Kevin Magnussen started 16th and finished even lower, but he did set the first ever fastest lap in an F1 race for Haas.
What’s more he was over a second faster than the next best driver, race winner Lewis Hamilton. This was, of course, because he fitted a set of hyper-softs at the end of the race.
The top six drivers in the Singapore Grand Prix finished in the same order they started, which highlighted again just how difficult overtaking is with the current generation of cars on this circuit.The next four drivers in the top 10 largely had poor races. Starting on used hyper-soft tyres, but without the benefit of driving for one of the ‘big three’ teams, they were always going to struggle when dropped back into traffic early in the race. That was exactly what happened for the likes of Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean. Meanwhile Esteban Ocon was eliminated at the start – by his team mate.
The only one of the four who managed to score points was Nico Hulkenberg, though he was jumped by three other drivers who didn’t reach Q3 and therefore were allowed to start on new tyres. It demonstrated very clearly the unfairness of this particular rule.
The biggest risers in the field were Stoffel Vandoorne and Lance Stroll, who both made up six places, though neither finished in the points.
2018 Singapore 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:
Position change
| Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Max Verstappen | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| Sergio Perez | 7 | 0 | -9 |
| Esteban Ocon | 9 | ||
| Lance Stroll | 20 | 1 | 6 |
| Sergey Sirotkin | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 10 | -1 | 0 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 12 | 2 | 4 |
| Pierre Gasly | 15 | 3 | 2 |
| Brendon Hartley | 17 | 1 | 0 |
| Romain Grosjean | 8 | 0 | -7 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 16 | 1 | -2 |
| Fernando Alonso | 11 | 2 | 4 |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | 18 | 0 | 6 |
| Marcus Ericsson | 14 | 0 | 3 |
| Charles Leclerc | 13 | 0 | 4 |
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2018 Singapore 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:
2018 Singapore 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 Singapore Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.905 | 50 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’42.913 | 1.008 | 56 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’43.120 | 1.215 | 59 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’43.164 | 1.259 | 57 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’43.345 | 1.440 | 54 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’44.669 | 2.764 | 48 |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’44.715 | 2.810 | 46 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’44.720 | 2.815 | 42 |
| 9 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’44.889 | 2.984 | 38 |
| 10 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’45.169 | 3.264 | 50 |
| 11 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’45.203 | 3.298 | 57 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’45.211 | 3.306 | 50 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’45.389 | 3.484 | 48 |
| 14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’45.555 | 3.650 | 50 |
| 15 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’45.902 | 3.997 | 48 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’45.904 | 3.999 | 57 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.033 | 4.128 | 53 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’46.063 | 4.158 | 56 |
| 19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’46.093 | 4.188 | 53 |
| 20 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes |
2018 Singapore Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Hyper soft (15) | Soft (46) | ||
| Max Verstappen | Hyper soft (17) | Soft (44) | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | Hyper soft (14) | Ultra soft (47) | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | Hyper soft (16) | Soft (45) | ||
| Kimi Raikkonen | Hyper soft (22) | Soft (39) | ||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Hyper soft (27) | Ultra soft (34) | ||
| Fernando Alonso | Ultra soft (38) | Soft (23) | ||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ultra soft (37) | Soft (23) | ||
| Charles Leclerc | Ultra soft (38) | Hyper soft (22) | ||
| Nico Hulkenberg | Hyper soft (15) | Ultra soft (45) | ||
| Marcus Ericsson | Ultra soft (44) | Hyper soft (16) | ||
| Stoffel Vandoorne | Ultra soft (43) | Soft (17) | ||
| Pierre Gasly | Hyper soft (26) | Ultra soft (34) | ||
| Lance Stroll | Soft (40) | Ultra soft (20) | ||
| Romain Grosjean | Hyper soft (16) | Soft (44) | ||
| Sergio Perez | Hyper soft (17) | Ultra soft (16) | Soft (6) | |
| Brendon Hartley | Hyper soft (14) | Ultra soft (22) | Hyper soft (24) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Ultra soft (26) | Soft (10) | Hyper soft (12) | Hyper soft (11) |
| Sergey Sirotkin | Ultra soft (3) | Soft (42) | Hyper soft (14) | |
| Esteban Ocon |
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2018 Singapore Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 24.340 | 39 | |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 28.542 | 4.202 | 16 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 28.722 | 4.382 | 14 |
| 4 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 28.767 | 4.427 | 40 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 28.779 | 4.439 | 27 |
| 6 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 28.860 | 4.520 | 44 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 28.931 | 4.591 | 26 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 28.946 | 4.606 | 15 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 29.310 | 4.970 | 38 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 29.324 | 4.984 | 48 |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 29.408 | 5.068 | 26 |
| 12 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 29.464 | 5.124 | 36 |
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 29.513 | 5.173 | 22 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 29.517 | 5.177 | 16 |
| 15 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 29.681 | 5.341 | 17 |
| 16 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 29.912 | 5.572 | 14 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 29.922 | 5.582 | 38 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 29.978 | 5.638 | 17 |
| 19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 30.234 | 5.894 | 43 |
| 20 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 30.242 | 5.902 | 37 |
| 21 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 30.477 | 6.137 | 3 |
| 22 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 30.561 | 6.221 | 33 |
| 23 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 30.711 | 6.371 | 36 |
| 24 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 31.183 | 6.843 | 15 |
| 25 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 34.022 | 9.682 | 45 |
2018 Singapore Grand Prix
- How Singapore showed F1’s problem with processions again
- 2018 Singapore Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix
- Hamilton closes on title as Mercedes deny Ferrari in Singapore
- Vote for your 2018 Singapore Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend
Jere (@jerejj)
16th September 2018, 16:50
The first-ever fastest race lap for Haas.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
16th September 2018, 19:07
And an official lap record too!
Obviously qualifying was much faster, but offical records are from racing laps.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
16th September 2018, 17:36
The FL difference between HAM and RAI proves VET had no real chance.
anon
16th September 2018, 18:19
@mg1982, does it really show that he had no chance when Raikkonen spent most of his race being held up by Bottas (his fastest lap being the same as that of Bottas’s fastest lap)?
I think that what did the damage was their strategy – I can see what they might have been trying to do, which was to put Vettel on a set of the quicker ultra soft tyres and use that to put in some quick laps to undercut Hamilton, then hope to manage the tyres until the end (gambling that track position would offset the likely higher wear rate of the tyres).
However, that looks to have come unstuck when Vettel ended up stuck behind Perez for longer than he would have wanted, leaving him with the double problem of having to manage his tyres and being behind, rather than ahead, of his rivals.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
16th September 2018, 19:09
I do not fully agree. Yes, it’s unfair and I think that a free tire choice may be better, but still the drivers who started from p10 have been more successful on average than the drivers who started from p11, so the benefits of a free tire choice cannot be significant. Also, the hypersofts were able to do at least 27 laps, as Ricciardo showed, which was 10 laps more than the midfield drivers could manage. If anything, it shows that the top drivers are better at nursing their tires. Pérez was following Ricciardo closely in the opening laps, which was a clear indication that he was pushing too hard. However, there was no need for the team to pit him that early, which spoiled his race.
Ed
16th September 2018, 21:09
Bottas’s pace on this race was disgraceful.
How can a guy, with tyres the same age a his team mate end the race on much poorer shape even if none of them were ever stuck in traffic in any moment? Vettel doing huge amounts of compromise to take it to the end with softer and older tyres and still Bottas was slower than him.
Borderline unbelievable.