-car retirement. In the end, Hamilton won comfortably in Spain, extending his lead to seventeen points. Bottas finished second while Verstappen finished third, his first podium of the season.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
Ricciardo took pole in Monaco and won the event despite developing an engine problem mid-race that left him severely down on power. Vettel finished second and Hamilton finished 3rd. Vettel closed his points deficit to Hamilton, while Ricciardo gained two spots in the Drivers' Championship to be third overall.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
In Canada, Vettel won from pole taking the world championship lead by one point from Hamilton. Bottas finished 2nd for the fourth time this season as Verstappen finished third, his qualifying position. The race result was counted back to the standings at the end of lap 68 (of 70) after the chequered flag was waved a lap early in error – although this did not impact the top 10 standings. The fastest lap of the race however, was affected. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo had set two fastest laps on laps 69 and 70, but because the chequered flag mistakenly waved early and the results were taken from lap 68, the fastest lap went to Max Verstappen, who had set it back on lap 65.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
Hamilton took pole position and victory (his third of the season) in the returning French Grand Prix, taking the world championship lead back with 14 points, with Vettel finishing only 5th after a first corner crash with Bottas. Verstappen finished second, taking advantage of the Vettel–Bottas crash. Räikkönen finished third, passing Ricciardo in the closing laps of the race.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
In Austria, Bottas started the race on pole, followed by Hamilton and Räikkönen. However, in the race, both Mercedes suffered from technical problems and neither one was able to finish the race. Ricciardo also retired from the race. Verstappen won, followed by Räikkönen in 2nd and Vettel in 3rd. Haas took full advantage of the Mercedes and Ricciardo retirements and finished 4th (Grosjean) and 5th (Magnussen). Vettel re-took the lead of the championship by 1 point, following Hamilton's retirement.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
At his home race in Great Britain, Hamilton took pole on his final flying lap, with the two Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen both within a tenth of his time. However, he dropped down to 18th on the first lap after contact with Räikkönen sent him into a spin. Two safety car periods late in the race bunched the field up, one for a single car crash involving Ericsson and the other after contact between Grosjean and Sainz. Vettel passed Bottas for the lead with 5 laps to go to take his fourth win of the season and extend his championship lead. Hamilton recovered from his first lap crash to take second ahead of Räikkönen.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
In Germany, Vettel took his fifth pole of the season on home turf. He led the race until lap 52 when he made a mistake at turn 13 and crashed into the wall following a small rain shower, forcing him to retire. The incident triggered a safety car, which saw the leading cars of Bottas and Räikkönen pit for new tyres. Meanwhile, Hamilton took the lead of the race after starting 14th having made one less pit stop. After the safety car restart, Hamilton led Bottas home in a 1–2 for Mercedes on home soil with Räikkönen completing the podium for Ferrari.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
In Hungary, Hamilton started from pole after a soaking Q3 and won the race, with Vettel and Räikkönen completing the podium.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
The season resumed in Belgium, after the mid-season break. Hamilton started from pole but lost the lead to title rival Vettel on the first lap after a straight-line high-speed pass. Vettel eventually won the race with Hamilton second and Verstappen completing the podium with third. Also notable was a first-corner crash that saw a lock-up by Hülkenberg send Alonso over the top of Leclerc, while Räikkönen and Ricciardo had their own incident that eventually ended both drivers' races.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
The race was almost down to 18 cars due to the original Sahara Force India team having gone into administration earlier on, but a new Racing Point Force India team (whose owners includes Williams driver Lance Stroll's father Lawrence) was accepted to the grid in time for the race. Because technically it was a new entry into the championship of a new team, Force India had to start from scratch in the Constructors' Championship, but drivers Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon were allowed to keep the points they had earned in the Drivers' Championship. Racing Point Force India qualified 3rd and 4th on the grid during qualifying, and finished 5th and 6th in the race.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, European and Canadian rounds
In Italy, on Ferrari's home turf, Räikkönen took the fastest ever pole position in F1 history until the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, ahead of teammate Vettel. There was a first lap incident between Hamilton and Vettel which left the latter struggling as he could only manage 4th. During a nail-biting race, Hamilton overtook Räikkönen on lap 45, thus winning his sixth race of the season, with Räikkönen finishing second and Bottas finishing third after a collision with Verstappen. Sergey Sirotkin scored his first and only point in the season by finishing 10th after the disqualification of Romain Grosjean – thus ensuring that every driver who entered the championship managed to score points, which happened for the first time in the series' history.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
In Singapore, a track where Mercedes traditionally struggled, Hamilton took pole position with the fastest lap which he described as "magical" and as one of the best laps he's ever done. Hamilton would go on to win the race with title rival Vettel finishing third behind Verstappen. The race also saw both Kevin Magnussen and Haas get their first fastest lap.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
In Russia, Bottas started from pole and was the virtual race leader for the first half of the race but obeyed team orders and allowed Hamilton to overtake him on lap 26. This allowed Hamilton to win the race followed by Bottas and Vettel.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
In Japan, Hamilton took the pole which he then converted into victory after leading every lap, he was followed by Bottas in second and Max Verstappen in third. This was Hamilton's 80th pole position and Bottas's 30th podium finish.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
At the United States Grand Prix Hamilton could win the world championship if he outscored Vettel by 8 points or more. It was Hamilton who took pole with Räikkönen starting second. Vettel actually qualified second but had to start fifth after being penalised for not slowing enough during a red flag period in first practice. The race was won by Räikkönen, his first win in 114 grand prix which was a new record. Verstappen finished second and Hamilton third, as Vettel finished fourth. Hamilton only outscored Vettel by three points meaning he had failed to wrap up the title on his first attempt.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
In Mexico, Vettel needed to win the Grand Prix and Hamilton 8th or lower for the Championship to remain in contention. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo secured his latest pole position, but would eventually retire from the Grand Prix with an engine failure, his eighth failure to finish during the season. His teammate, Max Verstappen won by 17.3 seconds while Vettel came in second place. Hamilton finished in 4th place, which was enough to secure his fifth Drivers' Championship.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
In Brazil, the penultimate race of the season, Ferrari needed to outscore Mercedes by at least 13 points to remain in contention for the Constructors' Championship. Hamilton started from pole but lost the lead to Max Verstappen on lap 40 as Mercedes had to turn his engine down to prevent failure. Verstappen then looked set to win the race, but was spun around on lap 44 by the Force India of Esteban Ocon who was attempting to unlap himself (an incident which led to a shoving match during driver weight checks after the race).


