2018 Japanese Grand Prix

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The 2005 layout of the Suzuka Circuit

Race Details

Date

October 7, 2018

Official Name

Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix

Location

Suzuka Circuit
Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, Japan

Course

Permanent racing facility
5.807 km (3.608 mi)

Distance

53 laps, 307.771 km (191.240 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	Second	Third
Lewis Hamilton	Valtteri Bottas	Max Verstappen

Lap Leaders

The 2018 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix)^[1] was the seventeenth race of the 2018 Formula One season, the thirty-fourth time the Japanese Grand Prix was held on the Formula One calendar, and the thirtieth time it was held at the Suzuka Circuit. It was held between 5 October and 7 October 2018.

In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton took his eightieth overall pole position, his second at the Suzuka Circuit, after Sebastian Vettel was unable to qualify higher than ninth due to going wide on his first flying lap in Q3 while a rainfall hit the final minutes of qualifying, though he was later promoted to eighth following a three-place grid penalty for Esteban Ocon. Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen qualified second and third, respectively.

In the race, Hamilton kept the lead while Bottas held off Verstappen at the first corner. Verstappen went wide at Turn 15, but squeezed Kimi Räikkönen off the track after rejoining at Turn 16, thus allowing Vettel to pass Räikkönen. Charles Leclerc then went into the back of Kevin Magnussen on the start/finish straight on lap 2, giving Magnussen a puncture. The debris from Magnussen's tyre later resulted in the safety car being deployed on lap 4, and it stayed out until the end of lap 7. On lap 8, Vettel made a move on Verstappen at Spoon, but the two made contact, dropping Vettel to the back of the field while Verstappen remained in third place. Vettel made his way up to sixth, as Hamilton took his seventy-first overall victory, putting him sixty-three points ahead of Vettel in the championship, while Bottas held off Verstappen to take second, and Verstappen had to settle for third.

Background[]

Weather Conditions
Practice 1	Practice 2	Practice 3
Cloudy	Cloudy	Light Rain

Qualifying	Race
Light Rain	Sunny

Entry list[]

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	Mercedes	W09 EQ Power+	Mercedes	M09 EQ Power+	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	Mercedes	W09 EQ Power+	Mercedes	M09 EQ Power+	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF71H	Ferrari	062 EVO	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF71H	Ferrari	062 EVO	P
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB14	TAG Heuer	TAG Heuer	P
33	Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB14	TAG Heuer	TAG Heuer	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM11	Mercedes	M09 EQ Power+	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Racing Point Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM11	Mercedes	M09 EQ Power+	P
18	Lance Stroll	Williams Martini Racing	Williams	FW41	Mercedes	M09 EQ Power+	P
35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams Martini Racing	Williams	FW41	Mercedes	M09 EQ Power+	P
27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault Sport Formula One Team	Renault	R.S.18	Renault	R.E.18	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Renault Sport Formula One Team	Renault	R.S.18	Renault	R.E.18	P
28	Brendon Hartley	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	Toro Rosso	STR13	Honda	RA618H	P
10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	Toro Rosso	STR13	Honda	RA618H	P
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-18	Ferrari	062 EVO	P
20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-18	Ferrari	062 EVO	P
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL33	Renault	R.E.18	P
2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL33	Renault	R.E.18	P
9	Marcus Ericsson	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C37	Ferrari	062 EVO	P
16	Charles Leclerc	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C37	Ferrari	062 EVO	P
Free Practice 1 only
47	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL33	Renault	R.E.18	P
source

Practice Overview[]

FP1[]

FP2[]

FP3[]

Practice Results[]

No	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2		FP3
No	Driver	Team	Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos
2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	DNP	21 !	1:31.981	20	1:33.034	19
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1:29.373	3	1:29.513	6	1:30.474	6
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:29.685	5	1:29.050	3	1:29.715	2
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:29.627	4	1:29.498	5	1:30.054	3
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:30.814	8	1:30.440	8	1:31.636	11
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:31.073	10	1:30.478	9	1:32.442	16
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:31.073	11	1:30.795	13	1:33.105	20
11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:31.272	13	1:30.510	11	1:31.483	8
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:32.034	18	1:30.988	17	1:32.608	17
16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:30.929	9	1:30.906	15	1:31.760	12
18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:31.508	16	1:31.215	19	1:32.201	14
20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:31.274	14	1:30.956	16	1:31.521	10
27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:31.418	15	1:30.644	12	1:32.224	15
28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:31.908	17	1:30.502	10	1:32.030	13
31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:30.591	7	1:30.035	7	1:31.088	7
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1:29.841	6	1:29.257	4	1:30.304	4
35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:32.513	19	1:31.087	18	1:32.631	18
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:28.691	1	1:28.217	1	1:29.599	1
47	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1:32.683	20	DNP	22 !	DNP	22 !
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Renault	1:31.100	12	1:30.904	14	1:31.513	9
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:29.137	2	1:28.678	2	1:30.422	5
Source: ^[2]^[3]^[4]

