OMNISPORT

The 2018 Formula One season drew to a close as drivers' champion Lewis Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.

After 21 rounds, Hamilton finished a comfortable 88 points clear of closest challenger Sebastian Vettel, wrapping up the title with two races to spare.

But there are plenty of intriguing stats to be found further down the grid.

With the help of Opta, we run through some of the best facts and figures from the past season.

5 - Hamilton claimed his fifth drivers' title, equalling Juan Manuel Fangio's haul, with only Michael Schumacher (seven) having won more. The British driver secured 408 points, more than any other driver in an F1 season.

24 - Hamilton has recorded a pole position at 24 of the 26 different grands prix he has raced at, more than any other driver in F1 history. Turkey and India, both of which are no longer on the calendar, are the only places where the champion has missed out.

312 - Fernando Alonso – who has now retired from F1 – took his total tally of races to 312, the second most in F1 history behind Rubens Barrichello (323). Alonso holds the record for most finishes (245).

52 - Vettel recorded his 52nd grand prix victory and his 111th podium in 2018, moving into third in the all-time rankings for both categories, behind Michael Schumacher (91 and 155 respectively) and Hamilton (73 and 134).

111 - At this year's US Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen ended his longest winless streak in Formula One - 111 races without victory since 2013 Australian GP. In fact, it was the longest gap ever between two wins in F1 history.

11 - Red Bull's Max Verstappen reached the podium 11 times in 2018, as many as in his whole F1 career before that.

15 - Despite enjoying his best year for pole positions (two) and fastest laps (four, level with 2016), Daniel Ricciardo recorded his worst run for Red Bull without reaching the podium – 15 grands prix in a row.

10 - Charles Leclerc, who will race for Ferrari next year, earned points in 10 races this season, equaling the best year for a Sauber driver (level with Nico Hulkenberg in 2013).

1 - 2018 was a year of firsts in F1. For the first time ever the safety car was used in the first five grands prix of the season, there were three consecutive race weekends (France, Austria and UK), and it was also the first year without a Brazilian driver since 1969.