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
Verstappen's spin allowed Hamilton to retake the lead and subsequently win the race. Räikkönen finished third for Ferrari while his teammate Vettel finished sixth after a sensor problem and a failed gamble on tyre strategy compromised his race. This, combined with Hamilton's win and Bottas's fifth-place finish, allowed Mercedes to clinch their fifth successive Constructors' Championship.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Season report, Closing rounds
In Abu Dhabi, the final race of the season, the safety car was brought out on the first lap when Renault's Nico Hülkenberg barrel-rolled into the barricade at turn 9 after accidentally colliding with Grosjean. In his final race for Ferrari, Raikkonen retired on lap 7 when his engine failed, triggering the virtual safety car. In the end, Hamilton won with Vettel finishing second, and the two Red Bulls third and fourth. After the race, Hamilton and Vettel flanked the retiring Fernando Alonso on the post-race lap, and all three drivers performed synchronized "donuts" on the finish straight.


2018 Formula One World Championship, Results and standings, Scoring system
Points are awarded to the top ten classified drivers in every race, using the following system:


2018 Formula One World Championship, Results and standings, Scoring system
In order for full points to be awarded, the race winner must complete at least 75% of the scheduled race distance. Half points are awarded if the race winner completes less than 75% of the race distance provided that at least two laps are completed. In the event of a tie at the conclusion of the championship, a count-back system is used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's/constructor's best result used to decide the standings.


2018 Formula Renault Eurocup
The 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup is a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across Europe. The championship features drivers competing in 2 litre Formula Renault single seat race cars that conform to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2018 season is the 28th Formula Renault Eurocup season organized by the Renault Sport and the third season as the main category of the World Series by Renault. The series will visit ten circuits around the Europe, including Monaco.


2018 Formula Renault Eurocup, Teams and drivers
In 2018 the series was scheduled to feature the same nine teams as in previous year. But Mark Burdett Motorsport wasn't able to appear on the grid.


2018 Formula Renault Eurocup, Calendar
The provisional calendar for the 2018 season was announced on 25 September 2017. The series will return to Hockenheimring in its schedule. While Pau Grand Prix will be not present in the 2018 calendar. On 29 October the calendar was slightly altered, but featured the same ten circuits.


2018 Formula Renault Eurocup, Championship standings, Teams' championship
Only two-best cars are eligible to score points in the teams' championship.


2018 Formula Renault Northern European Cup
The 2018 Formula Renault Northern European Cup was the thirteenth and the final Formula Renault Northern European Cup season, an open-wheel motor racing series. It was a multi-event motor racing championship that featured drivers competing in 2 litre Formula Renault single seat race cars that conform to the technical regulations for the championship.


2018 Formula Renault Northern European Cup
The championship title was won by German driver Doureid Ghattas, after recording five consecutive win. He won races at Hungaroring, Nürburgring and Hockenheim, finished 42 points clear of his closest rival and Anders Motorsport teammate, Phil Hill, who was the winner at Spa and Hockenheim. Third place in the championship was settled by R-ace GP driver Gabriel Gandulia, who finished eight points behind Hill. Sharon Scolari was the last driver considered as regular driver finished fourth.


2018 Formula Renault Northern European Cup
Over the course of the season, four different drivers won a race. Aside from Ghattas and Hill, other drivers (when they were eligible for the series trophy) to win were Logan Sargeant, who finished fifth in the championship, and his teammate Victor Martins. Alex Peroni, who finished seventh was the only driver excluding Ghattas and Hill, who was able to win more than one race.


2018 Formula Renault Northern European Cup, Calendar and results
The provisional calendar for the 2018 season was announced on 11 November 2017. The schedule was increased to six rounds. For the first time in the history, the series is scheduled to have event which will be part of the Pau Grand Prix. Hungaroring and Circuit Park Zandvoort were set to return to the calendar, while events at Nürburgring and Silverstone Circuit were set to be omitted. On 4 April 2018 the calendar was amended, with three rounds supporting 2018 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. Zandvoort opener was replaced by Nürburgring in the schedule. On 31 August 2018 the final round at Hockenheimring was rescheduled to an earlier date.


2018 Formula Renault Northern European Cup, Championship standings, Drivers' championship
Bold – PoleItalics – Fastest Lap† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance.


2018 Formula Renault seasons
This article describes all the 2018 seasons of Formula Renault series across the world.


2018 Formula Renault seasons, Unofficial Formula Renault championships, 2018 Remus Formula Renault 2.0 Pokal season
The season was held between 13 April and 9 September and raced across Austria, Italy, Czech Republic and Germany. The races occur with other categories cars as part of the 2018 Austria Formula 3 Cup, this section presents only the Austrian Formula Renault 2.0L classification.


2018 Formula Renault seasons, Unofficial Formula Renault championships, 2018 Formula Renault 2.0 Argentina season
All cars use Tito 02 chassis, all races were held in Argentina.


2018 Formula Renault seasons, Unofficial Formula Renault championships, 2018 Formula Renault 2.0 Argentina season
1 extra point in each race for regularly qualified drivers.


2018 Formula STCC Nordic
The 2018 Formula STCC Nordic season was the sixth season of the single-seater championship supporting the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship. The series uses the previous Formula Renault 1.6 chassis and engines, as it used to go under the name of Formula Renault 1.6 Nordic before Renault Sport dropped its support for the 3.5 and 1.6 classes in late 2015. The season began on 4 May at Ring Knutstorp and concluded on 22 September at Mantorp Park after six double-header rounds.


2018 Formula STCC Nordic, Race calendar and results
The season started on 4 May at Ring Knutstorp and finished on 22 September at Mantorp Park after six double-header rounds. Five of the six rounds supported STCC, the exception being the first Rudskogen round which was co-headlined alongside Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia, another STCC supporting series.


2018 Formula STCC Nordic, Championship standings
Points are awarded to the top 10 classified finishers. An extra point is awarded for pole position and fastest lap for each race.


