2018 Japanese Grand Prix

2018 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 17 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Suzuka International Racing Course
Race details[1]
Date	7 October 2018 (2018-10-07)
Official name	Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.807 km (3.608 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 307.471 km (191.053 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:27.760
Fastest lap
Driver	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Time	1:32.318 on lap 53
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Third	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
show Lap leaders

The 2018 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One racing event held on 7 October 2018 at the Suzuka International Racing Course in Suzuka in the Mie Prefecture, Japan. The race was the seventeenth round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the 44th running of the Japanese Grand Prix. The 2018 event was the 34th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in 1950, and the 30th time that it had been held at Suzuka.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a fifty-point lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the World Drivers' Championship. Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas sat third, a further 67 points behind. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a lead of fifty-three points over Ferrari, with Red Bull Racing a further one hundred and fifty points behind in third place.

Qualifying[]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:28.702	1:28.017	1:27.760	1
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:29.297	1:27.987	1:28.059	2
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:29.480	1:28.849	1:29.057	3
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:29.631	1:28.595	1:29.521	4
5	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:29.724	1:29.678	1:29.761	5
6	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:30.248	1:29.848	1:30.023	6
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:30.137	1:29.810	1:30.093	7
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:29.899	1:29.538	1:30.126	111
9	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:29.049	1:28.279	1:32.192	8
10	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:30.247	1:29.567	1:37.229	9
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:29.706	1:29.864		10
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:30.219	1:30.226		12
13	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	1:30.236	1:30.490		13
14	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:30.317	1:30.714		14
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:29.806	No time		15
16	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:30.361			16
17	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:30.372			17
18	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:30.573			18
19	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	1:31.041			19
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:31.213			202
107% time: 1:34.911
Source:[2]

Notes

• ^1 – Esteban Ocon received a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently during a red flag period in FP3.
• ^2 – Marcus Ericsson received a 15-place grid penalty: 10 places for change his power unit and 5 places for an unscheduled gearbox change.

Race[]

Lewis Hamilton won whilst leading every lap. Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton's championship rival, clashed with Max Verstappen, Vettel would recover to finish 6th after spinning to the back of the field. Valtteri Bottas finished second behind Lewis Hamilton, with Verstappen finishing third.^[3]

Race classification[]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1:27:17.062	1	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	+12.919	2	18
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	53	+14.295	3	15
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	53	+19.495	15	12
5	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	+50.998	4	10
6	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	53	+1:09.873	8	8
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	53	+1:19.379	9	6
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	53	+1:27.198	5	4
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	53	+1:28.055	11	2
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	52	+1 lap	13	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	52	+1 lap	7
12	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	20
13	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	52	+1 lap	6
14	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	52	+1 lap	18
15	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	52	+1 lap	19
16	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	17
17	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	14
Ret	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	38	Mechanical	10
Ret	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	37	Engine	16
Ret	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	8	Collision damage	12
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 331 2 Sebastian Vettel 264 3 Valtteri Bottas 207 4 Kimi Räikkönen 196 5 Max Verstappen 173 Source: [5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 538 2 Ferrari 460 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 319 4 Renault 92 5 Haas-Ferrari 84 Source: [5]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

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