2018 United States Grand Prix
| 2018 United States Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 18 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 Layout of the Circuit of the Americas | |||||
| Race details[1] | |||||
| Date | October 21, 2018 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Pirelli 2018 United States Grand Prix | ||||
| Location |
Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas, United States | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.513 km (3.426 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 56 laps, 308.405 km (191.634 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:32.237 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:37.392 on lap 40 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | ||||
| Third | Mercedes | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
The 2018 United States Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Pirelli 2018 United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on October 21, 2018, at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas. It served as the eighteenth round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the fourty-eighth running of the United States Grand Prix, the fourtieth time that the race ran as a World Championship event, and the seventh time that it was held at this circuit.
Kimi Räikkönen won the race after starting from third position, earning his first Grand Prix win since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix and ending a record 114-race winless streak.[2] It was his first victory with Ferrari since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, as well as the team's first win in the United States since 2006. The race was the final victory of Räikkönen's F1 career, and remains Ferrari's most recent win in the United States.
Background
[edit]Championship standings before the race
[edit]Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a 67-point lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the World Drivers' Championship, having widened his lead in the championship considerably by winning the previous four races. Hamilton's team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, sat third, 57 points behind Vettel.[3] In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a lead of 78 points over Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing a further 141 points behind in third place.[4]
Hamilton was eligible to secure the Drivers' Championship at this race if he outscored Vettel by a minimum of eight points.[5]
Entrants
[edit]Lando Norris and Sean Gelael drove in the first practice session instead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Brendon Hartley for McLaren and Toro Rosso respectively. Nicholas Latifi was supposed to drive in the same session in place of Esteban Ocon at Force India, but this was reversed ahead of the session.[6][7]
Tyre choices
[edit]Tyre supplier Pirelli selected the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres for the Grand Prix weekend.[8]
Qualifying
[edit]| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Final grid | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | |||||
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton
|
Mercedes | 1:34.130 | 1:33.480 | 1:32.237 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 |  Sebastian Vettel
|
Ferrari | 1:34.569 | 1:33.079 | 1:32.298 | 51 |
| 3 | 7 |  Kimi Räikkönen
|
Ferrari | 1:34.703 | 1:32.884 | 1:32.307 | 2 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas
|
Mercedes | 1:34.518 | 1:33.702 | 1:32.616 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |  Daniel Ricciardo
|
Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | 1:34.755 | 1:34.185 | 1:33.494 | 4 |
| 6 | 31 |  Esteban Ocon
|
Force India-Mercedes | 1:34.876 | 1:34.522 | 1:34.145 | 6 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg
|
Renault | 1:34.932 | 1:34.564 | 1:34.215 | 7 |
| 8 | 8 | Romain Grosjean
|
Haas-Ferrari | 1:34.892 | 1:34.419 | 1:34.250 | 8 |
| 9 | 16 |  Charles Leclerc
|
Sauber-Ferrari | 1:35.069 | 1:34.255 | 1:34.420 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 |  Sergio Pérez
|
Force India-Mercedes | 1:35.193 | 1:34.525 | 1:34.594 | 10 |
| 11 | 55 |  Carlos Sainz Jr.
|
Renault | 1:34.891 | 1:34.566 | 11 | |
| 12 | 20 |  Kevin Magnussen
|
Haas-Ferrari | 1:34.972 | 1:34.732 | 12 | |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly
|
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda | 1:34.850 | No time | 192 | |
| 14 | 28 |  Brendon Hartley
|
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda | 1:35.206 | No time | 203 | |
| 15 | 33 |  Max Verstappen
|
Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | 1:34.766 | No time | 184 | |
| 16 | 14 | Fernando Alonso
|
McLaren-Renault | 1:35.294 | 13 | ||
| 17 | 35 |  Sergey Sirotkin
|
Williams-Mercedes | 1:35.362 | 14 | ||
| 18 | 18 |  Lance Stroll
|
Williams-Mercedes | 1:35.480 | 15 | ||
| 19 | 9 |  Marcus Ericsson
|
Sauber-Ferrari | 1:35.536 | 16 | ||
| 20 | 2 |  Stoffel Vandoorne
|
McLaren-Renault | 1:35.735 | 17 | ||
| 107% time: 1:40.719 | |||||||
| Source:[9] | |||||||
- Notes
- ^1 – Sebastian Vettel received a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently during a red flag period in Free Practice 1.[10]
- ^2 – Pierre Gasly received a 35-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.[11]
- ^3 – Brendon Hartley received a 40-place grid penalty: 35 places for exceeding his quota of power unit elements and 5 places for an unscheduled gearbox change.[11]
- ^4 – Max Verstappen received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.[12]
Race