2018 Formula STCC Nordic, Championship standings
Parallel to the main championship, two other championships are held: the Formula STCC Junior Svenskt Mästerskap (JSM) for drivers under 26 years old holding a Swedish driver license, and the Formula STCC Northern European Zone (NEZ) championship at selected rounds. Points to this last championship are awarded using the same system, with the sole exception of pole position and fastest lap not awarding points.


2018 Fort Lauderdale mayoral election
The general election for mayor of Fort Lauderdale was held on May 13, 2018. It saw the election of Dean Trantalis.


2018 Fort Lauderdale mayoral election, Results
During the May 13 municipal elections, voter turnout in Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale is located, was 12.42%.


2018 FotoFilm Tijuana
The 2nd FotoFilm Tijuana Festival took place from 27 to 31 July 2018, in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.


2018 FotoFilm Tijuana
The official selection included 14 feature films, including the Ariel Award winner for Best Picture Sueño en Otro Idioma; 12 short films produced by the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE) and two produced by the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC); and for the competition section, six short films were the candidates for the "Best of Show" award, sent to the festival through an open call for filmmakers posted on the FilmFreeway website; Emma or the Incoveniences of a Suicide by Mexican director Marlon Morales won the award.


2018 FotoFilm Tijuana, Official selection, Short films, Desde Mexico
Also included as a part of the official selection of the festival was a section entitled "Desde Mexico", which included 10 short films produced by the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE) and two produced by the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC). Both, Oasis, directed by Alejandro Zuno, and Cerulia, directed by Sofía Carrillo, won the Ariel Award in 2018.


2018 FotoFilm Tijuana, Official selection, Short films, Jukebox Visual
The competition for the "Best of Show" award, was divided into animated, documentary, fiction and music video fields, and as an incentive for filmmakers from the Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa, and Sonora a section entitled "Desde el Norte" ("From the North") was created. Six finalists were selected from all entries through the website Film Freeway. The Best of Show included a prize, equivalent to USD1,000, and was awarded to Emma or the Incoveniences of a Suicide by Mexican director Marlon Morales.


2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
The 2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships were held in Taipei City, Taiwan on January 22–28, 2018. Medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance.


2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Qualification
This competition is open to skaters from all non-European member nations of the International Skating Union. Skaters must have reached the age of 15 before July 1, 2017 to participate. The corresponding competition for European skaters is the 2018 European Figure Skating Championships.


2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Qualification
Each National Federation from the four represented regions are permitted to send up to three skaters/couples for each discipline. National Federations can select their entries based on their own criteria, as long as the selected skater/couples attains a minimum technical elements score (TES) at an international senior event prior to the Four Continents.


2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Qualification, Minimum TES
The ISU stipulates that the minimum scores must be achieved at an ISU-recognized senior international competition in the ongoing or preceding season, no later than 21 days before the first official practice day.


2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Medals summary, Medals by country
Table of small medals for placement in the short segment:


2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Medals summary, Medals by country
Table of small medals for placement in the free segment:


2018 Four National Figure Skating Championships
The 2018 Four National Figure Skating Championships included the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. It took place 14–16 December 2017 in Košice, Slovakia. The results were split by country; the three highest-placing skaters from each country formed their national podiums in men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dance. The results were among the criteria used to determine international assignments.


2018 Four Nations Tournament
The 2018 Four Nations Tournament is a football tournament for the national teams of Angola, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It took place during the March 2018 window of the FIFA International Match Calendar.


2018 Four Nations Tournament
A draw to determine the semi-final round matches was held on 12 March 2018.


2018 Four Nations Tournament (women's football)
The 2018 Four Nations Tournament was the 17th edition of the Four Nations Tournament, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in China.


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301
The 2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 22, 2018 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Contested over 301 laps on the 1.058-mile (1.703 km) speedway, it was the 20th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Report, Background
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Report, Background
The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports.


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, First practice
Kyle Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.362 seconds and a speed of 134.292 mph (216.122 km/h).


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Qualifying
Kurt Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.511 and a speed of 133.591 mph (214.994 km/h).


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Practice (post-qualifying), Second practice
Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.650 seconds and a speed of 132.942 mph (213.949 km/h).


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Practice (post-qualifying), Final practice
Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.937 seconds and a speed of 131.624 mph (211.828 km/h).


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Media, Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Steve Letarte, four-time and all-time Loudon winner Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race as part of an NBC Special Analyst Broadcast. Rick Allen, Parker Kligerman, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.


2018 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, Media, Radio
PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2018 France Women's Sevens
The 2018 France Women's Sevens was the final event of the 2017–18 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series and the third edition of the France Women's Sevens. The tournament was held between 8–10 June 2018 at Stade Jean-Bouin, Paris alongside the men's tournament.


2018 France Women's Sevens, Teams
The eleven core teams will be participating in the tournament, along with one invited team, Wales.


2018 France Women's Sevens, Pool stages
All times in Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00). The games as scheduled are as follows:


2018 France Women's Sevens, Players, Dream Team
The following seven players were selected to the tournament Dream Team at the conclusion of the tournament:


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand
In June 2018, France played a three-test series against New Zealand as part of the 2018 mid-year rugby union tests. The series was part of the sixth year of the global rugby calendar established by World Rugby, which runs through to 2019.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads
Note: Ages, caps and clubs are as per 9 June, the first test match of the tour.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, France
On 22 May, Brunel named a 32-man squad ahead of France's three-test series against New Zealand.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, France
On 27 May, Sébastien Taofifenua was called up to the squad to replace the injured Eddy Ben Arous.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, France
On 10 June, Rémy Grosso was declared forfait for the rest of the tour.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, France
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, New Zealand
On 20 May, Hansen named a 33-man squad ahead of the All Blacks' three-test June Series against France (9 June, 16 June, and 23 June).


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, New Zealand
Liam Coltman and Akira Ioane were included in the squad as precautionary injury cover.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, New Zealand
On 1 June, Sonny Bill Williams was ruled out of the series due to a knee injury.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Squads, New Zealand
On 4 June, Tom Franklin, Luke Romano and Matt Todd were called up as injury cover, with Romano covering for Brodie Retallick who was ruled out of the first test.


