The Canadian Grand Prix 2018 was the 7th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, on June 10th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Max Verstappen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 20 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 16-19: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Fernando Alonso's, stopping the clock at 23.099 seconds during his pit stop on lap 18, while the slowest one was was Stoffel Vandoorne's, who stopped the clock at 41.008 seconds, 17.909 seconds slower than Alonso, during his pit stop on lap 1.
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 Stoffel Vandoorne and Sergio Pérez decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
4Marcus Ericsson
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1Esteban Ocon
-
-Nico Hülkenberg
-
1Carlos Sainz
-
-Max Verstappen
-
1Lewis Hamilton
-
2Daniel Ricciardo
-
4Fernando Alonso
-
3Charles Leclerc
-
2Kevin Magnussen
-
5Pierre Gasly
-
1Sergey Sirotkin
-
1Kimi Räikkönen
-
-Valtteri Bottas
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
8Romain Grosjean
2 stops
-
1Stoffel Vandoorne
-
4Sergio Pérez
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.27 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 2.5 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 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 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, Fernando Alonso, who suffered from problems with the exhaust on lap 40, and Brendon Hartley, and Lance Stroll, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Exhaust
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 40
Collision
-
Brendon HartleyLap 0
-
Lance StrollLap 0
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.093 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:10.764. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Valtteri Bottas.
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 14 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.