2018 British Grand Prix

The 2018 British Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 2018 Rolex British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 8 July 2018 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom. The race was the 10th round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship. It marked the 73rd running of the British Grand Prix, the 69th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event, and the 52nd time that the World Championship event had been held at the Silverstone Circuit.

2018 British Grand Prix
Race 10 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Silverstone Circuit
Layout of the Silverstone Circuit
Race details[1]
Date 8 July 2018
Official name Formula 1 2018 Rolex British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone, United Kingdom
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.891 km (3.660 miles)
Distance 52 laps, 306.198 km (190.263 miles)
Weather Sunny 27.0 °C (80.6 °F)[2]
Attendance 340,000 (race weekend)
140,500 (race)[3]
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 1:25.892
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
Time 1:30.696 on lap 47
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Mercedes
Third
Ferrari
Lap leaders

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel entered the race with a one-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led Mercedes by ten points.[4]

Report

Background

The circuit featured three drag reduction system (DRS) zones. The two used in previous years – positioned on the Wellington and Hangar Straights – returned, with a third zone placed on the pit straight. As DRS is deactivated when the driver brakes, drivers were able to use the system through the Abbey and Farm corners as these corners could be taken flat-out when the car is low on fuel. This brought increased risk as DRS reduces drag by cancelling out aerodynamic grip at a time when aerodynamic grip improves the car's ability to take corners at speed. Drivers were able to manually deactivate DRS before the corners if they were unable or unwilling to take the corner with the use of DRS. The race marked the first time that drivers were able to use DRS through corners in a race.[5] The decision to allow the use of DRS through the corners drew criticism as drivers felt that using DRS through Abbey corner was unsafe. Drivers found the best approach was to manually deactivate DRS before the corner without slowing before reactivating it on the corner exit. This approach was necessary as slowing the car would prevent the system from being reactivated.

Practice

The first practice session saw Romain Grosjean crash at Abbey, after he left his DRS open whilst taking the corner,[6] and Max Verstappen stopped on the pit straight with a gearbox issue.[7] In second practice, Verstappen crashed at Luffield[8] and Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso broke down.[9] In third practice, Brendon Hartley had a heavy crash after his front left suspension failed at high speed.[10]

Qualifying

Q1 was red flagged as Lance Stroll went into the gravel and his car had to be removed.[11] After an early showing from Ferrari, Hamilton took pole, his 6th around Silverstone. Ferrari qualified 2nd and 3rd, with Valtteri Bottas 4th.[12] Hartley missed qualifying after the heavy crash in FP3, and started from the pit lane,[10] along with Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin.[13] Charles Leclerc made Q3 for the second time, qualifying in P9.[12]

Race

Hamilton had a slow start and was jumped by Vettel and Bottas. At Turn 3, Kimi Räikkönen made contact with Hamilton, spinning him off the track and into last.[14] Sergio Pérez also spun at the start, narrowly avoiding the Williams cars exiting the pit lane.[15] Hartley failed to exit the pit lane.[16] Räikkönen was given a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision between himself and Hamilton, which he served in the pits on lap 14.[17] On lap 19, Leclerc retired after exiting the pits with a loose wheel.[18] On lap 32, Marcus Ericsson crashed at Abbey, after failing to deactivate his DRS quick enough.[19] This brought out a safety car, and both Ferraris and both Red Bulls pitted for a 2nd time, for the soft tyres. Mercedes chose to leave their drivers out to gain track position. On lap 38, Grosjean and Carlos Sainz crashed at Copse, causing another safety car. On lap 46, Verstappen spun and subsequently retired with a brake by wire issue. The next lap, Vettel overtook Bottas for the lead of the race, which he kept until the chequered flag,[20] making it his second victory at Silverstone, the first since 2009.[21] Vettel became the first Ferrari driver to win at Silverstone since Fernando Alonso in 2011. Vettel's win broke Mercedes's 5-race winning streak at the British Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying
Pos. Car
no.		 Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.818 1:26.256 1:25.892 1
2 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:26.585 1:26.372 1:25.936 2
3 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:27.549 1:26.483 1:25.990 3
4 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:27.025 1:26.413 1:26.217 4
5 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:27.309 1:27.013 1:26.602 5
6 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:27.979 1:27.369 1:27.099 6
7 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:28.143 1:27.730 1:27.244 7
8 8 France Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1:28.086 1:27.522 1:27.455 8
9 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1:27.962 1:27.790 1:27.879 9
10 31 France Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1:28.279 1:27.843 1:28.194 10
11 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:28.017 1:27.901 11
12 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 1:28.210 1:27.928 12
13 14 Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1:28.187 1:28.139 13
14 10 France Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:28.399 1:28.343 14
15 9 Sweden Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.249 1:28.391 15
16 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 1:28.456 16
17 2 Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1:29.096 17
18 35 Russia Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1:29.252 PL1
107% time: 1:32.645
— 18 Canada Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes No time PL2
— 28 New Zealand Brendon Hartley Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda No time PL3
Source:[22]
Notes
  • ^1  – Sergey Sirotkin was required to start from the pit lane after changing his rear wing.[13]
  • ^2  – Lance Stroll failed to set a lap time during qualifying. He was allowed to race at the stewards' discretion.[23] He was required to start from the pit lane after changing his rear wing.[13]
  • ^3  – Brendon Hartley did not take part in qualifying after crashing in FP3. He was allowed to race at the stewards' discretion. He was required to start from the pit lane after changing his chassis.[24]

