Had it not been for a slow start and a first-lap collision with Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton clearly had the pace to win the British Grand Prix again.
After Raikkonen left him pointing the wrong way at turn three, Hamilton got going again and was officially classified as low as 17th as lap two began. From there he demolished the midfield with astonishing speed: He passed 11 cars in just nine laps as he regained his place about the leading six cars.
Mercedes’ tactical gamble to leave him out on worn tyres when the Safety Car came out helped him make up three more places and he picked up another when Valtteri Bottas ran into trouble with his tyres. The result was having lost 16 places on the first lap he only finished one place lower than he started.
The Red Bull drivers didn’t have the pace to challenge for victory: Daniel Ricciardo committed to a two-stop strategy but wasn’t quick enough at the end of the race to pass the ailing Bottas.
The fastest lap went to Sebastian Vettel, though Hamilton on worn tyres was impressively close to the race winners’ lap times over the final run to the flag.
Take a closer look at the interactive data from the British Grand Prix below.
[f1vision]
2018 British Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2018 British Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
Position change
| Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 1 | -16 | -1 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 3 | -1 | 0 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Max Verstappen | 5 | 2 | -10 |
| Sergio Perez | 12 | -7 | 1 |
| Esteban Ocon | 10 | 2 | 3 |
| Lance Stroll | 19 | 1 | 6 |
| Sergey Sirotkin | 18 | 2 | 4 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 11 | 5 | 5 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 16 | 7 | |
| Pierre Gasly | 14 | 2 | 4 |
| Brendon Hartley | 20 | 0 | |
| Romain Grosjean | 8 | -5 | |
| Kevin Magnussen | 7 | -3 | -2 |
| Fernando Alonso | 13 | 2 | 5 |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | 17 | 2 | 5 |
| Marcus Ericsson | 15 | 1 | |
| Charles Leclerc | 9 | 2 |
2018 British Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2018 British Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’30.696 | 47 | |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’30.795 | 0.099 | 51 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’31.245 | 0.549 | 52 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’31.377 | 0.681 | 43 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’31.589 | 0.893 | 46 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’32.007 | 1.311 | 42 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’33.405 | 2.709 | 48 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’33.465 | 2.769 | 48 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’33.472 | 2.776 | 48 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’33.482 | 2.786 | 52 |
| 11 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’33.551 | 2.855 | 48 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’33.604 | 2.908 | 48 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’33.606 | 2.910 | 48 |
| 14 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’33.675 | 2.979 | 26 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.869 | 3.173 | 48 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’34.391 | 3.695 | 28 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’34.602 | 3.906 | 25 |
| 18 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’34.620 | 3.924 | 52 |
| 19 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’35.209 | 4.513 | 3 |
| 20 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 2’54.472 | 83.776 | 1 |
2018 British Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastian Vettel | Soft (20) | Medium (13) | Soft (19) |
| Lewis Hamilton | Soft (25) | Medium (27) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Soft (13) | Medium (20) | Soft (19) |
| Valtteri Bottas | Soft (21) | Medium (31) | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (18) | Medium (12) | Soft (22) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Medium (20) | Hyper soft (32) | |
| Esteban Ocon | Soft (19) | Medium (33) | |
| Fernando Alonso | Soft (13) | Medium (19) | Soft (20) |
| Kevin Magnussen | Soft (25) | Medium (27) | |
| Pierre Gasly | Soft (20) | Medium (12) | Soft (20) |
| Sergio Perez | Soft (13) | Medium (19) | Soft (20) |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | Soft (21) | Medium (12) | Soft (19) |
| Lance Stroll | Medium (30) | Soft (22) | |
| Sergey Sirotkin | Soft (21) | Medium (31) | |
| Max Verstappen | Soft (17) | Medium (16) | Soft (13) |
| Romain Grosjean | Soft (26) | Medium (11) | |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Medium (17) | Hyper soft (15) | Soft (5) |
| Marcus Ericsson | Soft (24) | Medium (7) | |
| Charles Leclerc | Soft (18) | Medium (0) | |
| Brendon Hartley | Medium (1) |
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2018 British Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 27.774 | 30 | |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 27.865 | 0.091 | 18 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 27.894 | 0.120 | 21 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 28.000 | 0.226 | 33 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 28.001 | 0.227 | 30 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 28.078 | 0.304 | 32 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 28.085 | 0.311 | 32 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 28.174 | 0.400 | 33 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 28.194 | 0.420 | 18 |
| 10 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 28.207 | 0.433 | 24 |
| 11 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 28.224 | 0.450 | 21 |
| 12 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 28.284 | 0.510 | 21 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 28.450 | 0.676 | 25 |
| 14 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 28.458 | 0.684 | 17 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 28.651 | 0.877 | 13 |
| 16 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 28.658 | 0.884 | 33 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 28.669 | 0.895 | 13 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 28.676 | 0.902 | 20 |
| 19 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 28.677 | 0.903 | 20 |
| 20 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 28.719 | 0.945 | 20 |
| 21 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 28.836 | 1.062 | 32 |
| 22 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 28.982 | 1.208 | 25 |
| 23 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 28.985 | 1.211 | 33 |
| 24 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 29.074 | 1.300 | 17 |
| 25 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 29.254 | 1.480 | 26 |
| 26 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 29.410 | 1.636 | 19 |
| 27 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 29.766 | 1.992 | 32 |
| 28 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 38.573 | 10.799 | 13 |
2018 British Grand Prix
- Gasly told stewards he “enjoyed” pass which earned him penalty
- Williams not giving up on 2018 F1 car concept
- Did Grosjean’s crash spare Mercedes’ blushes? Six British GP strategy questions
- F1’s new Silverstone DRS zone not an “unnecessary danger” – FIA
- Renault has received a “wake-up call” from F1 rivals – Abiteboul
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
9th July 2018, 9:18
Alonso smelling blood up to the last turn by overtaking Magnussen. A shame we haven’t seen that. Alonso keeps his 8th position in the standings, how incredible!
Jere (@jerejj)
9th July 2018, 9:37
So close to beating the official lap record from last season.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
9th July 2018, 9:49
The end of the race clearly shows the huge gap between the top three teams and the rest: basically in 10 laps the leading pack pulled half a minute on the rest of the field.
MattDS (@mattds)
10th July 2018, 11:16
@keithcollantine think there’s an error in there… I don’t think the hypersofts were used this weekend. One might be surprised that the hards actually were used by some, but still :)