The Mexican Grand Prix 2018 was the 19th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, on October 28th.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Daniel Ricciardo started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he suffered an engine malfunction, and had to retire on lap 61st.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 29 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 10-13: 10 stops
- Laps 47-48: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 21.777 seconds during his pit stop on lap 47, while the slowest one was was Marcus Ericsson's, who stopped the clock at 31.406 seconds, 9.629 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 16.
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, Max Verstappen, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
11Carlos Sainz
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6Sergey Sirotkin
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16Daniel Ricciardo
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1Nico Hülkenberg
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7Stoffel Vandoorne
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2Charles Leclerc
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1Marcus Ericsson
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3Kimi Räikkönen
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5Sergio Pérez
-
1Kevin Magnussen
2 stops
-
-Esteban Ocon
-
-Brendon Hartley
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10Pierre Gasly
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5Lance Stroll
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1Lewis Hamilton
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1Max Verstappen
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2Sebastian Vettel
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2Romain Grosjean
3 stops
-
-Valtteri Bottas
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 3 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.38 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any 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, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 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 4 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Daniel Ricciardo, and Fernando Alonso, both suffered an engine malfunction, Sergio Pérez, who saw the breaks of the car give up on lap 38, and Carlos Sainz, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 28.
Engine
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Daniel RicciardoLap 61
-
Fernando AlonsoLap 3
Brakes
-
Sergio PérezLap 38
Suspension
-
Carlos SainzLap 28
Qualifying
Daniel Ricciardo managed to get the pole position by 0.026 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:14.759. Max Verstappen was right behind him, helping Red Bull score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
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 9 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.