Qualifying[]

Q1[]

Q2[]

Q3[]

Qualifying Results[]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Grid
Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Q1		Q2		Q3		Grid
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1	1:28.702	2	1:28.017	1	1:27.760	1
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	3	1:29.297	1	1:27.987	2	1:28.059	2
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	4	1:29.480	5	1:28.849	3	1:29.057	3
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	5	1:29.631	4	1:28.595	4	1:29.521	4
5	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	7	1:29.724	8	1:29.678	5	1:29.761	5
6	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	14	1:30.248	10	1:29.848	6	1:30.023	6
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	10	1:30.137	9	1:29.810	7	1:30.093	7
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	9	1:29.899	6	1:29.538	8	1:30.126	11*
9	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	2	1:29.049	3	1:28.279	9	1:32.192	8
10	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	13	1:30.247	7	1:29.567	10	1:37.229	9
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	6	1:29.706	11	1:29.864			10
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	11	1:39.219	12	1:30.226			12
13	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Renault	12	1:30.236	13	1:30.490			13
14	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	15	1:30.317	14	1:30.714			14
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	8	1:29.806	15	no time			15
16	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	16	1:30.361					16
17	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	17	1:30.372					17
18	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	18	1:30.579					18
19	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	19	1:31.041					19
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	20	1:31.213					20^†
107% time: 1:34.911
Source: ^[5]

* Ocon received a three-place grid penalty for speeding under red flags in FP3.^[5]
^† Ericsson was given a fifteen-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and the use of his third ES.^[6]^[7]

Grid[]

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Lewis Hamilton	2
	______________	Valtteri Bottas
Row 2	3	______________
	Max Verstappen	4
	______________	Kimi Räikkönen
Row 3	5	______________
	Romain Grosjean	6
	______________	Brendon Hartley
Row 4	7	______________
	Pierre Gasly	8
	______________	Sebastian Vettel
Row 5	9	______________
	Sergio Pérez	10
	______________	Charles Leclerc
Row 6	11	______________
	Esteban Ocon*	12
	______________	Kevin Magnussen
Row 7	13	______________
	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	14
	______________	Lance Stroll
Row 8	15	______________
	Daniel Ricciardo	16
	______________	Nico Hülkenberg
Row 9	17	______________
	Sergey Sirotkin	18
	______________	Fernando Alonso
Row 10	19	______________
	Stoffel Vandoorne	20
	______________	Marcus Ericsson^†

Source

* Ocon received a three-place grid penalty for speeding under red flags in FP3.^[5]
^† Ericsson was given a fifteen-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and the use of his third ES.^[6]^[7]

Race[]

Report[]

Results[]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	53	1h 27m 17.062s	1	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	53	+12.919s	2	18
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	53	+14.295s	3	15
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	53	+19.495s	15	12
5	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	53	+50.998s	4	10
6	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	53	+69.873s	8	8
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	53	+79.379s	9	6
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	53	+87.198s	5	4
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	53	+88.055s	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: ^[8]

Milestones[]

Lewis Hamilton's 225th entry and start.
Sebastian Vettel's 215th start (216th entry).
Lewis Hamilton matches his nine wins from 2017.
Valtteri Bottas' 30th podium.
Fernando Alonso beats Rubens Barrichello for the second-highest number of laps raced.

Standings[]

Drivers' World Championship
Pos.	Driver	Pts.	+/-
1	Lewis Hamilton	331	—
2	Sebastian Vettel	264	—
3	Valtteri Bottas	207	—
4	Kimi Räikkönen	196	—
5	Max Verstappen	173	—
6	Daniel Ricciardo	146	—
7	Sergio Pérez	53	▲4
8	Kevin Magnussen	53	▼1
9	Nico Hülkenberg	53	▼1
10	Fernando Alonso	50	▼1
11	Esteban Ocon	49	▼1
12	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	39	—
13	Romain Grosjean	31	▲1
14	Pierre Gasly	28	▼1
15	Charles Leclerc	21	—
16	Stoffel Vandoorne	8	—
17	Lance Stroll	6	—
18	Marcus Ericsson	6	—
19	Brendon Hartley	2	—
20	Sergey Sirotkin	1	—

Constructors World Championship
Pos.	Team	Pts.	+/-
1	Mercedes	538	—
2	Ferrari	460	—
3	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	319	—
4	Renault	92	—
5	Haas-Ferrari	84	—
6	McLaren-Renault	58	—
7	Force India-Mercedes	43	—
8	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	30	—
9	Sauber-Ferrari	27	—
10	Williams-Mercedes	7	—

Only point scoring drivers are shown.