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Matches, First test
Touch judges:Angus Gardner (Australia)John Lacey (Ireland)Television match official:George Ayoub (Australia)


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Matches, Second test
Touch judges:John Lacey (Ireland)Luke Pearce (England)Television match official:George Ayoub (Australia)


2018 France rugby union tour of New Zealand, Matches, Third test
Touch judges:Angus Gardner (Australia)Graham Cooper (Australia)Television match official:George Ayoub (Australia)


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday
The 2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday (French: Jeudi noir des Franco-Ontariens de 2018) occurred on 15 November 2018, when the government of Ontario, led by Doug Ford, announced a number of cuts to Franco-Ontarian institutions in the province, notably the elimination of the office of the French Language Services Commissioner and of the soon-to-be-opened Université de l'Ontario français. The cuts provoked a significant backlash from the Franco-Ontarian community, leading to the largest mass mobilisations in Franco-Ontarian history, surpassing those of SOS Montfort two decades earlier, and leading to the government of Ontario mostly backing down from the cuts.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Background
With a population measuring close to a million and a historical presence dating back to the 1600s, the francophone community in Ontario is one of the largest minority groups in the province. Franco-Ontarians, however, have historically faced oppression from the anglophone majority, notably the Regulation 17, which outlawed education in the French language in the province. After protests successfully lead to the repeal of Regulation 17, the situation for Franco-Ontarians slowly improved, notably the further C'est l'temps protests in the 1970s leading to the Ontario justice system becoming officially bilingual in 1984 and then the French Language Services Act in 1986.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Background
One of the most significant mass movements in Franco-Ontarian history was the SOS Montfort movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, attempting to save Montfort Hospital, the only primarily francophone hospital in Ontario, after the Mike Harris government announced it would be shutting down the hospital in 1997. After widespread mass mobilization and court cases, the campaign was ultimately successful.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Background
In February 2016, Premier Kathleen Wynne issued a formal apology for Regulation 17. Later that year, French Language Services Commissioner François Boileau called for the expansion of the French Language Services Act to cover the entire province and for provincial agencies to ensure that social media communications were made in both English and French. In 2017, the government announced that it would be creating a new French-language university in the province, the Université de l'Ontario français, responding to a decades-long campaign from the Franco-Ontarian community for a primarily francophone university in Ontario.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Background
In the 2018 Ontario general election, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, led by Doug Ford, won a majority in the election, capturing 76 of the 124 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and returning to government for the first time since 2003. Unlike Wynne, Ford was unilingual and could not speak French. There had also previously been questions raised about his ability as a leader attract Franco-Ontarian voters and overcome the lingering distrust from the Harris leadership.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Background
The question had especially been raised after a gaffe during Ford's campaign for the Progressive Conservative leadership, when he responded to a journalist's question about learning French by saying that "it’d be important to be able to communicate with part of our country that speaks French — I love Quebec," seemingly ignoring the existence of the francophone community in Ontario.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Background
During his time as a city councillor in Toronto and in his mayoral run in 2014, Ford had also come under criticism for his actions towards the French language, having voted in favour of the abolition of the French Language Advisory Committee and having refused to respond to election questions from the Association des communautés francophones de l’Ontario à Toronto.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Black Thursday
In June 2018, Ford unveiled his first cabinet, naming Caroline Mulroney as Minister of Francophone Affairs and demoting the Ministry of Francophone Affairs from full-fledged ministry down to an office. In July, the Ford government sent out a press release affirming its intention to promote the UOF, however, the government received some criticism after its initial Throne Speech failed to contain a single word in French or even a mention of the UOF. In mid-September, the university announced the first four bachelor's degree programmes it would offer.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Black Thursday
On 23 October 2018, Mulroney met secretly with the rectors of the University of Ottawa, Laurentian University, and the president of the Collège Boréal. During the meeting, they discussed abandoning the Université de l'Ontario français and increasing funds for the three universities in its place. Frémont had previously privately opposed the creation of l'UOF under the previous Liberal government.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Black Thursday
On 15 November 2018, the government announced that, as a part of a number of budget cuts, the office of the French Language Services Commissioner and the soon-to-be-opened Université de l'Ontario français would both be eliminated in their entireties.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions
The cuts were met with immediate criticism, especially from the Franco-Ontarian community. The cuts were described by many as a Black Thursday for the Franco-Ontarian community and as part of Ford's austerity measures. The cuts were also described by some as an attempt to assimilate Franco-Ontarians into the anglophone majority and as a betrayal of fundamental rights in Canada. The Canadian Union of Public Employees called for university workers in Ontario to fight the cuts, stating that "the Ford government is using the disguise of fiscal restraint to try and pit communities against one another."


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions
Some commentators argued that the cuts were counter-productive, noting that demand for primary and secondary school education in French in Ontario and across Canada was significantly increasing.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions
The outgoing French Language Services Commissioner, François Boileau, stated that he learned the position was being eliminated half an hour before the government's announcement and expressed concerns that the ombudsperson's office wouldn't have the same mandate to actively advocate for francophone rights in Ontario. Concerns were also raised about the impact the cuts would have on Northern Ontario, the region with the highest concentration of Franco-Ontarians. Some commentators accused Ford's government of being too Toronto-centric, arguing that the cuts demonstrated a lack of concern to issues affecting the rest of the province.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions
A small number of Franco-Ontarians defended the cuts, with former Progressive Conservative candidate Yvan Grenier stating that "as much as my emotions would lead me into wanting what all the other Franco-Ontarians want, I still have to be realistic. We are so low on money, we have to cut somewhere," and that he was concerned that the outcry over the cuts could lead to an anti-francophone backlash from anglophones.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions
Writing for the Institute for Research on Public Policy magazine, University of Amsterdam professor Mike Medeiros stated that from his analysis of polling data: "if francophobia is at play it is most likely a tacit, subtle form of it rather than an overt anti-francophone sentiment," and that "non-francophones are clearly unconvinced of the need to further promote bilingualism in Canada." Other commentators, however, pointed to struggles over bilingualism occurring in other provinces as indicative of a general rise of francophobia in Canada.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions
David Weber, professor at Bishop's University, noted that francophone minority struggles often received significantly less coverage in Canadian media than even minor stories from the anglophone minority in Québec, stating that "to read leading English-Canadian media, you would think that only one of those [linguistic minority] communities — Québec’s anglophones — were under threat."


