2018 Russian Grand Prix

2018 Russian Grand Prix
Race 16 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship ←  Previous race Next race  →
Layout of the Sochi Autodrom
Race details [1]
Date	30 September 2018
Official name	Formula 1 2018 VTB Russian Grand Prix
Location	Sochi Autodrom, Adlersky City District, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.848 km (3.634 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 309.745 km (192.467 miles)
Weather	Cloudy
Pole position
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:31.387
Fastest lap
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:35.861 on lap 50
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Third	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2018 Russian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 2018 VTB Russian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 30 September 2018 at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia. ^[1] The race was the 16th round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the 7th running of the Russian Grand Prix and the 5th time the race had been held in Sochi. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a 40-point lead over Sebastian Vettel in the Drivers' Championship. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led Ferrari by 37 points. ^[5] The race was one of controversy, as Mercedes enacted team orders to swap their two drivers, handing Lewis Hamilton the win and Valtteri Bottas would move to 2nd place for the race finish. ^[6] The race result sparked discussion regarding the future of team orders in the sport, and some even going as to call for an outright ban on the practice. ^[7]

Report

Background

The race was moved from its April date to September to fill the vacancy of the Malaysian Grand Prix, which was discontinued at the end of the 2017 Formula One season. ^{[8] [9]} During the weekend, the first DRS zone was extended by 100 meters so that the beginning of the DRS zone started 95 meters before turn 1. ^[10]

Practice

Artem Markelov replaced Carlos Sainz Jr. at Renault during the first practice session.

Qualifying

Bottas took pole ahead of Hamilton ahead of Vettel with a Q2 exit for Red Bull Racing drivers of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. It was Red Bull's last double elimination until the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.

Race

At the start, Sebastian Vettel got a better start than Lewis Hamilton but there was no room to overtake heading into turn one. ^[11] On lap 4, both Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley suffered brake failures which forced both to retire; they were the only retirements of the race. ^[12] Later on lap 14, Hamilton made his one and only pitstop of the race, putting him behind Vettel. ^[11] Two laps later, Hamilton made a move on Vettel at turn 3 and passed him into fourth place into turn 4. ^[11]

The most notable moment of the race came on lap 26, when Mercedes asked Valtteri Bottas to let Hamilton through into second at turn 13, gifting the Briton the race win. ^[11] Max Verstappen, who led the race since lap 19, came in for his pitstop on lap 42. ^{[11] [13]} Hamilton won the race for the third time in his career, with Bottas second and Vettel completing the podium in third place. ^{[3] [14]} As a consequence, Hamilton extended his lead over Vettel in the championship to 50 points. ^[15]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:32.964	1:32.744	1:31.387	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:32.410	1:32.595	1:31.532	2
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:33.476	1:33.045	1:31.943	3
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:33.341	1:33.065	1:32.237	4
5	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:34.078	1:33.747	1:33.181	5
6	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:34.290	1:33.596	1:33.413	6
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:33.924	1:33.488	1:33.419	7
8	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:34.084	1:33.923	1:33.563	8
9	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:34.022	1:33.517	1:33.704	9
10	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:34.170	1:33.995	1:35.196	10
11	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:33.048	No time		19 1
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:33.247	No time		18 2
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:34.383	No time		17 3
14	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	1:34.626	No time		11
15	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:34.655	No time		12
16	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:35.037			20 4
17	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:35.504			16 5
18	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:35.612			13
19	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	1:35.977			15 6
20	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:36.437			14
107% time: 1:38.878
Source: [16]

Notes

• ^1 – Max Verstappen received a 43-place grid penalty: 35 places for exceeding his quota of power unit elements, 5 places for an unscheduled gearbox change and 3 places for a yellow flag infringement in qualifying. ^[17]
• ^2 – Daniel Ricciardo received a 40-place grid penalty: 35 places for exceeding his quota of power unit elements and 5 places for an unscheduled gearbox change. ^[17]
• ^3 – Pierre Gasly received a 35-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. ^[18]
• ^4 – Brendon Hartley received a 40-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. ^[18]
• ^5 – Fernando Alonso received a 30-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. ^[18]
• ^6 – Stoffel Vandoorne received a 5-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. ^[19]

Despite receiving no penalties, both of the Renault drivers elected not to run any laps on Q2 due to them automatically receiving places 11 and 12. They were then able to start the race on fresh tyres of their choice. ^[20]

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1:27:25.181	2	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	+2.545	1	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	53	+7.487	3	15
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	+16.543	4	12
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	53	+31.016	19	10
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	53	+1:20.451	18	8
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	53	+1:38.390	7	6
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	5	4
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	6	2
10	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	8	1
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	9
12	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	52	+1 lap	12
13	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	10
14	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	52	+1 lap	16
15	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	14
16	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	51	+2 laps	15
17	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	51	+2 laps	11
18	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	51	+2 laps	13
Ret	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	4	Brakes	17
Ret	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	4	Brakes	20
Source: [12]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton* 306 2 Sebastian Vettel* 256 1 3 Valtteri Bottas* 189 1 4 Kimi Räikkönen* 186 5 Max Verstappen 158 Source: [15]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes* 495 2 Ferrari* 442 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer* 292 4 Renault 91 5 Haas-Ferrari 80 Source: [15]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

See also

• 2018 Sochi Formula 2 round
• 2018 Sochi GP3 Series round

References

1. "Russia". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
2. "Grand Prix Winners 1895–1916". www.kolumbus.fi. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
3. "Russia 2018". StatsF1. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
4. "Grands Prix – Russia". StatsF1. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
5. "Singapore 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
6. Richards, Giles (30 September 2018). "Lewis Hamilton wins Russian Grand Prix but is unhappy with team orders". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 11 January 2019.
7. "Opinion: Why Mercedes used team orders – and why they were right to do so". Formula1.com. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
8. "Советник Козака: перенос Гран-при России "Формулы-1" на осень сделан в интересах зрителей". ТАСС (in Russian). Retrieved 11 January 2019.
9. "Malaysian Grand Prix: A final farewell to the Sepang circuit". BBC Sport. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
10. "First DRS zone in Sochi extended". F1Today.net. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
11. "Report: Hamilton takes victory in Russia as Bottas moves aside". Formula1.com. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
12. "Formula 1 2018 VTB Russian Grand Prix – Race Result". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
13. "Russia 2018 – Laps led". StatsF1. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
14. "Sochi". StatsF1. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
15. "Russia 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
16. "Formula 1 2018 VTB Russian Grand Prix – Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
17. "Verstappen hit with further grid drop for yellow flag breach". Formula1.com. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
18. "Red Bulls, Toro Rossos and Alonso set for Russia grid penalties for changing multiple power unit elements". Formula1.com. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
19. "Vandoorne hit with Sochi grid penalty after gearbox change". Crash. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
20. "F1: Renault on not appearing in Q2 for qualifying in the 2018 Russian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Retrieved 11 January 2019.

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