The 2018 Austrian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Eyetime Grosser Preis von Österreich 2018) was a Formula One motor race held on 1 July 2018 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The race was the 9th round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the 32nd running of the Austrian Grand Prix and the 31st time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the series inception in .
The race was won by Max Verstappen, driving for Red Bull, marking the first time that Red Bull has won at their home Grand Prix.
Report Background The circuit included three drag reduction system (DRS) zones for the first time. These included a zone along the main straight, with the second zone on the straight from turn 1 to turns 2 and 3, and a third zone extending from turn 3 to turn 4. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton entered the round with a 14-point lead over Sebastian Vettel in the Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a 23-point lead over Ferrari.
Qualifying In Q2, Carlos Sainz had to avoid Vettel, who was going slowly on the racing line. Vettel was later awarded a 3-place grid penalty for the incident. Mercedes locked out the front row in Q3 and Valtteri Bottas took his first pole of 2018. The Ferraris locked out the second row. Romain Grosjean outqualified Daniel Ricciardo to take P6.
Race Bottas had a poor start from pole position. Initially passed by Hamilton, Räikkönen and Verstappen, he reclaimed P2 overtaking Verstappen and Räikkönen around the outside of Turn 4. Shortly after Verstappen overtook Räikkönen for P3. Stoffel Vandoorne broke his front wing at Turn 3, requiring a pitstop, dropping him to the back of the field. On lap 12, Nico Hülkenberg's engine failed on the start/finish straight, causing his immediate retirement from the race. On lap 14, Bottas retired with a gearbox failure which was originally caused by hydraulic problems, causing a Virtual Safety Car. During the VSC period, Ferrari and Red Bull pitted both their cars. Mercedes however, chose not to pit Hamilton, an error for which James Vowles, Mercedes' chief strategist, was heard to apologize via team radio. Hamilton pitted on lap 25, ceding the lead to Verstappen, and rejoined in P4, ahead of Vettel, who overtook him on lap 39. On lap 54 Ricciardo retired with an exhaust problem and then Brendon Hartley retired on the next lap with a hydraulics issue. Hamilton retired on lap 64 with a fuel pressure problem, giving Mercedes only their third double retirement since returning to F1 as a constructor in 2010 (after Australia 2011 and Spain 2016), their first double retirement due to mechanical failures, and Hamilton's first non-finish since the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix. Verstappen won the race, giving Red Bull their first win at the Red Bull Ring, and Verstappen his first win of the season. The Haas cars finished P4 and P5, giving them their best points finish ever and Grosjean his first points of the season.
Classification Qualifying DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3177 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:04.1751:03.7561:03.1301244 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:04.0801:03.5771:03.149235 Sebastian VettelFerrari1:04.3471:03.5441:03.464647 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:04.2341:03.9751:03.6603533 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer1:04.2731:04.0011:03.840468 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:04.2421:04.0591:03.892573 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer1:04.7231:04.4031:03.9967820 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:04.4601:04.2911:04.0518955 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault1:04.9481:04.5611:04.72591027 Nico HülkenbergRenault1:04.8641:04.6761:05.019101131 Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1:05.1481:04.845111210 Pierre GaslyScuderia Toro Rosso-Honda1:05.0111:04.874121316 Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari1:04.9671:04.979171414 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Renault1:04.9651:05.058PL1518 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1:05.2641:05.28613162McLaren-Renault1:05.271141711 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes1:05.279151835 Sergey SirotkinWilliams-Mercedes1:05.322161928 Brendon Hartley1:05.36619209 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1:05.47918107% time: 1:08.565Source: Notes – Sebastian Vettel received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz Jr. in Q2. – Charles Leclerc received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. – Fernando Alonso required to start from the pit lane for changing to a new specification of front wing assembly and a new MGU-K. – Brendon Hartley received a 35-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components.
Race DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints133 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer711:21:56.02442527 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari71 +1.50431835 Sebastian VettelFerrari71 +3.18161548 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari70 +1 lap512520 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari70 +1 lap810631 Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes70 +1 lap118711 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes70 +1 lap156814 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Renault70 +1 lapPL4916 Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari70 +1 lap172109 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari70 +1 lap1811110 Pierre GaslyScuderia Toro Rosso-Honda70 +1 lap121255 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault70 +1 lap91335 Sergey SirotkinWilliams-Mercedes69 +2 laps161418 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes69 +2 laps13152McLaren-Renault6514 44 Lewis HamiltonMercedes62Fuel pressure2 28 Brendon Hartley54Hydraulics19 3 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer53Exhaust7 77 Valtteri BottasMercedes13Hydraulics1 27 Nico HülkenbergRenault11Engine10Source: Notes – Lance Stroll originally finished 13th, but had 10 seconds added to his race time for ignoring blue flags. – Stoffel Vandoorne retired from the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings DriverPoints 11 Sebastian Vettel 146 12 Lewis Hamilton 145 23 Kimi Räikkönen 101 14 Daniel Ricciardo 96 15 Max Verstappen 93Source:
Constructors' Championship standings ConstructorPoints 11 Ferrari 247 12 Mercedes 2373 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1894 Renault 62 15 Haas-Ferrari 49Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also 2018 Spielberg Formula 2 round 2018 Spielberg GP3 Series round
References
External links
Official event website