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions from Québec
The cuts received criticism from groups representing the anglophone minority in Québec, with Geoffrey Chambers, head of the Quebec Community Groups Network, stating that "it's bad for the overall climate of linguistic peace and growth of structures that makes linguistic peace more possible and achievable." The Montreal Gazette, the largest English-language newspaper in Québec, published an editorial calling for Anglo-Quebeckers to stand in solidarity with Franco-Ontarians, proclaiming that "to defend access to services for official-language minorities is to defend national unity and a vision of this country as a place where both languages can be at home."


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions from Québec
Several commentators also raised comparisons between the Anglo-Quebecer and Franco-Ontarian minorities, noting that there were three entirely anglophone universities in Québec, namely Concordia University, McGill University, and Bishop's University, but none in Ontario as well as the fact that the Franco-Ontarian minority has historically suffered lower socio-economic conditions than the Anglo-Quebecer minority.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions from Québec
The newly elected government of Québec, led by Premier François Legault, expressed concerns over the cuts, with Legault raising the issue during the first official meeting between him and Ford. The Mayor of Montréal Valérie Plante denounced the cuts, with the Franco-Ontarian flag later being flown in front of Montreal city hall in solidarity.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions From Francophone Minorities in Canada
Francophone minority communities elsewhere in Canada expressed solidarity with Franco-Ontarians over the cuts and expressed concerns over the implications the cuts could have for the status. In early December 2018, over 200 Franco-Manitobans held a solidarity demonstration in Winnipeg, raising the Franco-Ontarian flag over the Saint-Boniface town hotel. That same day, over 60 Fransaskois attended a solidarity protest in Regina, marching from Wascana Park to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions From Francophone Minorities in Canada
Denis Simard, president of the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise stated that "we have long seen the progress of the Franco-Ontarian community as a model for the rest of the country, and when Franco-Ontarians rights roll back, we know that everyone's rights are rolling back." Further solidarity demonstrations were held in Moncton, New Brunswick, and in Alberta and British Columbia. Justin Johnson, vice-president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada stated that:


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions From Francophone Minorities in Canada
In this moment, both in Ontario and in New Brunswick, there are people who feel comfortable openly attacking bilingualism, people who think that francophonie is just a matter of economics, which is unacceptable. The fight in Ontario is our fight too. We're here and we will always be here!


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions From Francophone Minorities in Canada
In a press conference shortly after the cuts had been announced, Blaine Higgs, the Premier of New Brunswick stated that francophones in New Brunswick would not be facing similar cuts, however refused to criticse Ford's government.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions From Federal \Politics
By the end of November 2018, the leaders of all five political parties represented in the federal House of Commons had met to voice support for federal intervention to save the UOF. Federal Conservative Party of Canada leader Andrew Scheer stated that he spoke to Ford about the cuts and had expressed concerns, but that "it's up to Mr. Ford to manage those types of things."


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Reactions, Reactions From Federal \Politics
During the French-language leaders' debate for the 2019 Canadian federal election, Liberal Party of Canada leader Justin Trudeau attempted to link Ford's cuts to the federal Conservatives, declaring that "you’ll remember, like me, what Mr. Ford has done since he’s came to power. He’s cut services to Francophones even though he said he’s going to help that community. He said he was going to be ‘for the people,’ but he made cuts."


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
The outcry quickly coalesced into an more organised protest movement that dubbed itself "la Résistance" and adopted the popular Franco-Ontarian slogan "Nous sommes, nous serons!" In the days shortly following the announcement, a number of Franco-Ontarians who had left phone messages to Ford's office received a call back from Ford himself. During the calls, Ford defended the cuts, stating that the province's budget didn't have enough money, and blamed the previous government of Kathleen Wynne for the deficit. However, those who had talked to the Premier reported feeling as if he knew little about the situation of Franco-Ontarians.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
On 22 November, the Assemblee de la francophonie de l'Ontario held a press conference decrying the cuts, with AFO president Carol Jolin stating that "if I look at everything that has been done since the government took power, it is starting to look like an attack on francophones," and announcing that they had held a conference call with a number of lawyers to prepare a legal challenge against the government.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
Nine days after Black Thursday, the Ford government began backtracking on the cuts, announcing that the French Language Services Commissioner would continue as an officer under the provincial ombudsperson's office, that the government would seek to turn the office of francophone affairs into a full-fledged ministry, and that the premier's office would hire a senior policy adviser on francophone affairs.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
On 28 November, a heated debate was held in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, with the opposition Ontario New Democratic Party putting forward a motion to reverse the government's cuts. During the debate, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell MPP and the only francophone member of Ford's caucus Amanda Simard made an impassioned speech in parliament asking the government to reverse the cuts, noting that she had attended the SOS Montfort protests as a child and that "20 years later, we're still fighting to preserve the rights that we have gained." The next day, Simard announced she was leaving the Progressive Conservative Party to sit as an independent in protest over the cuts.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
After Simard's defection, with rumours of more Progressive Conservative MPPs crossing the floor, the government announced that it would be introducing legislation to raise the threshold for a party to gain recognized party status in the Legislative Assembly from 8 MPPs to 12. While sitting as an independent, Simard was blocked from speaking in a parliamentary session in early December by Progressive Conservative MPPs after the Liberals had offered her one of their speaking slots to raise the matter of the cuts, as the switch required unanimous consent from the assembly.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
On 1 December 2018, a day of protests against the cuts was held across the province, with over 14 000 demonstrators taking part. The scale of the demonstrations was one of the largest in the history of Ontario and the largest in Franco-Ontarian history, surpassing the SOS Montfort protests two decades earlier. Some student groups, including the FESFO and RÉFO, had played a key role in organising the day's protests.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
On 6 December 2018, Franco-Ontarian singer Mélissa Ouimet released a remake of her song Personne ne pourra m'arrêter, featuring a number of other French-Canadian singers, to promote the protests. The protests also saw a significantly increased Franco-Ontarian presence on social media, with some groups on Facebook reporting an almost sevenfold increase in group members in the month after the government's announcement.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, La Résistance Protests
In December, the federal Minister responsible for Official Languages Mélanie Joly announced that she had gotten in contact with Mulroney to indicate that the federal government was willing to step in and financially back the UOF. In early 2019, the Ford government announced that it would not be reapealing the law that created the UOF, but would not be financing the university either. Negotiations between the federal and provincial governments then picked up again in mid-2019. In September 2019, the governments of Ontario and Canada announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding, which would see both governments provide C$126 million to fund the institution over the following eight years.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Legacy
In June 2019, a delegation of Franco-Ontarians was invited to open the Fête nationale du Québec march in Montréal, the first time in history that a group from outside Québec had been invited to do so. In late 2019, Ford stated that he still inteded to learn French and that he thought it would be “pretty easy” to pick up.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Legacy
In January 2020, Kelly Burke was appointed French Language Services Commissioner. However, the press conference announcing her appointment stressed that the role of the commissioner was not to express positions on policy, sparking concerns that the role would not be able to effectively advocate for Franco-Ontarians. That same month, Simard announced that she was joining the Ontario Liberal Party. Ford reacted to the news by stating that he had no regrets about his party's treatment of Simard.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Legacy
In September 2020, the Franco-Ontarian flag was designated an official emblem of Ontario. In March 2021, the Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a motion from Liberal Ottawa-Vanier MPP Lucille Collard to have the flag flown permanently in front of the Ontario Legislative Building.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Legacy
Some commentators have argued that the mass movement failed to effectively connect with other groups that faced harm from the Ford government's cuts, blunting the ultimate long-term impact of the movement. Others have argued that the movement failed to effectively take into account the additional barriers faced by francophone ethnic minority groups in the province, further limiting the movement's impact.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Legacy, COVID-19 Pandemic
Concerns surrounding the Ford government's policies towards Franco-Ontarians surfaced again during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, with the government initially not only holding press conferences entirely in English but also refusing to answer questions in French from Franco-Ontarian journalists. In mid-April 2020, Mulroney announced that, going forward, the government's press conferences would offer a French translation.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Legacy, COVID-19 Pandemic
In July 2020, several anglophone schools in the province found themselves unable to offer French classes to students due to the re-opening restrictions imposed by the government.


