2018 Formula B season
| 2018 Formula B season | |
| |
| # of Rounds | 13 |
| Ovals | 0 |
| Road Courses | 13 |
| Driver's Champion |  Akio Matsumura
|
| Owner's Champion |  KWGP
|
| Season Opener | Formula B Bahrain Grand Prix |
| Season Finale | Formula B Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
| Championship Overview | |
The 2018 Formula B season is the current season of Formula B, a league designated as the premier feeder series for the Formula A World Championship.
The season will be contested over the course of 13 events, 12 of which will serve as support races for Formula A Grands Prix. The opening race will take place at Bahrain International Circuit in Sahkir, while the finale will take place at Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates. The single standalone date on the calendar is the third round of the championship; the Finnish Grand Prix, which will take place at Karjala Raceway. The series will also race at Circuit Thierry Sicotte, Streets of Leipzig and Circuit of the Americas
Fifteen teams are confirmed to be contesting the season, and the grid will therefore consist of 30 cars and an equal number of drivers. These drivers include six from Japan, four from Australia, three from the United States, two from Great Britain, two from Italy, two from South Africa and one each from Belarus, Austria, Canada, France, Latvia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Russia.
Pre-Season Changes[edit | edit source]
Shortly after the conclusion of last season, five new teams were granted entry into the 2018 season. These teams being Melrose Racing Team, Harachi Racing Technologies, Nighthawk Racing, Fortner Motorsports and The Motorsports Gang.
The 2017 champion Anna Babić was signed to drive for Dansa in Formula A, replacing her is South African driver Charles Vander Cleef for KWGP.
Despite coming home 6th in last season's contructors standings and winning the 2017 Formula B British Grand Prix with Carlos Zavala, Hanmore Formula Racing Team have decided to pull out of the league. The team assets were purchased by Melrose Racing Team.
With the addition of five new teams entering the upcoming 2018 Formula B season, Formula B officials have announced a new qualifying format will be used to accommodate the new entries. The top 8 constructors in last years standings will be locked in automatically throughout the season. The rest of the field will partake in a time trail to see who will race alongside the sixteen drivers already locked into the field. The top 10 qualifiers will be allowed to race.
The First round of qualifying will have the top 18 drivers advance into Round 2 of Qualifying in which the Top 10 will advance into Round 3. Afterwards, the field will be set for the race.