Notes[]

↑ "Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2018/Japan.html. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
↑ "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Practice 1 results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 5 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/practice-1.html. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
↑ "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Practice 2 results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 5 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/practice-2.html. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
↑ "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Practice 3 results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 6 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/practice-3.html. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 6 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/qualifying.html. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 30". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 7 October 2018. https://www.fia.com/file/73627/download?token=zJDCV5dX. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 31". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 7 October 2018. https://www.fia.com/file/73628/download?token=rEjP7-Pi. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
↑ "Japan Grand Prix 2018 Race Results". formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 7 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/race-result.html. Retrieved 7 October 2018.

V T E	2018 Formula One Season
Teams	Ferrari • Force India • Force India (Racing Point) • Haas • McLaren • Mercedes • Red Bull • Renault • Sauber • Toro Rosso • Williams
Engines	Ferrari • Honda • Mercedes • Renault • TAG Heuer
Drivers alphabetically	Alonso • Bottas • Ericsson • Gasly • Grosjean • Hamilton • Hartley • Hülkenberg • Leclerc • Magnussen • Ocon • Pérez • Räikkönen • Ricciardo • Sainz • Sirotkin • Stroll • Vandoorne • Verstappen • Vettel
Drivers by number	2 Vandoorne • 3 Ricciardo • 5 Vettel • 7 Räikkönen • 8 Grosjean • 9 Ericsson • 10 Gasly • 11 Pérez • 14 Alonso • 16 Leclerc • 18 Stroll • 20 Magnussen • 27 Hülkenberg • 28 Hartley • 31 Ocon • 33 Verstappen • 35 Sirotkin • 44 Hamilton • 55 Sainz • 77 Bottas
Other Drivers	Aitken • Buemi • Calderón • Dennis • Gelael • Giovinazzi • Gutiérrez • Kubica • Kvyat • Latifi • Markelov • Mazepin • Norris • Rowland • Russell • Turvey • Wehrlein
Cars	Ferrari SF71H • Force India VJM11 • Haas VF-18 • McLaren MCL33 • Mercedes AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ • Red Bull RB14 • Renault R.S.18 • Sauber C37 • Toro Rosso STR13 • Williams FW41
Tyres	Pirelli
Races	Australia • Bahrain • China • Azerbaijan • Spain • Monaco • Canada • France • Austria • Britain • Germany • Hungary • Belgium • Italy • Singapore • Russia • Japan • United States • Mexico • Brazil • Abu Dhabi
See also	2017 Formula One Season • 2019 Formula One Season • Category

V T E	Japanese Grand Prix
Circuits	Fuji (1976–1977, 2007–2008), Suzuka (1987–2006, 2009–present)
Races	1976 • 1977 • 1978–1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • ~~2020~~ • ~~2021~~ • 2022 • 2023
See also	Pacific Grand Prix

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[1] "Formula 1 2018 Honda Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2018/Japan.html. Retrieved 4 October 2018.

[2] "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Practice 1 results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 5 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/practice-1.html. Retrieved 5 October 2018.

[3] "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Practice 2 results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 5 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/practice-2.html. Retrieved 5 October 2018.

[4] "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Practice 3 results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 6 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/practice-3.html. Retrieved 6 October 2018.

[JPN_quali-5] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 "2018 Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying results". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 6 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/qualifying.html. Retrieved 6 October 2018.

[Ericsson_penalty_1-6] 6.0 ^6.1 "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 30". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 7 October 2018. https://www.fia.com/file/73627/download?token=zJDCV5dX. Retrieved 7 October 2018.

[Ericsson_penalty_2-7] 7.0 ^7.1 "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 31". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 7 October 2018. https://www.fia.com/file/73628/download?token=rEjP7-Pi. Retrieved 7 October 2018.

[results-8] "Japan Grand Prix 2018 Race Results". formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 7 October 2018. https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/races/995/japan/race-result.html. Retrieved 7 October 2018.

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