2018 Franco-Ontarian Black Thursday, Legacy, French-language Education in Ontario
Despite the magnitude of the protests, significant questions about the status of French-language post-secondary education in Ontario. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, l'Université de l'Ontario français reported significantly lower than expected applications for its opening year of studies and with rector André Roy resigning at the beginning of February 2021. Questions were raised surrounding the location of the university in a predominantly-anglophone city, a lack of advertising, and the limited nature of degree programmes offered. Later in 2021, Laurentian University was hit by a significant financial crisis, leading to cuts affected around 60% of the university's French-language programmes. The crisis not only led to a new wave of concern around the status of Franco-Ontarians in the province but also led to a new wave of criticism against the Ford government for its perceived inaction concerning the crisis.


2018 Fred Page Cup
The 2018 Fred Page Cup was the 24th Canadian Eastern Junior A Ice Hockey Championship for the Canadian Junior Hockey League. The Ottawa Jr. Senators hosted for the second time in team history. The tournament was held May 2 to May 6 at Jim Durrell Recreation Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. The tournament champions qualified for the 2018 Royal Bank Cup, held in Chilliwack, BC and hosted by the BCHL's Chilliwack Chiefs at the Prospera Centre.


2018 Fred Page Cup, Tournament, Round Robin
x = Clinched championship round berth; y = Clinched first overall


2018 Freedom and Direct Democracy leadership election
The Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) leadership election of 2018 was held on 14 July 2018. Tomio Okamura was elected for second term.


2018 Freedom and Direct Democracy leadership election, Background
Tomio Okamura founded the party in 2015 after he split from Dawn. He was elected party's leader the same year. Okamura led the party during 2017 legislative election. It received 10.6% of votes and came fourth.


2018 Freedom and Direct Democracy leadership election, Background
New leadership election was scheduled for 14 July 2018. Tomio Okamura announced he will seek reelection. No other candidate was announced. It was reported that candidates might be announced on the day of election.


2018 Freedom and Direct Democracy leadership election, Voting
Leader is elected by 162 delegates. 140 of them are nominated by regional organisations while remaining 22 are party's MPs.


2018 Freedom and Direct Democracy leadership election, Voting
152 delegates eventually participated. Okamura received 150 votes and thus was reelected. Okamura thanked delegates for a strong mandate. Okamura himself didn't vote in the election. Only one delegate voted against him. Okamura's term will expire in 2021.


2018 Freiburg gang rape
On 13 October 2018, an 18-year-old woman was raped outside a discotheque in Freiburg, Germany by a series of men. In July 2020, eight perpetrators were convicted of rape, while two additional men were convicted for not aiding the victim. The case drew public attention, due in part to the refugee status of most of the perpetrators.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Incident
According to the police, on 13 October 2018, an 18-year-old woman was drugged in a discotheque in a remote industrial area along Hans-Bunte-Straße by a 22-year-old Syrian Kurd and then raped in front of the building by others, later identified as six more Syrians and one German; the accused were aged between 19 and 29.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Incident
Police say that a man bought the woman—a student who was present with a female friend—a drink which apparently contained a tranquilizing substance, making her defenseless, and after going outside with her together, dragged the woman into nearby bushes and raped her, then left her there and returned to the club to call his friends.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Incident
The woman filed a complaint with the police the next day. Eight suspects were soon taken into custody.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Investigation
Several suspects were identified from DNA traces found on the victim; further evaluation of traces from the victim and the scene was carried out. The police sought more suspects, using a 13-person investigation team. One witness claimed that up to 15 men had raped the woman.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Investigation
Eight men were initially arrested for the crime, seven Syrians and one with German nationality. Three of the arrested had presented themselves on the Internet bearing firearms.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Investigation
The main suspect was already targeted by an undercover investigation for violent crime and drug trafficking, and he was a suspect in another rape case. Police had planned to arrest him on 24 October.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Investigation
DNA traces indicated there were two further unidentified suspects who were not among the arrested.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Investigation
A ninth suspect, an 18-year-old man from Syria, was detained on 29 November in a refugee center in Freiburg, after traces of his DNA were found on the victim's clothing. He was in the discotheque on the night of the crime; police took a saliva sample from him. The ninth suspect had come to Germany via the politically debated family reunification provision. Police continued to search for a tenth suspect whose DNA was also found on the victim.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Trial
The trial of eleven suspects began on 26 June 2019 at the Landgericht Freiburg.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Trial
On July 23, 2020, a German regional court convicted ten of the eleven suspects charged in the crime. The longest sentence was five and a half years, with the others given three to four years, and two who were convicted of not having assisted the victim were given suspended sentences. One suspect was found not guilty.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
Martin Horn, the mayor of Freiburg, stated: "There is no tolerance for despicable acts". He promised to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly. Thomas Strobl (CDU), the Interior Minister of Baden-Württemberg said: "If the allegations prove true, we have to deal with a vile act that leaves no one cold." Officials called for calm, stating that "It is an act by individuals, which should not be generalized".


