The Brazilian Grand Prix 2018 was the 20th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 11th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 25 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 15-19: 6 stops
- Laps 39-41: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 22.551 seconds during his pit stop on lap 27, while the slowest one was was Fernando Alonso's, who stopped the clock at 33.753 seconds, 11.202 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 15.
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 1 stop. Only Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz, Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Ocon decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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2Sergey Sirotkin
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14Marcus Ericsson
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-Lewis Hamilton
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4Pierre Gasly
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6Stoffel Vandoorne
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1Kimi Räikkönen
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-Romain Grosjean
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3Max Verstappen
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-Charles Leclerc
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2Sergio Pérez
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7Daniel Ricciardo
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1Kevin Magnussen
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5Brendon Hartley
2 stops
-
-Fernando Alonso
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1Lance Stroll
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2Valtteri Bottas
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3Carlos Sainz
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4Sebastian Vettel
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3Esteban Ocon
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.58 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.17 positions.
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 Autódromo José Carlos Pace, 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 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Nico Hülkenberg, who suffered from an overall car overhating on lap 32, and Marcus Ericsson, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 20.
Overheating
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Nico HülkenbergLap 32
Collision
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Marcus EricssonLap 20
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.093 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:07.281. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sebastian Vettel.
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 13 out of the 15 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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.