The Hungarian Grand Prix 2018 was the 12th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, on July 29th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Räikkönen 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 22-25: 5 stops
- Laps 38-40: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lance Stroll's, stopping the clock at 21.291 seconds during his pit stop on lap 47, while the slowest one was was Kevin Magnussen's, who stopped the clock at 25.126 seconds, 3.835 seconds slower than Stroll, during his pit stop on lap 31.
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 Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Hülkenberg decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
1Marcus Ericsson
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3Valtteri Bottas
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5Sergio Pérez
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3Brendon Hartley
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-Lewis Hamilton
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4Carlos Sainz
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-Romain Grosjean
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2Kevin Magnussen
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4Sergey Sirotkin
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-Pierre Gasly
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3Fernando Alonso
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2Sebastian Vettel
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5Esteban Ocon
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2Stoffel Vandoorne
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8Daniel Ricciardo
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2Lance Stroll
2 stops
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
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1Nico Hülkenberg
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.07 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 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 Hungaroring, 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, Stoffel Vandoorne, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 49, Max Verstappen, who suffered a power loss on lap 5, and Charles Leclerc, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 0.
Gearbox
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Stoffel VandoorneLap 49
Power loss
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Max VerstappenLap 5
Suspension
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Charles LeclercLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.26 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:35.658. Valtteri Bottas was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Ferrari, with Kimi Räikkönen in third position, and Sebastian Vettel in fourth.
Track evolution
The conditions of the track worsened from Q1 to Q2, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q1 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. However, the conditions of the track worsened from Q2 to Q3, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.