Race
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 52 1:27:29.784 2 25
2 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 +2.264 1 18
3 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 52 +3.652 3 15
4 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 52 +8.883 4 12
5 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 52 +9.500 6 10
6 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Renault 52 +28.220 11 8
7 31 France Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 52 +29.930 10 6
8 14 Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 52 +31.115 13 4
9 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 52 +33.188 7 2
10 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 52 +34.708 12 1
11 2 Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 52 +35.774 17
12 18 Canada Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 52 +38.106 PL
13 10 France Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 52 +39.1291 14
14 35 Russia Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 52 +48.113 PL
152 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 46 Brakes 5
Ret 8 France Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 37 Collision 8
Ret 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 37 Collision 16
Ret 9 Sweden Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 31 Accident 15
Ret 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 18 Wheel 9
Ret 28 New Zealand Brendon Hartley Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1 PU connector PL
Source:[25][26]
Notes
  • ^1  – Pierre Gasly originally finished 10th, but received a 5-second penalty for causing a collision.
  • ^2  – Max Verstappen retired from the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

References
  1. "Great Britain". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  2. "British Grand Prix 2018 weather forecast". Met Office. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  3. "F1 race weekends attended by over four million fans in 2018". F1. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  4. "Championship Points" (PDF). 1 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  5. Noble, Jonathan; Reyer, Maria (2 July 2018). "F1 drivers to have option of using DRS through Silverstone corners". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  6. "Hamilton quickest as Grosjean crashes in opening British GP practice". CRASH. 6 July 2018. Archived from the original on 6 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  7. "Hamilton on top as suspected gearbox problem halts Verstappen". Racefans.net. 6 July 2020. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  8. "Max Verstappen: Red Bull ace in HEAVY crash during British Grand Prix practice – WATCH". 6 July 2018. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  9. "Honda ease concerns after Gasly stoppage". 6 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  10. "Hartley to miss qualifying after heavy crash". motorsport.com. 7 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  11. "Stroll: The car snapped, really aggressively". 8 July 2018. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  12. "2018 British GP qualifying report: Sebastian P2, Kimi P3". Scuderiafans. 7 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  13. "Williams duo to start British GP from the pit lane". 8 July 2018. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  14. "Lewis Hamilton spins out at British Grand Prix 2018 in dramatic start at Silverstone". Daily Mirror. 8 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  15. GPfans.com (8 July 2018). "VIDEO: Perez nearly wipes out Williams in pit lane!". GPfans. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  16. "Brendon Hartley retires on British Grand Prix first lap as luckless F1 career continues". 9 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  17. "Formula 1 British Grand Prix 2018 race results: Sebastian Vettel wins thriller; Daniel Ricciardo fifth". 8 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  18. "Loose wheel the cause of Charles Leclerc's Silverstone retirement". 10 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  19. "Ericsson's British GP crash caused by 'slipping' off DRS button". 9 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  20. "Sebastian Vettel wins on Lewis Hamilton's home turf to equal Alain Prost's 51 victories, while the world champion leads an epic comeback from a first lap spin". Red Bull. 8 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  21. Fisher, Ben (8 July 2018). "Sebastian Vettel wins the British GP with Hamilton second – as it happened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  22. "Formula 1 2018 Rolex British Grand Prix – Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 7 July 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  23. "Stewards Decision Doc28- Car 18" (PDF). 7 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  24. "Stewards Decision Doc28- Car 18" (PDF). 7 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  25. "Formula 1 2018 Rolex British Grand Prix – Race Result". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 8 July 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  26. "2018 British Grand Prix – Final Classification". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 8 July 2018. Archived from the original on 11 July 2018.
  27. "Britain 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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