The Bahrain Grand Prix 2018 was the 2nd round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on April 8th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 33 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 13-16: 6 stops
- Laps 18-20: 5 stops
- Laps 26-28: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 24.302 seconds during his pit stop on lap 26, while the slowest one was was Brendon Hartley's, who stopped the clock at 36.646 seconds, 12.344 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 20.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 6 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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4Max Verstappen
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-Sebastian Vettel
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16Kimi Räikkönen
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1Valtteri Bottas
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8Marcus Ericsson
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6Lewis Hamilton
2 stops
-
7Charles Leclerc
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4Sergio Pérez
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6Stoffel Vandoorne
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6Lance Stroll
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1Kevin Magnussen
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6Fernando Alonso
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1Pierre Gasly
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1Nico Hülkenberg
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2Esteban Ocon
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1Carlos Sainz
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6Brendon Hartley
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3Sergey Sirotkin
3 stops
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3Romain Grosjean
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 3.75 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.5 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Bahrain International Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Kimi Räikkönen, who had a wheel problem on lap 35, Max Verstappen, who had a puncture that could not be repaired on lap 3, and Daniel Ricciardo, who suffered from electrical problems on lap 1.
Wheel
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 35
Puncture
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Max VerstappenLap 3
Electrical
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Daniel RicciardoLap 1
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.143 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:27.958. Kimi Räikkönen was right behind him, helping Ferrari score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas in third position, and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 14 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.