The Singapore Grand Prix 2018 was the 15th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, on September 16th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 25 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 14-17: 8 stops
- Laps 36-40: 7 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 24.340 seconds during his pit stop on lap 39, while the slowest one was was Sergey Sirotkin's, who stopped the clock at 34.022 seconds, 9.682 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 45.
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 2 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 2 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Sebastian Vettel
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-Lewis Hamilton
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-Nico Hülkenberg
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7Romain Grosjean
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-Valtteri Bottas
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-Max Verstappen
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
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2Pierre Gasly
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-Daniel Ricciardo
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4Carlos Sainz
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4Fernando Alonso
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4Charles Leclerc
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6Lance Stroll
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6Stoffel Vandoorne
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3Marcus Ericsson
2 stops
-
-Sergey Sirotkin
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-Brendon Hartley
3 stops
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9Sergio Pérez
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2Kevin Magnussen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.47 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 5.5 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 Marina Bay Street Circuit, 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 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Collision
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Esteban OconLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.319 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:36.015. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
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 13 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.