[edit]The race began at 13:10 local time on October 21 and lasted for 56 laps.[13] Lewis Hamilton started the race on pole position, but was overtaken before the first corner by Kimi Räikkönen, who was on softer tyres. A chaotic start saw multiple early collisions, with yellow flags waved for a first-lap incident between Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, the latter of whom was forced to retire with chassis damage. Stroll was handed a five-second drive-through penalty for causing the crash.[14] Further up the grid, Romain Grosjean braked early while challenging Esteban Ocon, locking up and driving into Charles Leclerc. Grosjean retired his car, and was later handed one penalty point and a three-place grid drop at the next race for his role in the incident.[15]
Sebastian Vettel was also impacted on lap one, being spun by Daniel Ricciardo while competing for fourth position. His spin dropped him to fifteenth, boosting Hamilton's chances of securing the Drivers' Championship at the end of the race. Räikkönen was able to maintain his lead over Hamilton through the first lap; the first time he had gained a position on the opening lap of a Grand Prix since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[16]
On lap eight, Ricciardo retired with a power unit failure, causing the Virtual Safety Car to be deployed. Hamilton pitted under the safety car on lap 11, allowing him to swap tyres with less time lost to Räikkönen, who was instructed by the Ferrari pit wall to stay out. Räikkönen led the race from the resumption of racing until he entered the pit lane on lap 21, giving Hamilton the lead and rejoining the race in second. Max Verstappen, having fought his way up the field after starting fifteenth, undercut Valtteri Bottas for third position with a stop on lap 23; Bottas pitted a lap later. Following his early spin, Vettel had managed to return to the top of the order and pitted on lap 27, emerging fifth behind Bottas, Verstappen, Räikkönen, and Hamilton. Leclerc retired to the pits on lap 31, due to the damage sustained from his earlier collision with Grosjean.[16]
Hamilton was eventually forced to make a second stop on lap 38 due to his tyre wear, surrendering his lead and rejoining the race in fourth, ahead of Vettel. He overtook Bottas soon after his stop, but was unable to find a way past Verstappen, who defended strongly. By lap 54, Hamilton was side-by-side with Verstappen but ran wide at turn 18, with just over one lap left. On the penultimate lap, Vettel capitalised on Bottas' tyre wear, taking fourth position as the Mercedes driver ran wide of turn 12.[17]
Räikkönen crossed the line first, having successfully orchestrated a one-stop strategy. Hamilton was unable to complete his overtake and finished behind Verstappen, who took second. Vettel and Bottas finished fourth and fifth, followed by the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz.[16]
Race classification
[edit]- Notes
- ^1 – Esteban Ocon originally finished eighth, but was disqualified for exceeding fuel flow limits on lap 1.[19]
- ^2 – Kevin Magnussen originally finished ninth, but was disqualified for consuming more than 105 kg of fuel during the race.[20]
Championship standings after the race
[edit]
|
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
- Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References
[edit]- ^ "United States". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- ^ "Interval between two wins". StatsF1. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "Formula 1 results and standings for top drivers". Motorsport.com. 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "Formula 1 results and standings for top teams". Motorsport.com. 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "THE TITLE PERMUTATIONS: What Hamilton needs to do to be crowned F1 champion in Austin". Formula One. October 17, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "USA 2018 – Race entrants". StatsF1.com. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ "F1 Paddock Notebook - United States GP Friday". Crash.net. October 20, 2018. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ "United States Preview: The stats and info you need to know". Formula1.com. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ "Formula 1 Pirelli 2018 United States Grand Prix – Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
- ^ Gill, Peter; Galloway, James (October 19, 2018). "US GP: Sebastian Vettel demoted three grid places". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ a b "Formula 1 Pirelli 2018 United States Grand Prix – Austin – Final Starting Grid" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. October 21, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ Mitchell, Scott (October 21, 2018). "Max Verstappen takes gearbox grid penalty for F1 US Grand Prix". Autosport. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ "Formula 1 Schedule season 2018". Motorsport.com. 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "Lewis Hamilton must wait for fifth world title as Kimi Raikkonen wins in United States". BBC Sport. October 21, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "Grosjean escapes race ban after penalty for Leclerc clash". Formula One. October 21, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ a b c "REPORT: Raikkonen keeps Hamilton's title hopes on ice with superb USA victory". Formula One. October 21, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ Gill, Pete (December 4, 2018). "United States GP: Kimi Raikkonen wins to delay Lewis Hamilton's title bid". Sky Sports. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "Formula 1 Pirelli 2018 United States Grand Prix – Race Result". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. October 21, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
- ^ Noble, Jonathan (October 21, 2018). "Ocon disqualified from US GP for fuel infringement". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ Khorounzhiy, Valentin (October 21, 2018). "Kevin Magnussen excluded from F1 United States Grand Prix". Autosport. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ a b "United States 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved March 21, 2019.