Lewis Hamilton was on course for a ‘grand slam’ in the Japanese Grand Prix having started from pole position, led all the way and set fastest lap with two tours to go.
But his (almost) vanquished championship rival Sebastian Vettel took Hamilton’s fastest lap away, denying him an otherwise perfect weekend’s work.Vettel had little else to do for more than half the race after his collision with Max Verstappen which dropped him to 19th and last. He recovered sixth place with little difficulty but was never likely to catch the rest, although his team mate dropped back late in the race following the Virtual Safety Car period. Indeed the other Ferrari driver’s best lap of the race was only the 12th-fastest.
Another driver who struggled after the VSC was Pierre Gasly, who lost his place in the top 10 to Carlos Sainz Jnr.
2018 Japanese 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 Japanese 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 | 0 | 0 |
Valtteri Bottas | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Sebastian Vettel | 8 | 4 | 2 |
Kimi Raikkonen | 4 | -1 | -1 |
Daniel Ricciardo | 15 | 1 | 11 |
Max Verstappen | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Sergio Perez | 9 | 1 | 2 |
Esteban Ocon | 11 | 2 | 2 |
Lance Stroll | 14 | -3 | -3 |
Sergey Sirotkin | 17 | -1 | 1 |
Nico Hulkenberg | 16 | 0 | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | 13 | 2 | 3 |
Pierre Gasly | 7 | 0 | -4 |
Brendon Hartley | 6 | -4 | -7 |
Romain Grosjean | 5 | -1 | -3 |
Kevin Magnussen | 12 | 0 | |
Fernando Alonso | 18 | 3 | 4 |
Stoffel Vandoorne | 19 | 0 | 4 |
Marcus Ericsson | 20 | 0 | 8 |
Charles Leclerc | 10 | -3 |
2018 Japanese 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 Japanese Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’32.318 | 53 | |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’32.785 | 0.467 | 51 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’33.110 | 0.792 | 46 |
4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’33.187 | 0.869 | 50 |
5 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.354 | 1.036 | 41 |
6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’33.367 | 1.049 | 50 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’33.943 | 1.625 | 28 |
8 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.985 | 1.667 | 41 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’34.073 | 1.755 | 43 |
10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’34.133 | 1.815 | 35 |
11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’34.197 | 1.879 | 50 |
12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’34.223 | 1.905 | 28 |
13 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’34.515 | 2.197 | 37 |
14 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’34.670 | 2.352 | 50 |
15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’34.786 | 2.468 | 47 |
16 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’34.857 | 2.539 | 30 |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’34.934 | 2.616 | 32 |
18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’35.023 | 2.705 | 25 |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’36.294 | 3.976 | 8 |
20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.908 | 7.590 | 6 |
2018 Japanese Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | |
---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | Soft (24) | Medium (29) | |
Valtteri Bottas | Soft (23) | Medium (30) | |
Max Verstappen | Super soft (21) | Soft (32) | |
Daniel Ricciardo | Soft (23) | Medium (30) | |
Kimi Raikkonen | Super soft (17) | Medium (36) | |
Sebastian Vettel | Super soft (26) | Soft (27) | |
Sergio Perez | Super soft (24) | Soft (29) | |
Romain Grosjean | Soft (29) | Medium (24) | |
Esteban Ocon | Super soft (26) | Medium (27) | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | Soft (32) | Medium (20) | |
Pierre Gasly | Super soft (29) | Soft (23) | |
Marcus Ericsson | Soft (5) | Medium (47) | |
Brendon Hartley | Super soft (28) | Soft (24) | |
Fernando Alonso | Soft (26) | Medium (26) | |
Stoffel Vandoorne | Soft (23) | Medium (29) | |
Sergey Sirotkin | Soft (4) | Medium (34) | Super soft (14) |
Lance Stroll | Soft (14) | Medium (25) | Super soft (13) |
Charles Leclerc | Soft (4) | Medium (31) | Soft (3) |
Nico Hulkenberg | Medium (30) | Soft (7) | |
Kevin Magnussen | Soft (2) | Medium (6) |
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2018 Japanese Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 22.614 | 24 | |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 22.748 | 0.134 | 26 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 22.777 | 0.163 | 23 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 22.781 | 0.167 | 17 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22.864 | 0.250 | 23 |
6 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 23.110 | 0.496 | 28 |
7 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 23.159 | 0.545 | 23 |
8 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 23.244 | 0.630 | 5 |
9 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 23.316 | 0.702 | 26 |
10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 23.376 | 0.762 | 29 |
11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 23.477 | 0.863 | 32 |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 23.555 | 0.941 | 30 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 23.635 | 1.021 | 24 |
14 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 23.647 | 1.033 | 38 |
15 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 23.657 | 1.043 | 14 |
16 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 23.660 | 1.046 | 4 |
17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 23.692 | 1.078 | 29 |
18 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 26.672 | 4.058 | 35 |
19 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 27.454 | 4.840 | 26 |
20 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 28.789 | 6.175 | 21 |
21 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 29.007 | 6.393 | 2 |
22 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 29.804 | 7.190 | 39 |
23 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 38.891 | 16.277 | 4 |
2018 Japanese Grand Prix
- 2018 Japanese Grand Prix team radio highlights
- 2018 Japanese Grand Prix Star Performers
- Mercedes take first back-to-back one-twos since 2016
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix
- Hamilton on cusp of fifth title as Vettel throws in the towel
pantherjag (@pantherjag)
7th October 2018, 14:33
Little bit pedantic but Vettel took fastest lap of Hamilton on lap 52 win 1.32.6 then improved on it with his last lap
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th October 2018, 14:41
@pantherjag Oh that’s some good pedantry. I’d be proud of that one. I’ll tweak the text.
Sumedh
8th October 2018, 3:31
Such desperate behavior from Seb. Sad to see him wasting the seat at the front of the grid and a Ferrari seat no less.
Ian Stephens
7th October 2018, 20:25
Why do the cars with the fastest laps also have the fastest pit stops?
Can they afford more athletic mechanics, or do their mechanics train harder because they are more afraid of letting their driver down?
Perhaps it is because both drivers and mechanics are given better equipment.
gardenfella (@gardenfella72)
8th October 2018, 12:33
Maybe it’s because the bigger teams have more mechanics