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
On Monday 29 October, a protest organized by the right-wing-populist party AfD/Junge Alternative was outnumbered by counter-protesters and the AfD event was re-routed as counter-protesters blocked their way. These tensions were similar to those in the aftermath of the murder of Maria Ladenburger by an Afghan migrant. The protest and counter-protest were attended by just below 2000 people.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
ZDF presenter Dunja Hayali demanded a "new and open debate" around the asylum and deportation laws because of the case. "That deportation procedures take so long that they cannot legally be implemented for 1,000 reasons and more is a situation that cannot continue", said Hayali, adding that her statement was not to be understood as xenophobic.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
Boris Palmer (Alliance 90/The Greens), Tübingen's Lord Mayor, demanded that criminal refugees have their freedom of movement severely restricted, and proposed accommodating them in small asylum centres in remote areas without a connection to public transport. The current German laws would allow this according to Palmer ("Wohnsitzauflage", condition of fixed abode).


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
A few days later, Winfried Kretschmann (Alliance 90/The Greens), the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, also stated that he wants to keep refugees who commit crimes in groups away from major cities and distribute them in the country, saying the idea of sending some of them "into the pampas" was "not wrong", and "To put it bluntly, the most dangerous thing that human evolution has produced is hordes of young men."


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
CDU General Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that after a deportation, criminals should be refused re-entry not only to Germany but also to the whole Schengen area for life, mentioning the gang rape in Freiburg.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
The interior minister of Baden-Württemberg, Thomas Strobl, was called to the committee of the interior (German: Innenausschuss) of the Bundestag to explain why the main suspect had not been apprehended despite there being warrants for his arrest (German: Haftbefehle).


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
The two-week delay in the incident in Freiburg becoming public along with the delayed reporting of another gang rape case in Munich where asylum seekers were suspects started a debate as to whether the late reporting was deliberate. Criminologist Christian Pfeiffer said that such delays are not politically motivated but reflect the fact that group crimes take longer to process where a network of suspects is involved, and even longer when police are forced to use interpreters.


2018 Freiburg gang rape, Aftermath
The victim suffers a post-traumatic stress disorder lasting at least until the verdict (as of 23th of July 2020).


2018 Fremantle Football Club season
The 2018 Fremantle Football Club season was the 24th season contested by the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League. It was also the 2nd season in the AFL Women's league.


2018 Fremantle Football Club season, AFL, List changes
Before the 2017 season had begun, Shane Yarran retired due to dramas outside of football. Though he did not play in the 2017 season, he still took up a spot on their list throughout 2017. At the season's end veterans Zac Dawson and Garrick Ibbotson decided to retire from professional football. Neither was consistently playing in the senior team and both finished their careers playing for Peel Thunder in the WAFL. After the season had finished Fremantle announced that they would be delisting five players, including 100-gamer Zac Clarke and former Adelaide player Jonathon Griffin. Nick Suban who had been awarded life membership at the 2017 Doig Medal event, was also delisted after nine years at the club.


2018 Fremantle Football Club season, AFL, List changes
During the 2017 trade period, Fremantle were active in a number of trades, but gaining and losing players and major draft picks. Both Hayden Crozier and Harley Balic were traded, to Western Bulldogs and Melbourne respectively, in exchange for draft picks which improved Fremantle's position in the 2017 draft. Fremantle made an effort to bring defender Nathan Wilson to the club from Greater Western Sydney.


2018 Fremantle Football Club season, AFL, List changes
Initially the Giants wanted a top-20 draft pick for him, but on the last day of the draft period Fremantle were able to secure him by exchanging lower draft picks and giving the Giants one of their future draft picks. Fremantle also pulled off one of the biggest trades of the off-season when they were able to gain pick 2 in the 2017 draft from Gold Coast in exchange for Lachie Weller, while also making another trade with the Suns to bring Brandon Matera to the club.


2018 Fremantle by-election
A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Fremantle took place on Saturday 28 July 2018, following the resignation of incumbent Labor MP Josh Wilson.


2018 Fremantle by-election
In early counting, within 90 minutes of the close of polls, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's psephologist Antony Green's electoral computer had predicted Labor to retain the electorate with an increased margin. It is notable for being the first time that a Liberal Democrats candidate won a two-candidate-preferred spot in a federal election.


2018 Fremantle by-election, Background
Due to the High Court ruling against Senator Katy Gallagher on 9 May 2018 as part of the ongoing parliamentary eligibility crisis, Wilson and three other MPs in the same situation announced their parliamentary resignations later that day, while the Perth incumbent resigned for family reasons. The Speaker announced on 24 May 2018 that he had scheduled the by-elections to occur on 28 July 2018. Popularly labelled "Super Saturday", the occurrence of five simultaneous federal by-elections is unprecedented in Australian political history. The others are:


2018 Fremantle by-election, Candidates
The Liberals declined to contest the Fremantle and Perth federal by-elections, but concentrated their resources on the Darling Range state by-election.


2018 French Athletics Championships
The 2018 French Athletics Championships was the 130th edition of the national championship in outdoor track and field for France. It was held on 6–8 July at Stadium Municipal d'Albi in Albi. It was the third time that the city hosted the competition, following previous editions in 2008 and 2011. A total of 38 events (divided evenly between the sexes) were contested over the three-day competition.


