The Russian Grand Prix 2018 was the 16th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia, on September 30th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Valtteri Bottas, who originally had the pole position, and Sebastian Vettel 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 7-14: 12 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lance Stroll's, stopping the clock at 29.266 seconds during his pit stop on lap 7, while the slowest one was was Daniel Ricciardo's, who stopped the clock at 37.446 seconds, 8.180 seconds slower than Stroll, during his pit stop on lap 39.
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 Marcus Ericsson decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Brendon Hartley
-
2Fernando Alonso
-
1Lance Stroll
-
2Romain Grosjean
-
3Kevin Magnussen
-
3Esteban Ocon
-
-Charles Leclerc
-
5Sergey Sirotkin
-
1Stoffel Vandoorne
-
2Sergio Pérez
-
1Valtteri Bottas
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
1Lewis Hamilton
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
-
6Carlos Sainz
-
-Nico Hülkenberg
-
12Daniel Ricciardo
-
14Max Verstappen
2 stops
-
3Marcus Ericsson
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.29 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 3 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 Sochi Autodrom, 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, .
Brakes
-
Pierre GaslyLap 4
-
Brendon HartleyLap 4
Qualifying
Valtteri Bottas managed to get the pole position by 0.145 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:31.387. Lewis Hamilton 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 Sebastian Vettel in third position, and Kimi Räikkönen in fourth.
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 10 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 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.