Following his remarkable climb from 14th on the grid to win the German Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was asked whether the speed with which he was catching the front-runners put Sebastian Vettel under pressure and contributed to the Ferrari driver’s crash.
Hamilton pointed out this was unlikely unless Vettel was being told his lead over the fourth-placed driver at the time, which it seems he wasn’t. Nonetheless, Hamilton made remarkable progress in the laps before Vettel crashed out. And the Ferrari driver had just matched Hamilton’s pace for the first time in the wet period of the race when he went off.
He gained nine places in the first 14 laps to take up fifth place, leaving him with just Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and the two Ferraris ahead. These were always going to be the hardest cars for Hamilton pass.
[f1vision]
Starting on fresh tyres allowed him to run a long first stint and switch to ultra-softs for the sprint to the chequered flag. But rain was beginning to fall as he began his second stint, and this was where Hamilton really began to catch the leaders.
Over the seven laps after he left the pits Hamilton almost halved Vettel’s lead from 23.7 seconds to 12.1 by lap 50. That time around Hamilton was 2.2 seconds quicker than Vettel, but the next time by the Ferrari driver, on much older rubber, matched Hamilton’s lap time of 1’29.2.
That was his last complete lap. When he reached the hairpin in the Motodrom on the next lap, Vettel skidded into the barrier.
While Hamilton made up an impressive 13 places to take his win, the next-biggest improvement was Esteban Ocon’s seven=place climb to take eighth place. Kevin Magnussen lost the same number of places, unable to recover from the tactical error of fitting intermediates, though his team mate did the same yet still came in sixth.
2018 German 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:
2018 German 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 | 14 | 1 | 13 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 1 | 0 | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 19 | 0 | |
| Max Verstappen | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Sergio Perez | 10 | 2 | 3 |
| Esteban Ocon | 15 | 3 | 7 |
| Lance Stroll | 17 | 1 | |
| Sergey Sirotkin | 12 | -2 | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 8 | -1 | -2 |
| Pierre Gasly | 20 | 2 | 6 |
| Brendon Hartley | 16 | -1 | 5 |
| Romain Grosjean | 6 | -1 | 0 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 5 | 0 | -7 |
| Fernando Alonso | 11 | 0 | -5 |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | 18 | -2 | 5 |
| Marcus Ericsson | 13 | -2 | 4 |
| Charles Leclerc | 9 | -1 | -6 |
2018 German 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 German Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’15.545 | 66 | |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’15.721 | 0.176 | 65 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’15.852 | 0.307 | 66 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’15.990 | 0.445 | 64 |
| 5 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’16.716 | 1.171 | 66 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’17.290 | 1.745 | 39 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’17.430 | 1.885 | 63 |
| 8 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.537 | 1.992 | 67 |
| 9 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’17.681 | 2.136 | 66 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’17.697 | 2.152 | 66 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’17.741 | 2.196 | 60 |
| 12 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’17.745 | 2.200 | 65 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’17.762 | 2.217 | 66 |
| 14 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’17.852 | 2.307 | 64 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’17.867 | 2.322 | 66 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’17.910 | 2.365 | 66 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’17.941 | 2.396 | 64 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’18.262 | 2.717 | 22 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.861 | 3.316 | 35 |
| 20 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.934 | 3.389 | 36 |
2018 German Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Soft (42) | Ultra soft (25) | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | Ultra soft (28) | Soft (24) | Ultra soft (15) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ultra soft (14) | Soft (39) | Ultra soft (14) | |
| Max Verstappen | Ultra soft (29) | Soft (17) | Intermediate (2) | Ultra soft (19) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Ultra soft (18) | Medium (33) | Intermediate (4) | Ultra soft (12) |
| Romain Grosjean | Ultra soft (21) | Medium (30) | Intermediate (4) | Ultra soft (12) |
| Sergio Perez | Ultra soft (22) | Soft (45) | ||
| Esteban Ocon | Ultra soft (25) | Soft (42) | ||
| Marcus Ericsson | Soft (38) | Ultra soft (29) | ||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ultra soft (20) | Medium (30) | Intermediate (6) | Ultra soft (11) |
| Brendon Hartley | Soft (28) | Medium (24) | Ultra soft (15) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Ultra soft (20) | Medium (31) | Intermediate (4) | Ultra soft (12) |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | Soft (29) | Medium (23) | Ultra soft (15) | |
| Pierre Gasly | Soft (43) | Wet (3) | Ultra soft (20) | |
| Charles Leclerc | Ultra soft (20) | Soft (23) | Intermediate (3) | Ultra soft (20) |
| Fernando Alonso | Soft (31) | Medium (12) | Intermediate (4) | Soft (18) |
| Lance Stroll | Soft (27) | Medium (23) | Intermediate (3) | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ultra soft (25) | Soft (26) | ||
