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The German Grand Prix 2018 was the 11th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany, on July 22nd.
Lewis Hamilton won the race with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 14th position of the grid, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Sebastian Vettel started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he had to retire due to an accident, and had to retire on lap 51st.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 40 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 20-22: 5 stops
- Laps 27-29: 6 stops
- Laps 42-43: 4 stops
- Laps 46-48: 5 stops
- Laps 50-53: 10 stops
- Laps 55-56: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 18.657 seconds during his pit stop on lap 25, while the slowest one was was Kevin Magnussen's, who stopped the clock at 34.742 seconds, 16.085 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 51.
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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
3Sergio Pérez
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17Sebastian Vettel
-
7Esteban Ocon
-
4Marcus Ericsson
-
13Lewis Hamilton
2 stops
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
-
1Lance Stroll
-
-Valtteri Bottas
-
7Brendon Hartley
-
7Sergey Sirotkin
-
6Stoffel Vandoorne
-
2Pierre Gasly
3 stops
-
2Nico Hülkenberg
-
6Kevin Magnussen
-
4Carlos Sainz
-
6Charles Leclerc
-
-Romain Grosjean
-
-Max Verstappen
-
5Fernando Alonso
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 6.75 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 2.33 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 Hockenheimring, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Fernando Alonso, who had to retire on lap 65, Lance Stroll, Sergey Sirotkin, and Daniel Ricciardo, all of whom suffered an engine malfunction, and Sebastian Vettel, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 51.
Retired
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 65
Engine
-
Lance StrollLap 53
-
Sergey SirotkinLap 51
-
Daniel RicciardoLap 27
Accident
-
Sebastian VettelLap 51
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.204 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:11.212. 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 11 out of the 13 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.