2018 French Athletics Championships
Carolle Zahi took a women's sprint double in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Ninon Guillon-Romarin broke the French record for the women's pole vault with a height of 4.73 m (15 ft 6 in). On the men's side, Renaud Lavillenie won his eighth outdoor pole vault national title. Several non-French national athletes competed as guests and their performances were excluded for the purposes of the French Championships.


2018 French F4 Championship
The 2018 French F4 Championship was the eighth season to run under the guise of the French F4 Championship and the first season under the FIA Formula 4 regulations. The championship used Mygale M14 chassis like in the F4 British Championship and Australian Formula 4 Championship. The engine was be upgraded from 1.6 litre to 2.0 litre. The series began on 1 April at Nogaro and ended on 14 October at Le Castellet, after seven rounds and twenty one races.


2018 French F4 Championship, Race calendar
A seven round calendar was published in the FFSA Academy website, confirming the return of Dijon-Prenois and moving the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya round in Spain to Jerez.


2018 French F4 Championship, Championship standings, Drivers standings
Bold – PoleItalics – Fastest Lap† — Did not finish, but classified


2018 French F4 Championship, Championship standings, Drivers standings
Half points awarded for race 3 as race was halted before 75% distance due to heavy rain.


2018 French GT4 Cup
The 2018 Championnat de France FFSA GT - French GT4 Cup was the twenty-first season of the French FFSA GT Championship and the first as the French GT4 Cup, a sports car championship created and organised by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO). The season began on 1 April in Nogaro and ended on 14 October at Paul Ricard.


2018 French GT4 Cup, Calendar
At the annual press conference during the 2017 24 Hours of Spa on 28 July, the Stéphane Ratel Organisation announced the first draft of the 2018 calendar. No changes were made to the schedule compared to 2017. The finalised calendar confirmed the races in Pau were moved one week earlier and it confirmed the dates of the races at Dijon-Prenois.


2018 French GT4 Cup, Championship standings
Championship points were awarded for the first ten positions in each race. Entries were required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. Individual drivers were required to participate for a minimum of 25 minutes in order to earn championship points in any race.


2018 French Grand Prix
The 2018 French Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix de France 2018) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 24 June 2018 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France. The race was the eighth round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship and marked the first time that the French Grand Prix has been run since 2008. It was the 87th running of the French Grand Prix, and the 59th time the event had been included as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the series in 1950.


2018 French Grand Prix
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel entered the race with a one-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led Ferrari by seventeen points. Hamilton took the lead in the Driver's Championship by winning the race, with Vettel finishing fifth.


2018 French Grand Prix, Background
The race returned to the calendar for the first time since 2008, with Circuit Paul Ricard chosen as the venue. The circuit last hosted the French Grand Prix in 1990 before the event moved to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in 1991. The race used the 5.842 km (3.630 mi) layout of the Circuit Paul Ricard for the first time. The layout includes a chicane on the Mistral straight as opposed to the 5.809 km (3.610 mi) circuit that was used nine times between 1971 and 1985.


2018 French Grand Prix, Background
The race was run in June, filling a vacancy left by the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The race in Azerbaijan was moved to an April date to avoid clashing with celebrations for the centenary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.


2018 French Grand Prix, Background, Drag reduction system
The circuit featured two drag reduction system (DRS) zones. The first was located along the main straight, while the second was on the Mistral Straight on the approach to the chicane.


2018 French Grand Prix, Background, Tyres
Tyre supplier Pirelli provided teams with the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft compounds of tyres. They reverted to their narrow tread compound following feedback from the teams in the wake of mid-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.


2018 French Grand Prix, Free practice
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap in the first free practice session, which was cut short by an accident involving Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson lost control of his Sauber C37 on the approach to Turn 11 and spun into the barrier on the outside of the corner. The car hit the tyre wall at an angle and subsequently caught fire. Ericsson was unharmed, but with two minutes remaining the session was abandoned and the damage to his car so extensive that he was unable to take part in the second free practice session.


2018 French Grand Prix, Free practice
Several drivers experienced spins during the session, most notably at Turn 6 where an intermittent and gusty local wind caught the drivers unaware as they accelerated away from the apex of the corner. Unlike Ericsson, all of the drivers avoided contact with the wall courtesy of the circuit's unique, abrasive tarmac run-off areas designed to slow down cars that left the circuit.


2018 French Grand Prix, Free practice
Hamilton was fastest again in the second free practice session despite having his flying lap interrupted by another red flag. Sergio Pérez lost a wheel as he turned onto the Mistral Straight, prompting race officials to mount an investigation as to whether Force India had released Pérez from the pit lane with his car in an unsafe condition. The session was restarted once Pérez's car was cleared away.


2018 French Grand Prix, Race, Race report
At the start Sebastian Vettel ran into the back of Valtteri Bottas, with both sustaining damage and having to pit for repairs, also there was a separate collision between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon leaving both cars stranded out on the track, this brought out a brief safety car period lasting till the end of Lap 4. Vettel would later receive a penalty for his collision with Bottas which meant he would only manage to finish 5th. Lance Stroll suffered a tyre puncture near the end of the race causing a virtual safety car, which ended with only half a lap left of the race. Lewis Hamilton comfortably won ahead of Max Verstappen, while Kimi Räikkönen completed the podium.


2018 French Guiana's 2nd constituency by-election
A by-election was held in French Guiana's 2nd constituency on 4 March 2018, with a second round on 11 March as no candidate secured a majority of votes in the first round. The by-election was called after the Constitutional Council invalidated the election of Lénaïck Adam, candidate of La République En Marche! (REM), in the June 2017 legislative elections on 8 December 2017.


2018 French Guiana's 2nd constituency by-election
As in June 2017, Adam narrowly defeated Davy Rimane, supported by La France Insoumise, in the second round.


2018 French Guiana's 2nd constituency by-election, Background
Following the second round of the 2017 legislative election in French Guiana's 2nd constituency on 18 June, Davy Rimane, a regionalist candidate, filed an appeal with the Constitutional Council appealing the election of Lénaïck Adam of La République En Marche! (REM), claiming to have identified irregularities that would permit such an appeal.