| Sergey Sirotkin | Soft (28) | Medium (23) | Intermediate (0) | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Medium (27) |
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2018 German Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 18.657 | 25 | |
| 2 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 18.840 | 0.183 | 38 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 18.956 | 0.299 | 31 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 18.978 | 0.321 | 42 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 19.087 | 0.430 | 48 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 19.188 | 0.531 | 28 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 19.267 | 0.610 | 20 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 19.297 | 0.640 | 46 |
| 9 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 19.309 | 0.652 | 28 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 19.476 | 0.819 | 27 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 19.512 | 0.855 | 46 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 19.526 | 0.869 | 50 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 19.570 | 0.913 | 25 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 19.584 | 0.927 | 18 |
| 15 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 19.621 | 0.964 | 52 |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 19.637 | 0.980 | 50 |
| 17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 19.647 | 0.990 | 14 |
| 18 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 19.742 | 1.085 | 29 |
| 19 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 19.752 | 1.095 | 55 |
| 20 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 19.778 | 1.121 | 29 |
| 21 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 19.806 | 1.149 | 43 |
| 22 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 19.818 | 1.161 | 20 |
| 23 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 19.985 | 1.328 | 52 |
| 24 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 19.988 | 1.331 | 53 |
| 25 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 20.160 | 1.503 | 20 |
| 26 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 20.198 | 1.541 | 21 |
| 27 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 20.530 | 1.873 | 56 |
| 28 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 20.653 | 1.996 | 46 |
| 29 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 20.752 | 2.095 | 51 |
| 30 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 20.812 | 2.155 | 55 |
| 31 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 20.927 | 2.270 | 47 |
| 32 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 21.119 | 2.462 | 43 |
| 33 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 21.200 | 2.543 | 43 |
| 34 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 21.711 | 3.054 | 51 |
| 35 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 22.738 | 4.081 | 51 |
| 36 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 24.173 | 5.516 | 28 |
| 37 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 25.130 | 6.473 | 22 |
| 38 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 27.736 | 9.079 | 55 |
| 39 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 33.279 | 14.622 | 52 |
| 40 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 34.742 | 16.085 | 51 |
2018 German Grand Prix
- Vettel quickest, then spins, as Ericsson escapes huge crash
- 2018 German Grand Prix Star Performers
- Vettel is first driver to crash out of the lead solo in 13 years
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 German Grand Prix
- Hamilton rains on Vettel’s parade
Tango (@tango)
24th July 2018, 9:24
Grosjean and Magnussen’s graphes : talk about a tale of two races !
Aosis
24th July 2018, 11:06
@tango – the position chart i presume?
i’m from denmark and did not see the race, so have been looking for some excuse for kmag to loose position in the rain- besides the mistakes he admitted to in the post-race interview. From the pitstop times listet here i notice kmag loosing 12 secs to his teammate and 14 secs to renaults pitting for intermediates. 7secs+ going to ultras(under safetycar?) Grojean certainly proved the car wasnt to blame thou! Would like to see his onboard-footage from that last sprint!
Tango (@tango)
24th July 2018, 17:12
Yes I’m waiting for all onboards to be accessible on F1 TV Pro. From what I understand, Grosjean just went on with the overtakes and found the car perfectly to his liking. By the way @keithcollantine , I still find F1 TV PRO dreadful to use (especially if you want to “push it to your tv”, as you would with netflix or any tv app), loads of buffering (which I forgot could happen with my fiber optics internet), no dedicated app, little to no option during a race (cameras, replay, onboard) etc. Do you have any information on wether a media company could get its media offering sorted ? Because I haven’t seen any thing new since your (great) test.
As for GRO @aosis He had awful degradation at the beginning that hampered him. I spent a year studying in Denmark and would normaly root for KMAG but I’m afraid I’m still French and have a soft spot for Grosjean (I followed all of his GP2 seasons). I love a flawed genius (and GRO is very flawed, but when on song, massively fast).
Malthe
24th July 2018, 11:45
The big difference between Grosjean and Magnussen, was that Magnussen almost lost 20sec in the pits to Grosjean.
Tango (@tango)
24th July 2018, 17:15
Well that’s true @Malthe, but it doesn’t explain how with same tires and one position between them behind the safety car, MAG didn’t manage the overtakes GRO managed on the drying track in the last laps.